Today is my first anniversary working and living here in Washington, DC.  After being in St. Louis my whole life, I accepted a job as Digital Development Director for WUSA 9, the CBS affiliate and flagship broadcast station for Gannett.  I started August 4, 2008.  I’ll get right into my year in review:

What has been good? The tourism.

Lindsey and I have visited Arlington Cemetery, Air & Space Museums (both on the mall at at Dulles Airport), U.S. Capitol (Visitor’s Center and tour), WW II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Wall, Washington Monument, White House (outside gates only), International Spy Museum, Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Crime & Punishment Museum, a couple Smithsonian Museums, National Cathedral, and the Jefferson Memorial (my fav,  pictured here).

We’ve been to the Eastern Market, Chinatown, Nats Stadium (baseball and concert), The Washington Convention Center,  The Patriot Center (at George Mason) and Mount Vernon (home of George Washington).

Outside of DC, we’ve crossed the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, spent an evening in Old Town Alexandra, visited Harper’s Ferry (WV, MD, VA border), and I visited Wilmington, DE for a Gannett mentoring program.

We walked around the 44th Presidential inauguration festivities and attended an inaugural ball, The Cherry Blossom Festival, The AHA’s Heart Walk, Celebrate Fairfax, and cruised the Potomac on two separate occassions.

I still don’t feel like I’ve spent enough time visiting the museums and exhibits. There’s so much to do and not enough time to do it.  Before I moved here, I thought I’d be one of those who’d be bring the laptop and sit on the Lincoln Memorial steps with my Starbucks, but I haven’t found enough time for that.

What has been bad? The traffic!

It was very clear to me even before I moved that DC was one of the most congested cities in the country.  I live the same distance to work as I did in St. Louis, which is 15 miles.  That’s a 20-minute commute in St. Louis, and a 50-minute commute here.  Sometimes going 10 miles on the Beltway takes an hour or more!  And I don’t travel on the busiest times or places either.  I spent the first 5 months here taking the Metro everywhere.  It was when Lindsey landed her job that I started either carpooling or commuting on my own.  I carry so much stuff now (gym bag, computer(s), lunch) that it’s hard dragging all that around in a suit every morning, and if it rains, it’s worse.

What has been unexpected? The furloughs.

Two weeks of company-wide furloughs and salary reductions were hard on the pocketbooks, but we adjusted accordingly. I walked away from the furlough experience knowing I can indeed go without my Blackberry for entire weeks!  It was also relaxing to completely get out of work-mode without meetings and emails.  Both times on furlough, I had visitors from out of town, so that was great timing and kept me busy.

What will change in the next 12 months? My health.

It took me longer than I expected to adjust to this city. I thought I’d fit right in after a few months.  I find I have less time at home and I’m exhausted by week’s end.  I need to seriously take care of myself physically and mentally, and that’s what my goals are right now.  I don’t fully understand how stress has affected my entire first year here, and not managing it well makes it worse!  I’ve gained almost 20 pounds since the move, and I feel very unhealthy, despite avoiding fast food chains for more than 4 years.

Things are turning around though.  I start my second year living in DC today, and today just happens to be the first day I’m training for the Las Vegas Marathon in December.  I’ve been wanting to run this for the past couple years, and now I’m finally getting to  it.  More about that here.

Also, over the past 12 months, all my flights outside of DC have been to St. Louis.  I’ve been back home 5 times for various planned and unplanned events.  I love my family–don’t get me wrong–I just think Lindsey and I need a real vacation.  So, that’s what Vegas is for.  Plus, Lindsey was a grand prize winner of a HUGE trip–I’m still in shock–and we’ll be taking that trip later in the Spring. More to come on that.

We want to take more road trips like Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and New York. I did buy a car on August 1st, so that has given me a renewed spirit, and I enjoy driving around again.

We are also paying off the old debts from the house in St. Louis and saving up as much as we can. We’re renting for another year here in Rockville but are planning to purchase a home next summer in Maryland.