Answering Your Questions! New England Living, Christmas Decor, Life Goals & More.

hey y it's Meg welcome back to my Channel today is going to be a very chill relaxed ask me anything so a few days ago on YouTube and on Instagram I asked if you guys had any questions for me about life in New England about me about pretty much anything and a lot of you guys did leave questions so today I'm going to run through them all give you guys some answers give you a little life update and yeah just enjoy a little holiday catchup you have to promise not to judge me I do have my little adorable vintage Rudolph mug but there's nothing very festive in here it's just sweet tea and real quick before we get started I am going to list all of the questions and have time stamps in the description below so if you want to skip around and get to the answers for the questions you actually care about feel free to do that but let's get into it all right I got my questions here and I figured first I would talk a little bit about the questions related to living in New England why I moved to New England and all that good stuff what made me decide to move to New England so I always knew that I wanted to move out of Texas I lived in Texas basically my whole life and ever since I was a kid I knew I wanted to experience living outside of that state I never was a fan of the Heat and I just knew that there were other places I might enjoy living a little bit better so in 2019 I Road tripped through New England by myself for I think it was a 10day trip total it was absolutely exhausting cuz I was doing a lot of driving on on my own but it was really incredible I went up through the center um across like Pennsylvania into nagar Falls and then went across Vermont New Hampshire and into Maine and then made my way back down I have a vlog about that whole experience so I'll definitely link that in a card and below if you want to see my very first like New England trip but almost no not even almost exactly one year from that trip I moved to Maine is it harder to live in New England or Texas I'm definitely by no means like the be all end all authority on this kind of stuff I only have my experience and my opinions um and some people up here like are why did you move to New England I would love to move to Texas so it's very much personal preference um and there are pros and cons to both I will say cost of living is higher in New England it's definitely cheaper and I feel like there's more housing available in Texas up here housing is a constant struggle especially in the more populated areas um but like quality of life I feel like is better in New England um at least it is for me I love the seasons more there's more fun cute things to do whether you're outdoorsy or indoorsy I just really have a good time Texas I feel like it just always got so bogged down with the heat and not wanting to go outside and here of course you have the winter but um it was absolutely a tradeoff that I like don't regret another question I get a lot is about cultural differences between Texas and New England and boy howdy are there a lot of cultural differences definitely the stereo The Stereotype stays true that people in New England are much more direct they are much more they're kind but there's a saying that we're kind and not nice um and I say we fully acknowledging that I not a New Englander but that is what they say like there is a lot of kindness I've met some really incredible people but they are a lot more direct and um a lot less likely to beat around the bush take bull crap whatever I feel like in the South there is a very real like nice to your face and kind of like all the gossip and stuff happens behind the scenes here it's not really like that also culturally there's a huge huge outdoor culture especially in New Hampshire a lot of hiking skiing summer Sports winter sports all year around people want to be inside and I am not necessarily an outdoor girly I um yeah I haven't even tried skiing and I know I'm not like a hiker or anything but it is just so pleasant to be outside that I do feel like I spend more time outside living in New Hampshire than I ever did in Texas but um that is definitely a big difference I feel like it just gets so hot in the South that I mean obviously people do things outside but um here it's very much steeped in the culture of New England and New Hampshire that you're going to spend time outside I did get asked about my favorite towns in New England favorite activities so I have done a fair amount of exploring but by no means have I seen it all I do have favorites in each state though so in Vermont I have been to Stow which is I actually have a little mini vog about that when my mother came to visit and it is the most adorable little Christmas Vermont town well worth a visit so so incredibly picturesque in main Ken aunp it is the quintessential Maine Seaside town I really want to go back soon I've always wanted to go there for Valentine's Day because they really deck out the town for Valentine's Day so maybe that'll be on the list even though as a florist Valentine's Day is always hard because you're strapped to the flower shop but I do love Kenna bunkport I have several videos from there in Boston I I've done s or sorry in Massachusetts I've been to Salem in Boston I haven't done a ton of exploring in Massachusetts so far but I have really had fun in what I've seen in both in Boston where I explored a lot more in the Beacon Hill Neighborhood which is so beautiful and then in Salem where me and my friends did a whole like Hocus Pocus fall day when we went in September and obviously there's a vlog about that in New Hampshire I have lived in North Conway which is a very big tourist town a very big ski town and I really did like that I also really enjoy do very cute very picturesque kind of much closer to the main New Hampshire border than I am right now but Dober is very very much a cute little up and cominging town Portsmith is also really great um I'm definitely exploring more and trying to get out and about um I hope to get over to New Hampshire sorry I hope to get over to Portsmith and do a little bit more to um just get more familiar with them as far as favorite activities go like I said big big big Outdoors outdoor people up here if you're into hiking skiing kaying fishing whatever hunting like that all that stuff is up here um personally I love looking for all the cute stuff I want to go to the fairs I want to go to the festivals I want to go to the farmers markets I love I think there's a really big sense of community up here and people um trying to to really engage and get out of their homes especially in the summer and like the fall months before winter sets in people want to be out and mingling and socializing and doing fun things there's a big like there's lots of food festivals um beer festivals a lot of distilleries up here breweries so those are always really fun things that don't exactly involve climbing up a mountain all right I'm going to make the soft transition into questions or from questions about New England into questions about me with um this question with this question which is am I single am I dating and what is dating like in New England so yeah so the big backstory is that I'm divorced and I got divorced um or I separated from my husband when I moved up to New England but all that to say that I am single and dating and since I have moved to New England I have been in two relationships um and I mean I don't because I was married for so long I don't really have a a huge grasp on like what dating is here versus where I was because I wasn't dating when I was in Texas um I do know that there is a general consensus among people my age and younger that um or just like my generation and younger that the dating apps are terrible I do feel like there's a lot more opportunity to get out and meet people in real life um but yeah so uh I feel like no matter what if you're dating good luck and I wish you all the best because it's very hard out here all right transitioning fully into more questions about me and my life that you guys had what do I do for work outside of YouTube and am I still a florist actually once I moved out of North Conway and into Manchester I was on a serious job hunt I have never had to go so long without finding a job it was actually really scary for a little bit but I am back at a flower shop so that's really good I was a florist for the better part of seven years before Co hit and before I moved up uh before I moved to New England and in North Conway I was also working at a flower shop so I did find somewhere to land to keep my hands on flowers down the road I would love to do flowers under my own name again um which is what I was doing in Texas I had my own wedding floral business but for now I need a little bit more stability and this works really great and I still get to keep my hands in the flowers which I really love I also supplement with doing work for the farmers market up in North Conway I um managed their whole market during the summer and now I'm still kind of doing work on the off season to prepare for 2020 before and I do some work for my old flower shop as well um remotely so I kind of have a little bit of a things all over the place in addition to YouTube which I don't make that much I don't I barely make any money from YouTube um it's really more of a passion hobby project whatever a Sweet Sweet Soul asked about tips or advice for work life balance girl or I don't know I feel like that is always a question that we are asking ourselves is work life balance I my goal is honestly to work as little as I have to I want to be able to pay my bills I want to be comfortable I have no I have no aspirations to extreme wealth I just want to feel stable and I want to spend time doing the things that I love you know I love florals I love going out and exploring I love making videos I love doing cute you know holiday themed things and I want to do as much of that as possible and setting the intention to to put those things on the calendar is how I find that balance and especially having friends who also have similar goals of wanting to get out and do cute things is very it has been key to me actually making those things happen and you've seen videos of me and my friends Bridget and Rihanna and how we go out and we try to do a couple of things like throughout the seasons um especially in fall and winter and it's actually why we started our like new little meetup group called gal Friday and we've had a Halloween event we had a friendsgiving and we are going to be doing a December event once we pick it decide what we want to do but the whole goal with that is to also invite others to join us and to get out and enjoy all the cute adorable things that you can do in this area um but might not otherwise feel either empowered to do if you're by yourself or you know just kind of put on the back burner but you have to like set the intention to do it at least that's what I have to do if you want more information about gal Friday and meetups and whatever I'm going to link down to our website and Instagram below as of right now it's a very like loose structure my goal was just to have some meetups before the end of the year so there's no like membership fee or anything there's no ticketed events it is very much just like do you want to join do you like do you want to hang out do you want to have dinner parties are you like do you fit this Vibe like let's do things together so I have ideas of what it could be in the future I think it could be really really cool but um we're starting small and my goal was just to get started in general and have events before the end of the year so that's what we did but if you're in if you're in New England um and you feel like it might be close enough to you and you want to get involved or come hang out or whatever then check out the links below all right someone asks has my family come to visit my mom came to visit my first Christmas here um so that was 2020 and I do have like a little New England exploring Vlog with her that's when we went to Stow and we went to Kenna bunkport together in the winter time and I I just remember moving here cuz I moved here with no friends or family I moved here completely by myself no network up in New England at all and I just remember her pulling up into my driveway and me running to her and just being in tears I was so happy to see a familiar face and especially my mom and someone I love and who was going to see me um and that was just a really really special trip she drove up too like she did the whole road trip as well my mom loves to drive she'll drive anywhere um she said as long as I live somewhere she can drive to then I can move wherever I want um but that is um so far she's the only person that's come visit to me come to visit me I think that she is going to come also early in 2024 with her new partner um hopefully like January February I'm not sure yet we haven't set dates but there has been talk of that so hopefully she'll be able to I mean so much has changed since the first few months that I moved here I've lived in a completely different town new apartment I've had several Apartments um yeah so I think she'll enjoy seeing this and and being in Manchester and um seeing New Hampshire cuz she just went to main when I first moved here someone asked can I sing no not very well loudly sure with my headphones in absolutely well and on command definitely not um I did get some cute like little what are your favorite questions so favorite Christmas treat oh man I love pecan pie I make a really really good pecan pie I will have a glass of eggnog but I usually limit myself to one U my homeade marshmallows oh my God I have so many videos I need to make homemade marshmallows are one of my all-time favorite I've been talking about them on this channel for years I'm going to make homemade marshmallow video this year I promise oh my gosh um but yeah and just like holiday food in general I really didn't have a big Thanksgiving meal so I'm hoping for Christmas I can really like cook something yummy with like all the side dishes that I love and have I just love holiday food but yeah also my aunt Dora makes really good fudge I really enjoy the fudge that she makes I might have to try a fudge recipe too someone asked do I I limit my Christmas decorations due to storage concerns that's a great question um I ye yeah also budget like I don't have a ton of money so I don't have the ability to buy a lot more and also I have just over the past few years really kind of fallen out of love with um a lot of like big box store Christmas decorations I don't know there was just this Turning Point once where I was like in a Target or something and I saw all these decorations lined up with like 15 20 of the same item and I was like oh man like that's not that doesn't feel as special as it used to feel does that make sense like I've had so much fun going to thrift stores and estate sales and like that kind of stuff garage sales that um those kind of like hunt finds for like second good previously loved or secondhand previously loved things is like so much more fun um so I I have to really really love something in a store to buy it and add it to my collection now it is so easy for me to be like oh that's cute and then set it down and walk away um also yes I don't have that much space and when I moved here I had so I had condensed my belongings down so much that I really I mean even in the times I've moved it's like wow how did I accumulate this much stuff in just a couple of years so yes and no I mean I think I just limit myself on Christmas decorations in general and I try to reinvent the things that I already have I mean some of these things that I put up in my videos I have had for years and years and years and it's fun to find different ways to use those things like my little gingerbread um cinnamon ornaments like they're hanging up with my orange Garland now and like there are ways to reinvent things to to make them feel like not the same old same old but also there's just like a lot of nostalgia built into them so yeah I hope that makes sense someone asked U about my pets because when I moved to New England I had my dog Jupiter with me and unfortunately I do not have him anymore um actually it's really sad but when I first moved you know I brought him with me but I knew that the apartment I was going to be in was temporary I could only stay there through that first June that um I was going to be there because the woman I rented from rented her unit out for the summer on Airbnb would make way more money than I could ever paid a afford to pay her but um so I knew that I was going to have to find a new apartment and I was still kind of like you know getting on my feed financially and I just had the hardest time finding a place to live that was pet friendly I will say that for as as difficult as it is already to find affordable housing in New England it is so difficult to find affordable housing that is pet friendly in New England and so I was getting really desperate I didn't know what to do and the only thing I could think of was to take him back down to Texas to live with my former husband and who had our other dog Luna so that Luna and Jupiter could be together and Josh is the only person I really trusted to take Jupiter because he's a rescue and he's reactive and he just he needs a lot of Special Love from people that he's familiar with and I knew that that was just the only option so I drove like think we met in like Tennessee or something and and I gave him back to my ex-husband and um I still get regular updates um I miss both my dogs all the time I'm technically allowed to have a cat in this apartment but I just have been so unstable for the past years I've moved four times in 3 years and I just haven't been ready to add a pet I want to make sure when I do get a pet again because I will I love animals but um I want to make sure that I can really take care of them and give them them everything that they need so until I feel stable enough for that I'm just going to hold off all right and I'm going to answer my last question first of all I want to say I appreciate everyone who left a question way more people left questions than I thought would leave questions which is so so kind and I'm so glad that you guys are involved and you enjoy these videos some of you a lot of you you know aspire to move to New England or you know you you have plans to move here someday and it just makes me so happy because I was looking for this content when I was in Texas and counting down the days until I could move here I was looking up everything I could about living in New England and I wanted firsthand perspective so I'm so happy that a lot of you have found videos like mine and and enjoy them and get to see like little Snippets of Life obviously you know everything through the lens of social media is edited and is not the full picture but I try really hard to showcase the great things about living in New England because I really love it and appreciate it and I'm so glad that I moved here and you know no matter what happens I will always be so glad that I took the leap and moved across the country by myself to to live in this area because there really is something special about New England like I promise you that um but my last question that I want want to answer was one that I got on Instagram and that was uh where do I see myself in 5 years and I did answer some questions on Instagram but honestly my goal is just to be settled like I want to live somewhere for more than a year I want to be doing work that I love I'd love it if I was doing work under my own name again under my own business I want to have a partner that I'm in love with and adore and support and they support me I want to continue to make my home cozy and beautiful and unique and cool and colorful and I want to I I don't know like I'm as much as I have struggled and especially with this recent job hunt as hard as that has been and how many moments of instability I've had I just I feel like I'm on the right track I feel like every time I'm just notching a little bit closer and closer to that life that I want to have where I am going out and I'm being creative and I'm having these fun experiences and getting involved in my community and just like I don't know I I want more of the same but more better just I feel like I'm on that right track I feel like it has been such a process and we'll continue to be a process and continue to require optimism and this like this mindset of chasing what I want but that is my goal which are I don't know they sound simple but we all know that they're incredibly hard you know having a fulfilling life that you're happy with and and all these big important things it's um it's it's a process so yeah but oh man I do want to say again a an impassioned thank you for subscribing for watching for being here for asking questions for being so kind and being so supportive sometimes I feel like I am making these videos and I know that people are watching because I see the statistics but also you know sometimes I feel like I'm talking to nobody and nobody sees these so when you guys interact it is incredibly just like it just feels so good and I'm so happy and I I have approached my YouTube channel for a long time as you know I'm going to post when I want to post and there's no pressure and I don't have to make money from this it was a purely creative Pursuit because I like a lot of creative people have a habit of every creative uh you know Adventure that I take on it it's got to be money it's got to be monetized or like I I could put this on Etsy or or whatever and my YouTube channel I just really wanted it to be there when I needed it and I had so much fun posting more recently and really making it a priority so thank you guys for sticking around for supporting if you like this video you know the Spiel make sure you hit Thumbs Up Hit subscribe if you want more day in the life behind the scenes fun stuff content make sure you follow me over on Instagram or Tik Tok at megas pretty cool I have more holiday videos coming up I have more cool fun exciting unexpected things coming up I think I'm always so hesitant to share things now until it is time to share um but yeah thank you I hope you're having a great day wherever you are and I'll see you in the next video [Music] bye

Channel: Meg is Pretty Cool

Views: 1,736

Keywords: ask me anything, life in new england, life in new hampshire, living in new england, moving to maine, moving to new england, life update, life after divorce

Id: U-t0gP3KgKo

Length: 23min 56sec (1436 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2023