Hello, friends! I’m typing this long overdue blog post from sunny Tampa, Florida, AKA our new home. I’ve shared our journey of relocating from our home state of Michigan to our new state of Florida over on Instagram a bit over the past few months but I’m so excited to share more of our story with you today. Welcome and Happy New Year!
Our journey to Florida started last spring, April specifically. After a year of feeling stuck, confused, and pretty over-it in general (like most of you, I’m sure!) Ken and I decided it was time to start looking for what else might be out there for us. At the same time an exciting new career opportunity for Ken basically fell into our laps and seemed too good to be true. After a whirlwind interview process we were quickly faced with a decision: stay in Michigan (our home, and home to nearly all of our family and friends), or embark on an exciting new adventure that would provide us career growth, warm weather, and a culture that seemed to fit who we are better. The title of this post is a bit of a spoiler alert so I don’t need to tell you which path we chose.
Most of May was spent looking for our house in Tampa, listing our house in Michigan, packing (so much packing), graduating Kindergarten (go, Annabelle!), sending Ken off to start his new job, and to be honest, questioning all of the decisions that we had made up until that point. Moving is an emotional process in general but relocating to a new state just hits different. If you know, you know.
We moved at the end of June which means we’ve been in our new home for just over six months and so far it really has been great. We feel extremely blessed that we were able to pull this off at all, and tremendously grateful for all of the support from family, old friends, and new friends which has made everything feel easier. The near constant sunshine is something I will never take for granted and exploring a new city with the girls has been nothing short of amazing. Having never even been to Tampa prior to starting to look for houses I’ve definitely started to appreciate it’s charm. It’s a big city but has small town vibes, and living just about 30 minutes away from the ocean is something I never thought I’d experience but now something I’m not sure I could live without.
So after finally being able to take a breath and embrace our new reality, I’m thrilled to welcome all of you back to this space. Moving forward things will look a bit different (and I’m not just talking about the palm trees that will be featured in the background of my photos). We’ve decided not to feature the girls on the blog or social media anymore. They will likely continue to make appearances on my Instagram stories but they’re at an age where their privacy is far more important than any content we produce. I promise they’re happy, healthy, and oh so loved. We’ve also decided to talk more about real issues that we face every day and how we as a family navigate those challenges. Not wanting to get too political or controversial, the world is changing and we’re committed to staying true to who we are and sharing that with all of you. We will keep things respectful and honest, always.
With all of that said (and somehow there’s still so much more left to say), here are a few fun facts about our new home!
- The average daily temperate in Tampa is 74 degrees.
- The Florida state motto is, In God We Trust (which Ken has on his license plate, mine says The Sunshine State).
- Florida has the most golf courses of any state in America, and we live right next to one of them!
- Wherever you are in Florida, you’re never more than 60 miles from the nearest body of salt water and in our case, much closer!
Talk soon! xo
