Welcome to my (our) new blog, Washington or Bust.
I was thinking about it one day and it occurred to me that my Searching for Normalcy blog is really part of my old life. My singular life. But now that Christian and I are moving forward in life as a duo, a twosome, a partnership, if you will, it only made sense that we should have a blog to reflect our new life. Oh, I’ll still keep my old blog around but I think that will be primarily for sharing craft-related things. But all of our new adventures and experiences will be here. Everything, from the construction of our new home 3,000-plus miles away in Washington (we are still in Miami Beach for the time being) and the epic road-trip we are planning as part of our relocation, to the family functions and local events we hope will be part of our future small-town life, THAT will all be found here.
So I guess I should kick things off with a little “why.” As in, why in the world did we suddenly decide to pick up and move all the way to the opposite side of the country?? Well, it actually wasn’t all that sudden. We’d discussed moving to Washington many times throughout our relationship. I pretty much fell in love with the state, the people, the lifestyle and Chris’ family my very first time visiting. It was just all so different from the hectic, stressful pace of Miami. Even in a big city like Seattle people were always so welcoming and polite. (That is something that I’m sad to say is sorely lacking in Miami.) But in all our conversations it was always a “someday maybe” kind of thing. That pretty much changed last year when Chris’ paternal grandfather passed away. I think that really jolted us both into realizing that time is fleeting and we wanted to be closer to his mom and grandma and the rest of the family while we still could. The decision was made even easier when Chris’ best friend, Brandon, and his family relocated from South Florida to Washington in July of 2010. Brandon returned to work at his family’s vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills and his wife, Kim (also a Florida girl like me), gave up her career to be a stay at home mom to their two adorable little girls. Seeing how well they adjusted to their new lifestyle – especially seeing how well Kim adapted – was the catalyst for us to take the plunge.
When we started talking about where we wanted to live we went through a list of places. At first we discussed living on the western side of the state. Places like Seattle, Bellevue, Everett and Redmond. But we found that all of those areas are pretty pricey and we’d have to continue apartment living which is something I was anxious to leave behind. We also talked about living in Othello, the rural farming community where Chris spent most of his childhood and where his mom still resides. But it’s a small town, like REEEALLY small, and we decided that we would probably get really bored really quickly. We finally decided on the Tri-Cities area after visiting Kim and Brandon there a few times. I really liked that the area retains it’s small town charm but is still populated enough that you can maintain some anonymity. We really loved the subdivision where Kim and Brandon purchased their home and began looking at the community’s website religiously. We finally took the plunge in April of this year and started the process to purchase and construct a new home in the same subdivision. Just three blocks away from our friends to be exact.
The house is just about ready now. There are still some last minute touchups to be done. But in just a little under a month we will be in Washington, ready to move into our new home and ready to move into our new life. (I’ll share some photos of the construction process in my next post.)
We’re looking forward to the future, to seeing where the road ahead takes us. And you are more than welcome to join us for the ride.
That’s all for now. Peace out!
Washington or Bust! 