So when we first started this little journey, it was because of me that Florida even came up as an option for jobs. I have been working for the CDC for the last three and a half years, and have been pretty much not fulfilled. I got my Master of Public Health degree from Emory University in 2009 for one main reason: to work in college health. And then the economy tanked and health education jobs went away, POOF, just like that. I kept trying though, over and over again, to keep applying and interviewing. Trying to the point of exhaustion and truly beginning to believe that God did NOT want me to have that type of job.

And then BAM, out of nowhere, Timmy was offered a major job upgrade in Orlando for Olympus surgical sales during a training in Vegas in October. (Seriously, who gets offered a job without ever applying for it!?!) So we moved forward with our plan to move because honestly, I was beginning to hate everything about my hometown. That’s what happens when your frustration levels boil over. We moved out of our cute little condo in Decatur in two weeks, put all of our stuff into a POD, moved myself into my parents’ basement, so Timmy could start work at the beginning of December.

Timmy did some recon and got us a place in Orlando, with plans of me finishing up my work and moving down at the end of January. With no real job prospects in sight for myself, I just planned on chilling, being a housewifey (if you know me, then you realize how dire my need for change was if I was willing to stay at home), and volunteer at Planned Parenthood. We signed a one-year lease on a nice large apartment, in a complex that had bajillions of amenities. Then, things started clicking for me as well.

I got the call to schedule an interview at University of South Florida-St Petersburg the day after we signed the lease. Three days after I interviewed, they offered me the job. Was I stoked? OF FREAKING COURSE I WAS. Did this just majorly eff-up everything we had just planned? You betcha. OF COURSE THIS IS HOW THINGS WORKED OUT. This blog wouldn’t be interesting if things worked out nice and easy and simple.

St Petersburg and Orlando are nearly two hours away. Yeah, that commute ain’t gonna happen. We had the option of getting two separate places. But that sounded awful and quite frankly pretty isolating since we don’t really know anyone in FL. Plus, how are we going to split custody of our furry son? So now, we have to find a place in Lakeland, FL, the only possible place that splits the difference for both of us. Dead center FL. No beaches, kinda suburbish with nothing really to do. It’ll give us both about an hour commute each way to work, but it’s better to come home to loved ones than an empty house. And to be honest, having had back to back to back jobs that you dislike changes your perspective and your list of criteria that your next job has to meet. I’ll take a long commute and being happy over having a 15 minute commute and being blah any day now.

So we’re going down again this weekend to find a place in Lakeland. We have to break our lease in Orlando (hello, loss of beaucoup de money), set up a time to move (again), and set up shop in our new place before I start work on January 14.

Life is never boring, I can say that for sure.

♥, VB