A booking!

Soooo exciting! I have finally booked my first part of my trip. I am listed for Seattle to Sydney via LAX on January 14th arriving on the 16th :) ok, so it may change, but its still exciting to have something planned!

Nothing too crazy happening in Little Rock, but I get to see a friend tomorrow at the Heifer Project then we're having a family portrait made.

Merry Christmas!

Well I made it home much easier this year than last, although with a nasty cold. So far its been all family time, including a treacherous trip in the rain for dinner on Wednesday night. Now my dad and I are playing with his new toy, Beatles Rock Band :) And I'm on my new toy, a netbook!

I got a couple of great travel books thanks to my mom and some delightful journals from my brother & his girlfriend. Oh, and lots of fun travel toys or things that will come in handy. My family is all quite impressed with this plan of running to the southern hemisphere and I've been advised that New Guinea has some cannibals to beware of...


I must say its probably the best trip home in a while because I don't have a work cell phone or a work laptop to worry about answering too!! That's my merry Christmas :)

To all of you, all the best on this wonderful holiday!

Just a few more days...

Literally, two more days of work...and really not even that many hours :) It is hard to believe that I'm really quitting and I won't have to worry about testing or making everyone happy. It will be sad to not be around my work family, we've spent so much time together the last year or so that it really is just another version of a family, quirks and all. I'm going to miss my sisters, aunts, brothers and uncles....but I'm not going to miss my job.

I sent an email to my team telling them the news early last week and it's great that everyone knows now. It's good to be able to talk about my plans, their recommendations, and its nice to hear that I will be missed (is that conceited?). I also sent an email to some of the managers and leadership that I have worked with and got some interesting responses including a VP that is sorry to see me leave, and someone who had been meaning to talk to me about a possible involvement with their team. That one was interesting...but in the end I need this trip! So I told them we would stay in contact and I fully plan on doing just that!

Today marks the end of my first Human Resources class as I just turned in my final exam. It was a good class, and reinforced my passion for HR especially in training & development and recruiting. For now I'll be taking a break from class too, but I think that will be resumed as soon as possible.

I'm super ready for Christmas! I'm ready to see my family and to celebrate all that the holidays mean :)

A Start

So I'm ready for an adventure, and I hope that you'll join me!

There will be much more to come but here are the basics:

• I'm quitting my job
• I'm moving out of my apartment
• I'm headed to Australia
• Then to New Zealand
• Then to South Africa
• I have very few plans :)

It's going to be great and I can't wait to see what happens in the coming months. I hope to use this to stay in touch with you, my friends & family, and may even to make some new friends too! Feel free to start loading me up with ideas, connections you might have and anything else you want to share :)