Transitions + Reflections

Well it looks like it’s been almost two months since my last entry. I could blame it on work (like I usually do) or moving cross country or just being busy in general… or maybe all of the above. Isn't it just crazy how you plan something for so long and then it just happens. This move almost reminds me of our wedding. We planned the wedding for about 11 months and then it was gone in the blink of an eye. Even though I only announced it on social media in April, we had been planning this move for months —basically since the Fall of 2015 and now it's here. If I’m being honest, some of our time in Charlotte dragged on but mostly it flew by. It’s hard to believe 3 years came and went.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but until we lived in Charlotte, we never really traveled much.  Our first big international trip was to Italy for our honeymoon in 2012 and we totally got bitten by the travel bug.  We saved up for a year to make that trip and it was completely worth it — but then we had to save for our first cross country move (haha — “first” …like that?). So when we arrived in CLT and I got to rename our moving savings account online to TRAVEL SAVINGS, I got a glimmer in my eye and decided that New York would be our first BIG trip. We were so lucky to be able to also visit Charleston, New York, Iceland, Turks and Caicos [& more] while being based in Charlotte. 

When we moved to Charlotte, I also transitioned into another career. I had been grinding [hello 65+ hour work weeks during tax season] for six years in public accounting and I was done. Sure, I interviewed for a few CPA positions as a safety net but I took a leap and specialized into a new industry that I knew next to nothing about.  I was actually reading a book when I came to visit Charlotte for my interviews about one of  the things the author discussed was “specializing too early” in your career. I was scared. I didn’t want to work in public accounting but it’s a lot harder to transition out of it when you work in tax as opposed to audit.  

The job search began. I was convinced I would find a job through the local CPA association or LinkedIn since they recently upgraded their job search function. But, nope. Guess where I ended up actually finding my current position? You’ll never guess. monster.com!  Totally random, right? And the other funny part of this story is that it was the very first job I applied for.  Over the next few months, I ended up applying at probably 50+ more jobs all the way from Accountant at Chiquita Banana [RIP Charlotte HQ] to Financial Analyst at Hearst Publications.  You never know. 

I was worried and nervous that I was making a rash decision because I wanted to leave public accounting so bad.  But, I am a very logical person, so what did I do? I made a pro and con list, of course. This was actually one of our favorite ways to make decisions during that period of time.  And 3 years later, taking this job was one of the best things I’ve ever done.  And I think that’s why it was so hard to leave the CLT office.  As I mentioned before, I am going to stay with the company in my current role and work remotely.  And after 4 weeks of working from home, I can honestly say that I love it! Of course I miss working in an office and water cooler chats, but the commute is amazing [hello pajamas], I can easily fit in a quick workout at lunch and when I sign off, it's still light outside. So far, so good.  Well, that's all for now. I'll be back with more thoughts soon [including my DMV experience + CA drivers and #neighborhoodscenes] and I promise it won't be another two months.  

P.S. We only have a few more pictures to hang up and then I promise I will do a photo tour of the new diggs. 

THE B E S T COAST

So, you've been anxiously awaiting the announcement. Where are we moving to next? You probably remember this post I did, announcing that we were moving to Charlotte about 3 years ago. Well, in the past 3 years, Jake has almost gotten his doctorate.

Cheers to that! 

#phdwifeproblems #amiright

He'll defend his dissertation in mid-June and then we will pack up all of our belongings and move...

Somewhere near the L.A. area, we're not sure exactly where yet. And I'm not sure if my placement on the above map is correct, either. Give or take, right?!  Jake got a job as an assistant professor at a university near L.A. and we could not be more excited. The other great news?!? I will keep my current job and work remotely from home.  I'm not sure it could have turned out any better than this.

Here's the plan:

June 15 - 20 - We'll visit the area and find said place to live. Since I will be working from home, I am totally open to living anywhere! I am more concerned with finding a neighborhood that we like rather than living in a certain area that is close to the university. Easy for me to say, right?!  Similar to when we moved to Charlotte, I spent hours and hours researching neighborhoods online and I am so glad we picked South End! I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in this city. So, I think my countless hours of research will ultimately pay off again. I'll probably document this more on the blog as it gets closer... now that it's all out in the open!

July 1 - Officially move. Moving Pods and car arrive in California.  We'll have the weekend before I go "back to work" on July 5th, but it will be nice to unpack a few things and get our bearings. So, that's it! We are turning in my Volvo before we move so we have one less car to ship and we are currently debating if we want to get another car once we get there or maybe we can survive on 1 vehicle if we live in a walkable area. We'll be flexible on that front. What are we not being flexible on? Space! We need at least 3 bedrooms so that I can have an office and Jake will likely need his own office too. The crazy thing is that I've lived in a studio or 1 bedroom apartment for most of my adult life (except for senior year of college when we lived in a house) but I am so excited for more space! I am already planning how my (don't worry Jake will have his own closet, too) closet will be organized... It's the little things!

Are you surprised? Excited? Relieved? I am actually not all that stressed about doing another big coast to coast move, mostly because we've done it before and I truly think that we'll be on the West Coast for good now. So, there you have it! The Best Coast, it is!

xoxo,

Seattle/Portland Staycation

Jake and I did a bit of a staycation {read: vacation in the city you live in} before our big move last Friday. Here is a recap for you in case you haven't been following along on Instagram.... but really, who hasn't been?

July 1 - Move out of our Magnolia, Seattle apartment + pack up all of our worldly possessions in two smallish pods. Pods get picked up and travel to our new apartment in Charlotte, NC in 6 days. 6 days, people. That is just incredible. I believe the journey was SEA>CHI>CLT. That is one hell of a roadtrip. Thank you mister truck driver man for trekking our belongings cross country so we didn't have to. I joke with Jake that our stuff has traveled to more states than I have. 

Our Magnolia Apartment (goodbye, my love!):

Our pods, patiently waiting to be packed:

See you in a couple weeks, cars! Have a safe trip!

July 1 - July 5 - Stay at quaint bed and breakfast place we found on airbnb.com. Try not to spend all our money shopping at U-Village {Anthro, Jcrew, Starbucks... you know the drill}. Eat out at some delicious restaurants including Canlis {restaurant blog posts to follow}.  

Our lovely B&B (found via airbnb.com):

The Seattle Skyline, via West Seattle Pier:

 

July 6 - Goodbye Party in Everett. Some of our friends threw us a wonderful, very special party in their backyard complete with hommemade strawberry lemonade and pulled pork and snickerdoodle cupcakes. The list goes on and on! They went way over and above any of our expectations. We love you, friends!  

Apparently I have no pictures of this??? Stacey, can you send me any if you have any?

July 7 - 10 - Head down to Portland for a quick trip to see friends and family, explore the city and eat at really good restaurants.  For example, after waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we had Portland's own Salt & Straw ice cream that everyone has been raving about. We tried the following flavors: arbequina olive oil, sea salt with caramel ribbon, pear with blue cheese, raspberry lemon basil sorbet. We loved the sea salt and got a real kick out of the olive oil flavor. I actually kind of liked it! 

I'll add some Portland pics once our internet is set up @ home!   

Radio Silence

Hey guys, 

Sorry for the radio silence going on here. We arrived in Charlotte a couple days ago and don't have cable or Internet hooked up yet (they are coming out in Friday to install it). So needless to say, I can't get my photos all organized just yet. Please be patient with me as we are still moving into our new place and trying to get organized. Ugh, all the pictures below are the wrong sizes :( I will have to figure out what's going on there.

Here are a couple photos from the past few days. Follow me on Instagram @thevintagemodern for more pics.



The moving truck arrives with our pods!



Getting ready to drop our pods off!

Here are some pictures of our new apartment in case you missed them. 



Kitchen

Bathroom

Our first sunset at our new apartment from the porch

Rainstorm!

Nope that last picture isn't in black and white. I took it last night while it was pouring down rain. 

Funny story: Jake and I were getting ready to do some shopping at west elm yesterday evening and opened our apartment door and heard some loud noises that sounded like a washing machine. We headed down to the car and discovered it was raining cats and dogs (see photo above). So we went back inside to wait it out and sure enough, a few minutes later it was over. It was our first NC storm and I must say it was a lot easier to handle than never ending Seattle rain. Just sayin'.

Signing off,

Kim 

My Thoughts on Charlotte

I just got back from my trip to Charlotte and it was amazing! I couldn't have picked a better city for us to move to. The city seems to be pretty similar in size to Seattle so it's nice to feel like I'm in a small/big city if that makes sense. If you have been following me on instagram @thevintagemodern, then you will know that I posted a million pictures like a madwoman. Go check out my instagram if you missed those. I feel like I never have any new pictures to blog cause I have instagrammed them all. I will try to get better at that. I promise.  


View of Hyatt House from the pool

  

EpiCenter at night

 As you can imagine preparing for a cross county move has not been easy.  Emotionally or physically. I have done so much research on the topic that I feel like I could write a book about it now. But I digress. These past few weeks have been packed with finishing up projects at work, spending as much time with friends as possible... And yes, of course packing. Although I'm not sure I've actually packed a single thing (thanks hubby). Only recently have I started to feel pangs of sadness. Before this week, I was all go-go-go applying for jobs, looking at apartments online and just trying to prepare in every way I thought possible. It is hard to prepare yourself emotionally for something like this - honestly I think it's the hardest for those you leave behind. It's kind of like when your spouse goes on a trip and you stay home. You are just going through your regular day to day motions while your spouse is somewhere new having adventures without you. But honestly I think it will get easier as time goes on. That had been my experience so far living far away from my immediate family.

 



View from our new apartment balcony

  

From the front entrance

 

Our actual apartment: island in the kitchen, looking out into the living room  



Our actual apartment: Living Room with window and door to balcony

  

The Clubhouse with pool (not pictured)



Another shot of the Clubhouse, I loved the styling and
want to use it for inspiration while decorating our apartment 



 While I was in Charlotte this weekend, I signed a lease on a brand new apartment and got a job! So I am considering this a productive and successful weekend trip. While I'm not crazy about the 5 hour flight to Seattle, it is a necessary evil. Jake and I often get asked the question of when and how often will we visit. The answer is of course, we don't know yet. We have to figure out our savings budget, coordinate vacation time and  figure out how much is a "good deal" for that particular flight. I do have a fare watcher set up so I can monitor the best round trip flight and so far, it's been consistent at $332 for several months now. I am sure the prices will be much higher around the holidays and we will have to be sensitive to that too.

I do have to warn you that we ended up with a brand new 1 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment, so if you want to come visit, you will have to either sleep on our (1) couch or (2) blow up mattress. We decided that we would rather get a smaller, nicer place that we would use everyday rather than a bigger place that would only benefit us when guests were in town. Not to discourage guests, we want you to come visit us! Maybe wait a few months so we can figure the city out, but after that, we're game!



View from my hotel room on the 13th floor

   

View to the other side



The Chiquita Banana HQ! Who knew?!!

There are a lot of unknowns for us right now but I can honestly say that I am super excited to start this new chapter in my our lives and can't wait to see what it brings. It will be a nice transition to have a couple weeks off and be a tourist in our own city. So far we were thinking about doing the following: underground tour, ride the ducks, check out some happy hours around the city, have a jcrew shopping spree (just kidding - I was checking to see if you were paying attention), take a trip down to Portland to see friends and family, have dinner at Canlis (our first time!!), and spend our last night in the marqueen hotel in Queen Anne.

Sometimes I feel like blogging is so one sided and I just talk about myself so much. Do you feel like that sometimes too???

Straight East Coastin'

If you have been patiently waiting to see what my big reveal this week is...

WE ARE MOVING TO CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA!!!! 

Let me back up and explain. Jake told me in December 2011 that he was thinking about pursing his doctorate. This was literally not even a month after I finished my last CPA exam.  He began researching schools and I went about my normal life. We talked about it once in a while but there was no real traction since he had missed the deadline for that year. So, we knew that he wouldn't be applying until late 2012 for a Fall 2013 start. As Jake discussed the possibility of pursuing his doctorate with other colleagues, he was asked to teach a few classes as an adjunct professor at a local university.  He taught for 3 quarters and really enjoyed it. He confirmed that getting his doctorate and becoming a professor was absolutely what he wanted to do.  

After much discussion with his mentor, he knew that he had to open up his school search to the entire US. He needed a certain kind of accreditation that no schools on the West Coast currently possess. So, we pulled out the large map (no really, we did) and started flagging where the schools were located. We even took a photo for evidence. We thought this would be a really cool thing to show our kids someday.

The world {OK, U.S.} at our fingertips

As you can see, most of the schools are concentrated in the South and East.  We further narrowed down and came up with a top 13, 10, 6 and finally 4 which he applied to.  The top 4 schools ended up being in North Carolina {2} and Virginia {2}. We found out he got an interview at one of the schools in Virginia right before Christmas 2012.  They wanted him to be there during the 2nd week in January.  He hadn't heard back from the other schools but was able to set up semi-interviews when he told them he would be in the area - thank goodness.  Plane tickets are a little pricey, especially with such little notice.  He flew into Norfolk and spent 3 days there to interview at Old Dominion before deciding it wasn't the perfect fit for him. After his interview, I could tell he was discouraged. He had an informal interview at William & Mary but determined that wasn't a fit either. As he was finishing up his trip, he drove the 5 1/2 hours from Norfolk to Charlotte where he participated in a pretty informal interview there. He took a million pictures of the campus and really got a good feel for the faculty and what it would be like there and he loved every minute of it. We heard the news he was accepted into Old Dominion and UNC Charlotte a few weeks later.  We agonizingly made the decision to go with UNC Charlotte and emailed the two programs that night so we wouldn't have to discuss it further {I think we both struggled with making the decision because it's just so HUGE. You don't want to pick the wrong city to relocate to for 3-4 years}. We had pro and con's lists, both city websites and wikipedias up on the computer and discussed the two cities for endless hours. 

Ultimately, we picked Charlotte and are so happy with our decision. Whew! I felt like I was keeping this huge secret for so long and I can finally tell someone!  We had heard really good things about North Carolina from friends and family who have been there {or live there!!}

I have started my job search and it's going really well. I have a lot of great opportunities and I am trying to stay organized and on top of everything. I am actually headed to Charlotte {for the first time} in less than a month for a job interview! Hooray! 

Our plan/timeline , as it stands right now:

July 1st - Pack up all our belongings and vehicles for shipping, move out of our amazing apartment (sad face), track said goods online (our stuff will travel almost 3,000 miles!! and take approximately 10 business days to arrive)

July 1 - 11th - stay at airbnb condo, relax, hang out, make a trip down to PDX to visit friends and family, etc

July 12th - Fly 1-way to Charlotte, move into amazing (yet to be found) apartment, start our new lives!

Hooray. Change is fun.  Don't get me wrong, we will miss our amazing friends and family dearly! But we are excited for this new chapter in our lives.

THE SECRET

Have you guys read the book or seen the movie called The Secret? Ironically, we started watching the movie adaptation of the book but didn't finish it. I think the book is probably better.  The movie was not what we expected and seemed more of like a documentary. But, I digress. The point of The Secret is that you can make anything you want to happen with positive thinking. Wikipedia says that The Secret is based on the law of attraction and claims that positive thinking can create life-changing results such as increased wealth, health and happiness. It might sound kooky or weird to some of you, but I totally agree with the author.  Maybe it doesn't work for everything... but it does work for some things. 

Via wikipedia

I really think that whether you tell yourself you can or can't do something, you are right. I remember after I graduated from college, I didn't think I could pass the CPA exam. I told myself it was just too hard - and why bother because I wouldn't pass anyway, so I took another path in life, but quickly realized that wasn't what I wanted to do long term. Fast forward a couple years, and I passed all (4) parts of the CPA exam on my first try {thanks to Becker, a lot of hard work on my part and probably The Secret}. I totally proved myself wrong! It's amazing what we can accomplish when we try.   

Imagine what we could do if we got rid of all self doubt. 

On a kind of side note that is partially related: remember here how I was all upset and sad that we thought we had to move because the owners of our apartment building wanted to move into our unit. Well, the owners decided to stay overseas for at least another year {which means we can keep our apartment}! The best part is that we hadn't signed a lease on the new apartment because the guy never sent it to us yet. I also only packed one box so far. So we unpacked that yesterday, cancelled our UHaul reservation and breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes weird things happen that are unexplainable. I'm just glad we don't have to move.

Life Happens

We got the news on Friday night via a voicemail that our Property Management company left me at 2:30 in the afternoon.   Somehow my iPhone didn't register it until 10:00 pm that night. The owners of our apartment building want to move into our unit and we have to vacate at the end of January.  Of course I burst into tears {I have been very emotional lately}.

I will miss you, my lovely apartment!

After we got over the initial shock, we looked up Seattle landlord tenant law and sure enough, this is a good enough reason to terminate a month to month lease.  We are supposed to be getting the paperwork in the mail today. 

One of my favorite things was the mix of the different materials on the outside

I loved our modern apartment so much - it was the perfect fit for us and we had lived there for almost 3 years. It was the first place we officially lived together.  It's where we lived when we got engaged. When we got married. When we took our trip to Italy.  As you can see I am still in mourning.  

If you want to see pictures of the inside, a few months back I did an art tour of our apartment here. 

I hate moving so much. But I am trying to stay positive... and maybe we can get into a really cool new area like South Lake Union or West Seattle... I have been looking at some new construction in West Seattle, so stay tuned to see where we end up living!