As of this evening, I will officially have finished my first week working at my first full time job. I talked about getting this job about a month ago, and now I’m officially in it! I’m the new Pittsylvania County reporter for the Danville Register & Bee, which has been a lot of fun so far.

I’ve got to admit that getting back to writing real articles had me a little bit nervous at first. Luckily, I remembered how to do it the way I used to in college. It’s been a while since I’ve actually used AP style, but I’ll get back into the swing of things, I’m sure. The hardest time I’ve had so far was remember all of my PC shortcuts. I’ve been working on Mac for so long that I’ve forgotten where to place my hands every time. I also had to get up much earlier than I generally like to in order to get a photo for a story and talk to a landowner, but it was totally worth it to get a photo of Cherrystone Lake in the morning. I mean, seriously, isn’t it beautiful for a gray day? The photographer I was working with, Matt Bell, is the one whose photos will probably end up being used for the story, so I wanted to share this one with you guys. You can keep up with my Instagram, @CandidCeillie, for pictures on a regular basis. I try to share something there once a day, sometimes more often if I’m doing more interesting things with my day.

One thing I hadn’t anticipated with my move here is how very small the town I’m living in is. The newspaper I work for is in Danville, but I’m living in a small town called Chatham, about 20 miles away. It’s only a 25 minute drive to work, which is nice, but the town of Chatham itself could be accurately described as “itsy-bitsy.” Chatham is the county seat of Pittsylvania County, with a population in 2000 of 1338 people, and 2 square miles to call it’s own. That’s it.

That being said, everyone I’ve met in Chatham has been really nice so far, despite all of the ‘No Trespassing’ signs all over the place. I got my library card within three days of moving in, and I’m actually in the middle of writing something about the local library. I’ll be getting my city library card soon so that I can have access to ALL the books, since the library systems are separate for the county and city of Danville.

Luke has settled in fairly well, although he’s really uncomfortable with the maintenance men. He keeps hiding in the very back corner of my bedroom closet, which is both adorable and pathetic. He also really wants to go outside, but I’m avoiding that at all costs until we’re fully moved in to the other apartment that we’re moving to on June 1. I really wish he’d quit waking me up at all hours of the night, but what can you do with cats?

I also started unpacking my books, even though I promised myself I wouldn’t until after the next move. I missed them, and I needed something on my bookshelves. It looked way too empty in my apartment! It looks much better, even with just a couple of the boxes unpacked.

You guys who follow me on social media will be seeing a change in my presence. I’m hoping to do more writing here, but I will also be sharing my actual articles for those of you who may want to read them. I’ll be doing that on Facebook and Twitter upon publication of the articles online, but I think I’m also gonna do a weekly wrap up here of what I wrote for the Register & Bee. I’m really looking forward to sharing this new adventure with you guys, so I hope you’ll keep up with me!