{some changes...some news}

{via coco+kelley}

{via zsa zsa bellagio}

Some big changes are afoot for 2013.

impatient to know?

{news news news!}

I'm leaping for joy...

{via terrier&lobster}

I'm moving to the UK! If you read my blog regularly you'll know I adore Blighty and that I often spend my summers there. I have been desperate to move back permanently and the occasion has arrived! yipeeee!

{Charlotte Trounce}

& not just anywhere, but:

{LONDON}

yes L.O.N.D.O.N!!!

{via words&eggs}

So, as many of you know I'm an academic, and post-PhD, life can be pretty tough. You spend all this time working towards a huge accomplishment, only to find yourself back on the bottom of the ladder desperately trying to find a job amidst successful, smart, intellectual, and career-oriented people. and you apply. you spend hours & hours applying for job after job. You can't choose where  you want to live, because there are so few jobs, so you have to take whatever comes your way (and when one job does come up, you're one in 250 or sometimes 500 or sometimes even 1000). You get short-listed; you get an interview; and then it's been narrowed down to you and another 3 or 4 or 5 people. and then you don't get the call. & you start all over again. I didn't dare expect a job in my beloved UK, and certainly not near London. That was just setting myself up for expectations that wouldn't be met. But I hoped, and I tried...

& ALAS I got it! A dream job in the place exactly where I want to be. 

Now please, don't think I'm unfairly gloating. Rather, I just want to shout out to all others looking for an academic job, depressed at the prospects of post-doc life, that it WILL come. You just need to be super patient. not months of patience, but YEARS. I had to survive in teeny weeny towns, that totally were unsuitable to me, but something will come through. It truly is about perseverance. So hang in there my friends. In November I posted a quotable thursday quote on perseverance.  It was right after I found out I got the job (that trip to the UK was because of the interview-I had to keep quiet until the contract was signed). Anyway, it's worth reading every time you feel slightly fed up with life & trying. 

Finally, believe in your dreams. Anything is possible, but it does require A LOT of work. Don't think you can  obtain your goals on self confidence alone. Surround yourself with lovely friends & family who will support you no matter what, and work extra hard (this quote is also all about working hard to obtain the things you most desire).

I don't move until the spring... and before the mad rush of moving across the Atlantic and the nerves of starting a new job begin to stress me out, let me pause for a moment and celebrate and thank all my wonderful friends and family for their love & support. 

{pink cheers!}

Cheers!

{cheers!}

{appropriately attired bubbly}

{love this print by Megan Burk, buy it here}

so, if you will permit me, I'm going to squeal with delight for just a little longer. A big move is ahead...and an even bigger career move with expectations and stresses...so let me bask in this glory just a tiny teeny tinza bit longer. yay!
XO,
L