How did a San Diego girl end up in Seattle?

You want to live where?

As I was writing up the first big epic post for this blog I realized that the back story on why I am in Seattle and buying a houseboat was well... epic and long.  Blogs posts shouldn't be quite that long, so I decided to split it up a bit.  If someone finds this blog to learn about living on a houseboat, I'm sure they don't care about why I live in Seattle, and this way they can skip that whole section.

Where I came from

I was born in New England but both of my parents are from northern California and their families had been there for generations.  My maternal grandparents moved to Sedona, AZ when I was very small so when we would go visit family we would split time between CA and AZ for the most part.  I loved California, and though I chose to go to college in Utah I always knew CA would be my home.

Moving to CA

Due to weird circumstances and a conversation at a bar at GenCon I had an offer to work at a game company in San Diego, which I did not hesitate to take.  It was my first job in the Game Industry, and honestly just about everything momentous that has happened in my life came from taking that job, including my move to Seattle.  I loved San Diego, I had found my home.  The weather and climate was pretty much perfect for me, I made friends and had relationships, and forged connections with people that I will treasure for my whole life.

So, why are you in Seattle now?

The game industry is a fickle place.  I love it, can't imagine working in any other industry, but layoffs are pretty common.  I had managed to avoid them up until January of 2015.  I was working at Disney and due to reasons, got laid off.  Lots of things happened for lots of reasons and it came to where I couldn't find a job that fit in San Diego, or even the surrounding area.  I had a dear friend up at ArenaNet in Seattle, and he had told me to call him when I was willing to move, and it was time.  So I called and got a job and moved myself up here to Bellevue.  Scary!

Have you found home?

That is the funny thing, I think I have.  San Diego was home and I will always love the area, but I found another home.  It's different, I have seasons again! But the climate isn't all that makes a place home.  Again, I have made dear friends, I have forged connections that I will treasure for a lifetime, and I have a job I adore.  I sold my condo in San Diego last year, which was always the plan, but it was a big commitment to staying in Seattle.