Our Big Moving Adventure! Relocation to Huntsville, AL

Welcome Home!! We have arrived to our new house after a big moving adventure!

Whew! What a whirlwind the past month has been! I've finally caught my breath enough to come up to the surface and attempt to get back on track with my online publishing, although I am very proud of myself that I've managed to consistently upload on Being Mommy with Style YouTube Channel during the move - I've finally gotten to a point where I can start doing some housekeeping in other areas too... Namely getting updated here on the blog and other social media places like Facebook, Twitter, and my additional YouTube channels! (Lots of plans in store for my additional channels over the coming months, so stay tuned for that as well!)

Lots of boxes to unpack!!

Our relocation started this May from our previous location in Michigan, and we are now settling into our new house in Alabama at the end of July, so it has been a few month process to get to this point. This all started in early April, when my husband was approached about a new job with a new company - and the rest as they say - is history. He took the position and I stayed with the girls in Michigan to finish out the school year which ended in mid-June, with Natalie having preschool camps until the end of June, then our house was packed up and our things moved to Alabama at the beginning of July.

Goodbye, old house!

The girls and I road tripped down to Alabama on our own, taking a few days to stop off at my mom and step dad's house in southern Illinois. We had a fun time making the road trip an adventure along the way, and stopped to see some landmarks like the World's Largest Rocking Chair in Casey, Illinois.

When we arrived into Alabama, the girls and I were able to see our new house for the FIRST TIME! Yet another time, my husband and I purchased a home without me seeing it in person before we bought it. This sounds like a scary prospect (well, let's be honest - it kind of is) but due to timing of needing to get into a house and the technology age we live in, it's worked out well for him to be able to show me his top picks on FaceTime and we've chosen which house to purchase that way. Check out us seeing the house for the first time in this vlog:

Then for the following weeks, it's been all about getting settled into the new house, getting things unpacked, seeing the new area, and doing those trivial adult things - like getting an Alabama license!

Tax free weekend was also a first for us! Alabama has a tax free weekend prior to school starting where there are no state taxes on things like clothing and school related supplies, so we enjoyed stocking up on things the girls needed for school over tax free weekend!

Tax Free Weekend school supplies!

As we've unpacked and gotten things up on walls, formed rooms to look familiar with all of our furniture and decor items, the house is starting to feel more like home and the girls have settled in great! We're looking forward to starting a new school year at their school VERY soon! School in Alabama starts a month before Michigan starts, so they will be in school at the beginning of August here!

We have taken the time to start exploring the new area before they start school and I wanted them to see some of the fun things there are to do here, so we spent a weekend at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center checking that out, and also went to a fun kid's day at the Huntsville Botanical Garden, both of which we purchased memberships so our family can enjoy them year round!

The hope behind doing this move, was creating more family time with my husband taking a job that he would have to be at work less, more financial stability and meeting savings goals faster with the lower cost of living in the new area, and being closer to activities that we love to do (hello, Walt Disney World!) so that we can start traveling more in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings and hoping that we can meet these goals by making this huge life change. I'll be sure to update along on YouTube, so make sure to subscribe there if you haven't already - and we have a number exciting trips and events planned already that I'm looking forward to sharing about soon!

Until then, I'll be over here putting more pictures up on walls and getting all of the excess cardboard boxes out of my house!

Check out all of the moving videos on this one handy playlist!

** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

We Are Moving!

All week long on YouTube, we've dropped the BIG news... we have a BIG change ahead.... we are MOVING!

And yes, yes... we have moved a number of times in the past. So the moving itself isn't the newest thing - however this move is something all new for us because we will be moving some place we have never lived before, and my husband also took a job with a brand new company to him after working directly or indirectly for the same company for the past decade.

This change came at a time when it was much needed in our lives. The emotional ups and downs of the past year had taken their toll and my husband was in a stressful position at his previous job, just because of the type of demands of that career field. After talking about it a number of times, we decided that maybe a change was in store and initially he was looking at opening up his resume to find a position in the metro Detroit area, just with a different company in the area.

However an interesting thing happened. Early on after he opened his resume up, he was found by a head hunter (basically person trying to fill a specific position for a specific company) in the southern region of the United States that thought he would be the perfect fit a position located in the South. At first we were skeptical, this surely couldn't be for us? We had moved eight times in the previous 11 years of marriage. We were tired of moving! We were ready to put down roots! The kids were getting older!

My husband looked into the position and new company, and the more information he found out - the more interested he became. The company deals in a segment that my husband is VERY interested in, and previously has had a lot of fun past times dealing with it as a hobby, so he knew their subject matter well. Then came the interesting fact that when we started comparing to our northern home in north metro Detroit - we realized that the cost of living in the new location would be significantly less, to buy a home and maintain it, than our current home here. And also that we could downsize a bit as well to save more money and make the most of it.

The company flew him down for an interview and all of the stars started aligning. He was offered the position and we did dwell over it for a few days to make sure we were making the right move. After weighing all of the pros and cons, we decided to take a leap of faith - and make the change.

The exciting things about this move, are that we will be closer to family - our new location is only 4 hours away from where my mom and stepdad live in the southern part of Illinois, the weather will be MUCH better down there (no more harsh winters! yay!), the lifestyle would lend itself to more of an outdoor lifestyle which we had been missing, there were lots of fun day trip adventures within driving distance of our new location, and, drumroll.... we would be closer to Walt Disney World!

Check out some of our thoughts and how we announced the move HERE:

All of these things combined with the fact that we felt like if we did this move it would help us to further along our financial goals made us to decide to take that leap of faith and give it a go.

So now on YouTube, moving vlogs are in full swing! Follow along on YouTube as we move from southeast Michigan to the southern part of the United States!

WHERE are we going?? Check out this vlog to find out!!

So exciting things are in store for us! I'll be sharing it all along on YouTube and on my blog! As always with moving, I've learned from previous moves that sometimes uploading on a regular schedule can be tough when you're right in the middle of it, due to staying at places with slower Internet speeds, travel days, and just plain being busy in the middle of a bunch of boxes! However I will do my best to keep at least a few videos a week scheduled, you may see me using the "LIVE" feature a bit more often when it is the best option for me to film an update, and also be sure to follow me in Instagram (@beingmommywithstyle) and Facebook, because I try to update regularly at those places as well!

More moving updates coming up this week and the next include a video with the girls and what they thing about moving! A look at how I staged our home to put it on the market, a weekend in the life moving edition vlog, and more!

Join us on our greatest adventure yet! Being Mommy with Style... goes South!

**This is not sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Moving Playlist & We're almost there!!

We've almost made it to the finish line... today is the day!

As I reflect on our (long) move, I definitely have gain an appreciation for DOORS that can be shut between rooms and also I believe have insights into helpful lists of things to have when staying in an extended stay and moving with children. I will have upcoming posts on those.

For now... today is the day, and I will soon be able to wrap up my MOVING PLAYLIST! (Yay!) So I wanted to leave it here since it will slowly drop its way off of the front of BeingMommywithStyle. I'm looking forward to the adventure ahead - and all of the renovation & decoration projects headed our way too!!

Check out the moving playlist here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiFP1-yFEAllJjT-EqsHnRSjHmC29rKVg

We're in Michigan!

Well... we made it to Michigan! We're currently enjoying a few weeks stay in an extended stay - that I'm sure will make us that much more appreciative to be in our new house! For now, we're keeping busy enjoying the new sights, trying new activities, and catching up with old friends!

I will be vlogging as much as possible while we are in the extended stay, and then near daily after we get into the house to document our relocation and renovation experience! After we get into the house, we will have a number of renovation and redecoration projects that I will want to get started on, which I will detail in a future post and video. I hope you enjoy following along!

See what we've been up to since we arrived in Michigan...

Welcome to Michigan!

Getting the girls enrolled in school!

First Michigan grocery haul! 

Splash Pad Fun at KLR Splash Pad in Oxford, MI!

We become Detroit Zoo Members again!

Stay tuned for more MI fun!

www.youtube.com/beingmommywithstyle

Moving = Stress

We are about halfway through our corporate relocation from Illinois to Michigan for my husband's job. The process started in April and at last now in mid-June we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with an offer on our current Illinois house, and moving companies calling us to set up times to come pack up our things. (Which is an amazing perk that I'm incredibly thankful to have, trust me! I've done all kinds of moves, and I do appreciate it.)

After moving EIGHT times the past 10 years... I can say one thing with certainty... regardless of whether its just one town over, you have one kid or two, or you're moving states away...

MOVING = STRESS

That is just how the equation goes. I thought this one would go smoothly, we've done this so many times before after all... but in the end, it is always stressful. Even after moving our things, having packed up our things almost as many times as we have been years married (our 10 year wedding anniversary is this year!) - the thought of changing location still gives me pause and an increase in heart rate. Just a bit.

With this move, while I do not have the stress of packing everything up, making sure things don't get broken, and loading it onto a truck, those are all lifted from me - the stress of selling our old place and finding the new place weighs that much more heavily. This is what WE are supposed to be focusing on, so it should go that much more seamlessly? Right? Not necessarily true. There's Murphy's Law (if you don't know Murphy, he's an old family friend of mine)... and inevitably always things that just end up happening that are out of your control.

So while I won't write a lovely post about how you can make moving STRESS FREE, because seriously - does that even exist beyond going on vacation the entire time someone else takes care of everything? I will write my few tips for relieving some of the stress or taking a time out along the way, to make it more bearable.

*1* Set a time to deliberate and discuss all things relating to the move. Write notes to cover all of the topics you'd like to discuss things relevant to the move with your significant other or others impacted by the move. Which leads me to #2....

*2* Set a time to NOT think about anything to do with the move. Whether it is 30 minutes or 1 hour out of the day, set aside a time during the day where you can take a mental break from the stress of moving and take your mind off of it. Whether it be doing your favorite actvitiy - reading, gardening, or putting together outfits on Polyvore, take a break and let your mind wander to less pressing issues for a span of time.

*3* Accept that things ARE going to happen during the move that are unexpected and out of your control. Trucks will show up late, something might get broken, schedules will clash, and so on... just mentally prepare yourself that something may not go as planned and hope for the best!

*4* Pace yourself. When you get to the new end, plan out which rooms to do first (I tend to like starting with kid's rooms and then going to the "priority rooms" like the kitchen, then working my way down to things like decor), and set a pace that is realistic. If you burn yourself out within the first week, that is how you end up with boxes that are still packed sitting in the corner a month later...

*5* Enjoy the journey, as cliche as that sounds. Moving is an adventure and it's taking you on a new path in life. Take some time out to explore your new city and neighborhood, see some new sights, and try some new food. These enriching experiences may even make you think a few weeks after the move.... That wasn't so bad, wasn't it? (It was, but luckily memory has a way of helping us out.)

Best of luck with your move, and I will keep you filled in on ours!

Goodbye May, Hello June!

It's been a busy time at our house. We are preparing for our move from Illinois to Michigan, and everything that goes along with getting a house on the market! We had been looking for a new home in Michigan while simultaneously getting things done around our IL house to list it - however, even after we thought we had found "the one" it ended up not quite working out!

I will be updating along the way on YouTube all about our moving journey!

I'm also hoping to BLOG some more now going forwards... I will do a post about my thoughts on it, but after migrating BACK to Blogger from Word Press, I feel like I'm going to be more inclined to check in a bit more!