The Long Awaited (and long worded) Moving to LA Post!

Here is the news most everyone knows and the blog (that I’ve been promising for a long time) that goes along with it!

Jayson, Adler and I are moving to Los Angeles, California!

WHY?

I think i make a mistake every time moving to Los Angeles is mentioned.

When it comes to reasons, I always mention careers first. "Well Jayson and I have reached the ceiling, career-wise, here in Fort Worth..." I think I do this because it's practical. People love practical. When something big is happening they want you to explain it in a practical way because i think ingrained in everyone's head is "only practical plans are well thought out," but you know what i've discovered, going on an adventure is just as good of a reason and can be just as thought out.

So let's start it this way. Jayson and I are moving to Los Angeles because it's an adventure we've never been on.

Now, if you know me at all, you know I don't do anything without thinking it out fully (thinking about it constantly); and Jayson is definitely the same. So here I will tell you every reason we've thought over as to why we should move.... and WHY OH WHY Los Angeles!

Sarah’s reasons for wanting to move to LA:

I came to Fort Worth a little over 7 years ago, and I never expected to be here this long. Don’t get me wrong I love it here, and so many great memories and great friends have been made in this town. But…. I’m a big city girl. I know, it’s different, it’s not for everybody, but for me it’s exactly right.
Three years ago, I thought I was going to hurry and move myself to New York, but God had other plans for me. I met my husband, finished school, and enjoyed more time in this city. Now I am excited to try something new!
Some of you may know it’s been tough for me to find a career path I really enjoy here. After I graduated I applied to a lot of places. Nothing was here (in Fort Worth) for the music field, and I tried applying at local event planning businesses. No one was hiring. Plus, I was hesitant because I don’t want to work weddings (done that on the photography side of things) and I didn’t want to just plan business meetings at hotels. I couldn’t find anything in a field I loved; so I tried teaching…which wasn’t a good fit.
In LA, both of these areas (music and event planning) are more prominent. When we first decided to move I was so excited to finally pick up the music end of things. I asked around. I was all set to start at the bottom and work my way up; but when I prayed over it a lot, I realized the best plan for me is to pursue a career on the event planning side (if it ends up involving music, I won’t mind at all). I like a job that not only makes people happy, but allows me to see the beginning and end of a project. I don’t just want to do any event planning; my dream is to work with one company I believe in, and really build their brand and their company through events.
Other reasoning: a lot of our friends here are settling down and having families. That’s great! We love them, and we love it for them! But the more it happens, the more Jayson and I realize we have no ambition to do that right now. In fact, it gives us even more of an itch to go try something new and exciting! Live in a new place, make even more friends (we love making as many as possible)!
It’s great timing right now! We don’t have kids, our jobs are kind of encouraging us to go, and we are still plenty young!

Jayson’s reasons for wanting to move to LA (with Jayson as guest blogger):

I’d like to think that David Bowie might have written the song “Changes” for Sarah and me.

“I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time”

After much deliberation and prayer Sarah and I have decided to move to Los Angeles. Many other cities or options were discussed but Los Angeles is the place that seems to fit for our next step in life.

Fort Worth has always been the place I call home. I like it…I love it… but I want some more of… a new experience. Since I graduated college I’ve thought and in some cases even looked into moving. Nothing ever came from these notions. It never felt like the right time or something would come up keeping me here. Now things seem to have been drawing me to LA. I have a wonderful wife to share and help in this experience; we’ll have a strong foundation of friends (including my oldest friend), different job opportunities, a pretty stout music scene and a beach.

Along with a new adventure is the possibility of combining the two things that have been a major part of my professional life: music and psychology. Music therapy has been an idea I’ve been proverbially kicking around for awhile. California has more grad school programs and job opportunities in this area. I’m really looking forward to all the possibilities.

Fort Worth will always be a place I call home. My loving family and many friends live here so we will be back to visit as often as we can. Here is the part where our move helps you… you will now have a place to stay when you come to LA. That’s a bonus for you and us.

Needless to say, Sarah and I are very excited about all the upcoming changes. Just like you have given us love, care, support, laughs, encouragement, memories, phone calls, text messages, e-mails facebook updates, tweets and myspace wall post before we will need just as much if not more as we start this part of our life. After all life is for living and we’re living it up. Thanks for being an important part of our life. Life is so rad!

WHY LA? (back to Sarah as blogger)

When looking for a new city to move, we looked at several (I’ve always been partial to New York, and Jayson to Seattle). Something kept drawing us back to LA. As a couple we have been there 4 times already (and a 5th coming up at the end of the month). We continue getting drawn back.
If you are someone that brings up traffic: yes there is bad traffic there, but have you ever driven in Dallas… or even North Richland Hills? We already know about traffic, and we’ll just have to learn a little more patience to deal with LA’s version of it.


But on to the positives:
We have great pockets of friends all over the city, and even more people we would love to get to know better. Yes, we even have a lot of Christian friends there; and already have the beginnings of a list of churches we want to check out!
There’s a large music scene for us to not only enjoy, but also, for Jayson to start playing again. He is a fantastic guitarist, and played in The Cut Off in Fort Worth for years (www.thecutoff.com).
There’s great weather (BIG draw… don’t know if I could handle another Texas Summer), and because of that it’s a great town for dogs!
We love the laid back feel of the town, and that there’s always something to do or not do (beach, anyone?). We love the restaurants! We love that there is both AL and NL Baseball; so we can see both the Rangers and the Cardinals! I love that we get to support the Dodgers ☺
It’s actually cheaper to fly home from LA than a lot of the other towns we looked at, too!
There’s more reasons we could list now, and even more that we’ll come up with when we’re there!

WRAP IT UP:

Let me just say, we’re excited! We want you to be excited too! We have had a lot of naysayers over the past couple of months, and it has actually hurt us a whole lot. Hurt us to have people not trust our decision, our preparation, and not trusting that we are approaching this as adults who have thought out many different angles of this move.
Know that: we have spent time in prayer over this, that we have read lots of books, we are taking a trip to LA at the end of this month for a scouting trip, we are waiting until we have proper jobs to move, and we are so very pumped, excited, thrilled, and on the edge of our seats in anticipation for this move!
Thank you to everyone who supports us! We know that although it will be exciting when we move to LA, it will also be a little sad because we are leaving Fort Worth; but there is beauty in the times that we live. There’s Skype, telephones, email, Facebook, Twitter! We won’t be out of touch! Oh, and of course, we’ll be back for visits. Plus, we’ll always have a place for you to stay in Los Angeles!

Thanks a gazillion
Sarah & Jayson