Struggling with a sense of identity.

[Marilyn. 340]

hubby is contemplating moving to Northern California... we really can't afford to buy a house in the LA area...

part of me would love to move back to Canada, rain and all but I know my hubby doesn't want to.. he says that maybe in the future we will buy a vacation home up in Canada or something..

[KarenCee 3]

I guess I'm grateful Joel loves it here. We do, however, dream of living in other places...Maine (expensive I know!) or Alaska (BRRRRRR!) and other places in between. I think for us though, it's a matter of doing what you have to do temporarily.

Hope you get some peace about it Brad...

[Eric_and_Corinna 0]

I guess I'm grateful Joel loves it here. We do, however, dream of living in other places...Maine (expensive I know!) or Alaska (BRRRRRR!) and other places in between. I think for us though, it's a matter of doing what you have to do temporarily.

Hope you get some peace about it Brad...

Alaska's not that bad...I spent half this year in Sudbury, Ontario, and the winter weather was about the same, if not warmer back home. Of course, that's not saying that Sudbury's a winter wonderland

[jundp 191]

I know Seattle has this bad reputation for rain, but is there anyone who actually had lived there that knows for a fact that this is true?

I go there several times a year for baseball games and concerts and we've only had bad rain in the late fall/winter. Most of the summer is beautiful. My sister lives there and said that it's not nearly as bad as people think.

I'm from Louisiana and it honestly rained more there than it does here in Seattle. It does rain here and it can be cold, but it is also beautiful. Near the ocean, near the mountains, near Canada....

I've been here 7 years and I don't think I would live anywhere else ever again (except Germany) and I've lived in or spent extensive time in 9 other states and 2 other countries. There are places outside of Seattle proper that have amazing weather (like Sequim) very temperate year-round because of the location.

Just something to consider. Also northern Oregon is gorgeous (or really anywhere on the western portion of Oregon).

Denver area is beautiful too, but I'd miss the water for sure.

Good luck with whatever you decide, Brad. It's a tough decision and it is something that you and your wife will have to come to together. I wish you the best!

[CBR 0]

This is a fun thing to try quiz to find out where you'd like living

It's an online quiz (lots of questions) that gives you a list based on your answers of the top 10 places you'd be happy living. It gives all kinds of info on each city it suggests for you like weather, population stats, job outlook, highlights of the city etc... I haven't done it for a couple years, but I remember only getting US cities (the only drawback to the quiz). Maybe there's one for Canada too out there. That would be interesting to try out.

[warlord 73]

We're in something similar to this as well, finding the perfect place for both of us. Wifey wants Mountains and beach and I want palm trees (hopefully desert, but any will do). So she loves Oregon, I couldn't stand the rain and the cold up there, I love Phoenix, but wifey used to live in Tucson and has allergys there, plus she doesn't like the hot hot heat (doesn't like snow though either which is good).

We've been meaning to list places to live in, just haven't done it yet. I've been to pretty much every damn decent sized city in the US so I know what I like and don't, the issue is just finding something she will like and I will like as well is the hard part. She doesn't like the Earthquake activity in California, or the Hurricane activity in Florida or the Heat activity in Arizona etc.

But yes pros and cons of each location and having that location have something that each side will enjoy is the big thing...

[CBR 0]

Dang, I can't edit my post. Just wanted to say if you do the quiz you can just make up the info about yourself at the end (i used mickey mouse), skip the optional info and you'll still get your "spots". I hate entering real info about myself on things like that.

[T.O_2_FL 0]

I've lived in Toronto all my life and decided that I would move down to Florida to live with my husband after getting married. We live right by Cocoa Beach.

This has been a big adjustment for me since I am use to the city lifestyle and where we are is pretty much retired folk and beach. Oh yea and tourists. Anything metropolitan would be pretty much us driving to Orlando (about an hour) or down south to West Palm or even Miami (4 hours).

I can say that I look at the positives of why I'm down here....weather is really secondary despite all the immigration things we had to go through. I am still getting use to the killer humidity down here and the lifestyle change. For a girl who is use to walking to the Eaton Centre in Toronto and using the subway or taxi...I am now a slave of the automobile. In addition to the humidity, I suffer from really bad allergic reactions from the bug bites (infamous no-see-ums) so for me to go out and do any type of yard work or activity requires a healthy dose of deet all over.

We don't plan on making Cocoa Beach our forever home....but for now, it is where we are.....as long as we're together. Doesn't mean we don't have an eye open

[frustrated1 0]

We moved from Toronto to the twin cities,Minnesota. We often count our blessings that we lucked out in the state we ended up in (withouth having done too much research) Great landscape, lakes everywhere, great outdoors, lots of jobs....We immensely miss Toronto as a city and especially our families, the enriched culture and arts, and we long to go visit, however, every time we go back, we're somewhat confused in our disappointment. Can't stand the traffic, people on edge, cut throat attitudes, 14% tax on everything you buy, poorly planned 401, cookie cutter homes with no land around. You can take your arm out of your bedroom window and touch the next house, it's that close!

we find it very calm and peaceful here. we haven't gained anything in terms of weather but we found this place very easy to integrate. People are great, you walk into a govt office and it's empty! no lineups anywhere, no traffic jams, very skim rush hours.

This is not to say we won't consider moving to the east coast for a shorter drive home! but we have very little to complain about.

hoping everyone else finds there happy place as well...

[raphael7546 0]

What about Northern Oregon? My sister lives in a city just outside of Oregon called Tigard.

We grew up in Vancouver, BC and she loves it there. Not as much rain as Seattle and it's a day trip to the border.

[Mephys 2]

I used to miss home a lot too, being from Quebec. But when I went to visit few months ago I couldn't wait to be back in my home here, in my stuff. I am now in Chicago, Illinois.

Both place weather wise are pretty similar. No ocean, no beach, no palm tree, summer and winter. However, I noticed the summer is much more warm and humid here than Montreal and I have a ahrd time adjusting to that, and winter less cold, which I do appreciate. More thunderstorms here too, like 2-3 times a week, while Montreal it's more like 1-2 times a month.

But the thing I noticed is, whatever I miss from up there while I'm here, I know if I would go back to Canada there is things from here I would miss too. I think once you move to another country, you can never be yourself again anywhere, you are torn in 2 pieces and you will always miss something somewhere.

On my end I really didn't have a choice of where to live, nor do we have one now. We are not free to move to another state, yet another city. His kids are here, abd living 30 min from our place it's still too far from us. We are renting an appartment, but we are definitely considering buying a house in their surrounding cities to be closer to them, like 10-15 min max.

I guess I will just be happy where ever I am with my husband. When I was back in Montreal I actually never considered moving somewhere else to have better weather, job, etc. I was just living my life in the only place I've ever known. Now it's almost like a move to the US opens a wide range of possibilities, like so many little countries together.

So I am sure you will find the best place for you in between somewhere, and wish you the best in your journey to find yourself a place to call home.

[Marilyn. 340]

I miss living in Canada but i think I miss my family more... if they moved here to Cali it would be great

[Cdn_Ali 11]

If you are still considering the Seattle area, you might look at Bellingham. Yes, it's a small little town but it's near the ocean, close enough to Vancouver & Seattle for concerts, sporting events, etc, and they have their own little micro-climate there that seems to miss a lot of the rain. I have a friend who lives there and he wouldn't live anywhere else. The only thing is, the drive to Seattle might suck if your job is downtown. Good luck! I just picked up the latest issue of Money magazine with the top 10 places to live in the USA...very interesting...a lot of midwest towns.

[jundp 191]

If you are still considering the Seattle area, you might look at Bellingham. Yes, it's a small little town but it's near the ocean, close enough to Vancouver & Seattle for concerts, sporting events, etc, and they have their own little micro-climate there that seems to miss a lot of the rain. I have a friend who lives there and he wouldn't live anywhere else. The only thing is, the drive to Seattle might suck if your job is downtown. Good luck! I just picked up the latest issue of Money magazine with the top 10 places to live in the USA...very interesting...a lot of midwest towns.

Bellingham is pretty awesome.

[MissStacey 1]

I've lived in Toronto all my life and decided that I would move down to Florida to live with my husband after getting married. We live right by Cocoa Beach.

This has been a big adjustment for me since I am use to the city lifestyle and where we are is pretty much retired folk and beach. Oh yea and tourists. Anything metropolitan would be pretty much us driving to Orlando (about an hour) or down south to West Palm or even Miami (4 hours).

I can say that I look at the positives of why I'm down here....weather is really secondary despite all the immigration things we had to go through. I am still getting use to the killer humidity down here and the lifestyle change. For a girl who is use to walking to the Eaton Centre in Toronto and using the subway or taxi...I am now a slave of the automobile. In addition to the humidity, I suffer from really bad allergic reactions from the bug bites (infamous no-see-ums) so for me to go out and do any type of yard work or activity requires a healthy dose of deet all over.

We don't plan on making Cocoa Beach our forever home....but for now, it is where we are.....as long as we're together. Doesn't mean we don't have an eye open

I can relate with the bug bites. Bugs seen to love me and I am always covered with bites here. I have been treated several times for bites that develop red streaks- so far all those have been on my arm. The last time I went to a different clinic and the Doctor just snapped at me and said they weren't bug bites so I now I have no clue what I am dealing with.