But then on my way to a design retreat in CA in late February (2017), I got anoooother email from the University of Colorado-Boulder<\/strong>. The were interested in me again<\/em>. They wanted to know if I was still interested in the job and wanted to interview for the position. Holy crapola! I was IN. I quickly replied and waited. The next week, I went through an online ONE-SIDED interview and shortly after I was interviewed via Skype. Both went well. A few days later, I completed a design test\u2026 a logo, calendar and flyer. A lot of work, (a lot of stress), but a fun challenge getting outside my comfort zone.<\/p>\n

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Around this time, I also got an email for a graphic design position in San Diego – Birch Aquarium at Scripps loved my portfolio and wanted to interview me! At this point, I am feeling incredibly lucky, thrilled and excited – two pretty amazing opportunities in two places I would love<\/strong> to live. I quickly replied that I was excited and would love to chat with them more! A few days later, I completed a Skype interview with Birch Aquarium with 6 people on the other end and thought it went well(ish) \u2014 I gave it my best effort and just went about my day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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A few days later, I heard back from University of Colorado and guess what?! They wanted to fly me out to Boulder<\/strong> for the final interview.. I was GIDDDDDDY TOWN. I was stoked. But I had some concerns\u2026 one, I was so blinded by what I thought was my dream job, that I didn\u2019t know what the salary range was (Rookie move, ya\u2019ll). I had a bad(ish) feeling, but I was scared to ask. I just wanted it to work out soooo badly! But I flew out there for exactly 24 hours, gave 110% and flew back. Side note: The 24 hour interview is tough. It\u2019s exhausting, but worth it. You eat, you see everything, you sleep and you move from interview room to another. I got a reallll feel for the job and who I’d be working for.\u00a0 But it didn’t feel right anymore… I mean, I could do the job, but I dont know if I’d love it.\u00a0 Since I had graduated college, I had thought this would be my dream job. Turns out\u2026. It\u2019s not. The hours are brutal, there is no overtime, you\u2019re on call all the time. But it was sports and design \u2014 two things I loved. But at the end of the weekend… I knew it wasn’t for me. So when Colorado offered the job to me the next day, my suspicions were confirmed \u2014 the salary was LOW. It would have been a 50% paycut for me and it just wasn\u2019t worth it.\u00a0 So for the first time I ever, I turned a job down.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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After that, I was spent<\/strong>. Job interviews are a lot\u2026 especially back to back the way they were and add Birch Aquarium in the mix. I hadn\u2019t heard from them in a few days, so I thought that ship had sailed… and honestly, a small part of me was glad. I was soooooo tired. My job at the time was GReAT. I was happy. But it was an exhaustive few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Buuuuuuuut then a few days later,\u00a0 I got an email from Birch Aquarium stated they were still interested and they wanted me to do a design test. So I licked my “interview exhaustion-wounds” and got inspired again \u2014 I had 45 minutes to rock an ad and send it back. FYI – That 45 minutes flew by!! I sent off an ad that I wasn\u2019t particular thrilled with\u2026 I LEGIT thought I bombed it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Another week went by and Birch Aquarium emailed again \u2014 I was in the FINAL round. (WHAA?!?!) They couldn\u2019t fly me out (I asked), but I felt I needed to be there to meet everyone, see the space and see if this is something I wanted to do. (Note: I also learned a valuable lesson before and asked the salary\u2026 again, I always thought this was a faux pax\u2026 guys, just ASK. In the designer world, salary ranges don\u2019t seem to be mentioned. It\u2019s always listed as OPEN and super annoying).<\/em> Salary range was do-able and I booked a flight. Bonus: My family decided to drive over from AZ to meet me for a long weekend!! So that we did. I completed the interview, met a lot of people and LOVED it. I finally saw myself living in San Diego. Honestly, one drive around San Diego should sell ya\u2026 but it was the drive on Torrey Pines Road that sold me. Pacific Ocean views the whole way. It’s unreal.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Let\u2019s just saw the rest is history at this point. I moved to San Diego on June 1, 2017 and life is GOOD. I am the first ever in-house graphic designer for Birch Aquarium and my day consists of designing, taking pictures of sea creatures, ridiculous views, happy people and having fun. I learn something new every day and am constantly challenged. Of course it was hard at first. Transitions of this nature are TOUGH. But ohhhhh so worth it. I hike a LOT, I am outside as much as I can be. I am just in a really great place. \u00a0I\u2019ve made some friends. I got a DOG!!! I am doing all the things I want to be doing and then some.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The hardest part was driving away from my friends and clients back in Chicago. But I had a plan for that\u2026 I still wanted to go back, experience those seasons and get to see some friendly faces. And I did. I saw 54 families<\/strong> this year and got to rock out several amazing sessions. It was VERY odd to be slow in the fall, but I also got to reset my life a bit. I hope to grow my business out in San Diego (but still fly back, don\u2019t worry) in the coming year… However, I am so grateful that even though I am living in San Diego, you still want to see me when I come to town. I am grateful for getting to capture these memories for you and I am SO grateful for the love and support you’ve shown me over the years. I wish you all nothing but the absolute BEST.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Here\u2019s just a sneak peek at my year in photos (Personal and professional). I hope you got to share the holidays with the ones you love, that you spent time remembering the ones you lost and that you left a little room for the ones you don’t know yet. Happy Holidays all.\u00a0 $\"\"$ <\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
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A little peek at some photos over the course of 2017 :\u00a0Chicago to AZ to California and a whole slew of states in between. A new job. New place to live. New state. New dog. New life in many ways… let’s just say, I covered a lot of ground this year. 2018 I am ready for all the things. Let’s see what you got. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
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2017 has been one crazy amazing ride. I started this year with no expectations on changing anything… I was happy in my job, happy with my photography and overall content. However, I wasn’t and haven’t been thrilled with where I lived. It’s not where I saw myself in the long haul. I never intended on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[605,479,436,611,429,612,434,613,444,435,86,606,610,609,608,604],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6500"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6572,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500\/revisions\/6572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jordanntomasek.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}