Purpose of Post
I do a blog post for every birthday that I have. The purpose is to reflect on the year and what happened. To take a step back and see what I can do to improve myself and continue growing for the next year.
Seems like every year there are up’s and down’s that happen. Some year’s a lot happens and other years are tame and frankly, kind of boring. This year in particular was an exciting one for me.
Start of the Year
A year ago at this time I had no idea what was going happen. I had just started freelancing and Beth and I were in the middle of talking about moving to California. Honestly, at first, I hated the idea. I was pretty set in my ways as I had a band that I love playing in every day, I was working for Apple, and I had some amazing friendships that were just starting to take off for the first time since college. Things were going well for me.
I took a second and thought about what this would do for Beth’s career and how I know Beth would move in a heart beat if I asked her too. Then I realized that this is part of being in a marriage. You take some and give some. It was my time to give. So I took a leap of faith and told her I was game to move. Heck, I knew it was an adventure and I knew I wanted to get out of Nebraska sometime in my life to see what it’s like. We spent the month of December prepping for the move and arrived on January 1st 2013.
Mid Year
I was lucky to have established my career in Omaha it made freelancing easier as I knew more people and had referrals coming in quite a bit. This kept me busy while I got use to my new surroundings and gave me a reason to grow and learn in my job. I did this by learning WordPress and going to a few developer meet ups which paved the way for my career path. More on this later…
I was also lucky enough to work from home. It allowed for me to travel with Beth more than I had ever traveled in my life and experience new places that were known to me but I was never lucky enough to visit. Here are a few of the place we have been this last year.
- San Francisco – like 10 times – By far the greatest city ever
- Monetary / Carmel
- Sonoma
- Lake Tahoe
- Portland
- Oakland
- Reno
- Point Reyes
- Mt. Shasta
- Denver & Breckenridge
I’ve been posting pictures of all of these trips through out the year on my blog. Feel free to check them out.
Last Half Of The Year
I was fortunate enough to attend developer conferences as I stated above. I figured since I now live in the tech capital of the world I better take advantage of it. This gave me the opportunity to meet a great company whom I’ve been fortunate enough to become employed by: Bourn Creative. I’ve been very thankful of this opportunity as it has given me the chance to learn and grow as a developer. I feel I’ve bettered myself and learned quite a bit in the 2 months that I’ve been with the company. Not only has it been humbling but it’s also been rewarding at the same time for me. With this position I’m still able to travel with Elizabeth and spend time with her as she travels for work.
Just this last week Elizabeth and I decided to purchase a house in the Roseville area. This has been quite the experience for us. Moving is never fun but purchasing real estate in California has been an eye opening experience. I’d say homes in California are 2.5 times more expensive than in Nebraska and there isn’t much to choose from. We ended up finding something that we love quite a bit. I can’t wait to get everything the way we want as we just moved in this last week.
Next Year
Ever since turning 25 years old I don’t get excited for my birthday’s anymore. Getting older just doesn’t sound exciting but I will say my spirit is still youthful. I may have to pay a mortgage, budget for bills, and be responsible but we still have fun everyday. If we left out the fun we would be bored and I don’t think this last year was a boring one in the slightest.
I anticipate a very fulfilling 28th year on this world which will include traveling, learning, and growing. I hope to find a new band in the Sacramento area and establish new friendship in California. I also hope to be open minded and continue to try new adventures like my paddle boarding experience I had earlier this year. Whatever this next year holds I’m sure it’s meant to be.