I’ve been really quiet lately and that’s because I have been swamped getting ready for our big move.  My husband and I have both accepted new jobs and we are relocating from Texas to West Palm Beach in sunny Southern Florida.

He and I have both lived in Texas our entire lives but we have debated moving elsewhere for a few years now and feel that we are ready for a change. So, when this opportunity came up, it wasn’t much of a debate or a hand wringing session.  Fortunately, my husband was able to transfer his job and keep his tenure with his current company as well.

We will be living in a rental home for the first few months while we sell our house in Dallas and look for a new “forever” home in Florida.  We will be in North Palm Beach, near Juno, Florida and will be living about 8-10 minutes drive from the beaches.  Here’s a little sample of what will be around the corner from us:

Now it is true that we will both be very busy at work for several months while we get up to speed on our new jobs but it’s nice to know that this is an option on lazy Sundays.  Our rental house is also in a community that has a massive pool, clubhouse, gym and tennis center so that will be nice as well.

I was in Palm Beach last weekend to look for a rental (which wasn’t easy to find given most winter rentals were already taken) and stopped by the beautiful Breakers Hotel for dinner one night.  It’s definitely a special occasion kind of place but I can highly recommend their Seafood Bar restaurant for drinks or dinner.  The bar is actually a fish tank, which is very cool and the ocean views are fantastic.   Of course, I walked around and did a little property snoop and I would definitely stay here for a “staycation” one weekend as well if I wanted a little spa and pool pampering.

We leave Dallas in a little over a week and will be driving with our small dog to Florida.  We plan to make it a little fun and will stop our first night in New Orleans and our second night in St. Augustine, Florida and I found some great pet friendly hotel options in each location.  We will arrive at our rental house after 2 full days of driving and move right in (it’s furnished).

Our Dallas home is almost ready for sale and gets listed next week.  I plan to leave all of our furniture in it for now so it’s staged and we are taking just our dog, clothes and toiletries with us on the drive (and shipping a few boxes of clothes as well) and I’ll be shipping my car separately.  We will have a few days to get settled in and get our bearings to find the closest grocery store, bank, pet store, hardware store, etc…and maybe even do a pool or beach day one afternoon to relax after the long drive.  We also look forward to checking out the local restaurants and tiki bars nearby, like this one below that my realtor recommended called Guanabana’s, which was so cute and had great casual seafood. So many of these places in Florida!

So, it’s a big change for us but we are very excited about the move and the change.  I can tell you that one thing I won’t miss in Dallas is the traffic.  It’s simply terrible now.  My old job had me commuting 1 to 1.5 hours each way everyday for work so I often spent 2 to 3 hours in the car, 5 days a week.  And sad to say that traffic in Dallas isn’t much better on the weekend or during off hours.  My new commute will be about 10 minutes with no freeways.  Sounds dreamy.  I’ll post about our road trip when we land in Florida and get settled! And if you think I’m exaggerating about Dallas traffic, here is a picture I took on my way home from work during my last week.  Yup, won’t miss this.