Ok, so I apply to this job that sounds like what I want at a company that is medium sized (about 100 employees). I applied the Monday before Thanksgiving and the lady was out of the office. So I debated on whether to call them back this week or not. I decided on Wednesday that it would be too early to call since there was a holiday in there and stuff. But then yesterday, I got an email from them saying they were interested and wanted to meet in person! I was afraid they would want to meet in December, which is a bad month for my husband to get off work. He's busy like every possible time we could go during the week and then the airfare gets to be outrageous because of Christmas. I didn't especially want to go up there by myself, so I suggested early January and they accepted! So, I guess we're going up there the weekend of January 5 and my interview is on either the 7th or the 8th, whichever I want.

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!

When we got married a few months ago, I wanted to make sure that we established a healthy lifestyle within the first few months of being together because I knew that the habits we started would be hard to break. I think that we're living a pretty sustainable lifestyle so far, but when we move to the Northwest, we'll have a similar opportunity to start good habits. Here are a few things that I'd like to establish within the first two months once we move up there:

• Get involved with a church - We go to a church here on occasion, but I'd like to find a church home where we can not only attend regularly but also get involved in other ways to grow spiritually, help others, and meet people.


• Eat healthily - It can be hard to eat healthily here in Texas, where fried food, barbecue brisket, Tex-Mex, and hamburgers are so common. We should be able to eat healthier in the Northwest without much effort and I'm looking forward to that.


• Regular physical activity - There are a lot of outdoor activities available in the Northwest and I plan to enjoy them. I don't expect to become a serious hiker, but I'd like to hike, rollerblade, and find other ways to get exercise and enjoy the outdoors on a regular basis.


• Read - I like to read but haven't done it much lately. Citizens of Portland and Seattle read a lot and I'm looking forward to starting a habit of reading, partially to help me fit in but more because I'd like to read more often.


• Make friends and hang out with them - We don't know anyone in the Northwest, but I don't want things to stay that way once we move there. We don't make friends quickly by nature, but moving out of state should get us outside of our comfort zone and force us to be more outgoing so that we can get to know people and have people to spend time with. I'm not sure how exactly we'll accomplish this, but it's pretty important that we do.

Not much is new. My wife is doing a good job of finding and applying to individual companies in Seattle. She applied to an opportunity last night that sounded pretty good, so hopefully we'll get some responses soon, either from that one or from another company she's going to contact. After we each finish applying to companies individually we're going to start contacting recruiters directly. We've been working on this several hours every week - more than just one weeknight per week - and I'm excited about the progress we're making now. Of course the only result that matters is getting a job offer that we'll accept, but if we can keep up this pace I'm optimistic about the next couple months.