Moving Pros

We are leaving our cozy little apartment hidden away in Simi Valley to move to “The Valley”. If you are not familiar with Southern California, The Valley is the part of Los Angeles more formally known as the San Fernando Valley. Simi Valley is part of Ventura County–it’s that big chunk of land between LA and Santa Barbara counties.

I’m sad to leave the place where my view includes clear blue skies, majestic mountains, tree lined streets and a nice suburban backdrop. I’m also sad to be that much further from my sibilings and future in-laws who live just north of Simi Valley–an easy 20-30 minute drive. I’ll be sad to be that much further away from the Ventura Harbor, Ventura Pier, Hueneme Beach, my favorite Ventura County bars and restaurants and familiar neighborhoods I grew up exploring.

When I think of The Valley images of power lines slicing across the sky, graffiti covered billboards squeezing into every possible space, buses covered in ads, strip mall after strip mall, head shops next to dental offices next to donut shops right next to a Thai restaurant, next to an auto repair shop….combined with  traffic, over crowding and unbearable heat sealing it all together.

This is my dog Sheila. I needed an image for this post and this seemed fitting. Added some text with Paint and viola! Funny pug pic 🙂 Let me know if it made you smile!

So why am I bitching so much about The Valley? I went to Cal State Northridge and I LOVED it. I work in Van Nuys. A smattering of friends live in The Valley. I even did a 6-month stint living in Canoga Park years ago!

Okay, so I know I titled this post “Moving Pros” so I better start saying a few good things about why we made this decision!

• I’ll be closer to work, so I’ll save money on gas. I might even start biking to work..if the weather cools down.
• Kyle will be starting his first semester at CSUN next week, we’re about a block away from campus.
• Our rent will be lower, another plus in the financial area.
• We will live in a loft style apartment–that’s cool right?
• We’ll be closer to the Topanga Mall, it’s HUGE and always seems to be adding more stores (make that a negative in the financial area!)
• We’ll be closer to friends in that area, so more hanging out, no more lame excuses about being to lazy to drive back to The Valley.
• We’ll be able to visit cool LA stuff like LACMA
• We’ll be within walking distance to eateries, a few bars etc.
• It’s always good to change things up, we are so content with the easy suburban life we grew up with.

See, I turned my frown upside down…Anyone else have good stuff to put in my moving pros column? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

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