Has it Been a Year?

Everything changed since October 1, 2008. I interviewed at an agency in Cary, NC and with AOL in DC. I got both jobs. I picked AOL since it was the better offer, bigger company, and located less than 2 miles from Joe's house in VA. A month later, I packed up and moved there.

AOL was much larger than I expected. I knew I would need to work hard to earn respect and get noticed. I was the first person to join the department as a Campaign Manager. My experience at Empower made training a breeze. Over the next five months, I learned everything I could. I felt I had accomplished my goals quickly. Overall, it's much easier and less stressful than the agency side.

Living with Joe is amazing! He is the best roommate ever (sorry Chad!) He takes care of me and everything else. He makes life easy. We are even more compatible than I thought. Now that we live together, I can't imagine not being with him. It makes such a difference living day-to-day. That's the true love part of a relationship :-)

Joe is great road trip buddy! We've spent a lot of time on the road together over the past year. Besides going back home and to Follansbee, I've been to the beach more times in one year than ever before. Each time, it rained, but it was a blast no matter what! We also went to Durham for July 4th to meet baby Regan and again last weekend to see Rob and Megan's new house. I've been to NYC twice for work. The last time, I got to spend the evening with Uncle David.

We've also had fun around the city. Joe and I saw Avenue Q for Valentine's Day. He surprised me with tickets to the Bolshoi Ballet's La Corsaire for my birthday. Adrienne and Frank gave Joe tickets to the Nationals baseball game for his birthday. All of us went together. We sat through 100 degree weather and still had a blast! When my parents were in town at the end of July, we went to Wolf Trap for the first time to see the National Symphony Orchestra's Broadway Rocks. The original Buddy from Side Show was one of the singers.

If we stay home for the weekend, we golf. Joe and I have been going to the new golf course down the street from AOL, called 1757. Yes, a real golf course. It's new, so there's only 10 holes at the moment. We wind up swinging as many times as we would at a Par 3. It's a great way to enjoy the nice weather we've had this summer.

Now it's fall again! More adventures to come!