So, it’s, uh, been a long time since I updated. How was your holiday? Mine was good, very busy. Saw lots of friends and family, good times. Let’s see, what else? Oh, I moved. Back to California. It was both a long time coming and very sudden, and it was one of the most overwhelming things I have ever done. I was totally consumed with all the drama of work and leaving, not to mention packing and all of that. I’ll start at the beginning.

The Monday after Thanksgiving (November 29th), I talked to my boss and the President of the company. I told both of them that after a lot of thought and evaluation, I had decided to move back to California for three reasons: 1) personal ties, 2) job dissatisfaction, and 3) salary. My boss was very understanding about it all (being that he is located in California, he understood my desire to be back), but he was sad that I was leaving the company and wanted to know what he could do to keep me. The President reacted in the same way, and asked what it would take to make me stay. I told both of them that I wasn’t using this as a bargaining ploy, but that I was unhappy in my job and personally and financially, going back to California was the best move for me. The President asked me to give him some time to see what he could do, and to please keep it to myself for a few days while he worked something out. I told him I would, which was my biggest mistake.

Days and days and WEEKS went by and I heard nothing. I was on hold, thinking I was going to be offered a promotion, or a raise, or SOMETHING that I would at least have to consider before I could really get into the process of moving. I inquired to my boss, or HR, or the CFO every day for some information. It finally got to the point where I told them that I was just going to go ahead and continue as planned, since I had given them TWO WEEKS to make some sort of decision about me. I had an interesting conversation with the CFO and President of the company, and then that was it. It was upsetting and extremely anti-climactic and unsatisfying. I wasted all that time. I had two weeks to pack up my whole apartment, sell my stuff, say goodbye to everyone, and Christmas shop. Luckily Mike was able to come out at the last minute and he REALLY helped me with a lot of stuff. Then Kyle was there the last four days and helped out a bunch, too. But it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, this moving across the country thing. And yes, I’d done it once before, but this time it was much, much harder.

My friends in New York threw me a really fun going away party, and a lot of my coworkers said wonderful things about me and how hard it would be to replace me. But, in the end, I really feel like I didn’t give my proper goodbyes. Because I couldn’t announce my departure until two weeks before the holiday break, many people had already left. Plus, since I was so busy, I really didn’t get to enjoy that last month in the City the way I would have liked. I am disappointed and annoyed with how everything ended, but I am not going to dwell on it. New York City is an amazing, wonderful place, and I really do love it with all of my heart. I didn’t leave because I didn’t like the City. I left because I missed California, I missed my family and boyfriend and friends, I missed the ocean and driving and Baja Fresh and all those little things. California is my home, but I will always consider New York my other home. Throughout the whole month of December, I wanted to write all these things I loved about the city, and I would compose a million entries in my head, but I never had a spare second to write any of them down, not even on a scrap of paper. I loved the subways and my little apartment, and the late-night food. I loved my friends and most of my coworkers, and sometimes I even loved the tourists. But in the end, I didn’t love my job and I didn’t love going into debt for it. I was very, very unhappy everyday and it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I’ve always said that my job funds my life and that my job ISN’T my life. When it got to the point where my job was not funding my life and was, in fact, making me pretty miserable, that’s when I knew it had to stop. I am sad that I had to leave the city and my friends out there, but they will always be my friends and I will always have New York.

It’s great to be back in So Cal! Although, this crazy rainy weather leaves something to be desired. I have spent the last few weeks seeing my friends and family. This weekend we are moving my stuff into my new place…which is actually an “old” place – Mike’s house! So it’s a very exciting time and I am loving almost every second of it. What seconds am I not enjoying? Well, I am still working for my company. And it sucks. To make a long story short, because they dragged their feet with me, they didn’t have enough time to hire my replacement before I left. So they asked me to be a “temp” and do my job from the west coast office until they hire someone. It’s lame and it’s been extremely complicated, and I wish I was independently wealthy so that I could have told them to shove it. But I needed the money and the good references, so I said that I would help out. Sigh. But it’s the only black cloud on my move back to LA (except for the literal ones that are dumping buckets on Los Angeles as we speak!).