Texas ladies

Into+the+Kitty

What area do you live in and do you like it?

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SuperTinkerham

I'm in Houston as well. I really like the international flavor to the city. I hate the suburbs though. I live in Montrose for now. I would like to live outside of Texas at some point in my life. I grew up in Dallas, and I feel like Dallas is a little too uptight for me. I'm a pretty casual person. Happy to asnwer any specific questions.

stoneycakes

ITK, if you're going to move, it's supposed to be closer to me, not farther away.

Into+the+Kitty

stoneycakes said:

ITK, if you're going to move, it's supposed to be closer to me, not farther away.

Trust me, I am very much not happy with this possibility.

stoneycakes

Into+the+Kitty said:

stoneycakes said:

ITK, if you're going to move, it's supposed to be closer to me, not farther away.

Trust me, I am very much not happy with this possibility.

Hugs!  I had friends who moved for a few years to TX, I think about an hour outside of Austin.  They liked it for the most part, and seemed to make friends easily. They did say the area tended towards much more conservative views than they were used to in New England.  They were downright shocked at some of the local talk radio, but I'm sure that was purposely sensational, too.

Into+the+Kitty

AFwifelife said:

You REALLY don't want to live where I live lol

Where are you looking? San Antonio is really busy but I like the outlying areas (Universal City, New Braunfels, San Marcos) then Dallas is also really nice.

If you move to where I live, I'll cry with you.

PMing you awful.

welly01

I'm in Houston (Conroe...that still counts right?).  The weather here sucks and I wouldn't live here if I hadn't been raised here.  But its a great place for jobs and they aren't all downtown.  I haven't lived in another major city, but just based on my travels to Austin and Dallas, its very easy to navigate the freeways.  There are 3 major loops and all the major interstates meet in downtown.

I love where we live because we are in the "country" and we're able to have 5 acres.  But really, we're very close to the local shopping, services, etc.  We are also close to The Woodlands, which is an upscale area and also a great place to work.  There are several oil and gas companies and there is also a large medical community.  Exxon is moving their headquarters here so the area is and will continue to expand.

Sugar Land is also another great location but not as many jobs nearby.

welly01

Sorry, I went into all that detail about Houston when you were asking about Texas in general.  If you get to choose, I would definitely pick Austin.

I'm from Houston, so naturally I believe Dallas is snobby.

ElleBeeDub

I grew up in Lubbock (the base of the panhandle). I hated it growing up, but I can really appreciate it now. If it weren't for the fact that my parents live there, I'd totally consider moving back.

I also went to school in Georgetown (outside Round Rock, near Austin), and that area was awesome. I'd move back to the Austin area for sure. 

countrycotton

I guess I am the only one here who dosent live in or near so big city. The closest city to me is san Angelo. Don't worry, even if you've lived in Texas most of your life you've probably never heard of it or much less been here. Not pretty, edge of the desert, and only three hours from anything. But that does make it so that most trips can be day trips. This is a uber-conservative area. But it's home, and unless it's to the coast I wouldn't live anywhere else.

welly01

countrycotton said:

I guess I am the only one here who dosent live in or near so big city. The closest city to me is san Angelo. Don't worry, even if you've lived in Texas most of your life you've probably never heard of it or much less been here. Not pretty, edge of the desert, and only three hours from anything. But that does make it so that most trips can be day trips. This is a uber-conservative area. But it's home, and unless it's to the coast I wouldn't live anywhere else.

I've driven through San Angelo many times.  I've seen some parts of the city that are trashy but I generally like that part of the state.  The weather is much different than Houston (and any place with less humidity is wonderful!).  It's not as bad as you're making it sound. 

welly01

@countrycotton, do you know where Grape Creek is?  My stepdad went to high school there.  He graduated in a class of 12!  And I think he grew up in Carlsbad?

SuperTinkerham

Oh and we really like Sna ANtonio (finding the artsy/hipster part of town). They are working on a light rail there. Mister works on the light rail here in Houston - so I love that it is expanding.

SuperTinkerham

We intended to sell our townhouse in Montrose before baby got here. Hahahaahahaha. I am due in a month and our house is crazy. With the real estate market we can't afford anything inside the loop anymore.

bumpuser10179393

I live in Bryan/College Station. We have acreage north of town. I grew up in Cypress and Houston and the suburbs are growing so much. We love it where we are. Texas A&M students are known for their hospitality and we have a great natural birth community here.

unaveragejane

I can't believe y'all all feel for ITK's "help, I might be moving" trick. You know she's just doing this to add info to the spreadsheet!

TJ1979

ITK, you know I'm on the north side of Houston bc I heard you in the attic the other day. You might as well come on down and move into our guest suite. I'll show you around. It'll be great. Katniss will love the girls!

MAdams728

I live in the Hill Country, about 45 minutes away from San Antonio. I love it. It's a tiny little town, very slow paced, very conservative. My husband is from here, I am from SA. We moved here when we were fed up with big city life, and it was the best decision we could have made! Rural living has drawbacks, though.

SA has some great areas, some great attractions. Traffic sucks, but that's par for the course in a big city. It also has some awful areas.

TJ1979

Y'all! There are so many of us Texan girls, and especially Houston girls! Wow.

Into+the+Kitty

Are any of you not originally from Texas, but moved there later in life?

I am very much picturing a culture shock like @stoneycakes mentioned.

unaveragejane

Into+the+Kitty said:

Are any of you not originally from Texas, but moved there later in life?

I am very much picturing a culture shock like @stoneycakes mentioned.

I have a spare bedroom I could rent you if you really want some culture shock. Where I grew up (about 45 minutes from where I live now) there were still men running around in pointy white hats...and no, they weren't the Pope. I was a kid, so I didn't realize just how close-minded the place was until we moved to FL and there were people of different skin colors, and bars, and (gasp!) strip clubs!

Into+the+Kitty

unaveragejane said:

Into+the+Kitty said:

Are any of you not originally from Texas, but moved there later in life?

I am very much picturing a culture shock like @stoneycakes mentioned.

I have a spare bedroom I could rent you if you really want some culture shock. Where I grew up (about 45 minutes from where I live now) there were still men running around in pointy white hats...and no, they weren't the Pope. I was a kid, so I didn't realize just how close-minded the place was until we moved to FL and there were people of different skin colors, and bars, and (gasp!) strip clubs!

This makes me literally feel sick.

welly01

Do you know what part of the state you're moving to?

Into+the+Kitty

I am not definitely moving, and won't be posting the area publicly. J was offered a job by someone who is willing to also buy his business, and the amount of money that we would be looking at is ridiculous enough that we need to at least consider it. As much as I have no motivation or desire to ever want to move to Texas, it's a lot of money. So I guess the question I'm posing to myself is how much can money buy my happiness.

TJ1979

If it's enough money, you can alway try it out, get rich, then move back.

SuperTinkerham

I can see your hesitation. Mister and I have discussed relocating to other cities and I have a list of criteria before we do that. Best of luck in your decision making and I'm happy to answer any questions I can! 

countrycotton

@into+the+kitty I'm not sure where you are living now, but in general Texas has a lowere cost if living and no income tax. So that increase in income will go way further than you expect! @welly01‌ I actually really like san Angelo. As for parts of town bring a little trashy, I figure all towns have area that need improvements. But our worst wouldn't compare to bad parts of Dallas or Houston. And of course I know grape creek. I've got family there. I've always considered grape creek part of Angelo. I don't actually lived in Angelo, I truly live in a rural area. But close enough and I grew up there so it's home. 

MAdams728

Austin is a very crunchy, green, liberal area. Lots of academia.

All of the big cities are very diverse. Of course there is a big hispanic influence, but there really isn't a lot of the "backwoods Texas" stereotype that people assume. A lot of people don't even have accents ;-)

Small towns.....that's a little different.

ElleBeeDub

I'd be willing to say it totally depends on where you're thinking of going. The parts of Texas I lived in were always pretty green (as in crunchy, not as in lots of trees... ) and quite open-minded (that's not to say you can't find the stereotypical gun-toting conservative... They just aren't necessarily the only ones around). I actually had major culture shock moving to Louisiana because I was so accustomed to a more liberal viewpoint.

Into+the+Kitty

zoegirlTX said:

Chickypoo2468 said:

Wait. No income tax? What?

yup, no state income tax, but the property taxes here are pretty darn high (but real estate in general is super cheap unless you are living in downtown houston or fancy suburbs of austin/dallas, etc)

Seriously. I did a quick search on real estate and it's ridiculous how much farther your dollar goes in Texas than here when it comes to buying a house.

welly01

I think its awesome that Texas has no state income tax and it definitely has a lower COL than many places.  Our economy is booming right now and the state is growing by leaps and bounds.  Of course, I think Texas is just awesome in general and I'd never leave no matter what.  (I do wish people would stop coming here...its getting crowded).

Also, I'm not sure about the other cities but Houston is not only multi-cultural but also full of people from other states.  And yes there are a lot of gun-totin', conservative, religious fanatics but there is equally a large liberal population.

One thing we're terrible on is education though.  Although you can find great school districts, I think on average, we do worse than other states.  And we have the least number of top tier colleges for our size.

countrycotton

Just got to ask, what's wrong with being a "gun totin' conservative"?

ElleBeeDub

Nothing at all! It can be a bit of a shock for some people, though. I think it's a case of the stereotype speaking much louder than reality.

welly01

countrycotton said:

Just got yo ask, what's wrong with being a "gun totin' conservative"?

For me?  Nothing!  But I can see how someone from another part of the country would be skeptical of moving to a state reportedly full of them. 

I mentioned once to a friend that we thought about moving to Oregon because its so pretty, etc.  He said its a whole different world up there.  Hunting isn't really approved of and having a gun is a big deal, stuff like that.  It would just be a very different mindset than what I am used to.

I love Texas and hope that it continues to be mostly full of gun-totin', conservative, religious fanatics!  I love that when I go to the grocery store, it is mostly trucks and SUVs in the parking lot (this is an oil & gas state people!).  I love that on jeans day 75% of the men wear cowboy boots and at my previous employer they said a prayer before our Thanksgiving pot luck.  

And just for the record, I would absolutely support secession!

countrycotton

I knew I couldn't be the only one on this board!

TJ1979

Hehe Satan's backside.

QOTR

I'm not a regular poster, but I thought I'd offer up another vote for Austin.  I've lived in other parts of TX (Wichita Falls, Waco, Dallas, Ft Worth & a podunk arm-pit small town where I grew up that I won't bother naming - no one has heard of it).  Austin and the surrounding hill country are the only places in TX where I would live.   It's way too hot in the summer and getting more crowded by the month, but it still a great place to live.  Lots of green areas and a passionate outdoor / athletic community.   Lots of great craft beer & local wineries, good food, a good art scene and a thriving live music scene of course.   My main complaints are the heat and although I love our little airport (great food court, shopping and live music, easy parking and quick to navigate), you have to connect via a larger airport for most international flights. 

Good luck to you in making your decision!