Thankfully, the site launched today, and while my co-workers and I still have a whole lot of work ahead of us, the extended days (as well as the practice of eating all three meals at my desk) seem to be coming to an end. For this, I am grateful, as I’ve come to the realization that as things stand now, I am one of those people who lives for the moment when she can finally leave work and pick up her “real” life. It’s been hard, not having much time to check in with that side of my existence.

Please understand, I have nothing bad to say about my workplace. It is not a perfect environment, but after five jobs and spectrum of bosses, I’ve learned that every place of employment has its own unique quirks, joys and dysfunctions. You learn how to manage the frustrations, appreciate the good stuff and do the things you truly love during the off-hours. And until I figure out how to make those jars and canning pots generate some revenue (beyond lining them up on the sidewalk and asking for a handout), I’m happy to have a job that typically allows plenty of time for those love projects.

If you’d like to see what my department and I have been working so hard on, please click here. I’m hoping you’ll be impressed. Please do recognize that this site is still a work in progress. Some of the sort/search functions aren’t working as we’d like and there’s more work to be done in bulking up content and photography. But all that aside, we’re quite proud.

Back at the beginning of January, someone told me that they could feel that there were some significant changes on the horizon for me. I grabbed ahold of those words like they were a delicious treat and kept them close by, for those moments when my discontentedness threatened to overwhelm me. I had a good idea in mind of what I wanted to those changes to be and didn’t want to conceive of the possibility that some other way might come to pass.

However, in the way that things most often work out, I didn’t predict the change that’s coming for me and it wasn’t along the path that I was hoping. Instead of finding myself closer to a full-time freelance career, I’ll be stepping down as the lead blogger at Slashfood at the end of this month. It’s not a demotion, I haven’t offended anyone with my posts about luscious food pictures or recipes for linguine. AOL has simply decided to alter the leadership framework of a few of their blogs, Slashfood included, and my skill-set and geographic location no longer fit the bill.

I was sad when I first found out, although as the days have passed, I’ve started to feel a good bit of relief in being released from the drudgery of daily, weekly and monthly reports and numbers. I’ve already starting doing some writing elsewhere and I’m looking at this particular change as one that will lead to more opportunities as opposed to less.

I woke up with a start about fifteen minutes before my alarm went off this morning, having just finished a dream in which I overslept and ran to the office in my sweatpants and tank top.  Luckily, my latent anxiety prevented that from happening in reality and I lay in bed awake for the final few minutes of unemployed time, staring at the slivers of morning light that were peaking through the slates of the blinds.

Once I got there, it was just like all the first days of work that have come before.  I filled out HR paperwork (I am quite excited to have health insurance again, after 18 months without).  I went on a walk around the office with my supervisor, meeting people, shaking hands and forgetting names as soon as they were told to me.  I set up my email and voicemail and read the employee handbook (did you know that there’s no ‘and’ in GPTMC’s name?).  I went out to lunch with some new co-workers, asking a bunch of questions and answering some in return.  And, at 8 minutes before 5 pm, I started watching the clock, looking forward to the moment when my time would be wholly my own once more.  Ah, work.