Team Smith

I am ECSTATIC to announce that I have accepted a new position (with an extremely long title) in the great State of Washington: Director of CASA/MECA * at Tacoma Community College!  (*The Center for Academic Support and Achievement and Multi-Ethnic and Cultural Affairs). For couples who are both higher ed folk it can be challenging to find jobs (that you want) in the same place at the same time (for reference, see the Team Smith in Chicago Saga, 2011-2013), and we are now BOTH in roles that we're extremely excited about. Some of you know that I've been searching for the past year and change, hoping to get back into student affairs. I learned a tremendous amount working for the State, but missed being able to have a direct impact on students' lives. I had interviews all over the place, but could never quite close the deal. Finding a job in multicultural student affairs is one of the few places where my many overlapping privileges do NOT typically help, but I knew this ...

We closed on our house! This process was so smooth and just meant to be. When I was in Olympia late May, I stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up snacks for my hotel room (y'all know I need my snacks) and there was a realty company in the shopping center. Van Dorn. I walked in around the end of the day to ask a question about neighborhoods and this wonderful woman named Allison spent the last 30 minutes of her day with me. I had a bicycle path map that broke down the neighborhoods and towns better than any other map I had seen thus far. She was so nice! I asked if they had preferred loan servicers and she gave me a few, but said she really liked Dallon from Evergreen Home Loans. I thanked her and said if I got the job I would call her. Five days after that I accepted the position and I was calling both Allison and Dallon to start our house search! Matt and I did all kinds of investigating and narrowed our search to a couple specific neighborhoods. When we told Dallon our pr...

We have been out an about! People have been super welcoming. We met a family at the park and our kids had so much fun together, we got together again to hang out. We met a family lawyer to update our estate planning and ended up hanging out with her and her kids at the museum. I connected with someone from Evergreen and got to hang out a few times with her and daughter! Pretty much every time we meet someone with kids and they say, "Hey would you like too...?" We have said, "Yes please!" and we suddenly don't feel so lonely :-) Movies and Music in the park- Cass answered a trivia question and won a picnic blanket! A fun country band followed by Zootopia. We didn't make it through the movie. My own snoring woke me up and I looked over at two sleeping babies! We left a bit early ;-) After an epic meltdown- Savvy passed out for almost 3 hours. Thank goodness. I have to give a little and be less structured, because I know the girls are m...