What Would Happen If...: April 2014

These past few months feel like a bit of a whirlwind. Settling into normalcy without ever quite feeling settled was odd. It was nice to be at home again, living under the same roof as my lovely mom, but at the same time I felt a restlessness about being at home. I quickly jumped into some freelance work doing digital marketing and social media consulting for businesses in Cincinnati, but continued the job search and felt like a crazy person for constantly changing my mind about the path I wanted to try next.

One week I was talking about moving to New York, living with my travel buddy Rachel, and working at a big ad agency with crazy long hours and crazy expensive rent. The next, I was going to pick up and drive to Denver and get an odd job, ski every day, and just figure it out. I felt like I was really weighing and considering every option but nothing felt quite right. At one point I even considered working in Cincinnati, living at home, and saving up enough to hit the road again and explore South America. Still doesn't seem like a horrible idea, but I think I'm ready to put some roots down before the next great adventure.

So after constant back and forth, a ton of outreach, phone calls, interviews and emails, I got an opportunity to interview with Wieden+Kennedy, a dream ad agency out in Portland famous for their work with Nike, Old Spice, Coca Cola, and many many other big name clients. A friend from my DePaul days really came through and advocated for me despite my lack of exact transferable experience... after some pretty intense interviews and an amazing trip out to Portland to meet the team and check out the city, I got an offer and decided to take it with just 10 days to pack up and get out there before my start date. I have to say, I think I'm still in a bit of shock that it all happened so fast, but I feel a sense of peace about the whole thing because everything feels like it's happening the way it should. Maybe exploring all those options and knowing they weren't right made it even more clear when the right one came along.

Anyway, in just 3 days I'll be packing up and flying out to Portland - my new city! I can't wait to check it out. I met some crazy ridiculously nice people while I was out visiting and hope that was just a taste of what's to come. If so, Portland people seem pretty similar to travel people - open, friendly, slower-paced, and just happy. Moving to a new city where I barely know anyone is a bit scary. But honestly what I'm more worried about is just doing a good job at work, and being able to stay close with friends and family who will be so far away. I'm going to have to become a lot better about phone calls and FaceTime so I don't lose touch.

Here are a few pics from my recent trip to Portland for my final round of interviews!