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7 Reasons Why I Love Living in Las Vegas (Already)!

Today marks one month and one week of us living in Las Vegas, and my first impressions here has been very different from my first impressions of LA .

This article was written in 2014. Here’s an updated version of our pros and cons of living in Las Vegas.

Living in Las Vegas.Pin

Pros Living in Las Vegas:

  1. People. They are generally much friendlier here.
  2. Outdoors. There’s a lot of national parks in driving distance from here.
  3. Energy. I like the new energy of downtown Vegas. Really reminds me of silicon valley.
  4. Costs. Cost of living is so much cheaper out here especially in comparison to LA.
  5. Space. Not that Josh is a bad roommate, but when you’re married, you could use your own space!
  6. Target. We live in walking distance from target and everything else we need is easily accessible to us.
  7. Open container policy. Call me a lush, but I seriously love these little freedoms.

Cons Living in Las Vegas:

  1. Food. Not as many good cheap food options as there was in LA. Also asian supermarkets are not easy to come by.
  2. Weather. I hear it gets up to 120 and is unbearable in the summer. I have yet to find out what that’s like.

OTHER GRATITUDES THIS WEEK:

  1. Passion. I’ve been following along on Zack Arias’ photo assignments, and I’m excited to see again.
  2. Pies. We celebrated Pi(e) day by making some mini nutella pies! Yummm. :)
  3. Dating. We went to check out the Fremont experience, and it was just nice walking around that area at night.
  4. Netflix. We’ve been watching a lot of interesting documentaries before we go to sleep lately. Learning some stuff!
  5. Klout. They sent us healthy cat food from hills, treats, and a laser pointer, and our guys are loving it!

After being in LA (specifically Hollywood) for a year, I started shutting myself out from the outside world. I began to think that I was just a negative and unsociable person. After moving to Vegas, I’m seeing how much my environment has had a huge impact on my emotional and mental health. Not to blame everything solely on environment, because I have had my share of problems to wrestle with, but now I actually feel like I can finally open up to others again. I’ve even joined a few meetups (a book club, hiking group, and blogger group)! So despite all the nice stuff and the friends we left behind in LA, I am really enjoying the change.

Have you ever felt that way before? How do you stay strong when you feel like you’re in a toxic environment?

This is week 27 of practicing gratitude on my blog.
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This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. Amanda Espinosa Freerksen

    I am glad you’ve already discovered that Vegas is more than just The Strip. My husband’s former colleague from Germany *had* to go to Vegas for work, so they met up out there for the weekend. His friend’s only request? To go outside of the city and explore. They found great hiking, rock formations, and natural hot springs. So cool!

      1. esther julee

        Thanks! Will check it out! :) I know we have a lot more exploring to do outside of Vegas.

    1. esther julee

      Yes, definitely! I think most people don’t know that there’s actually a lot more to do in Vegas than the strip. :) We rarely go there unless people are in town to visit. I know there’s a lot of great hiking nearby and we recently joined a hiking meetup group, but I am pretty intimidated. Seems like there are some hardcore hikers living in Vegas! Are you living in Vegas?

      1. Haha! Maybe people living in Vegas know there’s more to do, but ask any native San Diegans (without kids), and all we seem to know is the strip…

        1. esther julee

          haha I think that’s the case in most cities though! The only thing I really know about Orlando is Disney and Universal! :) Next time you can come see the other stuff! BTW, we went to red rock canyon, and it was amaaazing!

  2. Yun Mi Park

    glad you’re enjoying vegas!! it’s a breath of fresh air when we visit home because the people are so much nicer, so i feel ya!

    1. esther julee

      i know what you mean!! when i came back for the holidays, i was in so much shock when people said “excuse me” and “thank you”. And here too.. when a car almost ran me over in the parking lot, I almost half expected them to give me the finger bc that’s actually happened around where we lived, but they apologized instead.

      I used to only think in terms of culture when it came to “western” or “eastern”.. but it’s pretty interesting how different each city in the US is culturally. The more people I meet, the perspectives are all different too! I met some people who were weirded out by how nice southerners were.

      MAYBE you should meet my friend in Boston!! She’s originally from TX. :) I’ll send an intro email!

    2. esther julee

      I just realized I only have your sister’s email, but not yours!

  3. toni d.

    So glad to hear you’re loving Vegas! That’s wonderful and I’m happy that you’re feeling much better. What’s an open container policy? Can’t wait to hear more about Vegas!

    1. esther julee

      :) You should come visit!! Open container policy is that you can drink outside. Usually it’s illegal everywhere else. You have to keep your drinks indoors, or if you have to finish or throw away your drink before leaving a place. I don’t like wasting my beer, so it helps me not have to chug it right before leaving. :P

  4. aww. really thankful to read this post and see that things are brighter for you. =) although indeed i have experienced that suffocating vegas heat in the summer. um. wear sunblock and carry one of those portable fans? =P

    1. esther julee

      giiirrrl we need to catch up! *snap* :P remind you of your mom? i guess every time we came, it was in the winter for the photography conference, and it was always cold!! it will be interesting. haha BUT the upside is.. people are nicer! let’s focus on that for a little bit. :D

  5. Erika

    Esther — this is SO awesome to hear!!!!! WOOHOOOOO! I am so glad! And I really loved Las Vegas when I was there. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to move there or WHAT our plans are now, but I told Tyler that at the very least, I want it to be our place that we go back to at least once a year (if not more) because I love the way it made us feel being there.

    Also this: “After being in LA (specifically Hollywood) for a year, I started shutting myself out from the outside world. I began to think that I was just a negative and unsociable person. After moving to Vegas, I’m seeing how much my environment has had a huge impact on my emotional and mental health. Not to blame everything solely on environment, because I have had my share of problems to wrestle with, but now I actually feel like I can finally open up to others again.”

    YES YES YES YES YES. That’s something I’m realizing, too. Environment has SUCH an effect on me. I can try to fight it or act like it doesn’t, but it totally does… and I am learning to accept that WHILE making the best of my situation. BUT YAY!

    1. esther julee

      I don’t know why it was so hard for me to brush it off. Jacob wasn’t affected whatsoever. And it’s not even specific people that bothered me.. it’s like there was something in the air that I sensed all the time. People are just all different how they take in their environments.

      Vegas has a really interesting vibe. I think I also love the new, energetic start up feel of downtown. I love start ups, what can I say? :D I think people generally just think of the strip, but that’s definitely not why we moved!! I really hope you do move here!! :)

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