A look back at 2011

OK, so 2011 wasn't my best year. Parts of it really sucked, but parts of of were absolutely amazing. Basically it was a huge roller coaster of emotions, life-changing events and self discovery. Here's how it panned out:

January

• One of my best friends got married. It was the first wedding I had ever been a part of and the best wedding I can imagine for two people who worked so hard to get there. 
• Work at the Savannah Morning News took a turn for the worse with two copy deskers in the hospital and two more open positions that took forever to fill. I worked a lot of overtime at both the paper and my second job, which was a completely different entity.
• On the plus side at work, Newseum picked up my first front page for its "Top 10" feature.

February

• As the snowpocalypse was hitting the Midwest, I was designing another awesome front page that got chosen by Newseum.
• I turned 23 and celebrated with a few willing coworkers.
• I got preventative skin cancer surgery. It takes forever to heal. Read: still not 100%. 
• Over the course of this month and the next, I became great friends with a girl who lived near me. We became each other's only true friends in Savannah, and I psuedo-got a puppy out of the deal.

March

• The newspaper launched Morris' new content management system, Content Watch. It was horrible and at least six months from go-live ready. The desk worked very hard to work out the kinks, and succeeded on most accounts over the course of a few months.
• Two of my best friends came to visit me in Savannah for their spring break. Things we did include but are not limited to: a haunted pub crawl, getting hailed on, Savannah things and a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was a fantastic time.
• I survived my first round of layoffs at the Savannah Morning News. It shook me, but the copydesk didn't lose anyone, just two empty positions. Work got harder, and it became more difficult to stay positive. I tried my hardest.

April

• I visited an old high school friend and her daughter in Memphis during the Memphis in May concert series. I saw Jason Mraz live in concert, and my life was completed.

May

• My college "Quartet" got together in Kansas City for a weekend. We had a lot of fun, and I ended up cutting off all of my hair into a style that not only makes me look grown up, but also one that I will be keeping for a while.
• Work calmed down a bit, and I decided to stick it out for a while longer. 
• I bought a new laptop for freelancing/entertainment purposes. 
• I won a Georgia Press Association award for my work on the photo illustration cover of the 2010 election guide.

June

• I moved from my apartment complex in west Savannah to a refurbished house/apartment in downtown Savannah.
• I went to Ireland to visit a friend who was studying abroad. We did a driving tour of the island, and it was one of the best vacations I'd been on. 

July

• I drove to North Carolina to see some more high school friends and hang out on the beach.
• The last Harry Potter movie premired, and a huge part of my childhood ended.

August

• My cat, Maia, got sick again. She is on drugs on an off for the next month an a half.
• I survived my second round of layoffs at the paper, but a lot of other people didn't, including my immediate manager. I started looking for another job. 

September

• Three rooms of my basement apartment flooded with sewer water. 
• I said goodbye to Maia, as her health greatly deteriorated. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
• I redesigned my website for the Society of News Design conference in St. Louis. I was a networking queen.

October

• I saw another good friend get married in Columbia, Mo.
• I went back to Mizzou for the school's 100th Homecoming celebration. 
• I interviewed for several jobs, and I took one at the Gannett Design Studio in Des Moines. I turned in my resignation to the editor in Savannah (and my freelance job), as did three others in the matter of a week. 
• My apartment flooded two more times. I used the fact that the management didn't fix it after the first time to get out of my lease.
• Another good friend visited me in Savannah before I had to say goodbye to the beautiful city.
• The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, and I cheered them on every step of the way.
• My best friend in Savannah has a baby shower, which makes it harder for me to leave her in Savannah.

November

• I left my first job to start my second one (with a minor stint in Springfield, Mo., in between). I moved my stuff to Des Moines in an epic roadtrip of epicness, and I moved myself to Springfield. 
• I took part in the age-old tradition of banging Big Mo at the Missouri vs. Texas football game.
• I found a roommate in Springfield, who is also moving to Des Moines.

December

• My new roommate and I find an amazing house to rent in Des Moines. 
• My non-healing surgery doesn't heal even more. I go on antibiotics only to be allergic to them and end up in the emergency room with hives, etc.
• I rang in the new year in Kansas City, which is much closer to me now, with my college friends.

So, 2012, let's make a deal. I will go on less trips and pay off some of my bills if you don't be as much of a bitch as 2011 was. Deal?

This Postsecret postcard ran today. I can't help but agree.

Everything will fall into place

Hello blog readers! I have to admit, as I am writing this, I am feeling a little guilty about keeping you in the dark about everything that had been going on. I had to for a number of reasons, but I am sorry nonetheless. So, let's rewind a little bit.

In memory of Maia Nielzichbacherott

On Sept. 16, 2011, I lost one of my best friends. Maia was a part of my life for such a short time, but she helped me get through a lot with moving to Savannah. She was my only friend here for a while, and I love and thank her for helping me though it.

Maia's digestive sicknesses took a nasty turn and the vet eventually boiled down her diagnosis to some type of cancer in the intestines. Keeping her alive with chemo was just not an option, so I had to make the hard decision of letting her out of her misery. I didn't do it alone, and I thank all my friends for helping me through the ordeal.

I decided to cremate her remains and bring her back to Columbia, so Allie, Jayme, Amanda and I could all send her off together. It was more for my benefit than for theirs, I think, but I got real closure spreading her ashes at the Big Tree in Columbia.

Here's the Tree in April 2008. We didn't take any pics the day we commemorated Maia.

SND Conference, Sept. 20-Oct. 1

I was lucky enough to attend this year's SND conference in St. Louis. The city was really the perfect place for it to be. Not only did I get free room and board, but I was also able to use my mom's car for the weekend. On the whole, I was a cheapskate, but I still learned a lot!

The panel that will stick with me the most was actually the first one I attended. It was about doing more with less in newsrooms that are dwindling down to a few designers. I learned about what the res of the country is doing and got a couple of ideas to bring back to Savannah, even though they probably won't work out because the staff is almost too tiny to function as it is.

I saw other seminars and learned a lot from people who have been in the business for a lot longer than I have. I actually talked for a while with the people at Gannett, who are consolidating their design into five design studios across the country. I was skeptical about the idea at first because it is so easy to cut off communication that way. Having worked in two traditional newsrooms, I had a lot to ask about. In this digital age, though, it makes communication that much easier. And they are trying to keep as many natives as possible in the studios so that the designers are at least somewhat knowledgable about the area they are designing a paper for. I do have to admit that I did have some ulterior motives for speaking with them, too.  We'll get to that later.

My apartment saga

I moved into my new apartment in July. I had the highest hopes for it. I knew it was a lot older than my other apartment (more than 100 years older), but it was cheaper and in the Historic District. Then the first sewage flood happened.

I'm not going to get into the gory details of the flood or post pictures (ok, maybe just the one...).

The nasty remnants of flood No. 1.

The flood spanned three rooms and a hallway. That first time, the contractors had said that it had happened previously, too, and they would ask the property manager if they could run a camera to fix the problem. Manager said no, and it flooded less than a month later. And then less than a week after that.

After the third flood, my property manager got a quote from a water extraction company assessing the damage. It was at least $3,300 and included ripping up the baseboards and tile flooring to avoid mold and mildew form growing. Manager said no and hired people to clean the surfaces of the floors, leaving the water underneath to rot. Finally, though, they decided to run a camera to actually fix the problem rather than just clean up the mess. They left a hole in my floor for almost two weeks with a piece of plywood on top. After about a week and a half, they cut the plywood to fit the hole, but I still have no tile over it.

A blessing in disguise

So, given the things you have read already and what you may or may not know about my current work situation, can you guess what comes next?

During my 6 days off for Mizzou's homecoming, I was rented a car to drive up to Des Moines, where one of Gannett's design studios is located. I don't think they know how lucky they were to snag me, but the design director talked to me on the phone, and we set it all up. By the end of the day-and-a-half interview, they offered me a job. It was one of those interviews where you know they are going to hire you even before you talk with anyone.

The job involved me living and working in Springfield, Mo., for two months before I move up to Des Moines when the newspaper goes live at the studio. They'd pay my housing in Springfield for two months and storage for my stuff in the city of my choosing.

I didn't respond right away, namely because the signing/moving package wasn't anywhere near what I'd need to move across the country again. (You all know how that one turned out.) They gave me the weekend to decide if it's what I wanted. When the director called me back on Oct. 17, and I negotiated for twice as much for moving and even a pay raise. Then, I took the job.

That's right, folks, I'm coming back to the Midwest, and I couldn't be more excited. Everything seems to be falling into place. With all the crap that's been going on with my apartment, there's really no doubt that they'll let me out of the lease. And while I wish she were with me, even moving without a cat would be easier.

I keep going back to this quote on a magnet my mom gave me when I moved to Savannah a year and a half ago.

"Everything Will Fall into Place"

Life is life a giant puzzle. Though our futures may not be clear or turn out exactly as we expected, each of us has the strength inside to put the puzzle together — we just have to look for the right pieces. It may seem impossible, but keep striving. Life's pieces have a way of falling into place when you least expect it.

— Renee M. Brtalik

Non-design life

I've noticed that even though my blog is supposed to be following "the life of a publication designer," I very rarely actually talk about my life. You know, how Savannah is, what I do outside work and how things are in general. This post should solve all those problems for now.

Savannah
I'm loving Savannah. I'm going to love it even more after I move downtown, into the heart of it all. Right now, I feel like I am living in this suburbia bubble, and I want to be more mixed in with the beauty that is the Historic District. This is more than just a desire to move, too. I am actually doing it on June 30 or the weekend before (depending on if they let me move in a bit earlier). I found out after I signed the new lease that June 30 is a Thursday. While that works out for my normal days off, it means I won't get a lot of help to move all mah stuff.

The best part about where I'm moving, though, is that I will be 1/2 block from Forsyth Park. The biggest park in the Historic District, and a very pretty place to view the sunsets, I've heard. And just in case you're a visual person, here's a little snippet of Forsyth ...


I took this photo while I was here interviewing for the Savannah job!

The house I am moving into is an old funeral home, apparently. It was built in the late 1800s, and is now partitioned into eight apartments and owned by a local realty firm. I'm kind of excited to see if it's haunted!

Personal life
While I haven't met anyone of the opposite sex worth noting, I have become pretty close friends with a girl that lives in my current apartment complex. She is kind of in the same boat as me: moved here without knowing anyone, a 20-something college grad. We live completely different lifestyles (She works days, I work nights. She's a runner and works out all the time, and I'm ... not), but it's nice to have someone to just hang out with. I would have seriously considered rooming with her, but she has a dog. Maia would not be pleased with that.

Speaking of Maia, she is doing great. I have a feeling she's not going to like this new place as much because it's a basement apartment, but she'll deal. Now she can truely be a basement cat! She gets mad at me sometimes for not paying attention to her. I think she misses having other people around to bug. She follows me everywhere when I am home. Here she is with her new favorite toy.

Man, I feel like talking about my cat is like talking about my child. She is kind of my child, though.

Work life
Stuff has definitely calmed down at work. We are all getting used to this new content management system, and we are up to as full of a staff as we're going to get (one less person than when I started, but we also have one less section to design every night). I feel like I've hit a stride, and I am really glad I decided to stick it out in Savannah for the next year or so. This is not forever, though. At least that much I know about my future. Ideally, I'd like to go into working for a magazine after this. I feel like there's more job security in magazines than newspapers, but it's still a shaky business. I knew that going into it, though.

My plans
I don't have many plans for the future right now. I am just living, working and paying off my student loans and my car (and soon, my new laptop!). I do however, have a few trips planned. I know it sounds bad that I am in the process of paying off all these things and I'm also taking trips to places, but some of them I just can't pass up! (That and I can fly for practically nothing on American Airlines ...)

This weekend, I'm flying to Kansas City to visit my best friends from college. One of them lives in KC, and the other two are driving from Columbia, Mo., to hang out for a weekend. It actually works out really well because I'll get into KC at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, be able to spend practically all day there, spend all Sunday there, then leave on Monday without using any vacation days! I'll need those for later.

Here are my college BFFs and I two summers ago during our last band camp together.
We're all so tan!

In June, I will be visiting one of my friend's who will be studying in Ireland. Yes, Ireland. I'm planning to be there for about 5 days, and I am beyond excited! I haven't been out of the country in more then 2 years, and I am getting U.S. cabin fever.

I am so thankful for my mom's job perks to let me have the chance to do all this traveling. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to visit anyone, and sadness would ensue. All my friends and family are so spread out now, and having this ability is the best thing I could ask for.

I guess that's all for the non-design life post. I'll try to do more of these instead of boring y'all with what I did at work last night. Peace!


Day 12 – Home sweet home ... kinda

Today, I am to post a few photos of the town in which I live. These photos are from the first time I visited the city, on my interview for the paper. I really liked the atmosphere of the Historic District, and I don't think you can take a bad photo from that area.

This is one of the theaters I have yet to visit.

And this is Forsyth Park. Gorgeous.

The beauty of the city aside, I still have very mixed feelings about living here. It has been a lot harder to meet people than I thought it would be, and I am having a hard time relating to people at work now that one of my friends has left. I'm going to stick it out for a while, but I miss having close friends nearby more than I can even explain. I tried to fill the void by those silly dating sites, but I haven't found anyone worthwhile (or who has thought I am worthwhile). I'm just kind of sick of it. At least I have Maia!

Day 6 — I wanna puppy!

Today, my charge is to talk about an animal I want as a pet. I'm not going to go obscure and want a koala or anything (though that would be awesome), but I really do want a puppy. Right now, I have Maia, and she is really all I can take care of, so I am happy. But if I ever settle down somewhere and have a yard and more cash, I really want to get a dog. I'll get it from a shelter, and it will probably be a mutt of some kind because of the great experience I had with my childhood dog, Chrle (spelled that way, my spelling has since improved, but his name stuck). He was recently put to sleep at the age of 15. He was really the best dog ever.

Here's my younger brother, Erik, myself and a very young Chrle.

This photo was taken last year. Isn't he handsome?

Kitten shop's closed

I took back my recent batch of foster kittens last Thursday. I'm glad I did because Maia was starting to get sick. She couldn't keep food or water down, and she had pain in her abdomen. First, I took her to the emergency vet because this all started on Labor Day weekend, and normal vets weren't opened. They took X-rays, called it a gastrointestinal something and sent me home with some drugs and a $364 bill. They had given her some fluids, so she was feeling better and ate as soon as we got home — only to puke it all up plus the expensive medication I was giving her.

I took her back to the vet on Wednesday, and they decided to keep her for observation for a few days because all the tests they were performing were inconclusive. I took the kittens back to the Humane Society on Thursday, and I picked Maia up on Friday (and paid MORE $$). She is confused about the lack of kittens, but she is also a lot happier. She's eating, taking medicine and — most importantly — not puking it up.

I was really worried it was something I wouldn't be able to afford. Yes, I am getting paid, but that doesn't mean I can afford to drop thousands of dollars on a kitty surgery. I don't know what I would have done. I love Maia, and she is like my best friend here. I was really upset about losing her, and I am thankful that she is getting better.

No one can really tell me what was wrong with her, either. I'm thinking it was stress-related from the furry monster kittens I had for a few weeks, if that even makes sense. In any case, Maia is much more important than taking care of kittens for other people. So, the kitten shop is closed indefinitely.



For now, I am going to love me some Maia.