Thoughts on Moving - Part 1 - How it All Started

Alright, it's finally time for a Marine post :)

Shawn and I have been ready to move for weeks now - boxes have been gradually getting packed since we were approved for our apartment, but we've been mentally prepared to move since the first few setbacks we encountered. Now, if you've never moved from one city to another, you might not know what I mean by 'setbacks'… let me tell you a story and then give you some examples.

A few months ago Shawn and I looked at each other and decided it was time we start looking for a place to live together; we've both been living at our parents' houses for a few years now and it's just time to get out and start creating our own life. Of course the first question on our minds was - Where do we even start looking? You might not believe it, but we kinda love New Jersey, and it's really hard to leave! In the same token, the cost of living in NJ is completely ridiculous and way out of our means, so we knew we had to look elsewhere. Shawn's first suggestion was Philadelphia, and I shot that down pretty quickly (come on, we're from Jersey! We hate PA!) Other cities were then considered: Providence, Washington DC, Boston, etc… one thing was clear, we wanted to stay on the east coast.

Moving on to the second question on our minds - What about jobs? It's one thing to throw some money down and move somewhere, but don't you want to make sure you're moving somewhere with the ability to support yourself after the move? Here began the endless craigslist searches for not just apartments but also job opportunities - with no specific location in mind yet. At one point, with the help of a little social networking, I was able to line up a job interview near DC, but that plan flew out the window with the uncanny timing of the east coast's first big snowstorm - both canceling my interview and my desire to work there, and also succeeding in convincing us we really didn't want to move down there anyway.

The rest of the job search consisted of countless email responses to craigslist ads, with an unfortunate amount of "It's a pity you don't know when you'll be moving/can't start immediately" responses. It was a little heartbreaking at first, but we trudged through. At some point, we finally set our sights on Philadelphia, and that's when the fun really began and it all started to really come together…

But I'll cut this short (ha!) and continue in another post.

Stay tuned for: Thoughts on Moving - Part 2 - The Pieces Fit?!

:)