Charles and I officially moved five months ago, so now feels like a great time to share our favorite things about living in D.C. It feels like so much less time has gone by, but reaching this milestone has helped me to realize how much we’ve already settled into life and routines here. Technically, we don’t live in the district (locals don’t refer to D.C. as D.C. When talking of anything specifically within D.C., they just call it “the district,” which feels very Hunger Games to me. When speaking of the metropolitan area, they say “DMV” for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.)
So really, the post of this title should be “Our Favorite Things About Living in the DMV,” but I suspect that title would mean something VERY different to most readers 😉 We chose a condo in Arlington, Virginia, just on the other side of the Potomac. It has a slightly lower cost of living, is a bit less busy feeling, but very much still has an urban feel. We LOVE where we live. To get to work, I have a short walk to the Metro and no connections to make, which is amazing. Charles has a short 15-minute walk to a shuttle that takes him directly into school
The Secret to a Better Transition
Big changes can be really hard, even for a girl who loves change. Making the decision to move so far away from all our friends and family was definitely not easy. It would be really easy to wallow in that sadness, compare everything to our previous home in a negative way, and dream about how we could make things change back. While I think it’s important to rightfully grieve the things that are lost or finished, I also think that it’s important not to forget what you have right now and what a gift it is.
I grew up learning about thanksgiving and gratitude primarily for the November holiday. It felt like a seasonal tradition rather than a way of life. It also seemed more like something we were supposed to do, like we owed it to God and did it because we were “good people,” rather than having it be something that is immensely beneficial to us. Since we got here, I’ve been focusing on thinking about all the tiny things and all the big things that make me happy. As a result, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Here are just a few of the things that are making me (and Charles!) happy about living in D.C.
Our Favorite Things About Living in D.C. So Far
Seeing the Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin in D.C.! It was such a great date night!
1. Everything is so walkable
In the book This is Where You Belong, Melody Warnick talks about how walking frequently is one of the main ways you can fall more in love with your neighborhood. It’s certainly a plus when your neighborhood has a walk score of 92 like ours. We can walk to the post office, two different coffee shops, dozens of restaurants, the grocery store, or pretty much anywhere else we need to go. I enjoy this so much more than I anticipated.
2. But we can still drive to pick up groceries if we want to
Even though I could walk to the grocery store, I still drive. Anything much farther than a parking lot is challenging with more than a bag or two of groceries. Unless you have one of these fancy things. My theory is that it’s probably good for the car to be driven once a week anyways. Even so, I haven’t put gas in it in 48 days and we still have half a tank. This is a huge improvement from my previous twice-weekly top-offs.
3. Public Transportation
In Oklahoma City, I had about a 45 minute commute to and from work each day, most of which were highway miles. Driving that much grew old real fast even though I made it a habit to listen to podcasts or call family when I drove. I love taking the metro into D.C. to work every day. Sometimes it’s crowded and people have smelly breath, but in general it requires a lot less concentration from me, which is really nice. My commute is only about 30 minutes, which is just enough time to get some quick reading in or quality and intentional social media.
4. The Spring flowers are out of this world
Everyone knows about the DC cherry blossoms, but what they don’t know is that there are flowers evvverrrywhere. There are a lot of magnolia trees with the most gorgeous blossoms too. It’s such a wonderful way to transition seasons. I shared tons of pictures of all the flowers on my Instagram.
5. People are incredibly friendly and helpful
Both at my work and Charles’ school, on the metro, at the grocery store… pretty much anywhere you name it. People have been amazingly kind and made us feel welcome here. One of the fun things about this area is that it’s very transient, so there are constantly new people moving in and out of the area. Chances are anyone you meet will remember what it feels like to be new here.
6. There are so many interesting things to do, and many of them are free!
We haven’t even scratched the surface with all the amazing things to do here. I have a looooong list of museums I want to visit and monuments I want to look at. It’s so fun to realize that I don’t have to hurry to get it all in.
7. Our neighborhood is surprisingly quiet
We hear ambulances and sirens every now and then, but in general there’s not as much noise as we anticipated. One of the things we worried about in moving here (perhaps naively?) is that there would be constant noise and motion and hustle all the time and our home wouldn’t feel restful as a result. I’m happy to report that that is not the case at all.
8. There are so many (too many) good restaurants to choose from
There’s some stiff competition in the restaurant world around here, which I think means that all of them are amazing. While the miser in me loves saving money by eating at home every day, I’m also loving supporting so many local businesses by letting them put food in my belly (in a non-creepy way of course).
9. There are dogs to look at and smile at and sometimes pet EVERYWHERE.
This is one of our favorite things about living in D.C., but is also kind of one of my least favorite things, because it feels a little bit like salt in my wounds. It’s no fun to look at something you can’t have all the time. But still… they’re all so pretty and happy. We love getting to see all the dogs around here.
10. It’s a health-conscious environment
It can be really challenging to change your habits for the better when it feels like you’re the only one doing it. I see people running, going to yoga, walking home with heavy bags full of vegetables, etc., all the time here. It helps keep me inspired and challenged to keep making healthy choices myself. Plus there are so many interesting things to see (like dogs) that it makes it easy(er) to convince yourself to get out and walk around.
Here we are finishing up a walk on Theodore Roosevelt Island. It was such a fun “escape” from the city. You could still hear traffic and airplanes and general city noise, but at least you were surrounded by trees while you were hearing it!
11. More Opportunities
I’m using the word ‘opportunities’ in the broadest sense. There are more opportunities for work, certainly. But there are more opportunities for things in general, whether that means more book clubs, seeing one of your favorite authors speak, or more opportunities to learn something new.
12. Proximity to other cool places
Something that we haven’t even thought about exploring yet is all of the awesome things outside Arlington and DC. There’s so much interesting history around here and so many more things within driving distance. Knowing that we’ll have lots nearby to explore for years to come is definitely one of our favorite things about living in D.C.
What are you loving right now?
Sharing all my favorites has been such a fun and helpful experience for me. I’d love to hear what you’re loving right now, whether you’ve lived in your current city for your whole life or for a week. Leave a comment and let me know some of your favorite things about the place you love!
