TWO YEARS IN FLORIDA

On February 8th, we celebrated two years officially being in Florida.  I remember when I made the announcement post two years ago, but didn’t say where we were going because I was going to have y’all come along for the journey while we drove there.  I so badly wanted to tell y’all where we were moving but I wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible.  I almost caved a few times actually, and I was hoping those closest to me wouldn’t say anything accidentally haha.  I look back on these past two years and there’s good and bad that’s come with moving and living in Florida.

Related: Announcement Post

Related: The journey to Floridia

THE GOOD

Of course there have been some good things that happened, but also some bad things, so let’s start off with the good!

 

Related: House Tour

We got married!

We finally got married.  So many people were constantly asking us when we were getting married, and honestly, I was getting really annoyed with that.  Everyone has their own timeline is what I always say, and we were in no rush.  We knew we would get married eventually, but we didn’t rush it because essentially in the end, it’s just a piece of paper that bounds you together legally.  We were already bound together and knew we wouldn’t leave each other’s side prior to that piece of paper.  That marriage license didn’t change anything, except my last name.  Which, let me tell you how much I hate having to do all the paperwork to change my name haha.  My name still isn’t changed on some of my paperwork because I just haven’t had time.

What I will also say, is that now that we’re married, even though we’ve made it clear that we don’t want children (at least not planned, if it happens it happens), but the questions of when are you having kids have come flooding in.  I’m not sure why this is still a “thing” that people ask newlyweds.  I can be over reacting and being dramatic, but what right do people have asking me about my reproductive organs haha.  I can understand to a point, but the face of almost disgust that I get from women who don’t understand why we don’t want children has really aggravated me.  Are these people going to raise our child?  No, so what right do they have to being upset that we don’t want them?

Can we normalize not asking women when they're having kids or why they don't want them? Please and thank you.

— Monica reporting to you live, from a highway (@monicahayworth_) February 15, 2021

Related: Our Halloween Wedding

Finances

Hopefully soon we will be able to buy a house.  We’ve both been saving quite a bit to be able to buy a house soon.  We definitely want to move closer to the business because just this morning we were stuck in dead stop traffic.  Where we live, there’s only one way to get out.  That’s with the major highway, and since no one knows how to drive in Florida, if there’s an accident we’re not going anywhere.  There aren’t even backroads that we can take.  House hunting has started, but we still want to save up just a little bit more for a decent down payment on a house.

Related: 1 Year Anniversay in Florida

My Youtube Channel

Thanks to being here in Florida, and having the extra time that I didn’t have before, I’ve been able to grow my Youtube channel.  That channel has really done well, and it’s help supplement a little bit when it comes to income.  Of course, starting businesses and not having the same pay I had in Jersey, financially we were a little tight there for a bit.  However, Youtube has helped and thanks to some of that money I’ve been able to improve my production quality a little bit.  It’s still a work in progress, but it’s getting there.

Related: Youtube Channel Anniversary

Related:  A Day in My Life

THE BAD

Of course, with the good comes the bad.  I still haven’t gotten used to a lot of things down here.  Including the food, the speed of even people walking at the grocery store, and the driving.  People in Florida really don’t know how to drive.  I’m not trying to be offensive to anyone who lives in Florida, but after growing up in a special place like Jersey, it’s hard for me to get used to.

Related:  9 Month Update

Our first Florida Hurricane

Well, we survived our first Florida Hurricane.  It wasn’t the first hurricane we survived though, because Hurricane Sandy hit NJ really hard several years ago.  It was a little scary for me though because I started driving in the morning and I had my pups in the car with me because I didn’t want to leave them home.  I didn’t even get halfway when I called my husband and told him I couldn’t make it to the CBD Store.  Within a few hours, our backyard had flooded, and part of the highway had collapsed so I was worried my husband wouldn’t make it home.  He had to drive completely around and come from the highway on the opposite side (he had to drive up to the state border), and that took a few hours.  However, we survived and we made it through.  I’m sure there will be more, but I will say I’m glad I don’t have to see snow.

Related:  Surviving our first Florida hurricane

We closed the physical location of one business

One chapter did come to a close already.  Well, kind of.  We are still selling the CBD online, but we did close the physical location.  We own the building and the land that the store was located, so now we just have to lease it out.  However, I’ve moved to our other business, and that photo above is part of our remodeling process.  When we are all done, I’ll show before and afters.  I tried my best to get as many before and afters as possible, but I did forget a little bit.  We had this ugly 80’s blue tile and counters before.  OMG, y’all, it was so gross haha.  This is where we are at so far, but I can’t wait to show the final product.

I’ll never get used to Florida

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to Florida.  I’ve come to adjust a little bit, but growing up in Jersey for 30 years is a lot.  It’s a major switch to go from the hustle and bustle to slow and steady.  It’s hard to adjust to the food and the culture.  I am grateful and thankful that we moved, because we would never have what we have here in NJ.  It does suck being so far away from the only blood related family I have (my parents and brother), because they’re all I have.  Everyone else is in Poland.  I really don’t know how my parents were able to be so far away from their parents for so many years.  It sucks not being able to just go over my parents house to have some coffee and chit chat.  My parents are planning on moving closer whether that be in Georgia, or right here in the same town we live in.  There are pros and cons with living here, but it would be like that really anywhere we move.  It’s always going to be different.  Although, I do wish we were closer to a major city.

Anyway, let’s move on to the linkup!