Forever Home

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about my Forever Home. Paul only has a few (8ish) years left in the Marine Corps and then we will need to settle down somewhere. How do you decide that? We are not from the same city, state, or even coast. So really we get the option to go wherever we want, that sounds exciting! But then we have to decide where we want to go... well maybe it sounds scary too . We could live somewhere that we have family, this would be nice for several reasons, free babysitters, free in-person moral/emotional support, family dinners, big holiday festivities. But what if we don't want to live where we grew up. I don't exactly want to live on the East Coast, and Paul doesn't really want to live in Tucson, (neither do I for that matter.)

 I have given a lot of thought to the things I want.

Before living in Montana, I wanted seasons, I wanted four beautiful seasons. I grew up in a place that sort of skipped winter. Tucson, has winter for about a week. Maybe two, where the temp drops below 40 at night. But after those two weeks usually in January the temps go back up to 60's and 70's. Oh, and mountains, I want mountains and wildlife.

I was totally set on Flagstaff, Az. Seasons, mountains, wildlife, a big college, small but not tiny like Helena.

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Flagstaff looks so pretty, and it's in the mountains and has even more mountains as well as plenty of trees, and I've been there, I liked it.

But...

After living here , I'm over winter, and okay with skipping it. Or at least having a normal winter, that.. you know.. doesn't last 8 months. But I am leaning towards a mild winter. I also miss the beach, I miss the water, as crazy as it sounds I miss humidity. I also want a big city, I don't have to be in it, suburbs are fine, but I need options, food options, clothing options, dining, grocery, farmers market, movie theaters, activities and education.
We are also getting to a point where having babies is maybe going to happen soon. So I have been thinking about kids, going further out I am thinking about schools. So many things to consider when thinking about where I want to live. The opportunities are endless.


I went to FindYourSpot.com and my number one spot was Las Vegas.... no thanks. Number two? Portland, Oregon.

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I have been researching Portland, and it seems like a pretty cool place. Lots of arts and entertainment, It's right on the ocean so fresh sea food (SUSHI!!!) plus a suburb called Beaverton (and if you know me personally, you know I want to live there.)

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It's a big enough metropolis that Paul shouldn't have much trouble finding a job, and I (hopefully will be done with school) should also be able to find work right away.  

Of course realistically we will go where the job is, if he finds a good job somewhere like Iowa, we'll go there, But we can get our hopes up right?