One Year Later

We've been in our house in Calgary for a year now. Well, 13 months to be exact. And while there was some back and forth going on between Edmonton and Calgary in the few months leading up to us moving into our house, I feel like the date we moved in marks our official day in Calgary. Or at least mine and Sully's.

{Our old house}

Anyway, in some ways I can't believe it's already been a year! I feel like so much has happened in the past year that it can't possibly have only been a year. It feels like we've been here for much longer, but  these past 13 months have also flown by. Whenever Jim and I make a big move, we always say, we'll give it a year. It takes a long time to settle in, get your bearings and figure out if this new place can feel like home. (The only exception to this "rule" is our move to Montreal. We knew within a few months that it was not the place for us!).

Before we made the big move to Calgary, we talked about it incessantly. Was it the right move for us? Was the timing wrong? Would I regret giving up my friends, my job, and the proximity to my family? Since Edmonton is my hometown, I was giving up the most by moving. But when this opportunity to move came up, I knew it was meant to be. Something about it just felt right and I knew it was going to work out. And since I was the one staying home to raise our son, who was I to tell my husband he couldn't follow his career ambitions? We also knew a move was most likely inevitable in our future, and I wanted to do it before our kid(s) were older.

Throughout this past year, Jim frequently "checks in" with me, asking me to tell him how I honestly feel about the move. Am I happy? (Yes), do I like our neighbourhood? (I do), do I miss Edmonton (not really), what do I miss about it? (see below), and would I ever want to move back? (probably not).

The truth is, I don't miss Edmonton. At least, not the city. Of course I miss my friends and family. And sometimes I miss the ease of a city where everything is in place for you (your hairdresser, your doctor, your gym, your chiropractor, your dentist, etc.). Having to re-find those things in a new city is always the most challenging and stressful for me. But you do what you gotta do! I do know that despite these inconveniences of moving to a new city, moving BACK to a city you once lived in (or grew up in in my case) is never the same as the first time you lived there. And we've already moved back to Edmonton once before. I really can't see us doing it again.

I think the best thing that happened to me with this move though, is the community I have found. I'm not sure what the difference is, but when I moved to Calgary, I discovered a huge online presence from Calgary bloggers and if there's one thing that I love about blogging, it's the friendships I've made because of it. When I knew we were moving for sure, I started to reach out to Calgary bloggers more in hopes of developing some sort of friendship. It all started with running in the Calgary Marathon and just kind of snowballed from there. What I didn't expect though was the actual real-life friendships I have made. Some of my closest friends right now, I met through blogging (which can be really weird to explain to non-bloggers, but it's true). I have made friends here with women whom I get together with to do all sorts of things, like have playdates with our young children, run in races, and go to movies, take fitness classes together, celebrate birthdays, and watch The Bachelorette on Monday nights. Our blogs may have brought us together initially, and I'm thankful for that everyday, but these are women I would genuinely want to hang out with even if we didn't blog anymore.

{Calgary Marathon 10K 2015}

Other than that, I truly believe that life is what you make of it. At the end of the day, I really only need Jim and Sully to be happy. But how I choose to spend my days, and how we choose to make the most of our new life here, that's up to us. Sure, I could sit at home and feel sad that we moved and that I miss "x y z" about Edmonton, but what would that accomplish? A cranky wife, a bored toddler, and a husband full of guilt for moving his family, that's what.

Instead, I choose to be happy.

I choose to enjoy what this move has brought us. A bigger home, the ability to stay home with my son, new friends, new places to explore (places we would never visit being 3 hours further away in Edmonton), the mountains, a better commute for Jim, and getting to spend more time with my Aunt and her husband.

I choose to be thankful. That my husband has a job, for our home, for the health of our family, and for the friends I have made.

I choose, most importantly, to make the best of a situation. Life isn't always easy no matter where you live. There are going to be hard days, tiring days, long days, days I wish I lived next door to a family member, days I feel lonely and days I wish I could crawl back into bed and hide. That's just life. So I push through those harder days and embrace the good days.

Life is what you make of it. Calgary has been really good to us, there's no denying that, and while I never, ever thought this was a city I would one day live in, I'm happy that we are here.

{hiking in Bragg Creek}

Do you think you can be happy anywhere?

What defines happiness for you?

Home Sweet Temporary Home

We've been in Calgary now for almost exactly three weeks. Some days it feels like we just got here yesterday, and some days I feel like we've been here for months already. Our current living situation finds us in an 800-square foot, two bedroom, furnished apartment right downtown. The plus side of this is Jim can walk to work in under 15 minutes, which maximizes his time at home with us. The downside is, 800 square feet. It's not that we are spoiled and need more living space to be happy (OK, we're a little spoiled), it's the way the space is utilized in this apartment. For one thing, there is way too much furniture in the little family room area. Throw in a few of Sully's toys and his stroller and highchair and it's no wonder it always looks like a crime scene when Jim comes home from work. The kitchen is a mere 5 feet by 2 feet area, and counter space is sparse, as is the tools needed to cook dinner.

I apologize. This is starting to sound like I'm complaining. And I promise, I'm not.

Being downtown, albeit in a small space, means within a minute out the door, Sully and I can walk along the river. Or meet Jim for lunch. Or get a cup of coffee at any street corner. I rarely have to drive anywhere, unless I'm getting groceries, or just want to drive somewhere because I can. Urban living is pretty cool, but I do miss suburbia.

It's always a bit of a culture shock when you move somewhere new, even if it's only a few hours away. While I consider myself a pretty outgoing person, I always struggle initially at forcing myself to get out and explore. I hate the feeling of not knowing exactly where I'm going or standing out as someone who doesn't know where she is going. And when the sidewalks are full of people in a hurry to get places downtown, I feel at most out of my comfort zone and in people's way. They all know I'm not from around here. But I push on, truly knowing that no one is actually considering the girl with the stroller, because everyone is just trying to get where they are going. And that moment of desperation to be back in suburbia passes.

When we were day-dreaming about where we would live in Calgary, we talked about forgoing the comforts of a detached home and imagined us living a "New York lifestyle in downtown Calgary". Wouldn't it be fun to live in a high-rise, downsize our possessions, live more simply? When our house didn't sell before we moved, we decided to opt for temporary accommodations. It made the most sense: we didn't have to move our stuff, we would be within walking distance of Jim's place of work and it would fulfill our desire to live downtown.

We tried to bring as little as we could with us: clothes, highchair, stroller, some toys, and our vitamix. While I don't feel strongly that I'm missing any one particular thing from home, I do miss the comforts of our home. Of knowing that something is in the cupboard if I need it, like my favourite bowl to eat salad out of, my favourite coffee mug, my favourite paring knife. I don't need those things to survive, (we have bowls, mugs and knives here), but it feels a little less like home without them.

Three weeks into our living downtown has taught us a lot about what we want for our future home in Calgary. While I love the idea of downtown living, it's not as dreamy with a baby. Could I make it work if we had no choice? Sure, I'm pretty adaptable that way. Would it feel more like home if we had all our belongings? Probably. But if we don't have to make it work long term, then we know we would prefer to eventually be in a house. So thank you, life, for the learning lesson.

Unfortunately, it's a terrible time to try and sell your home in Edmonton. We never imagined it would take so long to sell ours, and because of this, we find ourselves in this state of limbo: we can't fully move forward with our relocation to Calgary because we still have a house to pay for in Edmonton. One foot in, one foot out. It's not an ideal situation, but it is what it is. Next month, we will move to another temporary accommodation, out of downtown, but still in a busy part of the city. Jim will take the train to work and Sully and I will get to know a new part of the city. We will do what we have to do to stick together as a family while we pray that our house sells soon.

Home, sweet, temporary home.

Our Next Greatest Adventure

I knew there would be a lot of life changes this past year once Sully came into our lives, but I never imagined a move was in our near future. When we decided to sell our home in BC three and a half years ago, and move back to Edmonton, we did so believing that Edmonton would be our forever home. Or at least our home for a really long time. But life has a funny way of throwing opportunities at you when you least expect it, and come February, we will be packing up and calling Calgary home.

When a career opportunity presented itself to Jim back in the fall, we didn't think too much of it. But one thing led to another and we found ourselves having many, many in-depth discussions on the possibility of actually taking the leap and moving to another city just three hours away.  Pros and cons lists were written out. Conversations late into the night, countless emails and text messages sent back and forth during the day dissecting every aspect of what a move like this would entail for our present and our future consumed our days. What about our friends? Our family? My job? Our doctors? My book club? So many factors to consider! But I've always been a firm believer that things happen for a reason and if this move was meant to be, everything would just fall into place. And so they did. Jim and I are no strangers to moving, so those that know us well, weren't completely shocked by the news, but I don't think anyone expected us to move so soon after having a baby.

The decision to move was completely a joint decision, but that doesn't mean I don't have mixed emotions about it. I was born and raised in Edmonton, my parents and brother live here, my friends live here, and I've made some amazing connections with new friends since becoming a mom, so for me, the move is a lot more emotional. But I'm also really, really excited for the new adventures that await us! We've been feeling a little land locked since moving to Edmonton, especially when compared to our life in BC. We are looking forward to being closer to the mountains, three hours closer to BC and to just having a fresh, new start where the possibilities are endless, especially now that we are a family of three. I'm also really excited for Jim to pursue a career that promises to bring more job satisfaction and will complement all that he has worked so hard for in his career thus far. He more than deserves this opportunity. We've never regretted a move in the past, and we can't imagine this one will be any different.

So, with all that being said, I will be in the market for new friends! And a new book club! I'm accepting applications via email. Ha, just kidding! But seriously, if you live in the Calgary area and have room for a new friend, or for a new member in your book club, keep me in mind. I'm pretty much up for anything and I love meeting new people.

My Life in a "Moving" Nut Shell...

For the first 19 years of my life, I lived in the same house. Then it was like my mom needed to make up for lost time and we started moving - a lot. The next five years we pretty much moved an average of once a year, with me finally getting my own apartment when I was 23. The summer of 2007, when I was 24, I decided to pack up and move to Chilliwack, BC. I rented a room from my now-husband, Jim for a year. Jim then moved to Montreal and we lived with our friend Wes for a month in the interim of him leaving and me finding an apartment to live in. I moved into my own adorable carriage home for 5 months before joining Jim in Montreal. We only lasted three months there before moving back to Chilliwack, where we once again lived with Wes for a month. We bought our own house which we lived in for two years before making the big move back to Edmonton, my home city, in September of 2011. Jim moved first as he had to start work and lived in a friend’s unfinished basement for a month. When I got to Edmonton, we lived with my uncle for another month. Then, in October, we moved into a townhouse in Sherwood Park for six months. 

Which brings us to present day: six weeks ago we bought a brand new house in Edmonton! Possession date was March 15, but we have our townhouse until April 15. Awesome, because now we don’t have to worry about doing the one day move out/move in shenanigans.  Which ultimately equals two weeks of moving. Ugh. It also doesn’t help that the old place and the new place are a good half hour drive apart. “Quick” truck loads over every night were never quick. And that’s pretty much how we ended up moving. We waited until too late to book a u-haul, so we loaded up Jim’s truck every night after work and moved a load of boxes and furniture over. By the time we got to our new place, it was always dark out so I’m sure our new neighbours must think we are big weirdo’s. Or drug dealers, as some of my kind twitter friends pointed out. 

So where am I going with all this? What I thought was going to be a stress-free, underwhelming move has turned into a HUGE time-suck. Instead of just putting my big girl pants on and getting the move over in one day, we’ve managed to drag it out over two weeks, making it seem as if an end was never in sight. Needless to say, my reading has been almost non-existent.  Between moving, working, cleaning the old place and consoling a very upset and very confused doggy, there are not enough hours in the day. I do a lot of my reading before bed, but I can’t remember the last time I went to bed before midnight. Oh don’t get me wrong – I’ve gotten a chapter in here and there, but that’s about it. Insert sad face here. 

"You can unpack all you want, I'm not taking my eyes off of you!"

"I really want to go to bed, but I'm worried you'll leave me."

The silver lining is we are in a gorgeous, new house with working internet (yay!), and have every intention of making this our home for many years to come. (Meaning, if we move again in a few years, everything goes with the house except my books.) And once we are unpacked and settled, I will have more hours to dedicate to reading and getting this blog going. And cooking! And maybe I’ll even get back to the gym. Gosh, how do people move when they have kids?! 

Oh! And I almost forgot the best part: I will FINALLY be able to unpack all my beloved books that have been locked away in boxes for the last six months. That, my friends, will be a very exciting day. 

I feel like they are suffocating.