Hard to believe it's almost over...

It's not my last day quite yet.  I'm not exactly sure when that will be since I think I'll just keep coming to work until I have a baby, or perhaps until I'm just too uncomfortable to manage being at work.  Anyhow, it's strange to see it all come to an end.  I've already started cleaning out my desk and taking any personal items home.  I've been working full-time for the last 10 years... this is going to be quite an adjustment being home all day with a baby.  

Also, I love my job.  I'm the Art Director for Silhouette.  That means I'm in charge of packaging, photography, magazine ads, trade show booth design, etc.  And considering I wasn't really a graphic designer before I started, I have really come a long way.  I love what I do.  Silhouette is a really great company with a really great product.  It's been a remarkable experience to really introduce this product to the market place and watch it flourish.

Silhouette started as its own company (separate from QuicKutz) in October of 2009 in this tiny disaster of an office with just a handful of employees.  (That was my cubicle on the far left).  Thanks to our humble roots, I had my hands deep in so much more than graphic design.  I was involved in product development, user experience, and marketing.  I've hashed through logistics of fulfillment, price-points, and sales structures.  We figured things out together, made some poor decisions and some really great ones, and in just two and a half years created an extremely successful business with a product that both our parent company and our former owners had been largely unsuccessful with.  I've been so involved in the decisions of this growing company that my experience here has been irreplaceable and I'm extremely grateful.  

What am I going to miss the most?
1.  Foosball - We have the best foosball games and we usually play a couple times a day.  I might just bring the baby and show up now and then for a little foosball fix.
2.  The people - I work with some really great and talented people.  I'll miss our random discussions on just about everything.
3.  Hashing through the issues - I love working through the problems of how we can make new products work (bringing down costs, minimum orders and price points,  different offerings etc).  I never thought I'd have any interest in the business aspects of a company like this, but I was wrong.
4.  Looking back on how far we've come - So many crazy things have happened in this company in such a short period of time.  We always laugh about our ridiculous past, and since we haven't worked out all the kinks just yet and every positive change is a result of deliberate and delicate manipulation, I know I'm going to miss some future madness.