Well it looks like it’s been almost two months since my last entry. I could blame it on work (like I usually do) or moving cross country or just being busy in general… or maybe all of the above. Isn't it just crazy how you plan something for so long and then it just happens. This move almost reminds me of our wedding. We planned the wedding for about 11 months and then it was gone in the blink of an eye. Even though I only announced it on social media in April, we had been planning this move for months —basically since the Fall of 2015 and now it's here. If I’m being honest, some of our time in Charlotte dragged on but mostly it flew by. It’s hard to believe 3 years came and went.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but until we lived in Charlotte, we never really traveled much. Our first big international trip was to Italy for our honeymoon in 2012 and we totally got bitten by the travel bug. We saved up for a year to make that trip and it was completely worth it — but then we had to save for our first cross country move (haha — “first” …like that?). So when we arrived in CLT and I got to rename our moving savings account online to TRAVEL SAVINGS, I got a glimmer in my eye and decided that New York would be our first BIG trip. We were so lucky to be able to also visit Charleston, New York, Iceland, Turks and Caicos [& more] while being based in Charlotte.
When we moved to Charlotte, I also transitioned into another career. I had been grinding [hello 65+ hour work weeks during tax season] for six years in public accounting and I was done. Sure, I interviewed for a few CPA positions as a safety net but I took a leap and specialized into a new industry that I knew next to nothing about. I was actually reading a book when I came to visit Charlotte for my interviews about one of the things the author discussed was “specializing too early” in your career. I was scared. I didn’t want to work in public accounting but it’s a lot harder to transition out of it when you work in tax as opposed to audit.
The job search began. I was convinced I would find a job through the local CPA association or LinkedIn since they recently upgraded their job search function. But, nope. Guess where I ended up actually finding my current position? You’ll never guess. monster.com! Totally random, right? And the other funny part of this story is that it was the very first job I applied for. Over the next few months, I ended up applying at probably 50+ more jobs all the way from Accountant at Chiquita Banana [RIP Charlotte HQ] to Financial Analyst at Hearst Publications. You never know.
I was worried and nervous that I was making a rash decision because I wanted to leave public accounting so bad. But, I am a very logical person, so what did I do? I made a pro and con list, of course. This was actually one of our favorite ways to make decisions during that period of time. And 3 years later, taking this job was one of the best things I’ve ever done. And I think that’s why it was so hard to leave the CLT office. As I mentioned before, I am going to stay with the company in my current role and work remotely. And after 4 weeks of working from home, I can honestly say that I love it! Of course I miss working in an office and water cooler chats, but the commute is amazing [hello pajamas], I can easily fit in a quick workout at lunch and when I sign off, it's still light outside. So far, so good. Well, that's all for now. I'll be back with more thoughts soon [including my DMV experience + CA drivers and #neighborhoodscenes] and I promise it won't be another two months.
P.S. We only have a few more pictures to hang up and then I promise I will do a photo tour of the new diggs.
P.S. We only have a few more pictures to hang up and then I promise I will do a photo tour of the new diggs.
