boredom.

Yep, that's right...the boredom of being in a new place with no friends and a working husband is getting to me again! I am not sad, mad, frustrated, or any of those emotions I have felt before when I have moved to a new place.  I am content...but bored. Like, I do not know what I do on a daily basis.  There is only so much I can do alone...but I am doing quite a few things around our new apartment and trying to get it more homey.  I am also looking into things that I never have before because we will be here for a long period of time.  I have been looking up house prices, good neighborhoods, places to explore, and of course JOBS.  I still have not even gotten an interview which is becoming quite frustrating.  I just keep sending in my resume and writing semi-convincing cover letters with the hopes that it will be picked up by someone!


When we moved to Naperville, we had quite a lot of big city culture shock.  This time we have not had much shock at all or much to "get used to" because it is fairly similar to Michigan and everything we have known for our whole lives.  So, before I made a list of things that shocked us about city life...now, I have made a list of things I won't mind getting used to in our new life...

1. Michiganders...everywhere! Virginia seems to be the place for people from the Midwest to vacation and relocate.  We have met countless people from Michigan since we have moved here.  There was a couple from Kalamazoo that we talked to for over an hour and a half in a local bar/restaurant (they even bought us a drink!).  My new pharmacist at Walgreens went to Ferris and recently moved from Ludington! It is so nice to have people who know what we are talking about when we say, "U.P." and "Yoopers!"

2. "Y'all"...everyone says it...and so do we now sometimes! It makes much more sense than other things that people from the North say...so I am jumping on the southern bandwagon and saying "Y'all"!!!!

3. Southern BBQ.  We went to a little party at one of Ryan's coworker's houses for the Fourth and it was sooo YUMMMY.  All of our favorite bbq foods...but homemade?!?!? I could definitely get used to THAT!

4.  Tourists. Coming from a touristic economy, we appreciate the tourists as much as we are annoyed by them.  They definitely fill this area up more than I have ever seen before. Weekends are a disaster on the local highways.

Ok...and now for a few gripes...

1. Speaking of the local highways...there is a reason that tourists clog them up on the weekends.  They are all two lanes and never expand any bigger when they should so traffic bottlenecks a lot.  But, I just read today that it is a known problem and the government is working on it.  No one goes the speed limit so traffic gets backed up behind two cars going 5 under. UGH!

2.  Bugs everywhere.  I got used to living in a built up area and now we live in the woods again.  We have quite a few spiders, which I hate...but there is also an abundance of lightning bugs, which I LOVE!

3. The heat.  It has been overly hot since we moved here.  The hottest day was I think 107 with a heat index of 115.  No big deal?! Unless you want to get anything done!  It makes it hard to do anything or get the courage to even step outside when it is that hot.

Virginia is so great, because even though I had three things to complain about...none of those things make me dislike living here.  I think it is because Southerners live so simply and slowly and enjoy whatever they are doing at the moment.

I cannot wait for more adventures in VA!