Northward Ho!

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Well I did it. After living at Mt. Ida for nearly 5 years I made the move. For many people  in D.C. a "move" like this means an exodus to the far west i.e. Salt Lake City or lately, San Francisco. However, for me it meant a shift north by approximately 3 miles into Pentagon City, a small enclave of Arlington and the penultimate Virginia stop on the blue/yellow lines before you cross into the district.

I was surprised when many people asked, "why the move?" I guess I never assumed moving was a big deal considering I've had 15 roommates since opening up the house Labor Day 2008 with my two existing roommates and 3 more newbies. Reasons? Well, there were many factors such as I wanted to be closer to my new job, the house was just a bit too big (and felt somewhat chaotic) from what I needed in my life, but mostly --and I'm not if sure anyone else has had this experience--Mt. Ida just didn't feel like home anymore. Nothing against my roommates, all lovely, fun girls, I just knew it was time to move on. It wasn't what I needed and perhaps I wasn't what they needed anymore.

Now, that being said, I did manage to drag along one of my roommates along with me! Shannon and I started apartment hunting when I got back from India in February and it was of course then we realized what an amazing house (especially for the money) and landlord we had! The spaces were all small and the prices were all super high. However, that's the price you pay for location and number of roommates! Our place actually came by way of a former roommate Jaclyn (love her). She texted me to say her landlord had a spot open near the metro. It was out of our budget so said no thank you and kept looking. However, a month or so later she texted back and said they'd be willing to go down on price. We toured it, loved it and put our contracts up same day. Then, a few short weeks later after packing, craigslisting and Good Will donating, we rounded up a few good men (and two hired hands) and made the move.

In the 6 short weeks since I moved, I've been traveling for over half of them so not much has changed in my room. However, we are making progress and I made two big girl purchases: a kitchen aid and a vacuum (who knew vacuums were so expensive??) I love that I can walk across the street and get a Costco meal, walk a bit further and browse the latest shoe selection at Nordstroms Rack, run to the bank or the myriad of other shops/parks/eateries all within walking distance. Sure, I miss a stand alone house (where hammering and cleaning at midnight were no big deal), my strawberries and all the mint from the backyard, and of course having different personalities to use as a sounding board, take a walk to Dairy Godmother, Disney nights, impromptu and planned gatherings and/or parties and of course snow/storm movie marathons.

Loved my time at #MtIda (hello it's such an epic house it has it's own hashtag) but i'm excited for change. I'm excited to see where this next stepping stone takes me. It's bound to be an adventure, hopefully taking old friends with me and making new ones along the way.

currently ISO name for our new digs.