September 2008 Weddings
Dear Community,
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tell me why you love where you live...
Jason just finished his long-term subbing gig where there was a retirement opening in the math department, but because of budget cuts is most likely not going to be filled.
Pittsburgh has been less than nice to us, so we're starting to talk about other places around the US to move.
So, tell me where you live and why you love it there... what's there to do?
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Re: Tell me why you love where you live...
I'm sorry it doesn't look good for Jason to get the retirement opening.
I live in/near Rochester, NY. I love the seasons up here (although quite similar to what you're used to). I also love all the lakes. Between the Finger Lakes & Ontario there is plenty of water around which I really like. In the summer there are festivals just about every weekend and sometimes they even overlap. We have quite a few minor league sports teams which are fun to go watch play. If you're into wine we are surrounded by vineyards. If you live within the suburbs (which are quite nice) you can get just about anywhere in the Greater Rochester Area in roughly 15-20 minutes. I live on the outskirts, and it takes me closer to 35-45 depending on where I'm going.
Well, Canada pretty much rocks wherever you live, but I LOVE SASKATCHEWAN!
Saskatchewan is the only province in the country to have actually had increased revenue and a "boom" during the recession! There are more jobs here than anywhere else in the country and the housing market is continually becoming a buyer's market.
I love that there are 4 distinct seasons here. While winter can be kind of sucky at times, we know how to make the best of it!
Taxes are reasonable, we have fabulous health care, awesome schools (at all levels of education), and really great and friendly people.
You can drive forever in this province just enjoying the scenery. There are lots of wonderful parks and lakes just a short drive away. And if you like winter sports, there's an abundance of that! We have great entertainment if you like live theatre, concerts and shows, and there's wonderful festivals too.
Yup, it's pretty awesome here!
Brit - I'm sorry to hear Pittsburgh hasn't delivered for you guys.
JP is right though (re: your blog post)...you haven't failed, you're still on your journey.
I live in the suburbs north west of Boston, about a 1/2 hour from my parents' house where I grew up. I like being close to family and friends from HS (some of which I'm still very close with). There are a lot of local (and not too far away) Nesties.
The winters can be hard, and feel long, but then we have spring which is awesome to watch everything bloom, summers usually aren't unbearable, and then lovely fall when the heat breaks and the leaves change color.
We love the location of our house. It is relatively close to 2 major highways and we're right by the town beach. I go jogging around the lake, we've hiked some of the conservation trails on the opposite side of the lake, and we swim (they also have boat/canoe/kayak rentals but we haven't taken advantage of that yet). We live close to a "farm" that is now ice cream, golfing (mini, pitch-putt, driving range), etc.
The only down side to MA: high cost of living.
Continuing this conversation from fb...
I love where I live because of my friends and family. It's small enough to be "homey", but big enough to have almost everything you want to do. We have lots of local events and festivals, theater, and some history. We have one public university, one public community college, two private four-year schools, and a couple technical schools in town in addition to others within a reasonable driving distance. We have a GREAT medical district. Seriously, it's hard to beat. The town schools are ok, but there are some great public schools in surrounding communities (we live in one town, but in another school district that is fantastic). We are LCOL. $150k will get you a really nice house. Everything is within a 15 minute drive.Chicago is 3.5 hours away by car and St. Louis is 1 hour by car. Both are easily accessible by Amtrak, which has the same time frame. We are on a major interstate, so it's easy to get around. People are generally nice and hospitable.
Downfalls... My state's financial situation. It's bad. Also, while we have a bus system, it's not good and hard to rely on for many parts of town. Shopping and fine dining are so so. There are a few really good restaurants and lots of chains. We get all four seasons every year, but we can get really hot and humid times in the summer and super cold times in the winter. A foot of snow shuts us down for a day.
Overall, I would stay here. The biggest thing that makes us consider leaving is the financial situation of our state, and as a result my job and job prospects in the field I want to pursue. I know I sent you a link to a job a few weeks ago. I think there are two openings in the athletic department at our local university right now. Good jobs and a great place to work.
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The thing I love most about where I live is that H lives there too. We are not in our "forever" place but we are tring to enjoy it while we're here. We are about 15 min from the beach (which is perfect this time of year) and 1 hr from Philly. Not much else to say really, we live in a quite neighborhood, there are parks near us but no big city.
I would say the weather but we have had unusual weather. We do not have the humidity than what the EC ladies experience. However, you can be at the beach in the morning and end up in the mountains later that day. It is a big state!
There are some downsides to this area we live:
HCOL. Its expensive to live here but on the flipside, the salaries are a little bit higher to somewhat compensate for it (maybe).
Gas is higher
Our state is in a Financial crisis as well
Man, as I talk more about this, maybe DH and I should look into moving but honestly, I can not move away from my Dad. My family is here and I hate to be far away from him right now.
I'm also sorry about Pittsburgh sucking.
As an adult I've lived in 3 different states, although only 2 metropolitan areas since I lived on both the Missouri side and Kansas side of Kansas City:)
Currently of course, we're in Colorado Springs. Colorado is an awesome place. The weather is fantastic, it's generally pretty mild, although of course we get random snow storms in April that nobody sees coming, but the summers and fall are amazing. Even in the winter, it can be in the 20s and snowing one day and in the 60s and the snow is all melted the next.
Summers are relatively short, but that doesn't bother me much. The heat is dry and it rarely gets past 90*, it's glorious.
There are a lot of outdoor sports offerings, winter and summer of course. I love that CO is one of the healthiest states, there is so much emphasis on enjoying the outdoors, it's so different from Kansas/Missouri/Oklahoma in that aspect. In the summers you hunker down around the AC in the midwest since it's so miserably hot and humid you can't enjoy life. I love being able to go for a run after work in the middle of July and it's only 75* and no humidity.
I never would have become the person I am today without Colorado, I would have laughed my a$$ off if someone would have told me 5 years ago that I'd be running 3 days a week after work year round.
Sorry to hear that the job likely wont work out, that's a bummer.
Why is my area a great place to live: um, because I live here.
I love LOVE love where we live. We live in a northern suburb of the greater Milwaukee area. It's a cliche suburban neighborhood, all the neighbors know each other and are friendly and helpful. We have an old "downtown" but yet we are expanding and building new, so it's a great mix. Plus it's very affordable.
We are just minutes north of the historic downtown Cedarburg that has lot's of festivals and a winery - you just can't go wrong with a winery! Cedarburg and Grafton put on a great 4th of July celebration - think small town America or the scene from The Sandlot: everyone you see you know, you can camp in the park, the bandstand, the tents of cheap but yummy food, the kids running around, and the fireworks... LOVE!
We are 20 minutes north of downtown Milwaukee. There is so much to do in the city: concerts, restaurants, bars, comedy clubs, the zoo, museums, and shopping.
Let's not forget about the array of sporting events as well:
1.5 hours south of Green Bay - the Packers football
Milwaukee Brewers Baseball
Milwaukee Bucks Basketball
Milwaukee Admirals Hockey
Milwaukee Mile Raceway
The school system is pretty good and there are also 7 or 8 major universities in the immediate area including UW-Milwaukee (my alma mater) and Marquette University. PLUS only 1.5 hours away is UW-Madison - go Badgers!
There are fantastic state parks to camp, hike, bike, or ski in. Door County is a great getaway. It's about .5 hours north of us but it's a great resort area ... lots of little towns, shops, and restaurants! It's the "thumb" of Wisconsin, so you have the Bay side of the county and the Lake side of the county to visit. Plus GREAT camping and trails. YUM and Door County Cherries!
We are 5 minutes from Lake Michigan, so you have all the water sports and activities available: the beach, swimming, sailing, scuba diving, jet skiing, boating, kayaking, etc. The city brings in big events like the air and water shows, etc.
Summerfest! 11 days, 11 stages, 500+ bands and more. It's a summer staple in the area. Plus, the grounds host festivals every weekend in summer: Festa Italiana, Irish Fest, German fest, etc.
The Wisconsin State Fair is only 20 minutes away: Creampuffs. Need I say more?
I do? Okay Miller Brewing! Plus all the local micro breweries: Sprecher and Lakefront (where we had our wedding reception) to name a few.
In the winter there is ice fishing, polar bear swimming, ice skating (they build a rink in the middle of downtown), plus cross country and down hill skiing, etc.
I could keep going of course, but I think that gives a good overall picture.
ETA: I don't know how I left this out ... we have the BEST.CHEESE.EVER!
ETA: Lots of running events throughout the summer! 5 and 10K's to every Fest and more, Green Bay Marathon, and I am sure there are plenty in Chicago (1.5 hours away)
The one major negative right now is out current governor. He blows chunks.
Colorado also has more micro-breweries than any other state if you happen to be a beer lover....it's the wine country of beer if you will:)
I love all the fun craft beers we have here that aren't available anywhere else!
I also really enjoy that Colorado Springs is right up on the mountains, whereas when you're in Denver, the good mountain stuff is still an hour away. We can be hiking in 15 minutes from our house on the east side of town.
I was going to emphasize this!! Probably a lot more opportunities for 2ndry education employment opportunities.
Well, I can't suggest moving to the little city I live in because it's not my *dream* area but it is really LCOL in comparison to other Southern California cities.
Where else can you go snowboarding in the morning and enjoy a nice afternoon at the beach? Yes, it's really possible. We went snowboarding in January and it was so warm that we could have been in shorts and tank tops snowboarding! In fact some people were.
SoCal is amazing in that anything you want to do is within driving distance. I live between Los Angeles, San Diego, and Palm Springs. All of that is within 1 1/2 hour drive or less from where I live now.
Winters are mild. In fact it doesn't really snow, although we do get some that sticks at times but very little and laughable to you EC ladies. It snows in the mountains which are right by us. If we want to go snowboarding we're in a great place to do so! The mountain areas are beautiful and unfortunately as far as SoCal goes really the only place you will see a ton of trees in one place.
We have a lot of lakes. Lots of camping although you'd probably have to pay a fee for a spot rather than wander into the wilderness and camp wherever you want. There's plenty of hiking. I prefer to do so in the mountains, not that we have done it yet!
The beach isn't far. Well, if you live right by the beach you're freaking lucky! All those cities are a much HCOL than where I live.
Pay can be high and it can be low. It really all depends on where you work. Teacher's are getting hit hard here so probably not good for you although I hear we are 2nd (or 1st) in the nation in high pay for that profession.
As for transportation...you HAVE to have a car. It's a must. The public transportation system here blows. We have a commuter train and we have a subway (nothing like NY) but they are very limited in locations. For instance, the closest rail station to me is 36 miles away and the main stops are all in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas. There's one to San Diego but from where I am I can just drive since the closest rail station is the oppopsit direction.
All the amusement parks, museums, and zoos are close. Vegas is just a few hour drive away. Same with Lake Havasu.
We have a small wine country in Temecula by where I live. It's a nice area.
Oh and Hawaii is closer!! Hehehe. Sometimes I like to drive around Beverly Hills and just dream of living in one of those homes....especially in the ones in the hill. That's not a plus to living here...just a thought in my head.
I live in an area that is not as developed as a lot of other cities around. I live where there's still dairies and farms. I know weird right? You think CA and you think beaches. Nope! Not the case. So I get that SoCal feel but out of the hustle and bustle of the city life.
Weather-wise, aside from Hawaii's weather, you can't beat it. Doesn't rain often and it's not that cold in the winter.
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To add, you can almost guarantee that the concert you want to go to will come here. Hehe. We have a lot of concert venues and music festivals
The athletic community is pretty big out here since there's so much to do excersice-wise. Lots of mountain biking, hiking, etc. Maybe I should become friends with these people....
Both private and public universites are all over the place here. Community colleges as well. There's really no reason for everyone not to have a degree out here. Community college is beyond cheap. You have the Cal State System (CSU) and the Univeristy of California system (UC) that has tons of locations and satellite locations. College is cheap here in comparison to other states. Private universities are more expensive but they are everywhere just like the public ones.
CRAFTY ME
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Sorry to hear about the job, Brit.
If you can put up with our state, you could always move east! There are tons of colleges and universities in the area. There are also a lot of really good school districts around here as well as good prep/private schools. We're relatively close to NYC and DC, too. We have miles and miles of trails and parks and are reasonably close to other places for outdoors activity. Depending on where in the area you live, you could be less than an hour to the beach. COL is pretty decent for being a major east coast city (I would say equal to or maybe even lower than Baltimore, definitely lower than DC and NYC). Despite being the 5th most populated city in the country, it has more of a small city feel (which I know some people don't like, but I do). Part of this is because it was prohibited to built anything taller than Billy Penn on the top of City Hall until the 80s, so the skyline looks young. There's also obviously a ton of history here. One of my favorite areas in the city is home to the oldest continuously residential street in the country.
There's a lot of stuff to do in the city; art museum, sports, great restaurant scene, plenty of concert venues, etc. The parks and rec programs in the surrounding suburbs are pretty good, too; it seems like there is always something to do (free movies or concerts in the park, for example).
I'll be honest, I love it mostly because I grew up here and my family has been here for generations.
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I was born and raised in the Milwaukee area, so i defiantly agree with everything Jules has said! I love Wisconsin because its just a beautiful state. A lot of people travel to Wisconsin to go camping. Wisconsin has the greatest sports fans then any other team and we love cheese and beer!
The number one worst thing about Wisconsin has to be the weather. Winter lasts about six months and its a deep hard freeze with lots and lots of snow. Summer is short and is soooo humid its not very fun to do things out side. And oh yeah, Wisconsin is known for only having two seasons, winter and road construction.
That being said, I am never moving away from the Colorado area! I would only ever move to get back to my family. I live in the Denver area and love it! Colorado is so focused on outdoor living, it such a nice change from the Midwest. Denver is very very dog friendly. Lots of dog parks, day care and pick stations on all walking trails.
The weather is the absolute best. Yes, we can get a freak snow storm, but for the most part, its beautiful. Like this past week it was in the 90's, but since its dry we could still be outside all day and enjoy it. It only snowed about three or four times this past winter and some days you didn't even need a jacket.
Oh yeah, mountains! Rafting! Hiking! Skiing! Snow mobiles!
Ive also lived in Illinois and Iowa and all the Midwest is the same to me. I defiantly vote Denver!
I could basically quote everything Amanda said! Although I live about 1.5 hours east of her, in the metro Detroit area, so we're about 4.5 hours from Chicago - but still not a bad drive!
We vacation in the northwest lower peninsula and it's like another world! It's absolutely beautiful. And don't get me started on the scenery in the upper peninsula, because nothing really compares. It's breathtaking. And if you can get over the fact that you have to drive across a 5 mile long grated bridge (yes, you can see the water through it - I cannot look or drive this myself) it's SO worth it! Oh, and wine and fudge helps too! I love that we can drive 4-5 hours within our state and be in the gorgeous scenery. Well, from where I live, it's more like 8 hours to the UP, but it's a gorgeous drive, and you can stop along the way in really cool places.
Where I live specifically ... we're here because of family and our jobs. We'd live in the Traverse City area if we could move. For now, we vacation there, so that we can still live close to family. We both grew up in tight knit families, in the metro Detroit area. We're within 20min from both of our parents' homes.
Amanda, Sarah S and I all live in MI, if you needed another reason!
A+S | Met 8/24/06 | Married 9/27/08
Started TTC 12/2008 | dx PCOS 5/2009
6 failed clomid/femara/TI cycles, 1 failed clomid/ovidrel/IUI cycle
Successful Cycle: 5/12/11 - 1000mg Metformin + 100mg Clomid(late response) + TI = BFP
? 2/13/12 - We proudly welcomed our daughter, Hadley Teresa! ?
? Lots of Luck to all of 3T/IF ?
A+S | Met 8/24/06 | Married 9/27/08
Started TTC 12/2008 | dx PCOS 5/2009
6 failed clomid/femara/TI cycles, 1 failed clomid/ovidrel/IUI cycle
Successful Cycle: 5/12/11 - 1000mg Metformin + 100mg Clomid(late response) + TI = BFP
? 2/13/12 - We proudly welcomed our daughter, Hadley Teresa! ?
? Lots of Luck to all of 3T/IF ?
I don't like NJ that much. It is crowded and expensive. My (small) family being here in really the only draw. It is relatively temperate though, and has four seasons but rarely the extreme cold/wind/ice the midwest is prone to and pretty much never the spring storms/etc the midwest gets (we're not moving to StL to be near C's family, clearly).
I also don't really love Philadelphia, mostly because its dirty and doesn't feel that safe (as a suburbs person, NYC is much nicer). The nice parts are nice though, and the area we live(d) in (really near Becky) is nice and really convenient. There are a million schools in the area too so lots of opportunity for movement (this is also true to a slightly lesser extent, esp depending on if you're willing to commute to NYC, in the NYC metro).
I do like that the east coast is accessible - other cities in a couple of hours, anywhere by plane pretty cheap and pretty fast and likely a direct option is available. The salaries don't totally make up for COL, but they're better than some places. And its diverse. One of my big issues with Peoria (which I know was a limited preview) was how WHITE and Christian it was (and the non-white folks were really segregated). Texas has that issue a lot too (from my college experience; I'm sure the cities aren't as bad).
We plan to move elsewhere in 7-10 years. I'm not positive where...possibly Seattle...we might end up here though. we'll see. kind of depends on jobs, as I want to be a VP...
I would say that I love MI but not necessarily the town I live in. I love that the town I am in is small and nice but its 20 minutes away from just about anything other than grocery stores and restaurants. Although our local ice cream place is Awesome. If you wanted to live in a really small town with no public transit you could probably get a house (potentially even in my neighborhood) for less than 30k. Our property values are lower right no because we got hard hit with foreclosures in our neighborhood and one house just a few doors down sold for 16k. Yep less than I paid for my car, so disgusting.
Amanda and Sarah B said it best though Mi has lots of places that are awesome to visit and live and where I am at I am only 3 1/2-4 hours from both Chicago and the Cleveland area.
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