Things have been a bit crazy and I feel terrible that I haven’t posted in over a month!

I’m finally getting back into the groove of things and I’m excited to share a life update on all that’s been going on. From starting a new job, to a whirlwind trip to the UK, a new look, and a Napa vaca rerouted – it’s been a busy few weeks.

But I’m happy to be back and I’ve got plenty of goodies coming to OMC! I might have stopped posting but I definitely didn’t stop baking or crafting 😛  But before all of that, continue reading for an update of my past month – including a  video of me glamping in the British countryside ✌️🇬🇧

EMPLOYED AGAIN!

After three months of fun-employment, I am excited to say that I’ve started a new job at a new creative agency!

The company is called White Label UK and it is a drinks marketing agency. Basically, I spend my day developing programs to convince more people to buy liquor 🍸 It’s headquartered in London, just opened its Chicago office a year ago, and has a cool, start-up vibe. We’re even in one of those communal office buildings that has free breakfast and endless La Croix 😉 It’s a fun new adventure and I’m pretty stoked for what’s ahead. I’m also excited to be making money again (haha!)

I have to admit though, the journey to actually getting a job was difficult. I’m by no means brilliant at interviewing or at applying to jobs but I did learn a few things from this experience.

MY TOP 4 JOB SEARCHING TAKE-AWAYS

ONE | I found that finding contacts and networking paid off far more than just applying to a job posting and sending it into the cyber abyss. LinkedIn is awesome for finding connections and even if a job doesn’t work out, these contacts can be really valuable later on. I know it’s scary but actually talk to people.

TWO | It’s so tempting to take your resume and use it for everything, but tailoring the resume for the company and job you are applying for is much more effective. You can’t possibly include everything you’ve ever accomplished onto one piece of paper. Take the opportunity to highlight the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the job.

THREE | Companies interview you to fidn out if you’d be a good fit. But it’s also a chance for you to make sure the company is a fit for you too. It was important to me to think about what my priorities are when looking for a new job and being sure to find out if the company can give that to me. It should work both ways.

FOUR | Some people are lucky enough to find the perfect, dream job but for many people, we have to make choices. While I did try to weigh all my options, wrote pros and cons, and tried to predict the future, I came to realize that as long as my next job will help me grow and I’ll be happy, it doesn’t have to be perfect. These moments in our lives will always be stepping stones and a learning experiece. It’s never the end all be all and it will all be okay.

GLAMPING IN THE UK

I started my new job on September 15th. Five days later, I was hopping on an overnight flight to London for our company’s annual work retreat. Not only have I not met (or really even communicated) with the London team, I only knew the Chicago team for about 4 days! But, how can I turn down the opportunity to travel across the world and go glamping as what was essentially my work orientation?

I never actually went into the city of London. After the flight, I left Heathrow Airport and headed to a London suburb where I met the rest of the White Label team before we all piled onto a charter bus. To where? Well, only a small handful of people actually knew the plans for this Weekend Away retreat. All we knew was that we were going to a camp site somewhere in the country side.

I put together a little trip recap video, Instagram story-style as I don’t think words can fully describe this experience. It was a complete blast, everyone was so welcoming and fun, plus…I had the chance to compete (and win) in a Hunger Games competition. 😉 It’s a bit of a long video (about 6 minutes) but I promise it’s fun!

SHORT HAIR DON’T CARE

To be honest, I don’t really get that phrase. To me it just sounds like a Millennial way to brag flippantly. Yes, I too, am a Millenial and I know this makes me sound really old and grumpy.

I’ve been waiting until I got new job to cut my hair. It was a treat for myself in celebration. Also because I didn’t want to drop that kind of money when I wasn’t making any. Decided to do something different and go all in on a bob – and some rose gold highlights 😉

Credit goes to Solo Salon and the fab hairstylist (and the sister of a friend of mine,) Coby. Never had my hair this short in quite a long time (if ever) and Coby was awesome taking me through it. It was her idea to go rose gold and I was totally down for something fun!

I admit though that hair dyes that are in the red family don’t tend to last long. But even as the rose gold color faded, the base highlights still work really well.

TURNING ST. LOUIS INTO OUR OWN NAPA

My boyfriend, Zach, is an Emergency Doctor doing his residency so he doesn’t get a ton of vacation time. So when his family invited us to go with them to Napa Valley, we were super excited. Wine and sun – a great way to spend a long weekend.

Well, the week we were suppose to head out there was also the same week of those Northern California fires. Following the news of those fires were terrifying. I read stories of families not being able to evacuate in time and couples hiding out in their pools as fires raged overhead. Just the fact that people lost their homes and businesses put a pit in my stomach. We, of course, canceled the trip. But, Zach and I decided to reroute and make our way down to St. Louis to spend the long weekend with his family anyway.

Most people don’t know this but Missouri actually has it’s own little wine country! We decided to spend a day out there, visited a few wineries and enjoyed some pretty incredible weather. The rest of the weekend was fairly low-key but honestly, just what we needed. Though we couldn’t make it out to Napa, that weekend showed me how the most important thing is surrounding yourself with people you love and spending quality time together.

And hey, if you drink enough wine, it really doesn’t matter where you are. 😂

FINDING BALANCE – WORKING & BLOGGING

Though I am disappointed that I haven’t been able to update my blog in quite awhile, I’m happy to say that it’s not because I lost interest. These past two months have been really busy but with good things, things that I wanted to be spending my time doing. Aside from that week I got sick and had to suffer through a strep throat. That was not fun.

Now that I have a full time job again, I need to figure out how to do all the things I want to do! To all the ladies out there who work, have a family to take care of, and also manage a side hustle, you are my heroes. I feel like I am lucky if I manage to make lunch and dinner.

Thank you for all the support on this creative endeavor so far. No matter how busy I get in life, I know I will also remember to Eat Well & Be Creative.