We moved! We are here in Nashville!
I'm writing this while I sit in my new kitchen with a big window behind me that looks out onto the cutest Nashville neighborhood. In short, I am so happy to be here. We made the right move.
Why We Moved
Our decision to move happened in less than 7 days, and I mean serious about that...less than seven days from having zero plans of moving to deciding we were 100% moving to Nashville in the fall.
Quinn and I had been splitting time between Boston and Newport for over a year. We had plans for him to move down, but the job market in Boston was a better fit for his career. Then, we had plans for me to move up, and that's what we stuck with. Around May, our apartment situation in Boston changed and our move was going to be delayed, also around that time, I had recently taken a trip to Austin, TX for my friend's bachelorette party. I had the moving bug. When Quinn filled me in on the whole apartment situation, I was barely phased. I had a weird feeling it was going to happen and I also felt this immediate opportunity. We hadn't planned to see each other until a week alter, so we agreed to think independently about what our options would be and connect over the weekend.
Why Nashville
We were both in complete agreement that we should move, and move far! We had both done Boston and didn't love it. Don't get me wrong, the city will always have a special place in my heart, but my heat wasn't in living there. We agreed that if we were going to make a move it absolutely was not going to be somewhere that experienced the winters we had experienced. Chicago was quickly brought up but we knew we wanted something warmer. Our shortlist was Austin, Denver and areas in the Carolinas. I had just been to and loved Austin. Denver seemed great. The Carolinas have great weather and the ocean. Those three made sense.
Nashville wasn't on our shortlist! My best friend from home had actually moved to Nashville a year before and I felt that I should keep it off the list so that I didn't cramp her style (for lack of a better word). I spoke with my friend later that week just catching up and filling her in on my big life decision. When she asked where we were thinking, I threw in our spots and she basically said "well why not Nashville/Nashville duh?!" - I was sold. I knew Nashville was where I wanted to be and Quinn loves Nashville. Of course I didn't need her approval, but she had a good thing going and I didn't want to get in the way of that. I am so happy this worked out. Having her and another one of my college best friends here is a game changer. I am so lucky.
Nashville it was! I took to the internet/Facebook groups and did tons of research on apartments and neighborhoods. My amazing friends in Nashville even offered to do drive-bys of buildings for us. Once we narrowed it down to a few properties, we applied to our home in July. It was official. We were moving!
Telling Everyone We Were Moving
Ater we knew it was official we told everyone. Family, friends, work...you don't realize how many people you need to fill in before you move. I am sure there are still a ton of people that have no idea we moved states. Everyone was so supportive, not that I thought people wouldn't be, but I definitely was surprised by the support we had. We definitely got a tons of "you can always come back" - and we can always come back! We just made a decision to have zero plan around that. We have no date of if we will move back. We truly don't know and it's scary yet so exciting.
The Deeper Why
I wanted to put a disclaimer here that I love Rhode Island. I love everyone there. I appreciate where I came from and wouldn't trade it for the world. People build incredible, happy lives in Rhode Island and I admire that.
I have always had the itch to move. I just felt called to explore more than New England, at least for a bit. When I was in high school, I always figured I would move to New York City after college (it being the Gossip Girl era fueled that I am sure). I applied to colleges all over the East Coast and Southeast (also the era of I'm Shmacked). I was pretty sold on College of Charleston actually, but I ended up falling more in love with Fairfield in Connecticut. It was my preppy girl era and Fairfield fit the bill (I ended up transferring to URI lol). After college, I went with the flow of moving to Boston. I had an amazing time there living with my friends and bopping around the city. Still I felt the need for something else? So, I moved to my hometown of Newport and was ready to settle down there, have Quinn move down and just start life. PLOT TWIST!
My dad did tons of traveling in his younger years and I find that so cool, it's definitely inspiring to me to just pack up and explore. When other people would tell me they were moving I always was like "GOOD FOR YOU!" and I was a little jealous inside. I've wanted this for a long time, I just never thought it would work out for my life.
I felt myself almost getting resentful of my hometown and that was not cool with me. I love my hometown and I want no ill will towards it. This is also a major move for Quinn and I. It's the first official time we are living together and I am SO excited about that.
Our First Week
After actually driving down here and getting the keys to our apartment, we have started to settle in. We came down with just clothes, electronics, some kitchen items and some decor. This past week has been filled with tons of Target, Homegoods and Ross trips. We finally have our couch coming next week. We just mounted the TV. We are starting to not get *so* lost in our building.
Oh and our building? The total opposite of our New England life. We figured go big or go home! Don't get me wrong, the price is on par with our Boston pricing, but OMG GUYS the amenities are wild! We still haven't used our pool but you better believe I'll be taking advantage of that.
Quinn started his new job and is in the office 5 days a week right now. It's a huge adjustment for me after us living in my tiny Newport apartment together 24/7 for a month before we moved. I do feel like we are getting into a little routine and that feels so GOOD. This weekend we are looking at cars for Quinn since we only took mine down here.
We are located in the Gulch, which is very downtown (not Broadway lol) and walkable to tons of shops and restaurants. We have explored a few neighborhoods and everything is charming and cool. Yeah, it's all new but I am seriously in love. Franklin, TN is a dream (went there for dermaplaning the other day)! We plan to try at least two new foodie spots per week. Each picking one. This week Quinn picked a dinner spot called Liberty Common and I am picking a brunch spot over the weekend. We are also taking advantage of the music scene here and seeing Elton John this weekend at Nissan Stadium. We are also planning to do mini weekend trips everyone month or so to neighboring states and towns. Tennessee touches tons of states and we have a goal to visit all of them at some point.
What are we looking forward to? Starting our life truly together in one place is important to us after being long distance for a while. Meeting new people and learning about their backgrounds and cultures. Exploring a new city and eating all of food, seeing Titans games (Quinn is a true fan and always has been even though we are from Tom Brady Pat's QB country), hearing great music, being locals, slowing down out Northeast way of living and having people visit us.
Closing Thoughts
If you have the itch I think you should do it. I am here to talk you through it if needed.
I am so happy we did this. I feel so lucky that our lives allowed this.
So much more to come.
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