Deep in the Heart of Texas

We moved to Dallas!

Surprise y’all! (Um, not too sure I could get used to saying y’all, haha) We’ve relocated to Dallas, Texas! It goes without saying that 2020 started off with a bang, and it also explains some of my absence on here.

Earlier this month, we packed our car in Florida and headed out to Texas. Since then, we’ve been working to acclimate (literally) to colder weather and apartment living. It snowed (yes, snowed) our second day here, and there was a tornado watch on our third day. They weren’t kidding when they say Dallas weather is crazy!

Wait, what?! How did this happen?

Shortly before Christmas, Brian interviewed with a company in Dallas. We weren’t sure if it was a possibility that he’d get this new position, but if he did, it would be a big step in his career. Since I work from home as a brand stylist and web designer, we could technically relocate anywhere.

The day after Christmas, we accepted an offer we couldn’t refuse, and the apartment hunt officially started. With everything that the holiday hustle + bustle entails (including traveling and hosting family) we had very little time to find a pet-friendly apartment, much less share the news on the blog.

Downtown Living

Acclimating to Apartment Life

For me, this is like second nature. After all, I grew up in New York City apartments. In fact, I have literally spent half of my life living in apartment buildings. It’s a little ironic twist of fate, but one that I’m okay with.

You realize you truly don’t need that much to live comfortably. Oh, except a mattress. We are sorely waiting on the arrival of our organic mattress.

Moving to Texas and need to find an apartment? Emily at Smart City Locating was a lifesaver! I’ve never been to Dallas, and Brian’s only been here once or twice, but having an apartment hunter give you all the details on neighborhoods, pet walking trails, electric vehicle charging, and more, was beyond helpful! We were like fish out of water looking for places online, not to mention lots of apartment listing websites are deceiving.

If you’re moving to Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, or Houston you have to contact Smart City Locating. Plus, it’s free for you! (The apartment companies pay Smart City for their referral services).

Daisy is not a city dog

Poor little thing has some noise phobias and is scared of the sounds of city life. What seems like normal sounds to us, are completely overwhelming for her. Car sounds in parking garages, people whizzing by in scooters, construction, people walking in the hallway, elevator dings, etc, all seem to terrify her.

I’ve hopped on Insta stories to share about the difficulties of getting her used to city sounds. Paired with Chip’s separation anxiety, it’s going to be a long way before I feel comfortable leaving them alone for extended periods of time. Which, I’m not gonna lie, totally sucks.

She will bark for any reason, but once she starts she doesn’t seem when to stop. I bought them these barking collars, but I can still hear Daisy barking on my way back from the gym.

This weekend we are going to see how she does with being in a crate. (Chip does NOT do well in crates, and he chipped a few teeth during crate training attempts as a puppy). I am also going to keep the app A Soft Murmur playing to see if it drowns out ambient noise that typically sets Daisy off.

What about your house in Florida?

This is a question that comes up a lot.

Guys, I will tell you what, leaving my spacious, newly renovated kitchen behind was the hardest pill to swallow. A close second was leaving behind my plants. But after everything that happened with our nightmare of a kitchen renovation, I learned not to become emotionally attached to a structure.

A structure is not a home. Home is where the heart is, cliché but true.

We have no plans on selling our home just yet. We don’t know how long we will be in Dallas. (Although, even though it’s a little premature to say this, I am already falling in love with this city). We will be going back and forth between Dallas and Jacksonville on occasions. So, Jacksonville, you haven’t gotten rid of us just yet!

We will back to the regular programming soon. I recorded some clean living video tutorials before moving to Dallas, so stay tuned for them to debut soon!