The Yankees Invade the South

It's no secret that Northern Virginia is expensive. For Jeff and I, we have always struggled to keep our heads above water in this area. We have been discussing moving to a cheaper area for some time now. Our dream has always been to move to the beach. It's the one thing I miss the most from Long Island, besides my family of course.

We decided to focus our search on NC, Wilmington in particular, since the cost of living is drastically cheaper. However, before we got serious about moving, we wanted to go down there and check it out for ourselves. After Jeff's swim season was over, a mini-vacay down there was in order.

Let me put most of your panicked hearts at ease. After visiting, we decided not to move there. It is a very nice area and had a few cute beach communities but it just wasn't for us. This LI girl and Philly boy aren't meant to be southerners. Another thing was that the job market, even the teaching one, is very shaky. We weren't about to leave our secure jobs in Fairfax to move to that kind of school system.

We did a lot of talk about what our next plan is. We figured we have stuck it out this long in VA we might as well try for another 2 years at least while Jeff goes back for his administration degree. Who knows, maybe the money Gods will shine upon us and stop giving us bad breaks so we can actually save money and *gasp* buy a house?

This all being said, that doesn't mean NC is not the perfect place to vacation, which we did to its fullest....

Oh, how I do miss the beach!!!