>The next stage

>I suppose I’m going through a bit of a post-marriage crisis. For a year and a half, I was defined as “engaged.” Now I am a newlywed and all the hoopla of putting together a wedding is over.

I am not depressed by any means; in fact, I’m very happy with my hubby and the home we have built together. But I’m ready to move on. I’m ready for us to move on, together, into the next stage of our lives.

I don’t yet have the urge for a baby, and if I do, I can guarantee that it won’t be until after age 30. I’m 26 and a half now… and personally, I want to enjoy my 20s with my husband. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the urge for children. Right now they just kind of freak me out.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m ready for the Big Change/Move (as Brittany Ann puts it) to happen for us in the next year or two.

Financially, we are not doing so hot, just like everyone else. My salary has been cut this year. (Um, hello, I am but a po’ journalist.) And I added hubby to my health insurance at work, which has taken another bite out of my paycheck. There’s a chance of more paycuts for the 4th quarter of the year. And I don’t make that much in the first place. I have yet to crack $40K.

Hubby works 2 jobs– one in a restaurant kitchen and another as a publicist/personal assistant. His two passions are poker and food. He has a culinary associate’s degree and a good bit of experience writing/blogging about poker. Our desire is to get more money pumping into both of our paychecks so that we can live more comfortably, pay off our debts, and not feel as though we are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Oh, and by the way, we own a house. Not only is there a mortgage to pay every month (which is not too bad, comparable to an apartment rent around here) but there are the costs of repairs and renovations to our home, which is a cute little cottage built in 1949. In short, we can pay the mortgage and the bills, but we don’t really have the fundage to continue making improvements like we had been doing in 2007 (when we bought the house) and 2008.

So I think our plan is to put the house up for sale at some point. Right now is not the time as the housing market is so bad, plus there are a lot of homes for sale in our neighborhood, but perhaps after the first of the year. I think we would really feel more comfortable if we could sell the house, then plot our next move from there. Hopefully we could make enough from the sale to get us on our way.

Our home is definitely a starter home — it’s a 3/1 with a pretty small kitchen and a carport rather than a garage. So we could definitely let it go. Wherever we end up next, I hope to have a 3/2 with an ample kitchen and a 2-car garage. Even a townhouse would be fine.

I don’t know if we’ll stay in Alabama or go elsewhere. We have some ideas — a couple cities we are interested in — but I certainly don’t want to jeopardize my job by blabbing about that sort of thing on the Internet. If we do move, it won’t be for a while. We’re tethered here by the house. And did I mention that I love my job and the people I work with? ☺

I can tell you our criteria for what we want in a place: no super cold winters, tourism, good restaurants & nightlife, no super high cost-of-living, opportunities for hubby with restaurants and/or poker, and opportunities for me with online media, e-commerce, PR or marketing. Oh, and there must be a Jamba Juice. haha. Any suggestions?