Happy Tuesday Friends! Today, I am over visiting my friend Martha and sharing the romantic story of our friendship, plus the top 5 things I enjoying about Monterey. Meanwhile, Martha is here to share a little bit about her experience as a new West Coaster. If you are visiting from Martha's blog, I hope you will stay a while and leave a comment letting me know that you stopped by! If you like Martha, then there is a 115% chance that we could be friends too.
Hope you enjoy Martha's take on her new life and don't foget to go check out my post over at A Softer Side of Strong.
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Hello Daffodils readers!! Kate and I decided to swap blogs for a today... like blog swingers but much less scandalous than real swingers.
Let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Martha and you can find me blogging over at A Softer Side of Strong. I have lived in North Carolina my whole life and assumed I’d never leave. Then I met Sam, my hubbs, who wanted to join the JAG Corp with the Army. So here we are, across the country in Washington State with a new addition to our family named Bud (I told you we were from NC, so you shouldn’t be shocked by the name).
We wanted to write blog posts about settling into a new place. So here are some of my thoughts on moving to a new place and making it “home”.
1. Find a mom’s club. There are several sights that you can look on. One is www.meetup.com, another is MOPS, and the other is this little known site called Google... I think that’s what the kids are calling it these days. But for reals, I googled my town and moms club and lo and behold, my little town had its own Mom’s Club! So, I joined and there are weeks that I don’t make it to the little get-togethers but at least I know its there when I need to have conversations with people who actually talk back.
2. Forget your pride. I met a friend at the dog park. Yep... its true. I saw a girl that looked my age and had a similar breed dog so I walked right up with my sweaty palms and said, “So, come here often?” Just kidding. But I did just go right up and talk to her and luckily she didn’t spray me with pepper spray and we became friends. I’m not saying that moving to a new place where you don’t know anyone makes you desperate to make friends.... but I’m not NOT saying it either.
3. Enjoy this season with your family. Sam and I have always been super social and were that couple that had stuff going on every night of the week. We moved to a place where we didn’t know anyone and had a baby... two things that keep you at home a lot. But the good news is, we love it! We are closer than we ever have been and we have so many memories that are being built around our little family of three. I know that we’d never have these deep conversations, hilarious moments of entertaining each other, and sweet cuddle sessions on the couch if we were back in North Carolina.
4. Be patient. Sparks flew with Kate (don’t you like how we’ve turned our friendship into a romantic comedy?) immediately and we were able to jump from “hi” to sharing our hearts with each other. I had to realize that while it was amazing, its not typical. I was expecting that kind of instant chemistry with every person I met out here and clearly, that’s just not gonna happen right away. So I have to remind myself that I may have to sift through a lot of small talk to get to some meaningful friendships and to be patient.
5. Do the things that you said you never had time for! Not having a booming social calendar out here has allowed me to do the things I never had time for. I have been cooking new recipes and trying new dishes. I have been looking at local things to do around town. I have been walking around the trails along the sound for hours without an agenda. I realized that if I sat around and thought about how I wasn’t in NC anymore and stared at pictures of the Blue Ridge Mountains during Fall, Krispy Kreme, or NASCAR (kinda joking)... I’d go nuts. Now, I have new things to look at that I would have never seen before like Mount Rainier and the Puget Sound. I have to take advantage of my new scenery and who knows, maybe even figure out how to use my DSLR!
I think that we are always given a choice of whether or not to grow where we’re planted. I’m choosing to lay down roots here in the PNW even though I know its temporary. Because even on the hard days, I know that this is where Sam and I started our family, where Bud will learn to walk, and where Sam and I shared the sleepless nights that come with a newborn.
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Don't stop reading, I posted pics of my boys in their Halloween gear late last night!
Don't stop reading, I posted pics of my boys in their Halloween gear late last night!
2 comments:
I found Martha's blog just the other day and I love it! This was a great post...I love that you ladies become such fast friends. That's very rare, but wonderful when it happens!
OH sister friend! I have decided that if you are blessed with a Military life, then you must make friends fast! You never know when they're going to PCS, ETS, etc. I met one of my good friends at the Tricare office. It was love at first "Hello".
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