3 years!

I can't believe it! I have been in Nashville, TN for exactly 3 years. That is longer than I spent in Omaha...And this is coming from a gril who said she was NEVER going to move to Tennessee after Summer 2002. I had had, seen, and done enough of Tennessee to last me for a LONG time.

Well God had other plans. I left Omaha for Nashville June 30, 2007 and OFFICIALLY moved to Nashville July 1st. Dad and I had a fun little road trip across Missouri, though illinois, indiana and Kentucky to end up in Tennessee. Little did I know at the time that the real adventure was just starting.

I moved in with Allison temporarily, I think I was living on her futon for a month and a half or so, and we were in a sketchy sketchy neighborhood...but we though it gave us a little "street cred" if we could survive living there we could survive living anywhere...got to love

Murfreesboro road west of Briley Parkway :)

When I moved here I thought for sure that I could have a job in a month or two. I had experience, I had my degree, I was willing to work hard. As the days, weeks, and months went by I realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought to find a job. So I did what I had hoped I would never have to do, I took a job at Starbucks.

Even though I struggled with not having the job that I wanted. And I felt like working at Starbucks with a college degree was not living up to my full potential. Little did I know that it was the best thing I could have done! I learned so much about customer service,

I was not allowed to be shy, and that played a role in developing me into the account manager that I am today.

Once I got to Nashville I had to break out of my shell...When you only know tow people in town you have to step outside of your comfort zone to meet new people. So I got a hold of the Alumnae Chapter of Delta Delta Delta here in Nashville. One of the ladies told me that she made great friends in college as a Tri Dela, but she made her best friends as an alumnae Tri Delta. She said that the DDD friends that I make as and alum will be better and more significant in my life than my college friends... I kind of bocked at that, not really believing her, after all, DDD's from the Mid-west are quite-a-bit different from DDD's from the south. However, I don't know what I would have done with out my Tri Delta sisters here in Nashville. The ladies I have met are some of my best friends and have truly helped me though some of the hardest times in my life.

July 3, 2008 - I was offed a job! One year and Two days after moving to Nashville, I got the job that I had been hoping and praying for!!! Thank you Gurley Allegiant Direct (Allegiant Direct, Inc.).

During that first year in Nashville there were several times I though about leaving, going back home, and figuring stuff out there...but when it came to doing it, something always came up to keep me in Nashville, a friend renting me a room, the encouragement of my parents, or the job that I had been praying for.

The 2nd year was all about getting settled in and really making Nashville home. Near the end of the 2nd year my brother did what I had done 23 months earlier, he picked up and moved to Nashville from Las Vegas!

So I had a roommate, in my one bedroom apt...eek...the poor kid was living in the dinning room, on an air mattress. His story is very similar to mine. How hard was it going to be to find a graphic design job in such a creative city like Nashville, not too hard right? Wrong! The economy had tanked and people were laying off their graphic designers, not hiring new ones. He would get freelance type work here and there, but nothing consistant enough to rely on...So he like me found a "stop gap" job...Enters Target...Hey it pays the bills...he doesn't have to love it.

One of the biggest most exciting thing I did this past year in Nashville was start the Nashvillians for Nebraska, better know as the Nashville Huskers fan club! I have over 150 Husker fans here in Nashville. And those are just the ones I found on Facebook and other social networking sites...So who knows how many are out there that are not online! Ah the possibiliteis!

But THE BIGGEST thing I did in year 3 was buy a house...That means I am sticking around for several years to come. Nashville is home. It is a fantastic town, and a place where I have discovered so much about my self...

On to year 4, I am looking forward to what it holds for me.

E