Over the past month I have spent a good bit of time in Chattanooga. When we sent Lily to her grandparents for a week Chattanooga was the drop off point. I spent two weekends in a row there, one with my assistant/pal and the next with David, my besty La (who lives in Chattanooga) and her boyfriend. Then, we spent New Year's Eve Eve in Chattanooga again with La.

Lots of time in Chatty.

Being in Chattanooga (if you've never been there, imagine what you know of Asheville, NC, and make it bigger - city in the Appalachians on a lake; gorgeous) has really had me feeling the usual pains about living up in the mountains. The town I live in is small. I don't do small well. And it's been wearing on me for some time.

So, David and I have decided on our next step. He has officially come to the conclusion that he wants to take at least a year off before going ahead with his PhD, and I refuse to live needlessly in the mountains. Our conclusion: move to Chattanooga.

Here's our reasoning:

  • We need to be around people. Like-minded, similarly-aged people. La lives in Chattanooga, so that's a really good start.
  • Lily needs to be around kids.
  • We want to be closer to our family and friends. We're currently a grueling 10-12 hour drive from our families. Lily's at an age where I want her to be around these people more. Living in Chattanooga will drop the driving time down to 3 hours, for at least a year, before David's education takes us off to goodness knows where.
  • I need action. Bustle. Good restaurants. Culture. A life. (Whine, whine, I know.)

The plan is to move out later this summer. This plan is hinged majorly on David finding some work in Chattanooga, though I think my design work can sustain us if needed. And who knows, maybe he'll prefer work over academia for a good while and we'll stick around for even longer.

Already such big changes ahead of us this year...

(all images taken by Laura)