And the Winner Is?

Ladies and gentlemen - the time has finally arrived. Seth and I have made a decision! GASP!

I know. It's amazing. After much soul searching, praying, thinking and seemingly ENDLESS hours of discussion we have accepted a job in the lovely city of Boise.

When we started this job hunting process Seth really wanted to stay in Boise. He loves Boise - as do I. Sadly jobs were just not available there. A lot of his classmates really wanted to stay in Boise but just couldn't find jobs. So perhaps this long delay was fated?

Toward the end we were making a decision between two cities: Boston and Boise.

Boston was actually a residency program, not a job. It was a great opportunity for Seth and I . . . until we found out that he would be working 60-80 hours a week

80 HOURS A WEEK! Seriously. Who does that? That is five to six shifts of over 13 hours. I mean come on! Seth and I basically would have seen each other while sleeping and that's it. Also imagine how exhausted and stressed he would be.

Now imagine how lonely and possibly depressed I could have been....

In Boise Seth will be working an 8-5 job (at a prison - true story). Sure he may work up to 50 hours a week. But 50 hours as week is still 30 hours a week less than he would have worked in Boston. 30 hours a week! That's nearly a full time job difference.

In the long run this was the driving force in our decison. We don't want to spend our first year of marriage not seeing each other. We have spent way too much of our relationship apart from each other. It's time to enjoy being together... out of my parent's basement.

Now don't get me wrong, it really was still a tough decision. We have had these grand ideas of moving somewhere to have an adventure. Boston sounded like that adventure. I had these grand ideas of driving to New York (my favorite city) for the weekend. Or driving up to Maine to see the autumn leaves! If I happened to be bored on a weekday (while Seth worked a 16 hour shift) I would head into the city and go to a fabulous museum.

But as the wise Sarah not Timms told me "You would definitely have an adventure in Boston. You and Seth would just have different adventures, not an adventure together."

Not an adventure together? Um - no. We have done the seperate adventure thing before. We did that for 2 years. We'll take an adventure together thank you very much!

Then we got to thinking. We honestly will have more of an adventure in Boise, Idaho. Who knew? With the Boise job we will have the flexibility to travel! Prague is now officially on our agenda this year.

We can train for a triathlon together. We can go camping, we can go up to McCall. We can take off and go to Seattle for the weekend. We can cook dinner at night and go to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings. The bottom line is - Boise offers us the freedom to have a mutual adventure. And that is awesome.

Other perks for Boise:

1. Possible loan repayment (up to $50,000 over 2 years! Hello!)

2. Great housing. The housing prices there are amazing right now. We will be able to purchase a great home in Boise. I have these visions of having a garden. This makes me happy. I am totally going to grow my own arugula and tomoatoes.

3. It's close to home - but far enough away. We love our families. We want to feel like we can hop in the car and come home if needed. We also like knowing that our family and friends can drive 5 hours and be up in Boise to see us. I like knowing that when I have a baby my mom is close by. However, we are still 5 hours away which gives us a sense of being "far away". It's kind of the best of both worlds.

4. We have friends in Boise. Ashtin - one of my very best and oldest friends lives in Boise. We haven't lived in the same state for about 10 years now. It will be so nice to be near her. Plus we have Kate & Drew...who I am convinced will keep Seth and I in shape! We also have a handful of other friends. This is really nice.

5. Boise is just cool. It is. Don't knock it until you have been there. I love the community. I love the downtown. I love the restaurants and the coffee shops. I love the river and the greenbelt. I love how active the people are there. Plus - the residents are NICE. It's weird but they really are nice.

I could go on and on. It's a great decision and I am so happy that we have FINALLY made it. We will be leaving soon. Seth will probably move there in about 10 days and I will move there at the end of the month. YIKES!

I do have a lot of feelings. Today I gave my notice to Make-A-Wish and it was heart breaking. It is so sad to leave a job that I love. I can only hope that someday I will have a job that I love as much as Make-A-Wish. I'll blog about this later but I have to say that the staff has been amazing through this whole process. I am leaving at a really terrible time - and for the most part they are really understanding. But Seth is my priority now. He is my life. More than anything I want to be with him. And that is what matters most.