Things are changing....

So I hinted last night in my post that I had some big news to share with the world, and I think that I'm finally ready to spill the beans. Obviously Keith and I moved to Philadelphia one year ago exactly so that I could start graduate school at Temple. We had a lot of ups and downs throughout the year, learned so many things and grew closer together in the best of ways. BUT, for me one thing just wasn't exactly what I was hoping for... and that was school. So as of next week I will no longer be continuing my journey at Temple, as an Art History student. This is a decision that Keith and I actually made together more than a month ago, but waited to share until after the wedding was over and the pieces of our life were a little more put together. This definitely was NOT an easy decision for me to make, mostly because Keith and I both uprooted our lives to move here so that I could be in school. At first it seemed crazy to quit, especially since I only have one more year left, yet the more and more that I thought about it I couldn't come up with any reasons to stay. Bottom line: I really did not enjoy it. I don't want to say that I hated our life last year, because that is not true by any means, but I did not enjoy the program I was in, I had lots of trouble making friends and feeling part of a community and graduate school just didn't seem to click with me. It was a pretty tough year. Anyone who went to high school or college with me knows that even though I may complain about it.. I love school. I love school because it's something that I'm good at, but graduate school? I was not good at that. I spent my entire first year coasting through all my classes which is so not me, and for something that I seemingly love so much, I left last year feeling disheartened and completely un-passionate about anything I studied. Here is the deal, at this point in my life and my career, I don't feel that school is something that I'm meant to be doing and we cannot justify spending another $20,000 on something that I don't enjoy. As I embarked on making this decision I tried my hardest to think back to a time in my life when I felt least stressed and most happy and that for sure was the year that I took off from school and worked full time. That was such a huge sign to me, and was a big help when it came to actually quitting school. I definitely plan on returning to my masters degree at some point in my life, and I worked it out with my advisors that my credits will still be usable... I just don't think right now is the time for me. It's obviously hard not to immediately feel like I wasted this whole past year, and made a poor decision in quitting my amazing job in Florida to move here but Keith and I both agree that we came here for a reason, and it strengthened our relationship in so many ways. I wouldn't have known graduate school wasn't for me until I tried, and now that I have we can only move on from here. I think that our last year in Philadelphia we both grew up so much, and I would never take any of that back. Talking to friends this summer, many of them asked me how my first year of graduate school went and after realizing that I said not one positive thing to anyone, I knew it was time to reevaluate. I'm usually the kind of person that will stick to my guns no matter what kind of decision that I make, just so that I don't have to go back later and admit defeat, but this is one situation where I am sucking up my pride and waving the white flag. Your opinions are definitely welcome, but judgements are not.... this is the best decision for Keith and for me at this moment and we could not be more excited for what the future holds for us!

Moving on from this point, I'm going to start looking for another temporary part time job this week so that we don't feel so crunched for cash as I start to pursue full time positions. My plan for after graduate school was to apply for jobs nationwide and see where it took us, and that plan is just being pushed up a year. I really feel like this is something that I need to be patient with in order to find that right position and the right city for Keith and I, but we're pretty excited about the adventure. For now, we're holding tight here in Philly but within the year we hope to be moving on to something bigger and better.

I can't thank my family enough for being so supportive of my decision, and I hope that my friends are as well. I'm very sorry that we waited so long to tell everyone, or if you feel like we left you out of the loop. Timing was everything for us, and we didn't want to add to ours or anyone elses stress levels before our wedding. Please feel free to call either of us if you have more questions to ask us about what's going on in our lives right now.

Here's to the future!