But, this past weekend visit there, despite how awesome it was, opened my eyes to some of the pros/cons of Orlando (where my family lives) vs Richmond (where my fiance lives). I've also realized the some pros/cons mean more to me than others.
Orlando pros:
- Close to my family and a majority of my friends
- save money by not having to pay rent
- wedding planning becomes more convenient (since the wedding is going to be there and almost all my bridesmaids live in Florida)
- I'm already familiar with practically everything in the city since I'm a native-Orlandoan (Orlandoite? Orlandon?)
- Be able to do work for my mom in-person (oh yeah, btw: I work for my mom now in an online fashion)
- getting my last 7 credits for PharmD won't be expensive
- Living with my parents and/or my sister (I've really enjoyed my independence and don't want to lose it, and my sister and I wouldn't make the best roommates if we got a place together)
- Being 750 miles away from Wesley
- Less space (this house is less than half the size of the house we had back before I went to college)
- Chaos/stress ensues a lot with a family of 4 and 3 dogs, in general and specifically.
- Having to travel lots to visit Wesley (not that seeing him is an obligation. I just find the act of traveling to be a huge drag. I'm all about the destination)
Richmond Pros:
- Being with Wesley (and get some valuable time together before we get married)
- taking my credits there would probably give me more clout to get into VCU PharmD (and I'd be a resident after a year or something)
- a new city would be a new adventure!
- Being with Wesley
- Saves me some money since we'll be splitting everything.
- Saves my parents money so they can contribute to the wedding more easily
- Did I mention being with Wesley?
- My job for my mom can be done online or through the phone like 98% of the time, so I don't have to quit.
Richmond Cons:
- Have to travel about every 6 weeks to Orlando to do wedding stuff
- If I live with Wesley I have to take responsibility for around $750 worth of monthly bills that my parents won't cover anymore. (But that won't be too bad because I need to become financially dependent from them soon anyway. I'm lucky they've been helping me out as long as they have)
- Not a great music scene (Orlando is better. Now that I've been in Nashville, I'm spoiled.)
- Living with my fiance is a scary, big life step.
- I dislike weather below 60 degrees fahrenheit. So, winter won't be too fun.
After weighing these things, I've decided that Richmond is the better decision for me. I'm turning over a new leaf and doing things that I want to do without worrying about what other people think. My whole family approves of my decision, but that isn't the point. My desire to live close to my amazing family doesn't outweigh my desire to start a new adventure as an individual and with Wesley. I literally figured this all out in the last 24 hours.
And I know some old-fashioned people might frown upon us "living in sin," but it's 2013.
Get over it.
ANYWAY
The weekend back in my hometown was awesome.
We had our first meeting with a potential florist, who will send us a quote in a few weeks.
We ate DELICIOUS food choices and finalized the reception menu. We had extra food to eat for 2 days.
We toured our venue and discussed lighting. After seeing all of it in person on a beautiful Florida day, I definitely feel for sure that it's perfect.
Tasted some cakes and figured out that what we want cake-wise will cost like $175 less than we budgeted (always a good thing).
Got to hang with our amazing planner, Kristen. Love that girl.
We are so ahead of the game with this wedding planning.
So happy.
Got to meet my sister's new puppy, Baxter (as in Anchorman).
He is a fluffy, angelic, four-and-a-half pound ball of personality.
Got to have some nice girl time with my mom and Kelsey.
The night before Mother's Day, I made dinner (stuffed peppers) and we all watched "Love and Other Drugs" and enjoyed lots of wine.
Then, on Mother's Day, Kelsey and I cooked brunch for all of us. We spent a while enjoying our food and mimosas up on the roof-porch in the Florida sun with the dogs.
Sad my Dad was out of town the whole time I was there. But, he needs to be in St. Louis helping to take care of his elderly parents. My grandpa just had back surgery and my grandma needs some care as well.
At the Orlando airport today, I was going through the beginning of the security checkpoint and the TSA woman who was looking at my drivers license and boarding passes annoyingly caused the line to go to a halt by asking about 4 different TSA people if my license was fake. I have a FL drivers license with a TN address on it. I understand that she apparently had never seen that before and wanted to check. But, asking so many people and holding up the line for so long was unnecessary. I looked to the people behind me and apologized about twice during the whole thing. Later, one of the older men who was in line behind me was at the same gate. He said "Well, you definitely look like a criminal to me!" with a hearty laugh.
Sleep calls to me.
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