The Day That Changed My Life

The first Friday of October, one year ago, was a regular ol’ day. I woke up, went to my job at Harvard– at the time, I worked as the Executive Assistant to the Dean– and anxiously awaited the start of the weekend.

Being Friday and all, I celebrated Cookie Friday with a new friend, a Harvard undergrad and CNC reader. We enjoyed cookies from Hi Rise Bakery.

I don’t remember the rest of the afternoon, but I assume that I was antsy to get home since Mal and I were going to Newport, Rhode Island for a mini vacation. Every year, his parents invite us to their timeshare to enjoy the weekend together. It’s easily my favorite weekend of the year.

On my commute home from Harvard that day, I missed a call on my cell phone. I sort of recognized the number and thought it might be my contact at NuVal. At the time, I was waiting to hear from them about a social media position. (Full story here.) A minute later, I received a voicemail. For some reason, I had a feeling it was an important phone call, so I got off the T to listen to the message.

Standing outside the Park Street station, I nervously listened to the voicemail. It the Senior Manager of Communications at NuVal offering me a job!!! Of course, I called him back immediately. We talked through the details of the position– all of which sounded great– but I still asked for the weekend to make my decision.

I did a happy dance outside the Park Street T station and smiled non-stop for the rest of the ride home. I must have looked like such a weird-o smiling to myself.

I could not wait to tell Mal my good news. Of course, he was psyched for me, but we had a lot to talk about before I quit my fancy-schmancy job at Harvard. Behind the scenes, I had been making some calculated decisions, but it was still a big life change. (Full story here.) My head was spinning on the ride down to Newport.

Once we got settled in Newport, Mal treated me to Thai food and pumpkin beers to celebrate. I was beyond excited about my potential new life!

When I returned to work on Monday morning, I resigned from my job. It was a scary decision, but I have never once regretted it.

NuVal’s job offer gave me the financial confidence to leave my position at Harvard to pursue blogging and freelance writing full-time. As much as I liked working for the Dean of Harvard, it just wasn’t the job for me. Now, I wake up every single day loving what I do. A year ago today, everything changed for the better.

I dropped Mal off at work this morning, so I could just swing by to pick him up on our way to Newport. On the ride home, I stopped by Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte, which I enjoyed while taking Murphy for an extra long morning walk.

When I returned from our walk, I enjoyed a yummy bowl of overnight oats made with vanilla soy milk, chia seeds, raisins, and two scoop of Barney Butter.

For lunch, I threw together a quickie arugula salad with mushrooms, tomatoes, and crumbled feta. I later topped my salad with balsamic vinegar.

On the side, I had some strawberries.

A Sunny Hemp bar and an apple for the road.

What were you doing one year ago?

Packing up and hitting the road. See ya in Newport!