We'll start off with specifics.
My name is Chelsea. I'm a 22 (almost 23) year old ASL interpreting student living in Upstate, SC. I was born in Connecticut and grew up down here, but don't you dare call me a southerner. I'm dating the most awesome guy on the planet. His name is Jared, he's an amazing freelance artist, and a huge gamer like me. We met on Match.com and have been going strong for almost 3 years. This past March, we decided that we're going to be moving across the country to Portland, Oregon, and we couldn't be more excited.
The first question that everyone always asks us is, "Why Portland?" This time last year, we were a week away from closing on a house in our area. After waiting on it for 7 months, the bank called and told Jared that he never should've been approved for the loan in the first place, and it fell through. This was the 3rd house to have something make it fall through in a year. We decided that was a big enough sign that we weren't supposed to lay down roots here yet, and started looking at different plans of action.
Jared fell in love with the Pacific Northwest when he went out there a few years ago with his friends, and talked about it from the time we started dating. He'd also shown me a few episodes of Portlandia, and I loved them. After a lot of discussions, we made the choice to pack up and move out to the city of roses. Our families weren't exactly thrilled at first, just because we're all so close. My mom in particular still wishes we'd move to Asheville, NC instead. But now they're all behind us and encouraging us to follow our dream.
We knew that it would take a number of months before we could leave, mainly because I needed to save money for a nest egg. Also, we didn't want to leave before the holidays due to family and weather. Driving in snow is not exactly on my list of things I love.
It wasn't until we actually bought our plane tickets to go out and visit in September that it began to seem real. Our visit was absolutely amazing. We got to see everything we wanted, visited all the neighborhoods, got a feel for the city, and ate tons of fantastic food. Jared has a friend who lives in Southeast Portland, and we really fell in love with the area known as Laurelhurst. It's just far enough from center city that I would feel comfortable walking home alone at night, but close enough that we could take the bus or walk to the Saturday Market if we wanted to. It's young, quirky, and vibrant, and exactly what we were looking for.
Now, it's 2014. We've decided that March 18th, two days after my birthday, is going to be our departure day. We'll be driving the whole way in my 2012 Civic. The route is still undecided, because we think we're going to have to wait until the week before for weather. Polar vortex anyone? We're planning on taking about 5-6 days to make the drive out.
This blog is really being made for my family and friends in SC that might be interested in our prep and journey, and then seeing Portland through my eyes once we're there. If it gets any views at all, I'll be impressed.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do right now but wait for another month or so before starting to tackle the big stuff, like apartment hunting. But I'll definitely be sure to post updates when we do!
Until then,
- Chelsea.
The first question that everyone always asks us is, "Why Portland?" This time last year, we were a week away from closing on a house in our area. After waiting on it for 7 months, the bank called and told Jared that he never should've been approved for the loan in the first place, and it fell through. This was the 3rd house to have something make it fall through in a year. We decided that was a big enough sign that we weren't supposed to lay down roots here yet, and started looking at different plans of action.
Jared fell in love with the Pacific Northwest when he went out there a few years ago with his friends, and talked about it from the time we started dating. He'd also shown me a few episodes of Portlandia, and I loved them. After a lot of discussions, we made the choice to pack up and move out to the city of roses. Our families weren't exactly thrilled at first, just because we're all so close. My mom in particular still wishes we'd move to Asheville, NC instead. But now they're all behind us and encouraging us to follow our dream.
We knew that it would take a number of months before we could leave, mainly because I needed to save money for a nest egg. Also, we didn't want to leave before the holidays due to family and weather. Driving in snow is not exactly on my list of things I love.
It wasn't until we actually bought our plane tickets to go out and visit in September that it began to seem real. Our visit was absolutely amazing. We got to see everything we wanted, visited all the neighborhoods, got a feel for the city, and ate tons of fantastic food. Jared has a friend who lives in Southeast Portland, and we really fell in love with the area known as Laurelhurst. It's just far enough from center city that I would feel comfortable walking home alone at night, but close enough that we could take the bus or walk to the Saturday Market if we wanted to. It's young, quirky, and vibrant, and exactly what we were looking for.
Now, it's 2014. We've decided that March 18th, two days after my birthday, is going to be our departure day. We'll be driving the whole way in my 2012 Civic. The route is still undecided, because we think we're going to have to wait until the week before for weather. Polar vortex anyone? We're planning on taking about 5-6 days to make the drive out.
This blog is really being made for my family and friends in SC that might be interested in our prep and journey, and then seeing Portland through my eyes once we're there. If it gets any views at all, I'll be impressed.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do right now but wait for another month or so before starting to tackle the big stuff, like apartment hunting. But I'll definitely be sure to post updates when we do!
Until then,
- Chelsea.
Love it! Keep them coming and especially pics. So excited for you and JarEd;)
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