Mid to West: I moved to the Pacific North West

The Space Needle

Hello All! Long time no see! I did intend to update regularly but life got in the way pretty quickly. The main giant life change being that I moved from Minnesota to Washington state about three weeks ago. My boyfriend got his dream job here and we agreed if he got the job i’d join him. So, when we found out for sure that he was being hired in late October I gave (like a months) notice at my job and started trying to figure out what was coming with me to Washington.  I took a good chunk of my wardrobe, my broyhill brasilia dresser, some side tables, vintage lamps, and a some little vintage items I couldn’t live without.

Luckily my boyfriend got relocation so they moved our car as well as packed and moved everything we wanted to move out there. The relocation process itself was very nice but also stressful.  I think moving in general is super stressful, even if you have people coming to pack and load all your things. I also got a cold the week of the move, so that was awesome. Anyway December fourth after probably one of the most stressful weeks of my life my cat Tang and I boarded a plane and were off to Seattle.

 

We’ve been here now about three weeks and things have been pretty good so far. After the big cross country move my boyfriend and I did a small move from his studio to a larger one bedroom place in the same Bellevue apartment complex. We wanted to move to Seattle proper, but while we looked at a lot of cool apartments in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood we decided to stay in Bellevue for ease ( we had a pretty short window in which to find a new place) and to take off a little of the stress off the big move.

We’re definitely going to revisit the whole Seattle apartment venture when our new lease ends next year and/or possibly moving to a different complex on the east side. Although right now I never want to move ever again. lol.  Anyway by next year we should hopefully have more  of a handle of where we want to live and a longer time frame in which to find a new place. All that to say, that definitely means you’ll be seeing home decor posts!

Gum wall near Pike’s Place Market
Street Art/ Graffiti at Pike’s Place.

 

The Seattle Great Wheel

The apartment we’re currently in is pretty nice. It’s brand new and I have never lived in a new build so that’s different. If it was completely up to me we’d probably be living in a vintage apartment somewhere, but it is kind of fun to live in a completely new place. As much as i’d like to say the apartment will be 100% vintage decor all the time my boyfriend is (unfortunately) not a huge vintage fan so it’ll definitely be a mix. Lots of trying to meld to styles into something we’re both happy with. Compromise is pretty much the name of the game for everything when you’re in a relationship and home decor is no different. But there will definitely be plenty of thrifted and vintage items, don’t you worry!  Anyway I will definitely keep you updated on apartment process as it continues.

View of downtown Bellevue from our apartment’s roof deck

 

Part of downtown Seattle and Mt. Rainer

So far the transition to living out here has been a lot easier than I initially thought. The transition to living with Donyea has been pretty painless and getting around hasn’t been too bad. I was a wee bit worried about driving out here, Seattle has some SERIOUS hills y’all. But I haven’t really encountered the giant hills since we live in the burbs. Getting your footing in any new area is always a little freaky but so far so good. As for first impressions:

  1. are there are far too few Targets. There are only two that are relatively close to where we live as opposed to like the 6 that were within a pretty close driving range in Minneapolis.
  2. The weather pretty nice it pretty much stays in the low 40’s sometimes dipping lower and sometimes higher. It’s definitely rained while i’ve been here but nothing crazy and we did end up having a white Christmas here, two whole inches of snow. lol. I’m not a big fan of snow and literally the only time i really want it is on Christmas. It stayed for about two days and then melted, my kinda snow storm.
  3. Thrift stores are pricier. Seattle in general is pretty pricey ( don’t get me started on rent) and so it makes sense that it has also trickled down to the thrifts. I’ve only been to one so far, a massive goodwill in Redmond. There are two I still have to explore that are pretty close and maybe and i’ll do a post comparing and contrasting the three closest to me with my Minneapolis faves at some point.
  4. I do feel slightly isolated. I don’t have a job here yet so most of my time has been spent in the apartment. My boyfriend does have some friends here and i’ve met a few of them. It’s just weird to move somewhere and have basically no local friends. And of course a majority of my friends are still in Minnesota and most things in my social media are still minnesota based so it’s a bit weird.
View of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle from the Great Wheel.

 

Pike’s Place

Anyway there’s a bit of an update for you guys. I’ll update more as we go on this new adventure. Stay tuned for more Seattle posts and an undecorated apartment “before” post.

**All photos were taken in early September when I first came to visit my boyfriend here in Seattle, it is no longer that hot or sunny (lol).