NJ in NJ is on the Move!

When I was young, I always thought it’d be funny if I ever lived in New Jersey.

Why?

My initials are NJ.

I never pictured myself living in New Jersey—I didn’t have any particular place in mind to live post-college, to be honest. I went where various internships and jobs took me. But if you’d told me when I graduated that in a few years I’d be living in New Jersey, I would have laughed and asked “Why?”

Well, I think the Garden State is having the last laugh—I lived there for over 13 years!

But now, NJ in NJ is on the move!

Next destination: Boston.

Shortly after our daughter was born last fall—surprising us all by arriving nearly four weeks early—my husband Connor started a new job in Boston and we just moved up here a few weeks ago. Packing up to move to New England in January with an infant is no easy feat (especially being first-time parents and experiencing the hustle and bustle of the first holiday season with a newborn), but with a lot of help from family, we made it!

It’s a little bittersweet to leave New Jersey after so many years, but I’m excited to see what the future holds for us in Massachusetts! I moved to Jersey shortly after starting this blog (I was living in Rhode Island at the time, and if you’ve ever wondered where this blog’s name came from, and why I’ve kept it around, this is it: So, New Jersey’s a small state too). I spent most of my time living and working in Princeton, which is where I met Connor, and then we moved to North Jersey once we were both working in the city. The less time on New Jersey Transit, the better. IYKYK.

New Jersey holds a lot of history for us both: discovering our love of long distance running together in Princeton (logging many miles along the canal and through town), planning our wedding and weathering the pandemic from our apartment up in Union, and delivering our daughter in the same hospital Connor was born in (true story!). We’ve made so many wonderful memories and friends over the years in the fourth smallest state!

And while we may be in a new state now (the seventh smallest and yes—my blog name will live on!), we’re only a four hour drive away. “Tonight I’m gonna take that ride. Across the river to the Jersey side.”

Can you even call yourself a New Jerseyan if you don’t use a Springsteen song lyric in your writing occasionally?