Allow me to explain
I suppose it is time to let the blogosphere in on a little secret...
the main reason posting has been light around here over the last 6 weeks or so is that I have actually been... interviewing. (hahah, I'm laughing at all of you who thought I was going to say something else).
Allow me to explain, since getting married it's always been a goal of ours to eventually move to back to Illinois (where Mike is from) to be closer to family. Throughout last spring and summer, it became apparent that this year may be "the year" to start going through the motions of relocating. It was an exciting decision for us. We knew this was the track we wanted to take and we were hopeful about the process. In January we began applying and in February we traveled to Illinois for a job fair specifically for teachers. It was here we started to realize this process would be harder than we originally had hoped. In a span of 4 1/2 hours we each only spoke with three school districts each a left feeling less than confident, to say the least. Our confidence wasn't too shaken though, because five days later I received a call asking me to come in for an interview. yay
So, I packed up and traveled east (Mike had class so I went by myself) and overall, I'd rate the interview a 6. It could've been worse, but I found out early on that it was a screening interview and I was one of nine candidates, three of which were internal. This information + the five hour return trip alone was not so good for me. Although I felt confident coming out of the interview, as I thought about it more I realized my chances of a call back were very slim. I was distraught and really distracted for the next few days. Mike and I talked at length about, "what if this doesn't work for us," type stuff. Then, when we least expected it... I got a call to come in for a second interview.
Again, I went and this time everything went great. The school and teachers were very welcoming and I started to feel optimistic again. It really wasn't long after I returned, however, that my distraught feelings from before came back in full force. I had a lot of thoughts running through my head, "can we really live for a year + on one income? what if this job is only guaranteed for a year? what if I receive a pink slip in a year and am not offered a job elsewhere?" It was about three days after the second interview that I realized... I was hoping they would call me and tell me they didn't want me to come back.
I spoke with Mike about all of this and he decided the best thing for us to do was... to take a drive (this seems to be our thing). During the drive we "laid it all out" and I mean, everything. We talked about our goals for the next couple years, the things we wanted to accomplish and experience, and we realized the best thing we could do for ourselves and everything else was the very last thing either of us ever expected to do... stay in Iowa. It took about 48 hours for the weight of our decision to sink in and all of a sudden it was as if a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. I'm calm and focused and am certain this is the best decision for us. Although moving isn't completely off the table at some point in our lives, for the knowable future, we're staying put.
So, in short... Des Moines is the place to be =), haha. We have a meeting with a Realtor on Friday and we can't wait to begin looking for our first home. Many exciting posts to come my friends!
the main reason posting has been light around here over the last 6 weeks or so is that I have actually been... interviewing. (hahah, I'm laughing at all of you who thought I was going to say something else).
Allow me to explain, since getting married it's always been a goal of ours to eventually move to back to Illinois (where Mike is from) to be closer to family. Throughout last spring and summer, it became apparent that this year may be "the year" to start going through the motions of relocating. It was an exciting decision for us. We knew this was the track we wanted to take and we were hopeful about the process. In January we began applying and in February we traveled to Illinois for a job fair specifically for teachers. It was here we started to realize this process would be harder than we originally had hoped. In a span of 4 1/2 hours we each only spoke with three school districts each a left feeling less than confident, to say the least. Our confidence wasn't too shaken though, because five days later I received a call asking me to come in for an interview. yay
So, I packed up and traveled east (Mike had class so I went by myself) and overall, I'd rate the interview a 6. It could've been worse, but I found out early on that it was a screening interview and I was one of nine candidates, three of which were internal. This information + the five hour return trip alone was not so good for me. Although I felt confident coming out of the interview, as I thought about it more I realized my chances of a call back were very slim. I was distraught and really distracted for the next few days. Mike and I talked at length about, "what if this doesn't work for us," type stuff. Then, when we least expected it... I got a call to come in for a second interview.
Again, I went and this time everything went great. The school and teachers were very welcoming and I started to feel optimistic again. It really wasn't long after I returned, however, that my distraught feelings from before came back in full force. I had a lot of thoughts running through my head, "can we really live for a year + on one income? what if this job is only guaranteed for a year? what if I receive a pink slip in a year and am not offered a job elsewhere?" It was about three days after the second interview that I realized... I was hoping they would call me and tell me they didn't want me to come back.
I spoke with Mike about all of this and he decided the best thing for us to do was... to take a drive (this seems to be our thing). During the drive we "laid it all out" and I mean, everything. We talked about our goals for the next couple years, the things we wanted to accomplish and experience, and we realized the best thing we could do for ourselves and everything else was the very last thing either of us ever expected to do... stay in Iowa. It took about 48 hours for the weight of our decision to sink in and all of a sudden it was as if a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders. I'm calm and focused and am certain this is the best decision for us. Although moving isn't completely off the table at some point in our lives, for the knowable future, we're staying put.
So, in short... Des Moines is the place to be =), haha. We have a meeting with a Realtor on Friday and we can't wait to begin looking for our first home. Many exciting posts to come my friends!
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