Heading West with the Best

Posted on May 18th, 2015

(Bear with me on this post.  I promise it’s going somewhere.  This is the quite possibly the most major news of my life thus far.)

As some of you may know, I have this great guy in my life.  Ian and I met in 2002, and have been dating since 2009.  Annoyingly, we have been apart for much of that time.  Vanderbilt/Paris, Vanderbilt/Harvard, Penn/Harvard, New York/Harvard… you get the idea. Consequently, we really treasure the time that we have had together, but it’s just not enough anymore.  Call me selfish, but I just kind of want to see him all the time!  So about a year ago, we made a decision: after his graduation, we would figure out a way to be together. (We were in the same class in school, but he took a gap year before starting Harvard)  Here’s a good throw back, for your reference:

So that much was decided… but where would we be?  The answer actually ended up falling into place at the end of last summer, when Ian was offered a post-graduation position at the end of his summer internship with Microsoft.  At that point, I had started my full-time job here in Manhattan, but the terms of his offer were such that we really couldn’t pass up the opportunity, especially since it was with a company that had made him so happy.

Seattle.  I never thought I would live west of my childhood home, but once we started saying it, it just felt right. Seattle is a big city, but not so big that it isn’t manageable. They have great professional sports teams. The natural setting is truly stunning. For the past few months, we knew the time would come.  We would move to Seattle!

And then all at once it was here.  It was time!  Earlier this month, we flew out for a weekend of apartment hunting.  Luckily, we had done our research and had made appointments at buildings that were in contention.  Amazingly, fewer than 24 hours after we started the process and saw the first apartment, we had signed our lease and were all set in the most perfect place.

An aside: it is well known that New York real estate is insane, but apartment hunting in Seattle really brought that point home.  I could not believe what we were getting that was in our budget.  For example:  this is a picture of me sitting inside my new closet.  Naturally, I’m beaming.  In case you’re wondering, there are two closets in the bedroom; Ian will be using the other one.  Sharing is not chic.

You may be noticing that there’s one problem with all of this.  I live in New York.  My job is in New York.  I, too, thought this was a problem.  So… I got a job in Seattle.

You read that correctly.  And not just any job.  In June, I am joining the marketing team at the Nordstrom corporate headquarters.  Does anyone else think this whole life sounds too perfect?  What did I do to earn the distinct privilege of everything falling into place, all at once? I’m not taking it for granted, that’s for sure.

So, in closing, I am moving to Seattle with Ian in June!  What’s next?  We all live happily ever after.