Let me write a post before people think I have really abandoned this blog like a sad puppy on the side of the road.

Work has been keeping me busy. Which is good. But it’s bad because it leaves me with no time to update the blog that lets you all know how busy I am! Catch 22.

But trust that this writing thing is going well. Coming up on year number 2 of full-time employment (pause for applause). Beginning to do a number of things that will set me up with different streams of employment. I’m loving it.

Personally, I wouldn’t.

Even though I started out as a newspaper major in college, I never really had a fondness for them the way I did with magazines. Newspapers were always so big and clumsy. I couldn’t snuggle in bed with the Metro section. It just didn’t work. Plus, all the text and the lightweight paper annoyed me. With magazines, there was at least some heft. Some notion that, “Hey, you might want to keep this around for a while.”

I get all my news online. All of it. I alerted my boss to an article I thought she’d enjoy in the Wall Street Journal. Her reply/question? What page did it appear on? I had no idea and when I went to go get a copy to tell her, I realized the newspaper felt weird in my hands. I hadn’t touched one in so long that it was like touching a strange fruit or a long-lost stuffed animal. Really strange.

But then I remembered election night and the days that followed. When they announced the results, I went berserk. I took a picture of the TV. I took a picture of my kids. I took a picture of the MSN.com homepage. Hmmm…That last one didn’t quite work. Websites have their place – and that place is primarily breaking news, need-to-know-now. When I wanted something to show my kids, pulling out a picture of a website isn’t going to cut. 

What did I do next?  I simply devoured every printed material I could get my hands on. I bought copies upon copies of every newspaper in a 35-mile radius. I wiped out the racks at Borders and Target.

I’m still collecting magazines as we speak. There’s something about the permanence of it that won’t let printed material die. Trust me on that.

Got some kudos at work today that made me feel good. Not that it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I like to embrace it fully, wear it proudly for a few days to give me the strength and energy to produce high quality work even when the rest of my life is demanding my time and energy also.

Trying to figure out what my career is going to be when I haven’t exactly figured out what I’m good at is proving difficult. I know I’m a writer, but applying those skills to different tasks (copywriting for instance) takes a lot more patience and revision than I’m used to.

But I’m getting there. Every day I go to work, I get a clearer idea about what I want my career to look like in 5, 10, 15, 20 years. That’s progress.

Sixteen months after graduating from college and 10 months after starting full-time employment, I had my first performance review.

I wasn’t nervous going into it, because my boss is the type to tell you at the moment (when it’s most useful) if there’s something you could work on. It’s easy to self-correct during the year, because she gives you running commentary to work on.

My first year as a true professional has been eye-opening. Still trying to figure out where I want my career to go, but I do know that I’m enjoying what I do much more than I thought I would. My job in a nutshell is to help the communcations team get the word out about our organization. And what an organization it is! We’ve launched programs to help misguided youth, we’ve attracted international businesses to the Cleveland area, we’ve given churches training to help them provide to the community. That’s about 1/16 of what we do. The work basically speaks for itself – all we have to do is figure out the most effective way to present it.

In an effort to spend as much time as possible outside the apartment before I go back to work, I packed up my son and we headed out to explore our city. (Well, “city” might be overstating it, but I refuse to believe I live in a “town” so let’s just call it a city, shall we?)

While we were out, we stopped at the library. Even though we’ve lived here for almost six months now, I’m just now making my way there.

Due to the current economic conditions, and my desire to save as much money as possible, I signed up for a library card. My habit of buying books is getting to be expensive, and if I’m going to keep up with all the latest bestsellers, I need to take advantage of the fact that there’s a place in our community that let’s you have books. That you can take home. For free. No charge. WHO KNEW?

I really want to begin reading more. The past two years I’ve read a book here or there, but I remember a time in my life where I would regularly plow through a book or two a week. I liked those days. I felt smarter when I was able to sit down with something longer than a magazine article.

But now I’m not sure where to begin. Any suggestions, dear readers? Any books out that made you think, gave you a new perspective on something? Let me know. I’m ready to put my card to good use.

I guess it’s official that we’re in a recession now. *Yawn*

The reason why I’m not stressing out or panicking or cursing to the heavens, “Why?!!? Oh why?!?!” is because I’ve been living like it’s a recession all my life.

This piece on CNN.com, about the many ways people are cutting back, made me chuckle. In the lede, a mom discusses moving into a smaller home and cutting out expenses such as getting her lawn serviced. 

Hmm, let me think about that for a minute. When I was younger, we lived in a smaller home. Heck, I live in an apartment now. My dad always cut our grass, and he bought enough rakes for us to help remove the leaves in the fall.

What people fail to realize in this economy is that for the first time, the financial conditions are forcing people to live like regular people. Regular people don’t drink $5 lattes and don’t get their dog groomed once a month. Regular people don’t live in 3,000 square foot homes with landscaped lawns. 

Regular people have been living paycheck-to-paycheck without any way to get those “luxuries” that other people speak of. How do you cut back when you’re struggling to survive as is? When are we going to tell those stories?

I’ve decided to retire my blogging activities at my fomer website and continue them here so this site stays as fresh as possible. For all you newcomers, welcome! I’m looking forward to your comments.

My life is so hectic right now that this post is going to be super short. I’ve been working, preparing for the arrival for my second child, and helping my first baby adjust to being the “Big Sister.” I’ve been trying to spend more quality time with my husband, reach out to my friends more, and generally just make time for myself.

As I get older, my priorities change. Five years ago, I would’ve looked at someone who had my life now and thought, “Boring!” But now, I wouldn’t change it for the world!

I’ve been trying to find the time to link my two sites together, or at least make the switch over to blogging on this site permanently. But alas, I’m still blogging over at ThatJournalist, so visit me over there for just a little longer to read what I’m up to. I have a lot of things in the pipeline (don’t I always?) so be sure to check me out!

I was at work on Wednesday, typing up a report and checking Cleveland.com’s home page like I always do, when I see an odd headline: “Two people shot at downtown high school.”

 Okay, that’s scary. The brief two paragraph article didn’t tell me much, which worried me. Are the events still unfolding? I wondered.

Well, most of you know the story now. A mentally disturbed 14-year-old freshman with a childhood full of rage and dysfunction brought guns to his downtown high school and proceeded to shoot, wounding four.

He later took his own life.

 What is going on? How did he get guns? Why was this – a shooting rampage – his answer to his problems? Why didn’t more people help him? Could he even be helped?

I don’t know, but I am scared. Scared for my daughter, scared for the students in schools who don’t feel safe. Scared for the teachers who can’t just focus on lesson plans, but who must also prepare for disasters like this.