I’ve read Stacey’s Top Ten Tuesday posts for a little while and today I had writer’s block, so I let this inspire me a bit. So since I am a pretty recent transplant from Philly to Houston, I thought I would share with you the top ten things I love about living in Texas.
1. The cost of living! It is amazing to me how much farther a dollar goes here in Katy than it ever did in Philly. Our house, which is gorgeous, cost 36% less per square foot here. Seriously, I am not even kidding. Gas is cheaper, groceries are cheaper, daycare is cheaper…the list goes on.
2. The diversity. I thought our Chester County/Montco neighborhood in Philly was diverse! On my perfectly manicured street I have Chinese neighbors, African American neighbors, Indian neighbors, Colombian neighbors, liberal neighbors, conservative neighbors, and good old native Texan neighbors. And we all get along really really well, and our kids all play and go to school together.
3. The sunshine. There are pros and cons to this, but overall it is so much nicer having sunshine year round. My mood is incredibly dependent on the weather, and I didn’t know that till I moved here. I just need to buy stock in sunblock.
4. The values. Even though Houston is not as reflective of the “Bible belt” culture as many other places in the South, waaaaaaay more people I know go to church every Sunday. It is totally surprising to me, coming from a place where a lot of folks just enjoyed sleeping in on Sundays. And not just protestants either, I have a bunch of Catholic friends and a few Jewish friends here and they ALL attend services and are actually involved in their church bodies. I’ve never asked my Hindu or Muslim neighbors whether they attend religious services, now I’m kinda curious about that.
5. Texas pride. It’s everywhere. It is pervasive and seriously contagious. I come from a place where we take huge pride in the Revolutionary War and teach it every year in elementary school. Here they take pride that Texas fought for its own independence from Mexico, and I get it.
6. Culture. Houston has unbelievable culture. There are a TON of great museums here! And we have our own world-class ballet, opera, and symphony. I could go on forever about this.
7. Social Media community. I’ve written about some of the events I’ve attended recently, but the thing is, Houston’s SM community is amazing. Bigtime bloggers. Events are planned almost every day of the week. Tweetups of all sizes and shapes. There is a tech boom going on here nobody outside of TX seems to know about.
8. Cowboys. Enough said.
9. Schools. This is specific to where I live in Katy, but we have some of the top public schools in the nation. The schools in my area are exceptionally competitive academically.
10. Food. We have fabulous Tex-Mex and BBQ. Wonderfully fresh seafood. And of course fantastic steakhouses.