Three months ago, I thought this day would never come. But here we are. Sixthman Moving Day. I can’t believe it.

One day in August, I got a call from Andy. “Go pick up a box of sidewalk chalk and meet me at the new space.” We spent the entire day crawling around on the floor chalking out possible departments, erasing them (well, spitting on the floor and rubbing it with our foot…), and redrawing the lines until we felt like we had a solid foundation.

Then we invited Randy and Maggie, our architects, to take a look at our juvenile attempt at space planning. They listened to our ideas, offered some wise advice, and turned around a set of plans that were strikingly similar to the chalk lines we had drawn on the floor. It was the first of many exciting “holy shit, we’re really doing this” moments.

Then Alan, John, and the construction team tore down the walls. Andy and I raced from the brick wall to the sprinkler system (“watch out for the cord!”), and it only took us a minute and a half (man that’s a long promenade). Over the next several weeks, I’m sure we gave Alan and John more than their fair share of headaches with all of the changes we made (“No, no window. Yeah – put a window between my office and Rodney’s. Like a drive-thru window. Nah, nevermind. No window…), but they were troopers who got the job done at breakneck speed. I’m gonna miss talking to Alan every day and wondering if today will be the day he finally punches me out…

Then we met our designers – Kelly, Cheryl, and Selma. Sixthman is full of creative people, but interior design is not our strong suit. Our friends at Wolf Design Group pointed us in the right direction, designed a kick ass kitchen (with two microwaves! And an ice maker that makes little tiny ice cubes!), and gave us enough information for us to make better design decisions.

Then, the painting. Paint makes all the difference. Arthur and his crew have been painting their little hearts out for the last couple of weeks; with 22 ft. ceilings, we didn’t make it easy for them. And, of course, we changed more than a few wall colors along the way.

And now it’s done. Our new home. Where Joy won’t be heard throughout the entire office. Pregnant Jill Mac won’t have to climb any more stairs. Christy won’t have to sit on a chair in the lobby. And Carla can finally find some of that peace and quiet she’s been looking for.

Welcome to the next chapter, Sixthman. I hope you love it.