Monday, June 18, 2007

Katherine and Robb: The Adventure Begins...

After many months of making decisions and then second-guessing ourselves, Robb and I have finally decided to move to Seattle in six weeks. We have been planning to leave Orlando for quite some time now. Not only do we miss the seasons, but we also feel as though Orlando is a cultural wasteland, obsessed with Mickey Mouse. So as I completed my master's degree and Robb decided to leave restaurant management to pursue his dream of a career in a more creative field, our question was, do we move to Seattle or Washington, DC?

DC is the practical choice of course. The job market there is perfect for my line of work. My sister lives there. The vast majority of our friends live there. We know what the area is like. My parents could easily fly there for long-weekend visits. But the idea of actually living in that metropolitan area and dealing with the traffic, attitudes, and cost of living has been so disheartening. DC is practical, but Seattle has been a dream. We know that in Seattle we will love the weather (I imagine it's like the rain I loved so much while living in Germany). We know that we will love the scenery (Seattle is an hour away from the mountains and an hour away from the beach). And the more laid-back attitudes of Northwesterners will match our personalities and how we hope to live our lives.

So Robb and I talked about it and we decided that the timing is perfect for us to take the risk and adventure of a lifetime. We are going to go with our hearts and move to Seattle, without ever even visiting it before. Of course the hardest part of this decision was knowing that we'd be far away from friends and family. But this is the only time in our lives where we'll have this opportunity to just go for it. We're in our 2o's, we're both done with school, we both want to start over with new careers, we don't have kids yet, we don't have a mortgage yet, and we have nothing tying us down. If we don't do it now, we never will!

We have approximately six weeks until our current lease is up. So the next six weeks will be a whirlwind of planning, organizing, and making tough decisions, a lot of times based on the faith that everything will just work out. This blog has been created to let loved ones (or anyone interested in our adventures) know how our adventure progresses, and then once we arrive, how we adapt and discover our new lives.

3 comments:

Megan said...

Wow Katherine! How crazy and exciting for you and Robb!
I hope the planning falls into place and things go smoothly!
I would LOVE to come out and visit once you're settled and can act as an appropriate tour guide. :)
Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

How exciting! It will certainly be an adventure! But isn't that what young, crazy kids in love should be doing anyway?! You'll have so much fun with the whole process! Yeah, I'm feeling a visit to Seattle will fit in nicely with my hypothetical, when I actually have money vacation to Vancouver:)

Love the blog idea!

MyBelle65 said...

I am so proud of you! I know doing something this uncertain is a HUGE deal, especially for someone who so likes to know "the plan", and I'm so excited to hear that you are doing it! I hope everything goes smoothly, and maybe I will see you when I am working there this summer! I'd be happy to come help out during my day or so break, or before I head back to VA. I will call you sometime this week because I am so excited to talk to you about this! Congratulations Katherine and Robb, good luck on your big adventure!