Life Update + We are Moving!

Oh my gosh you guys, I am finally getting the chance to sit down and write to you guys in what feels like forever. As my junior year of college has come to a close, I am able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing what is ahead of me. I have to be honest with you guys, this past school year was full of so many ups and downs, starting back in the Fall when school almost killed me. I honestly can’t even tell you what classes I was taking because I blocked that period of time out of my head because it was so tough. Mix an overloaded school schedule with seasonal depression and a mental state which was fighting with every ounce in my body to prolong Fall and you get a very hard quarter. Fast forward to the holidays and the New Year when Keegan and I found out some really exciting news right as I was creating my goals for 2018. As for my 2018 goals, one of them was to travel somewhere every month, and the other was to say “yes” to things I wouldn’t normally say “yes” to. As for the exciting news, Keegan scored internships at Amazon, Pinterest, and a startup company but after considering his options and what each company offered him, Pinterest was the winner. Only thing was…he would have to relocate to San Francisco.

I have to be honest, when I found out Keegan would be moving to San Francisco every ounce in my body was overjoyed and so proud of him, but there was a sense of selfishness that was really hard to ignore imagining Keegan leaving for San Francisco. Never would I have thought that he would be the one going away, I always thought it would be me. Some of you know this but it was my dream for a long time to live in New York for a year, which would have been coming up this summer if I did, but after some new revelations in my life I decided it was no longer what I wanted to do. So, Keegan moving away brought a tinge of jealousy and sadness. What can I say? I’m human! Not long after he accepted the position, we decided, what the heck, we will both just move down there! Conveniently supported and also encouraged by my new New Year’s resolutions.

I make it sound like it was a super easy decision for both of us to decide we would move down there together and spend our summer in the Bay Area, but it really wasn’t that easy. Keegan and I don’t live together now nor did I ever want to live together before we got married. People ask me why all the time, and for me, it’s just something I want to wait for. There’s a lot that comes with living together and going into this summer I have an open mind and I am super excited about this opportunity, but it is also something I am approaching cautiously. So that was a big conversation for us at the beginning, and we still talk about it all the time. The other thing was, for awhile we didn’t know if we should just spend the summer apart (location wise) and see how things would go. We are both very independent people, especially myself, but after thinking about it, we would rather spend the summer together building a stronger relationship than fighting the long distance. Other topics of heavy discussion included where we would live, how much it would be costing, what would we do with our current lease agreements, and where would I work over the summer, which, with a little faith in with the Man upstairs, everything literally worked out perfectly. So perfectly, I can’t even believe it.

So, yes, Keegan and I are moving down to SF for the summer and we leave on June 24th, which is so soon! I have been keeping it a secret and have only told a few people up until this point. Six months keeping a secret is hard to do, but I knew I couldn’t share until I had everything figured out. The biggest thing was finding someone to sublease my apartment and since I live with Payton I couldn’t just find someone on craigslist. Somehow, thanks to the power of Instagram, I found the perfect girl to live in my space while I am gone which was a huge blessing, and Keegan found someone for his place too. That was the biggest stress for me knowing how expensive SF is. That leads me to just how expensive SF really is. When Keegan and I went down there to survey our options for living, we quickly realized what we were getting into. For a little example, the studios we looked at started around $4,000 a month. Yeah, and I thought Seattle was bad. Never complaining about my rent here ever again! After lowering our expectations and upping our budget we actually found the perfect place for us through Airbnb which was so much bigger than the studios we were looking at, has parking, and an easy bus ride to Pinterest for Keegan. Not to mention it’s super cute and will have room for all my clothes and all the slippers for women I’d want to stash! Another miracle. The nice thing about Pinterest is that they offer a stipend for living expenses which was an amount that would cover our entire living costs over the summer. Turns out this money from Pinterest can be taxed up to 50%…which was a huge blow. Thank you California and your ungodly tax rates. That being said after crunching numbers and generous help from both of our parents we were able to make it work. The last question on the table was…what the hell would I be doing this summer?

I am super excited to say I have finally quit nannying and I am in my last two weeks at butter LONDON, meaning I am going to be blogging full time! I see this summer as a huge opportunity for myself and my blog. Finally dedicating uninterrupted time to this business that recently has taken a back seat is exactly what needs to happen and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I get giddy just thinking about it. This means I will finally be back connecting with you all every day and the content will finally be flowing!

As for what I am doing right now, I moved out of my apartment late last week and I have moved back in with my parents until June 24th comes around. I am finishing up working at butter LONDON and I am enjoying Seattle and the Lake as much as I can before I have to leave. I have a trip scheduled to come home for my birthday in August but other than that (unless I fly home randomly) I will be in SF until middle of September.

I am so excited to bring you guys along with me this summer on our adventures in SF and beyond. I have a few other trips lined up as well which I am looking forward to and I am going to be down in LA for a couple weeks in July as well. For now, if you live in the San Francisco/Bay Area and even LA/SoCal area, I would love to connect with you. I am really looking forward to expanding my network this summer and connecting with you all!

Talk to you all soon, xx