Yesterday, August 11, 2011, Wendy and I realized that it was the official 11th anniversary of our move from the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio to Washington, D.C. It's hard to believe, but as fresh faced college grads we packed all of our necessities and made the six hour journey to begin our new life in our new home.

Throughout our time living here, we've undergone tremendous changes in our lives including the onset of living independently from our parents, getting married, buying our first home, and the growth and responsibility that has come with our respective jobs. We've experienced high points, low points, exciting points, and mundane points, but at each point over the last 11 years, we've used our experiences to grow and learn.

So we'd like to do a little retrospective between the two of us and share it here with the world four people that read our blog. We hope you'll enjoy it.

Q: Are you glad you left Cleveland and moved to Alexandria?

Alex: Very! It was a scary time leaving the comfort and security of the city we had grown up in, but it also opened a huge number of possibilities we wouldn't have had if we had stayed in Cleveland. We took a risk and hoped for the best. Looking back on the last 11 years, I consider us very fortunate that everything has worked out the way it has. However, I do miss seeing the Browns and Indians in person on a regular basis.

Wendy: Absolutely. What started as an adventure with a three year imposed time limit has now stretched into a "maybe forever." Moving away from our family and friends was very difficult, and we took a big risk. I didn't have a job when we moved to D.C. (luckily I found one within only three weeks), and this area has opened our eyes and broadened our experiences to include a diverse history and culture that we didn't have access to in Ohio. Ultimately it made us have to be completely self reliant without having a network to fall back on. 

Our First Apartment

Q: Buying our house, good decision or bad decision?