sweet home chicago!

so it's been a while...what else is new? i really do try to keep up with this blog, but every day life and it's interuptions get the best of me.

anyway, let me get you up to speed: after my college campus tours, i went 'on the bench' at work (translation: didn't have any projects to work on, so i was unbillable = cost/liability for the company) for a few months. just before memorial day, i found out that the firm was laying me off. not a big shock - i had seen the writing on the wall. we didn't have ANY work coming in, and our anchor clients were cutting back on their consultants. it was just a matter of time. so, i made the decision to take the summer off. i was going to look for jobs in three cities: DC, Chicago and Boston. If the right opportunity came to me then I would settle in that city, however i wouldn't start until after labor day.

during my 'sabbatical', i traveled a little bit, relaxed and beached it a lot. i eventually received an offer from a small local consultancy which seemed like a great company with the exception that they wanted to hire me with lower overall compensation, lower level and with the same amount of travel. i wans't exactly enthused by it, but i figured that nothing else had come along, so why not?

then, i went to visit friends in chicago. it was a GREAT time! it made me realize how much i wanted to try out chicago. on my last day there, i had brunch with allie, who talked me through some things. see, she was in the midst of reading "steering by starlight," authored by martha beck. allie explained the premise of the book, which, in very simplistic terms, is that your destiny is out there for you to find - you just need to open your eyes and see the 'signs' or 'magic'. allie pointed out that i have placed obstacles in front of myself regarding moving to chicago, and that there are ways to overcome those obstacles...i just needed to open my eyes. for every obstacle i threw at her, allie gave me a handful of potential solutions. how could i argue? thanks to her listening skills and pointing out that i was a 'story teller,', we went straight to the bookstore so that i could pick up my own copy of "steering by starlight."

i have to tell you - it was a truly eye-opening book. if you haven't read it, i highly recommend you pick it up! after reading just a few chapters of the book, i realized that allie (and martha beck) were right - i was the creator of my own obstacles. so, i did some research, found the financial means and made the decision to try out chicago. i'm moving there on october 1st, and will see what i can find in three months. if i find work there and enjoy it, then i'll stay. if not, then i'll move back to DC in december. this way, i won't have any regrets - i'll have tried something new and will know one way or another if chicago really is my destiny. :)