Sometimes childish dreams do come true

Since starting my new job, life has continued to change...

In addition to scrambling to learn a variety of new technologies and software development processes on the work front, I started actively house hunting. Given the decrease in mortgage rates and home prices, it seemed a logical time to get serious about buying my first house. (Now, those of you who know me in person know that I've had a long-standing dream to move back to Oregon and settle for good in the place where I've been happiest. Unfortunately, these rough economic times seem to have put a damper on that idea. Oregon always gets hit harder and longer during economic downturns - and reports I get from friends on the ground include words like "desolate" and "desperate" - i.e. words one might more typically associate with a hard environment like Detroit. Even the most stable of employers are getting hit hard, and people think this is going to take several years to recover from. As much as I love Oregon, I can't put myself in a holding pattern forever - waiting, hoping, wanting it to be the right time to go back.)

So... I actually made an offer on a house I loved down here; however, I decided to withdraw the offer from a 3-way bidding war because, amongst other things, I wasn't comfortable with the 15min added commute each way. I also got scared. Pure and simple. (Even though prices have fallen in San Diego County, houses are still expensive and it's daunting to try to buy something as a single individual; it seriously means you're bound to working long hours at stressful jobs in order to get by.)

Since withdrawing my offer, I've decided to take some time "off" from house hunting in order to answer some personal questions that need answering before proceeding further. I've also got way too much happening at work to be able to devote adequate time to house hunting. In fact, given my workload, I decided I needed a "dangling carrot" - i.e. something to look forward to - in order to get through the next couple months. Me being me, I decided to book a trip...

September 2009: 2wks in Ireland

It's the Irish heritage odyssey I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl - even though I have no idea what part of Ireland my mother's mother's people hail from ;)