OT - and now for the NEXT question ! ?!

[Croí]

I humbly ask that you all forgive me for posting this on here and I promise to keep this offlist if people will PM their responses.

So here is the thing ........... amazingly ........ I found my wonderful dream guy, we fell in love, we moved in together, we got engaged, we got married ........ (all together now "aaaaw!"

)

now we are trying to figure out where we REALLY want to live. We plan to leave here in two to two and half years and really are open to all sorts of ideas on where would be a GREAT place to live.
we are drawn to (and loved) Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and so are doing some research on that .... but we also are drawn to the southwest which is why I am writing here ....... I know some of you ladies are from that direction. Rural but not totally isolated and a million miles from everything ....... no more city living for us !
Then again, pacific northwest ??!

so I''m looking for any and all feedback - anything at all about where you live, why you like it, why you don''t - government, schools, opportunities, housing costs, living costs ..... general stuff - bugs, snakes, weather (biggie!) (closest airport and whether you can fly from there direct to Boston or NY or Chicago - or any hub that flies to Ireland ! BIGGIE !! definitely need to know how long it would take me to get home)

I know this is hardly a topic to be discussed on a diamond forum so if anyone is willing to have me pick their brains a bit PLEASE PM me and we can exchange e-mails addys.

I''m excited !!! Here we go, planning the next chapter --- you all have been SUCH great help and support to this point that naturally I''m looking to you for this too.

In exchange for such darling niceness, I am going to take the plunge and post a BRIDE pic of yours truly on my other thread .......

THANKS IN ADVANCE !!!!!!!!!!!


C

 

[AmberGretchen]

Hey Croi - congrats on the wedding, and I saw the pic in the other thread - you look totally beautiful and radiant and so happy

I wanted to put in a little plug for the SF Bay Area, where I grew up and live now (went to college on the East Coast), and feel free to PM me if you want more info. Basically, the big downside here is that the housing prices are astronomical, and the traffic on the freeways can be bad sometimes (although that''s not any worse than any other major city area I think). On the upside, we have lovely weather - it rains enough each year that the hills turn green and the flowers bloom, usually about 2 months total, depending on what part of the area you are in. We have microclimates, which is nice because if you prefer more cool and foggy weather you can live in one town/city, and if you prefer more sunny dry weather you can live in another. Usually the temperature stays between 50 and 75 degrees fahrenheit during the day, and it cools down at night (a plus in the summer). The food is spectacular - every ethnic cuisine you could ever want, tons of fresh produce readily available year-round. In general, people in this area tend to be fairly active and fit, and very into food and wine (did I mention we are 30 minutes away from Napa/Sonoma wine country in SF?). It helps that there are lots of ways to get outside and exercise or just enjoy and the weather is usually cooperative - hiking, biking and running are all popular sports.

Anyway, I could go on but I don''t want to bore you. I hope that is at least a little bit helpful, and please feel free to PM me if you want more info on this area.

 

[MissAva]

What about College Station Texas, great schools low cost of living nice enviroment....a truely lovely place. There is a small public airport there and then houston isnt too far. If you give us more information about what you are looking for and NOT looking for we can come up with a list of great choices. I am sure I am not the only military brat on here.

 

[icekid]

well crap.. and i thought the next question after the wedding was babies!

no seriously though.. hmm, i''m a city girl so i''m not sure where to direct you to some non-urban areas with good weather. i was going to suggest maine, which i love. but it''s soooooo cold!! which i definitely don''t love hehe.

 

[ky6]

I am partial to my hometown...Tulsa. I know that everyone seems to have a pre-conceived idea about Oklahoma, but Tulsa really is such a nice place to live (I think TeeBee can back me up on that). It is small and big all rolled into one. The living is very affordable. I have travelled many places, but have always strongly felt that when it came time for me to settle and start a family, that undoubtedly this is the place I would want to raise kids. If you are not looking for that in your life right now, there is plenty to do here.

American Airlines flies direct to Chicago from here. Plus they have just added Shannon and Dublin to their flight schedules (direct, I think, from Chicago). Also, when I have gone to Ireland- I always flew Continental to Houston and then on to Ireland

 

[teebee]

Yep, I will most definitely back up what Ky6 said!! I only have a minute so I will post more later but I just had to speak up to agree that Tulsa is a really great place to live. I''m only 1.5 hours away but I miss Tulsa so much!!! Like Ky6, I''ve traveled a lot, and I''m originally from Texas (Houston) ~ now how often do you get a native Texan to admit that they prefer and call another state home???

 

[northstar_78]

One thing to think about is how the move will effect your professional lives. All of my professional contacts are on the East Coast, as are my boyfriend''s. We''re both open to starting a new life in another part of the country but when push comes to shove we''re more connected here than elsewhere. For me, if I ever was suddenly out of a job all of the people who could help me get a new one are in New York and I''m a little worried about leaving that kind of safety net.

Spend some time in the place where you''re thinking of relocating. We spent Spring Break in nothern California and would LOVE to go back. Depending on how far up you go (get away from the wine country) the cost of living can be reasonable but you loose the temperate climate. There are so many beautiful and wild places out there and you''d have the choice of several large airports north or south ie. Seattle or LAX but that would be a hike...I also LOVED SF!! Great time and I wish we''d spent more time there. The food was great! Fun atmosphere for a city.

If you plan on getting away from it all do you have a car? Can you finance one? Living in a big city makes you appreciate public transportation, the cost of gas and driver''s insurance!

I don''t know if kids figure into the equation yet but it wouldn''t hurt to scope out places that have a lot of "family" housing like larger apartments, starter homes and such.

 

[Croí]

thank you so much ladies for all your feedback.

I think I need to add some more information though. In the ideal scenario, we will be set up (workwise) by then to be able to work from wherever we are - so being near areas in our work field will not be a factor. I guess that is the huge "freeing point" that we are lucky to have. It means we can, quite literally, live anywhere.

As for children. That question is still up in the air. From a purely emotional point of view we would say "yes, absolutely" but we aren''t willing to make decisions basely solely on that so we are still debating whether children will feature in our lives. As we both feel this way, there is no conflict and I know we will reach a decision we are both happy with.

So I guess I am really just looking for "where would be your dream place to live ?!"

thanks for the feedback though. Tulsa wasn''t one I would ever have thought of, but maybe we''ll have to take a visit. What is the terrain like ? Mountains ? Flat ? Green ? Arid ? Weather ?

anyway, we are under no time constraints, I''m just excited to find the ''perfect spot'' and start investigating more about what the realities would be for living there.

THANKS for the feedback !

 

[teebee]

Hello Croi!!

Wow, how fantastic that you will have no limitations because of work!!! My fiance is a dentist and won't consider moving to Tulsa because of having purchased his practice only a few years ago & not wanting to feel like he is starting over ~ I understand in a cerebral way... but my heart still misses Tulsa. Oklahoma City is alright, but it's just a much different city than Tulsa.

Anyways... Yes, Tulsa is not a place many people think of when they decide to move, unless it's a company transfer. But, whenever I'm travelling and someone asks where I'm from I always get "Oh, I've been to Tulsa, I loved it there, really beautiful in that area" or something along those lines. And occasionally I talk to someone who thinks all Okies are rednecks and that for fun we have covered wagon races and cow-patty throwing contests or something...

So, climate: one thing that I love about Tulsa is that it has four distinct seasons. The summer can get pretty hot in July/August but we had a pretty mild one last year. In winter it typically snow several times a season ~ and maybe one or two of those snows are enough to cause any sort of school closings/road problems. Fall is lovely ~ lots and lots of trees in Tulsa so when the leaves turn and the air is crisp, that's my favorite time of year. Spring is also beautiful when the trees leaf out & everything just looks very green and healthy (guess that is why it is referred to as the 'Green Country' region of Oklahoma). Tulsa is located in an area called Osage Hills, very close to the foothills of the Ozark Mountains so it is not mountainous but it has a lot of hills and that keeps the terrain interesting and beautiful.

As for entertainment and culture: Really depends on what you and hubby like to do, but there is plenty! There are 2 great art museums: Philbrook Museum & Gilcrease Museum (which houses the largest collection of Western art in the world). The performing arts are very active as well; musicals, plays, ballet, opera (Tulsa PAC) are all great. I have a friend from NYC that always poked fun at Tulsa having an opera & I kept trying to defend it and explaining that we really had great opera productions here... I've seen operas in much larger cities and I'm of the opinion that Tulsa holds its own quite nicely. So, I finally got my friend to visit and dragged him to go see Madame Butterfly ~ at the end of the night he conceded that the production was as good as most and actually better than a few productions he'd seen elsewhere... Oh, also, there is a lot of great Art Deco architecture in downtown Tulsa if that is something you find interesting (Tulsa Art Deco ~ the Boston Avenue Methodist Church & MidContinent Towers being my favorites).

Restaurants & Shopping: There are a lot of great independent restaurants (and all the usual chain restaurants as well). It's one thing I really miss about Tulsa because OKC seems to have mostly chain restaurants and much fewer independent restauranteurs. Even an Irish restaurant & pub... well, I'm not sure how "authentic" it is (Kilkenny's) but I do know that the owners spent $$$$$ on building and then importing everything from Ireland. Shopping is great. Some local favorites (for shopping and eating) are: Utica Square, Cherry Street, and Brookside. And of course there are a couple of malls and many strip centers, etc.

Like ky6 mentioned, living in Tulsa is very affordable. Housing prices are great compared to most of the country. Nice apartments and townhouses/condos are affordable if you're wanting to rent initially ~ the last place I lived before buying my house was my favorite: a townhouse just south of town, 1200 square feet w/ 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 car garage, gas fireplace, & w/d connections for $625/month. As far as buying, it runs the gammut depending on what you are looking for but I think you get a lot more for your money than in many other areas of the country. I think most houses sell for somewhere between $70-100 a square foot?

Okay, so you're probably going cross-eyed reading at this point so I'll wrap it up for now!! But if you have any questions I'm sure I or ky6 would be happy to try to answer them!!!

*edited to correct a couple of blatant grammatical errors!!*

 

[ky6]

I also wanted to add that, although I haven''t seen it, I have now been told by BF and several friends that Tulsa was listed on CNN as the#5 best city in the US in which to live