GTKYF- where you live

TTCgradstud

Where do you live (you can leave out specifics if you'd like and answer generally)?  Are you happy there?  How/Why did you end up living there?  What is the best thing about where you live?  What is the worse? 

DH and I live in Bangor, Maine- home of Stephen King and the 30 foot tall Paul Bunyon statue.  We move here so I could go to grad school while I worked form home.  But getting laid off and getting an adoption match right when school should have started put that on hold, and we have instead decided to move.  We love our house and we like the area pretty well.  The best thing is that we live in the "city" (30,000 people is not a city in my mind, but for a state with only 1,000,000 people it is considered large), but are 10 minutes from our family's farm.  So we can hop over there anytime we need some time spent in nature.  And 45 minutes from Acadia National Park, which is beautiful! 

The worse thing is that there isn't much to do, the pay isn't so great because cost of living is low.  But there isn't a lot of diversity in the people, or really in the choice of things to do.  And while it would be nice in theory to raise a family here- things are safe, etc. I think it is more important for our child to either see people who look like them (if we get a AA/BR baby) or people who do not look like them (in the case of a caucasian baby). 

Amy720

We live in Northwest Georgia. It's a pretty average size town--not too big and not too small.  We have a mall and an outlet mall.  We have tons of restaurants too.  It's nice to be really close to bigger cities like Chattanooga, TN and Atlanta, GA.  We go can't wait to take Ben to museums, Braves games and Falcons Games.  It's also close to Gatlinburg, TN and not too far from the beach.  The weather is nice-mild winters and hot summers. 

Amy720

Another things I forgot to mention is that I've lived here all my life.  I grew up in the same house and built a house right across the street from where I grew up.  I wouldn't want to move anywhere else.

Dr.Loretta

We live in the Poconos.

I'm happier, but not thrilled. I went from a suburb close to a pretty big city to being out in the sticks. But it's not bad.

DH and I had a "race" to see who got a job first, and the other would follow. He won. I'm happy for him in that he has a relatively short commute compared to his last job, and his job is stable. I have to commute big-time now, which kind of stinks.

The best thing about where I live is the fall. It's absolutely stunning here.

The worst thing about where I live is the drivers. I swear that the worst drivers in NY and NJ come to live in the Poconos just to keep my BP high.

silliestbunny

We live in Los Angeles.  I have mixed feelings. 
We live in a lovely neighborhood but the COL is ridiculous.  Our neighborhood was built in the 1950s....typical housing/neighborhood development...nothing special.  But the cost to live here is too high IMO.  We have lovely trees and a safe streets but is it worth the cost?  I don't know...I really struggle with this point.  My family all relocated from NorCal to Arizona.  We could afford a home that is TWICE the size of our house now, for a third of the price of our home now.  It makes no sense to stay....but DH's family is here, I have a job that I love, and my best friends are here.  I do wonder that once our baby comes if we'll see it differently. 

I am also not crazy with the lifestyle.  Los Angeles has many perks....but there are also many drawbacks.

If it weren't for friends or family, I'd love to be in Oregon...either Portland or a coast town.

crystalpopcorn

I live in Denver. ?I absolutely love it. ?I've lived in Illinois, Ohio, Florida, and now Colorado. ?This is by far my favorite place. I love the weather. ?It is so sunny here, but we don't get the humidity that other places do. Yes, it snows in the winter, but the snow melts right away because of the sun. ?We rarely have to shovel. ?I love the fact that you can do something outside year round. ?We go camping and hiking in the summer, and skiining and snowshoeing in the winter. ?All of this is done, of course, in the majestic Rocky Mountains. ?The people here are generally very friendly as well. ?I can't say enough good things about Denver or Colorado in general.

What is the worst thing about Denver? Hmmm....the air is pretty dry in the winter, which causes lots of bloody noses. ?I also miss the trees that I grew up with in the midwest. ?Neither of those are huge complaints though.?

FinallyMrs.G

We live in Vancouver, WA. We are just across the bridge from Portland, about 15 minutes from downtown Portland. I love where we live because we are close to the city but live in the burbs, we are also very close to the mountains, we can see Mt. Hood from our front porch and we are only an hour away from the beach. Oh and just a little over 2 hours from Seattle.

The worse thing about where we live is the weather. We get a lot of rain from October thru May and sometimes in June even. We are suppose to have our first 70 degree of the year this weekend though. Let me tell you, us Washingtonians are pretty excited about that!

Jas*sGirl

Another Washington girl here!  I am in the burbs of Seattle....okay maybe a little deeper than that.  I live in a smaller town about 20-30 minutes outside of Seattle.  I love my area.  We have amazing green trees and many many outdoor activities.  However, in order to get that green we get a ton of gray days with lots of rain.  We could sure use a few more sunny days to help our tans!    It is nice to be close to the big city for shopping, amazing food and night life....yet nice to live in the smaller town that we do live in. 

pinkwedding05

We live in Central IL in a town with about 2500 people.  There were 25 people in my graduating class (public school).  I like that it is a small and very safe community, but it can feel the people here are very small-minded at times.  There is basically no diversity and very little culture.  I've lived here all my life and went to college about 45 minutes away in another small town.  We're about 1 1/2 hours from STL, and I sometimes wish we were closer to a big city.  We're really involved in our church, and I can't imagine finding a church that we would ever fit in nearly as well.  There isn't much to do, but we're basically hermits. 

I have always wanted to live in a city, but I think I would probably end up back here.  I've never despised living in a small town like some people I know, but I suppose I'm just curious what it would feel like to live indowntown Chicago (or some other large city). 

I love that my parents are just 5 minutes away.  My brother and sister both live in WI, but they will hopefully be moving closer soon.  We're extremely close and it is tough only seeing them a few times a year.  DH's family is also just a few minutes away...I could stand for them to be much farther away though . 

I like that the schools are small and safe, but I worry that they aren't providing the same education.  I know I felt really behind when I went to college.  It can be a really nosey community. 

so1966

i live in chicago. i've always lived here my entire life. the primary reason i live here is due to ease of getting a job, compared to a smaller city. another reason is to be close to our parents and siblings. i really like my nieghborhood (a nearby suburb). it's a bit expensive, but close to everything. the bad part of chicago is the weather. the great part is that there's lots to do...great food, museums, culture, sports, theatre. chicago has the best downtown!

 

LadyRed7

We live in Upstate NY- just a couple hours north of NYC. Although i love how close we are to the major cities and mountains, skiing etc.. i really do love the summer weather the best. I had lived in Hilton Head for a few short months, and i just love living by the beach. MH doesn't love the warmth and sun as much as i do, (he is light skin with freckles) and so i don't think i could get him to move south. Plus, we are so close with our family, i don't think i could move that far away from them.

rach&cody

I live in a suburb of Dallas.  I love it here.  I grew up in Central Illinois, and winters there seemed so long & gray.  Here we have about a month of "winter", and the rest of the year is sunshine & blue skies.  The heat doesn't bother me much.  It's not as humid here as it is in other places, so it's more of a dry heat.  The cost of living is considerably low for a large city, but salaries don't seem to be too different than other areas of the country with a higher cost of living.  There are a lot of things to do-- museums, shopping, professional sports, etc.  The only downside I would say is DFW traffic.  Sometimes it's fine, and sometimes you sit for hours trying to go only a few miles.  It all depends on the day.

amazingkel

we live in central florida, in Lakeland. We are smack in btw ORlando and Tampa...about 30 min each way to each. I love that aspect of it. We have really made this into our home, but we are considering moving for various reasons.  We habve NO Fam here. Our parents are all in NH and MA. Id KILL to move back to NH. I moved here when I graduated college and have been here ever since. I love it, the weather it great, but i miss my family lol!!!  We have some extended family in Port Saint Lucie FL so we are trying to eventually go there. Going back up north is not an option...DH hates it lol

lilmufish

I live in the suburbs of Saint Louis.  We live here because DH's family has been in this area (aka, the particular suburb) for I think like 100 years or something extreme like that. I knew, when we got married, I wasn't moving anywhere but with in a five minute radius of his parents!  We're blessed to have his family so close. 

I like living near Saint Louis because we have a flipping AWESOME free zoo, alot to do downtown STL (muesums, etc), we are an hour from camping/fishing/hiking/etc,  there's alot of low cost activities for families in this area, and it's generally lower cost of living here in the midwest than on the east or west coast. 

Dragonfly_Bride

Where do you live: In a city of about 200,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Are you happy there? I don't care for my city much, but I LOVE the Bay Area.

How/Why did you end up living there? My apartment was broken into when dh & I were dating for about 10 months. It frightened me a lot more than I ever would have imagined and I didn't want to go back.  His roommate had just moved out, and he was living with his mom in between new apartments. She invited me to stay with them, so I did. We eventually moved to our own place, and I've now been here 6 years!

What is the best thing about where you live?  What is the worse? Well, the city itself is very, very safe. I have a hard time finding other pluses for it. Oh, my sil,bil & nephew live in the same complex, and that's a huge plus. I love them! I love the diversity of the bay area, and I love the weather and the people.  In the city I'm in, independent stores and restaurants do not stand a chane. It's a sprawling place with very little soul. Everyone seems to isolate themselves, so the feel of community is missing.