My time in the “welcome to corporate life” academy was the highlight of my post-college life, and the people I met there have forever changed the course of my life.  This Thanksgiving, I will be sitting next to several of these beloved people and thanking each of them for their presence in my life.  I am so grateful to have my friends from Boston and London visiting Dallas this weekend.

For those academy darlings who are not in Dallas to feast at Dave’s, I miss you and am thankful to have you in my life too; especially you, Tommy McD.

As for my primary family, I will be missing you all and hope we are all together soon (preferably during a warmer time of year up north).  Make sure to have a few of the following for me: my mother’s Iowa corn, Aunt Margie’s cream puffs, Aunt Gail’s pumpkin cookies, Aunt Jo’s potatoes, Uncle Gordie’s blue pop (wink), Uncle Richard’s pear wine (careful though…), Aunt Arlene’s turkey and Aunt Tina’s amazing salads.  Brett and Derek, you can have my dessert.  I actually miss you all…not just the food…I swear!

To my hometown loves, I feel a pang of sadness in my heart when I think of the festivities going on at Sportsman’s this week.  Please have a few beers for me, and tip the bartender if she is sporting her Thanksgiving shorts…oh, you know which ones.

valentine Pronunciation [val-uh n-tahyn] Use valentine in a Sentence–noun A written or other artistic work, message, token, etc., expressing affection for something or someone.

Dear Autumn,

Ah yes, it’s autumn yet again and that pumpkin-shaped hole in my heart has been filled.  That’s right, the leaves are changing, the air is cooler, drunk people in burnt-orange shirts are wandering around Uptown Dallas on Saturday afternoons and Starbucks has their pumpkin-flavoring out.  I LOVE this glorious time of year, and I want to sing these affections from my balcony.

For the last 3 falls, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing autumn in 3 very different states: Iowa, Rhode Island and Dallas.  Each one has offered up something delightful in this already wonderful time of year, and I’m going to share my favorites from each with you:

• Hawkeye football tailgating: Iowa City, IA has some of the best tailgating the BIG 10 conference has to offer.  Hawkeye fans show up in droves around Kinnick Stadium at painfully early hours to begin their autumnal Saturday ritual.  There’s cold beer (usually the cheapest brand one can find), drinking games and tiny grills/BBQs in a sea of black and gold.  Although the ritual usually turns into a drunken mess, it’s a great fall tradition that I miss dearly…right, there’s a football game too…

Me at an Iowa tailgate during my final year of college

• Fall colors: Rhode Island and the whole of New England have a plethora of trees.  When fall hits and the leaves begin to change colors, you are in for one of nature’s loveliest treats.  The spectrum of colors in a vast sea of trees is a feast for the eyes and is worthy of a long drive through New England.  I thought coming from the Midwest meant I’d seen leaves change, but it does not compare to the fall colors in New England.  Book a fall trip to RI or Mass and enjoy—trust me.

Fall Colors

• Reprieve from the Texas heat: This past summer was my first Texan summer, and the legends of brutal heat were true.  From June until just recently, I found outdoors to be intolerable unless I was in an overly air conditioned apartment or lounging by a pool.  That is why I’ve loved the suddenly cooler fall air outside.  I’ve brought my sweaters to the front of the closet again and turned off the expensive AC.  The past few weekends have been fantastic weather for walking around Dallas, checking out the scene in the arts district and sitting on a patio at an Uptown Dallas pub (favorites: Ginger Man, Quarter Bar and Black Friar).  This fall weather is a much-needed reprieve from the brutal Texan summers!!

Until next year,

Trina

Many of us have lived a life with minimal risk.  It is in this riskless lifestyle where we create comfort zones allowing us to continue on in a steady state of happiness.  Others of us have shattered our comfort zones by taking major risks, such as moving to Colorado or traveling abroad, as soon as we were able. 

My life up to my twenties was mostly lived in my comfort zone: Iowa.  I was born and raised in Ida Grove, IA (Northwestern Iowa).  Although it was small with only 2,350 people and one stoplight, Ida Grove was a truly blissful place to grow up.  I was among life-long family friends, close to a majority of both sides of my family, able to roam the streets on my bike at all hours and felt very safe—the only crimes I can remember were drug related and rare.  My parents were happily married and both had steady, full-time employment.  Life was grand.

Despite all the comforts, I had been yearning to experience culture and life in a big city from an early age.  Ida County is particularly rural and far from…everything.  We were 1 hour to Sioux City, 2 hours to Omaha and around 2.5 hours to Des Moines.  Wal-Mart and fast food places were 26 miles away, and the nearest shopping mall was in Sioux City (you shopped with a mission).  The population was homogenous to say the least with nearly 99% of residents being white (most of them probably Christian), less than 1% foreign born and less than 2% speaking a language other than English at home. 

Country Roads Back Home

When it came time to end high school and leave this safe haven, I went as far as in-state tuition would allow: IOWA CITY.  My first few years at the University of Iowa were incredibly happy.  I was surrounded by a mixture of native Iowans, Chicagoans who migrated over for school and many free spirits.  Iowa City is a very unique spot in Iowa filled with artists, liberals, academics and free thinking people.  I finally settled on Biology/pre-medicine as my track and was pushing myself intellectually in the best kind of way.  Iowa City seemed to be the perfect stepping stone for a small-town girl desiring a bigger city (the Chicagoans thought the “Iowa City is a big city” bit was hilarious).

It was in my final months at Iowa when I started to have these intense moments of clarity.  It was a combination of study burnout, self-inflicted exhaustion, a desire to know who I was and a gut feeling that screamed “GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY!”  I was having a flash of my twenties in expensive medical school in the state of Iowa (where I got accepted)…and I HATED it.  I had an epiphany that I needed to use my twenties to discover who I was, and I knew I wasn’t a life-long Iowan.  I had nothing holding me back…why not leave?

I looked for grown up jobs in Chicago, but I wound up finding a company out of Plano, TX (North Dallas) with a development program for healthcare IT consultants.  I was to be in Plano for 3 months, learn all about healthcare IT systems and then be deployed to any of the cities with open roles.  This was a huge RISK and unlike anything I’d ever done before.  Also, was I really going to be moving to Texas? 

Prior to my Texan adventure, I spent my last few days in comfortable Ida Grove…comfortable is perhaps the wrong word.  I was stressed, not sleeping particularly well, experiencing heartburn (it’s horrible!) and losing my appetite (this really never happens!).  I’d made the decision without hesitation, but the enormity of it was hitting me like a freight train.  Part of me was thrilled about the adventure and potential self discovery, but the other half was terrified of the unknown.  I took deep breaths and headed to Texas.

My first 3 months in Plano wound up being some of the happiest in my life.  Texas was warm in the winter, I fell head over heels for an Irishman and I met some of the most wonderfully diverse and funny people.  I grew up, learned about self awareness and started to build confidence.

Leaving Iowa for Texas was a 751 mile leap outside of my comfort zone.  After the development program ended, I was sent to Chicago very briefly, then to Rhode Island for 8 months and now back to Dallas.  All of these moves were out of my comfort zone and some of them were NOT POSITIVE experiences.  Even though there was a lot of pain, I wouldn’t change any of them, because I grew up in the process.  I’m a tougher, better person because I stepped out of my comfort zone, and I amassed some great stories through it all.

Dallas Mates in Austin

I knew some time with my family was what I needed, because I find spending time with people who get you down to your core is an amazing way to refocus and re-center.  This Saturday I boarded a plane to Omaha to spend a week at my parent’s house in my hometown.  It has been almost 9 months since I’ve been home (a reality I accepted when I left two years ago). 

You may be thinking: what about that pesky thing called work?  Well…due to the client’s budget restrictions, I have only been traveling to Fort Lauderdale every other week.  My “off weeks” usually consist of me playing musical workspaces between the amazing Starbucks below my apartment and my favorite chair in my room (a bedroom chair was quite possibly the best thing I have ever bought).  Earlier in August, I thought to myself, “Why don’t I work from Iowa one week?”  It was like the flexibility of my work situation finally hit me: if I have wifi and phone reception, I can answer emails and dial into calls anywhere which includes my parent’s house (they have internet in rural Iowa along with electricity and running water…).

At this point, I haven’t even been home for 48 hours and already there is a calming effect.  I’ve had the stereotypical, yet wonderfully familiar, meal of grilled pork chops, potatoes and corn on the cob.  My mother’s side of the family came over yesterday, and it felt great to see my aunts, uncles and some cousins.  Also, it was reassuring that my aunts still have their talents in the kitchen (I may never eat again after yesterday’s buffet).  My cat who is nearing 20 barely remembers me, but we are working on our strained relationship – she doesn’t much care for me…or anyone for that matter. 

Yummy!

Until I have a home of my own that truly feels like home, this house will be home, home.  I’ve moved A LOT in the last few years, and no place has felt permanent.  Dallas feels closer to long-term but definitely not permanent.  I don’t know how often I will make it back to this house, but it has a soothing power that my apartment will never have.  There is such a special place for home, home.

My work partner for the week, Amelia the diva cat, is not so much into work