Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

February 16, 2018

Southern Belle in Vermont: 10 Months Post-Move Update.

      10 months in Vermont! Double digits. Almost a full year of life in the Green Mountain State! Wow wow wow. It seems like so long ago since my last post-move update, and I feel like I have a lot to update y'all on today.


What it's like to live in Vermont




December 2017-February 2018 - Months 8-10 in Burlington, VT



     SUMMARY: You might remember that "homesickness for North Carolina" was the theme of my 8 Months Post-Move Update that I wrote in December. Those feelings definitely hit an all-time high around the holiday season this year. I still struggle frequently with missing my friends and life in Charlotte... but I will say that I think I have gotten better in the last two months at managing my homesickness, and also identifying and being able to avoid some specific triggers. It's definitely not a "solved problem" by any means and something that I'm still working through every single day, but in 2018 I'm really making an effort to not let it control me.
     How have I been doing this? I've made a lot of little changes, but I'll touch briefly on the two bigger things I've been doing. First, my fitness New Year's resolution has been not only great for my physical health, but even better for my mental health. The gym is a great place to work through my feelings of homesickness and anxiety, which is why I've been trying to increase the amount of times per week that I go! Secondly, I started seeing a counselor weekly around New Year's. I'm not going to go into too much depth about that in today's blog post (I'm sure there will be a time down the road on the blog where it'll be more appropriate to talk more about this), but I will say that I wish I had taken my mom's advice and started doing this last fall, and hadn't waited so long to begin. It's been great to have a safe space each week to talk about things.



     HOME: Things are still going well living in my apartment. My parents surprised me for Christmas and generously bought me a brand new TV (much bigger then the little one from my college dorm room that I'd been using as my living room TV before), and it's been really nice to be watching my shows every week on that. It was a sad day in January when I finally put my Christmas tree and decorations away.... but I had the chance to do a little bit of Valentine's decorating, and I'm REALLY excited that Easter is on the way soon, my favorite holiday! Now that I've really settled into living in my own place, I'm starting to realize how much I enjoy cleaning sometimes? 10-years ago Annaliese never would have believed that would ever happen... I was so messy growing up and for most of college!
     I also have finally been getting better about being a hostess and inviting friends over to my apartment, which has been a goal of mine in these post-move updates since like, forever! I hosted my very first party in late January for Galentine's, and have just overall been doing better with inviting people over a couple times a month for dinner or to hang out on weekends.



     WORK: Winter in Vermont is the "slow season" for radio! I should explain... not slow as in being on-air and doing radio shows, there's no season for that and there's always on-air shows to be done! However, things here do really slow down in the winter as far as our community events go. For a lot of this summer, I had at least one (if not 2-3) events per week outside of work, so I was super busy! I haven't had an event now since the fall, so my schedule has just been very normal, which has honestly been nice since Vermont winter weather is no walk in the park.
     Something on a personal note is I have been really proud about how my voice is improving with voicing commercials for our stations. I listened this week to some of the ads that I did when I started my job last spring versus the ones I've done recently, and I can definitely hear improvements!



     FAITH: Here's an exciting update! In January, I started attending a College and Career (20 Somethings) church group that meets at another local church. I've made some wonderful friends through this church, and it was so kind of them to invite me to their meetings, even though I attend a different church for Sunday services. The College and Career group has a lot more young people than attend my church, so it's been a great social outlet, and I've also felt very motivated and challenged in my faith after every meeting that I've gone to. I'm looking forward to continuing to attend this! I also still volunteer with the Hospitality ministry at my church once a month with my friend Anna (we've been doing this since October), and I really look forward to our Sundays that we are in charge of the Sunday service food and refreshments.
      On more of a personal note about faith, I feel like God has been challenging me a lot in my personal walk with Him. Prayer time has definitely been very vocal and interesting lately! My friend Rachel from Something Delightful and I were having a text conversation about faith a couple weeks ago, and she told me to remember the phrase "Be Still." Since then, I feel like I keep hearing or seeing "Be Still" everywhere, so that might be one of my faith mantras for 2018!



     SOCIAL: This is so weird... in the two coldest months since I moved to Vermont, I've been the most social. I finally feel like I have made some solid girlfriends up here which has been such a blessing to me! Most weekends now I do something with a friend, whether it's going to dinner, a church event, or something else in the community. My social life right now is still nothing like the life I lived for the last few years in Charlotte.... but these last two months in Vermont have brought some changes and new opportunities for me as far as socializing, and I sure am thankful for it. 🙂I'm also proud of myself for still doing a great job staying connected with my college, broadcasting school, and blogging friends who are all out-of-state!



     DATING: No dates or dating so far in 2018, and honestly I couldn't be more content with that! I've been single for a very long time, but this might be the first time ever in my life that I am single and content with this season of life... and that makes a big difference! I am 100% focused on my relationship with God and my career right now.



      ACTIVITIES: I finally took the time to write out my Vermont Bucket List (into a blog post!), and hold myself accountable to completing the things that I want to do while I live in Vermont. The biggest item off the list that I checked off in the last two months was finally going downhill skiing! Skiing is one of the things that Vermont is famous for, and now that I've experienced it here I'll say that their ski resorts know how to make it a great experience. I hadn't been skiing in over 10 years, but I was happy I was able to pick it up easily again! I'm hoping to check cross-country skiing off my bucket list before winter ends. If "surviving coping with winter" is also an activity I can list here, I've definitely been doing my best at attempting an A+ job with that- haha!



     5 NEW VERMONT THINGS I DID:

  • Went downhill skiing at Smuggler's Notch.
  • Threw my first party in my Vermont apartment!
  • Went to my first semi-formal event in Vermont.
  • Survived the record-breaking cold-snap that hit Vermont during the holidays.
  • Shopped the Macy's store closing sale in downtown Burlington.



      The next update post in April will mark ONE YEAR!!! It's gone by both so slowly and also so quickly- funny how life can be like that. Thanks to all of you who read these updates and have been so supportive to me since I moved! 



      Unrelated- but my blog's annual reader survey went up in Tuesday's post! If you haven't taken the survey yet, it's only 10 questions and all of the answers will help me so much! You can take it here




      No blog post this Monday as I'm off work for President's Day and will be enjoying my day off, (keep up with me on Instagram!)- but talk to you Tuesday! 



     God Bless,



     xoxo Annaliese 




   






   



   
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17 comments

  1. I'm so happy all these are great updates! It can always be hard start new somewhere else. Also, I love the color of your Hunter boots. So cute!

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  2. I always love reading these! I think seeing a counselor is a great idea. I thought about seeing one in Oklahoma too. Just think - one year is one step closer to a new environment!

    Tori
    www.mooretori.com

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  3. I don't know if this is necessarily the case for everyone but I actually had a difficult time adjusting from undergrad to postgrad life socially even though I didn't move to another state. I think it is a big transition to go from undergrad (especially sorority life which is inherently VERY social) to a schedule that doesn't fulfill those social cravings nearly as much. I know the first year out of undergrad was pretty challenging for me to find a rhythm with friendships and whatnot (I also was unhappy with my career so that was a different challenge). I think it is SO wonderful you are talking to a counselor, found a wonderful church group and have found girl friends! It seems like you are finding a place for yourself in Vermont. Even if Vermont isn't your permanent FOREVER home, it is lovely you can find happiness, friendship and positive experiences during the time you are there. xxoo!

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  4. Always look forward to your updates and a glimpse into your life!

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  5. I am so happy to hear you are doing great! Moving to a new state or city can be nerve wracking!

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  6. That's wonderful that you've been making active friends. When my brother and sister in law moved to South Carolina they said that made a huge difference when they finally started connecting with people.

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  7. Ahh happy you're settling in even more! I loved hearing how your voice is improving for the ads! I am recording a lot for the upcoming podcast and a big reason for even launching the podcast is actually to improve my voice when it's being recorded. I can talk fine in public speaking settings but get weird on recordings for some reason lol so i'm happy to hear that with practice it does improve!

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  8. Happy almost 1 year anniversary! Glad you're enjoying it more.

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  9. Girl, I also happy that you are adjusting and feeling better in this update. I have lived in my town for a few years but still haven't found a small faith community like you mentioned above. I'm sure that will make such a different going forward :)

    -xo, Azanique | www.lotsofsass.com

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  10. thank you for sharing your how it's been! it's so sweet that your parents came to visit and brought you such a great house warming gift <3

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  11. Congrats on the anniversary! And I'm jealous of how much work you're putting in to improve your voice, I definitely need to get into that.

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  12. glad to hear that you are settling in! definitely seems like a hard adjustment but things are starting to turn out!

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  13. I'm glad to hear how well you're settling in! Homesickness can be brutal it's good that you have a good group of girlfriends you can count on now!

    xo Deborah
    Coffee, Prose, and Pretty Clothes

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  14. Sounds like things are going well. Happy 1 year! Stay warm!

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  15. I'm also more socially active in the past few weeks, which is odd because the weather isn't great here either!

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  16. Yay for being fit and having a social life!!!

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  17. I had all these same feelings when I moved to LA after college not knowing anyone. It's been nearly five years since then and while it was such a hard time, it taught me so much about myself. Plus it was empowering! Knowing I could not only handle myself but a new career and apartment on my own is just the thing I needed to feel confident in myself and whatever I choose to take on next. All this to say I hope you come out of this season feeling confident and ready to take on ANYTHING that is thrown at you.

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If you have a question in regards to one of my posts, or just want to say hi, the best way to get ahold of me is by e-mailing me directly at: rainbowflash94@yahoo.com. I am better about responding to e-mails than blog comments sometimes!
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