We’re about to close out 2019 and wow, it’s been a year! I had to pull out my calendar and remind myself just how much I had experienced, how much had changed, and what stayed the same. Here’s the skinny…

A year ago on December 31st, I bought my Jeep Cherokee. It was time. I had been driving my Subaru since 2006 and had spent the last few years fixing things here and there. In fact, when I went to sell the Subi, it was extremely hard to convince anyone it was worth more than the measly $1000 Carmax had quoted me. Too much work had been done on it, with non-Subaru parts, and it had almost 200,000 miles on it. Still, I loved that car. I drove it to the Dells, Michigan and Nashville. It hauled mulch, groceries, and most importantly, my pups. But, as I said, it was time. We went into Carmax that New Years Eve morning, after my sister had found the exact Cherokee I wanted — white with black leather, Trailhawk edition, with a huge moonroof that extended into the back seat — she always seems to find exactly what I need (she even found my house back in 2006). When we stepped into the showroom at Carmax, I wasn’t even in the car-buying mood but this SUV was too perfect to pass up. It had more bells and whistles than the Subaru would ever have, and I realized all that I had been missing by driving a 13-year-old car. Unfortunately, this last November, I was hit from behind by a woman who was going 30 mph and didn’t see that I was stopped at a red light. But the Cherokee was brought back to pristine perfection by a local body shop.

I rolled into a pretty uneventful January. Other than a checkup with the surgeon who’d done my spine surgery in November 2018, the month was pretty low key.

My first officially published story appears in this anthology about love and the ties that bind.

In February, I FINALLY became a published author. I bought 125 copies of the book that my story was included in (The Love Anthology: Stories & Poems about the Ties that Bind) and did a Facebook live stream complete with giveaways. I still have copies so if you want one, hit me up! I can’t express how incredibly awesome it felt to hold the book in my hand. I have been writing all of my life. The last ten years, I’ve even taken it seriously with the intent to publish. Currently, I’m submitting the first six chapters of a novel (Tame My Racing Heart) to my editor — I’ve only been chipping away at that one for a few years, LOL. Finally being published gave me a sense of immense pride when I attended the Sandburg dinner this year (more on that when we get to October).

I was also invited to participate in a breakfast series meeting in February, hosted by Gensler. The Chicago-based architectural, design, planning and consulting firm had included me in a discussion with other local facility leaders to talk about designing the people-centered workplace — a passion of mine. This was followed by another speaking opportunity alongside the likes of other workplace innovators like McDonalds, BDO and Ernst & Young. The career side of my life was going swimmingly, and the month ended with a writer’s retreat with James Scott Bell on Plot & Structure. February was busy!

March was quite the opposite, with nothing to report other than the hubby and I quit drinking.

Here’s where things get nuts again. I eased into my 49th year on the planet by seeing Hamilton on my birthday in April. Okay, I’m gonna be that person who says “I don’t get what the big deal is” because hubby and I did not like the show. And I LOVE musicals. It just didn’t live up to all the hype.

Mid-month I spoke at the International Facility Management Association’s monthly luncheon on the topic of fostering engagement in new office environments. Sadly, April was also the month we discovered our young pooch Wilbur has lymphoma. He is going through another round of treatments as I write, and his prognosis, well, it is what it is. There is no cure. To add onto my already busy schedule, I started taking my first MBA class with Lake Forest Graduate School because why the hell not. And I cried my way through Avengers End Game for the first of 3 or 4 times I’d see it in the theater.

May had me spending a lot of time with family. Whether it was celebrating my nephew’s 4th birthday, hanging out at the local restaurant with everyone, having the nephews for a sleepover so my sister could go meet Carrot Top, or taking my sis to her first Cubs game where we had super close seats by the dug out.

June brought me to Northerly Island where I got to stand at the stage as Father John Misty crooned to me and then onto Vegas where Robbie Williams (a bucket-list show) shook his butt onstage at the Wynn. I got to visit the new Charlotte office that our local Allstate branch had moved into, and sat in on a planning meeting where we’d hoped to convince the leaders that an infrastructure of key players was necessary for these new offices to thrive.

I had a sleep study in July because I was dealing with terrible fatigue and found out, as expected, that I have sleep apnea. And to make me feel older than dirt, my dad turned 80. At the end of the month, my team and I travelled to Denver for a conference where I spoke on a panel. We took long twisty-turny drives in the mountains and mid-week hubby came in to join me and we finished out the month there to…

…see another bucket-list show at Red Rocks in August. My Morning Jacket never sounded so amazing as it did on the side of a mountain. I’ve never been to a show where everyone is so respectful and happy. Must be the mountain air. We took more drives through some amazing scenery (Nederland, Carson City, we even hit the Zoo and got to pet giraffes). We saw Apocalypse Now in a theater back home, and it was quite an experience to see it on the big screen. I also started my second MBA class and got to meet one of my author idols — Sandra Brown, at an Anderson Books event.

September was equally busy as I saw another one of my idols, James Patterson, speak at another Anderson’s event. We saw the Goldfinch in theaters — and I only mention this because I read the 800+ page beast of a book and I was completely obsessed with seeing the movie. I have to say, despite the reviews, I thought it was lovely.

And then the funniest thing happened in September — I got a call, out of the blue, from a company called Sentinel Technologies. They’d seen my profile on LinkedIn and I had a phone interview with their recruiter about a new role they were designing for employee experience. Here’s where I’ll say that my career with Allstate was much like my Subaru. It was fine. I had been there 8 years and it got me where I needed to go. Allstate allowed me the opportunity to create a role for myself back in 2016 that took me back into the city when they opened a Chicago location. It gave me the chance to travel and speak in public forums, and for that I will be forever grateful. Unfortunately, those three years had also been excruciatingly challenging and I just wasn’t feeling it anymore — it was an uphill battle and I was tired. I was going through the motions and didn’t feel like I was making a dent — or at least, the dent I wanted to make. It was time for a change.

In October, before I left Allstate, I had one last thing to do. For the last 7-8 years, I had been offered to host a table at the Sandburg award dinners. This is where the best writers in Chicago stand on stage and sit with attendees. At past dinners, I had met the likes of Judy Blume (another idol), Scott Turow (who remembered sitting with me years back, what a thrill), and where I’d had one of my proudest moments when someone came up to me and said I looked like I’d be one of the authors. It must’ve been the leather jacket and leopard print. LOL. Still, it was a defining moment to be able to attend this year as a published author.

On the air at WRSE, Elmhurst College, with my idol, Terri Hemmert

Speaking of defining moments, I also had the opportunity to DJ at my alma mater, Elmhurst College. For the last few years, I’ve been on the air for homecoming weekend at WRSE. Back in college, I had started there freshman year as a DJ, quickly took over as music director, then program director, and senior year, I was their station manager. It was what led me to a career in radio. This last October, as I was doing my alumni show, Terri Hemmert, WRSE alum and WXRT midday host, popped into the station. Next thing I knew she was on the air with ME and my fellow alums! It was surreal because I felt like my life had come full circle in that moment. As a student, I had idolized Terri (and still do). Standing across from her, talking over the airwaves after all those years…it was moving to say the least.

I left Allstate and started the new gig at the end of the month, and cannot express how thrilled I am in this new role with Sentinel. It’s a great company, close to home, and gives me the opportunity to create programs and have meaningful conversations with employees to help drive and enhance their experience forward.

In November, I attempted NaNoWriMo and made turkey.

And here we are in December again. The month, hell the year, has flown. I’m feeling extremely fortunate right now as I sit at my laptop where I’ve crafted dozens of stories that need to be freed from my head. This might be the first year in a while that hasn’t kicked my ass — and that’s saying something. With 2020 on the horizon, I’m hopeful for another fulfilling twelve months ahead and wish the same for everyone I know.

Cheers!