From PAH to EB

And just like that, it's all different. 

Last Wednesday was my last day at Partners for Affordable Housing. It honestly didn't really hit me until about 4:45pm that I wouldn't be coming back the next morning. Looking back over the past two years, I am so thankful for the experience I had and gained at PAH. 

PAH brought me back to the community I grew up in. It helped increase my self-worth and self-confidence. It gave me a chance for my creativity to grow and shine. It introduced me to some amazing and incredible people. PAH brought to attention a huge need in our community and a desire to help fight for that cause. It even helped strengthen my muscles with all the furniture moving. :) 

My time at PAH was exactly what I needed, when I needed it. It's crazy to look back and be able to see how that happens. (But God always knows what He's doing!)  I needed to be involved with a type of work that provided purpose and meaning. I needed the chance to really let my wings grow. I needed to have those people in my life, both personally and professionally.  

Deciding to leave PAH was a hard choice. So incredibly hard. I realized that this is the first time in my career that I decided to leave a job that I really love on my own terms. I obviously have reasons why I was looking elsewhere, but that did not make having to tell my team I was leaving any easier. It's a strange feeling. 

To my PAH family: I'm not even sure what I can say about the past two years. Thank you. Thank you for the fun and crazy work experiences. Thank you for being such a supportive group. Thank you for your friendships that have grown over the past two years. Thank you for your humor and your jokes. Thank you for your huge and caring hearts. Thank you for the work that you do for our community. There is truly nothing else like being a part of the PAH family. And I'm glad that we keep the family growing and that we can't get rid of each other. :) I am excited to continue to work with you all in this new capacity. And I'm excited that our friendships will be able to continue to grow. #PAHlife forever!! 

And then, it was Thursday morning. My first day at Eide Bailly. My first day at EB was.... one for the books. It also had me reflecting on my first week with PAH... Within a couple days of starting, I was already in paint clothes, painting an upstairs apartment with my new co-workers, in the summer heat with no AC. My first day at EB did not quite include that much hard labor! :) 

I arrived at Eide Bailly at 8:30. I received a very quick (and partial) office tour, I was out the door by 8:45 and headed to St. Peter for a recruiting fair for accounting students at Gustavus. I spent the morning learning about what EB has to offer accounting students for their internship options and probably could have given the spiel myself before the morning ended. I was back at the office around 12:30 and had lunch with the Office Coordinator. I spent the next couple of hours going over the new hire paperwork. I finally had a chance to get back to my desk around 2:45 and had some time to read through all that paperwork and explore some of the training information online. I realized I should open my email and see if there was anything and there were 30 emails waiting for me. Then at 3:45 I was headed downtown for an Estate Planners event where I spent the rest of my day acting as bartender. 

Everyone kept promising me that every day was not like this. I'm not sure if I should believe them. :) But honestly, it was a great way to start a new job. Jumping right in, getting a feel for things. There is a huge learning curve as I start to learn as much as I can about this new industry and how to market it. It was nice to know that I can still jump in and do some things right away! And to everyone's credit, Friday was a much more relaxed day. I had a chance to work on some projects, continuing reviewing the training information but also familiarizing myself with the different tools that I'll be using and learning that new information. 

I also had a chance to go out to lunch with my new Marketing team. I can honestly say that I think this is going to be a good fit. They're a great group of people, eager for me to start doing more and more than willing to help me understand everything. It will also be a chance for me to grow professionally with some of the things I'll be doing. My position is a newly created position and I'll be working between three different areas. So it will be interesting to see how the job grows as I learn to manage my time between these areas and learn how to prioritize between them. But if there's one thing I like, it's a challenge. 

It is going to take some time to adjust back into the corporate world setting. Going from a small nonprofit with seven full time employees to a company with 29 offices in 13 states and close to 80 people just in our office... it makes things interesting! But that's all part of the fun. Everyone I have met so far has been super nice. 

I'm excited for this new step. I'm excited to see what it will bring. I'm excited to continue to meet more new people. I'm just excited. :) 

To close, #EideLike to say that I'm thankful for this new opportunity. Let's go! 

A time to feel overwhelmed

Life has these stages or periods when you're going through a change. First, we were in that Waiting Period of the unknown. Luckily, we seem to be moving from that phase to the next fairly quickly. While there are still plenty of unknowns, at least we're moving along. This next phase, I'm going to call the Overwhelming Time. 

These past two weeks have been some of the most overwhelming. Austin and I have been living/working in two different states. We've spent our weekends and any free time packing or arranging space. And so much time on the road. It has been exhausting and overwhelming to the max. From one job ending to another one starting right away. Living out of suitcases while you start to pack and move, not really knowing where anything is. Worrying about finding a daycare as soon as possible to bring some structure back to your kid's life. To searching for jobs, getting an interview and then a job offer. To finally doing that big move and returning the keys to the apartment. It's been a busy two weeks. And there has honestly not been a minute to rest. Or at least it feels like that. 

So in case you had a hard time following all that... let's break it down. :) 

I started at Partners for Affordable Housing on Thursday, July 9th. My first two days flew by as they were filled with information and meeting people. I quickly realized that this job is going to keep me busy. I have so much more to say on this job but I think I'll save that for a completely different blog post. On Saturday, we were back down to Iowa, meeting Austin half way to exchange car and truck. The rest of the weekend was spent packing and cleaning while Jacob spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Z. 

On Sunday, Austin actually was able to drive back to Minnesota with us (and bringing another car load of stuff) as he had gotten an interview on Monday at a fabrication shop in North Mankato. This allowed him to spend some extra time with Jacob and we even got to meet for lunch! After his interview however, it was back down to Iowa as he had to work on Tuesday. My second week of work was another great one, and another busy one! Also during the week, Austin got a call and was offered the job! Although this meant he had to come back up to Minnesota Thursday night for an early Friday morning drug and strength tests and back down to Iowa to work the rest of the day. Then on Friday evening, it was back down to Iowa, this time with the truck and trailer in tow. 

Austin and I spent all weekend getting everything else packed up. I mean, everything else, as in, nothing else had been done. Ha! Sunday morning, his parents came and helped us load up the trailer. Then I took off for Minnesota while they stayed back to do the cleaning and the final walk though with our landlord. After getting to Minnesota, we unloaded some stuff and put it all in the basement of my parents' house and took the rest to a storage unit we're currently renting. As for the stuff we put in the basement, none of it has been put away yet so there are boxes and bags everywhere. At least Jacob's crib is up for him to sleep in! 

Austin is still down in Iowa has he has his two weeks to finish up. So he's staying with his parents and making the 45 minute drive into Cedar Rapids every day. He starts his new job on August 3rd. He'll have about three months of training and then he will be working this 2nd shift. This will be a new adjustment for all of us but I think we'll be able to figure it out. 

And so this is where we are. After two weeks of non-stop going and packing, things are maybe starting to slow down a bit. But honestly, I think we're both just trying to catch up on some sleep and let our bodies rest. So if you happen to see either one of us and we don't look too excited, or awake - that's to be expected. :)