Here's the story of a girl ...

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Guys, months ago I promised the ever awesome and exciting update about my big move to Portland. Well, late is better than never, right? Right.

I'm not sure where to start, but the gist of the beginning is that I'd hit the time that I needed a new job. I'd gotten pretty much all of the learning I would get from my station in Eugene, and I was feeling stunted and bored, and that, in turn, was making me unhappy. And after one really crappy day last May -- I made a short list of six of seven cities I wanted to be my next step.

Then -- in a twist of fate -- other stations, from other places I didn't even look at started calling -- all thanks to good networking from longstanding connections. (Seriously folks, networking is a real thing and it really does help and work. I am a solid believer/participant.) A couple of phone interviews later, a few laughs with managers, and one travel-to-the-station interview later .. I thought I knew where I was going. I'd even started looking for an apartment.

But life has a funny way of pushing you where you need to go. I'd sent a resume to a friend and former coworker a few weeks before that and while I waited to sign my contract for the other station -- my now managers called. It was the most whirlwind of crazy interviews, discussions, panic attacks, tears (both happy and anxious), and lots of praying -- and I knew where I needed to go. There are a lot of really personal reasons -- that I'll totally tell you in private not in the blog-world, that I knew this was the station for me. So I said yes to Portland ... and signed on the dotted line.

I moved up here and I love it. I love the area, the people, the variety of things to do, the beauty, the food (oh.my.gosh. the food.), the zoo, the ocean, my friends. I love my apartment -- even with its quirks. I love how spacious it is, and where it's at in town, and the fact that it has a pool (and a gym!)! I love that I can decorate it however I want and change it any dang time I please. I also like that I'm finally comfortable coming home and being home -- because I feel like I belong there. I haven't had that feeling in an apartment in a long while.

Plus I get to drive by this every so often:

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But among the most important -- I love my job. Sure I have hard days. And of course I have really crappy days, and there are definitely days it's hectic and stressful, and 100% positively there are days I wish I slept normal hours of the day ... but this station is wonderful. I've achieved some great things while I've been here -- and have a show that's really doing some awesome stuff. (Oh, and I'm nominated for an Emmy. No big.) But the best part of the job is the people. This morning team is truly something awesome, the management is one-in-a-million, and the rest of the team are nothing but kind, wonderful people. Plus we really do work as a team and truly have each others backs. And there are a LOT of reasons why that is important to me.

So the short story in all this was I took this job in Portland and it's awesome.