1 Year Anniversary

Hello Everyone,
  Well it has officially been one year tonight since I started living in California.  The past year has been exciting and a little scary as I embarked on an adventure of which had many strangers in my future who have turned out to be very close friends.  Over the past year I have grown as an individual professionally.  I started as an Assistant Principal with one set up duties of which I learned and became relatively proficient at to change to another job this year with a new set of duties and responsibilities.  When I think back over it in the last five years, I have changed jobs three times and each time had the chance to increase my knowledge base and apply my talents in a variety of ways.  In the past two years I have changed jobs from one in SC to one in CA and have had to learn three different jobs.  I think this year may be my most challenging year with the increase in responsibilities.  I am looking forward to the new challenge as it prepares me for whatever lies ahead.  Change does not bother me, it is part of life and many times I am influencing the change that is going on and pushing others to move forward.

  Cute little Squeak joined me in CA in November and has been a constant companion and friend.  She lays down with me at night, is there when I get up as my alarm clock, welcomes me home and sits with me wherever I am.  She is being a little demanding right now, always wanting to sit on me or with me making it difficult to get things done when I am home.  I am not sure if it is because she is getting older or more needy.  I feel bad leaving her sometimes when she cries in the morning and follows me around the apartment. However, she does not want a friend.  I tried that with Megan's cat Gizmo and therefore it did not work - she wants to be a only kitty!

  I have made some fabulous friends though professional relationships.  I have gotten to know my Assistant Principals in the district well and enjoy all the gifts they bring to the table to share with each other.  They have been accessible and open with information so we can each help one another as we develop as Assistant Principal's.   I have some great friends personally as well that I have bonded with and spent time with over the past year.

  I have also finished all of my research for my doctorate and have been awarded a one year extension for the writing portion.  I have been working on a regular basis but not moving forward as quickly as I would like, but mainly because I don't like writing and it seems like any time I write anything down, it has to be changed four times and goes back to the original at times.

  While I love California, the weather, the activity, my job, my apartment and my friends, the last 6 weeks have been difficult.  I am staying positive but I will say that in the last 6 weeks there has been more changes in my life completely outside of my control than I ever thought would be possible and they have been quite challenging for me.   I am hoping to ride out these changes and have things settle down and the sooner the better, however, again, much of it is dependent on other's decisions.

  Sorry for the shortness and the brevity of this post.  It seems like for the one year anniversary I should have more details and information but to tell you the truth I have been so busy at work with new job responsibilities and the new year getting ready to start, getting up to try and get a workout in before work and with the PhD writing, I have not had a lot of time to blog.