Have I gone CRAZY????

I never thought in a MILLION YEARS I would say this....

but today's the day I'll admit it....

I think I want to stay in Cleveland.

(eeeek!)

As we are starting the application process for residency programs, we've been looking a lot into the different programs & the areas we'd be interested in living. From the beginning, everyone heard me say, "There is NO way we're staying here. We're definitely moving back west for residency." And there are a few things I don't love about Cleveland, but the longer & longer we stay, the more & more I love it (that's right I said love!).

I know we don't really get to choose where we go for residency, we decide where our number one choice is & cross our fingers & hope we get it. (I'm NOT speaking for Matt, only for ME & we haven't decided if Cleveland is our number one yet). BUT with Matt being a male going into Ob/Gyn, he's like the "token male," & can pretty much "choose" where we go (at least that is what we're told) because there are so many females going into OB, a lot of programs want males.

Here are MY cons for Cleveland:

• Long, dark, depressing winters (that's a big one)
• So far from home & expensive to travel (that's the biggest one)
• A lot of crime, but where isn't there any crime? Plus we're in a safe neighborhood.
• Kindergarten is all day long, that's what I hear, I'd rather have half day K. Maybe I'll homeschool for K?
  
• I can't go to the awesome-looking Beachwood (the city next to ours) pool, unless we live there & we probably won't. Jk.
• We don't get a ton of visitors, but maybe we'll get more....??? :)
• It's really humid, but I'm getting use to it after three summers.
• Too many skunks. :)
• There is a lot of snow, but not more than Utah gets.
• Jan & Feb are SO COLD, like below freezing.
• I miss a lot of great stores in Utah.
• I miss the mountains too.
  
• Don't love that Cleveland is a "dying" city & has a lot of ghetto parts.
• Temple is so far away (2 1/2 hrs one way), but we still try & go as often as we can.
  

Here are MY pros for Cleveland:

• I love Spring, Summer & Fall here.
  
• Summers are so nice & don't get too hot.
• It's SO green here.
  
• We love being in the Kirtland Stake & so close to the church sites here & in NY.
• It's so fun to travel throughout the East.
  
• I love the countryside here.
• I love the orchards & farms where we pick fresh fruits.
• The library system is so nice, we go there 2-3x a week.
• Lake Erie Beach...haven't actually gone swimming there, but plan to.
• We want to travel down to West Virginia & to Chicago.
• Aldi, our grocery store, is SO inexpensive, we save so much money shopping there. And they just built a new one way closer & in a not so ghetto area. For locals, its on Mayfield rd just after Richmond road, in Lyndhurst! wooo
  
• Great hospitals (Cleveland Clinic, University & Metro).
• I'd get to keep seeing my favorite Ob/Gyn, Dr. Rieder!
• Oooh, we LOVE our ward, even though a lot of our friends would move out before we do, it is still such a great ward.
  
• We'd probably be able to get into a house (which is a big one for me!). The houses are SO charming & each has it's own character & we just love a lot of the homes in this area, where we'd most likely stay. In fact, my absolute FAVORITE house, that I have loved ever since we moved here, that is on our street just went up for sale today...but we looked it up on the Howard Hanna website & after seeing the inside, I don't love it so much. But then we started looking at all these other houses & I was getting so excited, but realized I'm getting ahead of myself. (For my mom & sister's who would like this if you want to see a different house we really like, not so much from the front, but the rest of it, go here. But chances are it wouldn't be for sale in 8 months from now...see there I go, getting ahead of myself again).
  
• We won't have to move far & we're already established & are familiar with this area.
• Ohh & there are really great yard sales too.
  

So, there are a lot of good things & some bad things about Cleveland, but I think that's what we'll get anywhere we go. Who knows where we will end up. We'll find out sometime in March on Match Day...in 8 months...but who's counting?
Maybe we could just convince all of our family to move here?

Just kidding.