To sign or not to sign...that is the question

Katie Rae
May 5, 2017
5 min read

Deciding where you want to live from across the country is not easy. Between dealing with people who are just trying to scam money out of you and the people who won't even speak to you because they can't meet you in person, moving has become a large struggle. So I think my only option is to go down there early and check it out for myself...and maybe bring my girlfriends down with me!

A Native American, an Irish lassie, and a girl who has never flown before get on a plane...sounds like the start of a really bad joke, but actually it's our life. This is us, about to embark on a journey to find and select the place where I'll be resting my head for who knows how long. I have a list of places to look at and things that need to get done while I'm down there. Hopefully we can accomplish most, if not all of them, but I mean I have to show them a good time too right?!

As we arrived in Miami we made our way to the hotel, I drove (I cannot believe that these two knuckleheads trusted me to drive.) Three girls, seven bags, and one small ass car head down the busy one lane highway to my soon to be new home. As I look out the window I can hardly believe that something this beautiful is going to be my view for what could be the rest of my life. It doesn't even seem real sometimes and it's all happening so fast too!

One bedroom, two bedroom, studios and more. How do I choose when my brain is so sore? This whole picking a place to live is hard, it better be worth it to have the beach as my backyard. I know that my job will be quite fun, but how will i like baking in the sun? Is living the dream all its cracked up to be or will I be drowning in a crystal blue sea. I know that the good life doesn't just fall in your lap, so when is this dream going to turn into crap? Will I love my new home or will I just want to flee, or will I run around the Conch Republic with glee? I can't see the future but we will soon find out, but until then I'm not going to pout.

Day One:

We made it to Marathon and were off to a good start, we stop to look at an apartment. Everything is absolutely like a dream land, perfect but with everything there are downfalls. In this case, the number one downfall is that we are still an hour away from Key West...that's a big trek on a one lane highway to work everyday.

Day Two:

We toured our second apartment today, Ocean Walk. Inside of the apartments were beautiful, laundry was all the way across the parking lot which I though was kind of funny. This turned me away from wanting to live there. Also was much more expensive than the rest of the apartments we had lined up.

The third apartment we looked at was much cheaper but also not as nice. I could not imagine myself living in this apartment as the neighbors looked a little iffy. Though the rent was appealing, the location did not do anything for me.

Day Three:

Today I decided it was time for me to show these girls around the new place that I was going to live, so we went out on the town for a day of sightseeing and exploring. I took them to the southernmost point beach in the morning and we hung out there drinking margaritas, then we walked around town hitting all your most well known sightseeing items, the mile marker, the buoy, Duval Street, and capped off the night with a sunset at Mallory Square. Later that night we hit the main drag to see what the night had in store, I showed them my favorite spots (The Green Room, and Ricks.) Then we went to some of the more popular places (Sloppy Joe's, Capt. Tony's, and even brought them up to see the one and only Garden of Eden.) Needless to say we had a grand ole' time.

Day Four:

Today we hang out by the pool for most of the day, then Amber decided she was going to get a tattoo. We ended up at the Southernmost Tattoo Parlor and it happened she got her first tattoo in Key West, Florida. She said it didn't even hurt that bad! You go Girlfriend!

Day Five:

Today was the first day of the rest of my life, I started my job today. My first wedding in Key West, I was really nervous yet excited at the same time. What if I hated it? Was I making the right decision moving down to Florida? So many questions ran through my head before I got there. When I arrived my boss was already there, she was excited to see me (which was good because if she wasn't that probably would have been bad.) She handed me the outline for the wedding, it was very detailed and crazy organized (Which my OCD quite appreciated.) She gave me a few tasks and I got to work. We had two wedding's in different locations and there were some problems at the other wedding so my boss had to leave and go oversee everything that was happening at the second wedding. She trusted me to run the wedding by myself on the first day, talk about pressure. I started with decorating the tables, the wind was my enemy as everything I did just flew off the table right away anyway. Eventually I figured out a way for everything to still look beautiful but stay put on the table as well. As the night progressed, I started to realize that I was incredibly happy doing this. The guests started to arrive and the wedding began, the location (The Audubon House) was just absolutely gorgeous. The groom cried as his beautiful bride walked towards him down the aisle (always look at the groom, its the best part of the wedding.) As the ceremony came to an end, cocktail hour began, next was dinner and toasts, cutting of the cake, first dances, and then the real party began. The wedding ran so smooth it was like clockwork, I couldn't believe I pulled this off. My first wedding done and over with and I'm beyond ready for the next!

Day Six:

Today is the end of all the fun for now, it's time to go back to Wisconsin. I've chosen an apartment, had a great first day at work, and even got to have a little fun with my best friends. This move seemed daunting a few days ago, but now I am even more excited than before. In one short month this will be my new home, I'm going to be an Island girl, literally living the dream at 24 years old. I'm so ready for this change, and I can't wait to see whats coming ahead in the future.