It all sounds easy until you actually start...

Stressed...

That's been my mood today. Just got overwhelmed last night after we got home with the new car and I sat for a while thinking about my financial plans for the next 7 months. I started to get scared and worried. What if everything I had been planning doesn't work out. I have an idea on my head of an estimate of what I need to move down to Florida with. However I've been told by a few friends that I may be in over my head and not prepared enough. I don't want to wait any longer. I've already waited years to move on with my life after my divorce, trying to keep some stuff between myself and Kayla's father civil and without argument. But I need to live my own life and do what I want to do now.

I've been looking around online for ideas of how much things would be to rent in and around the Orlando area and surrounding  areas. I've been able to find some places for under $800 rent, with the average between $800-1k per month.

I have some employment leads as well, which be is good because I can start to think about what my budget would look like.

It's definitely a bit of a worry when you start to plan a new chapter of your life. Not only do I have to make sure I can afford it for myself, but also Kayla. It's different budgeting while we are living with my parents, but being on our own and worrying about everything myself everything myself, it's making me a little panicky. But I'm going to take my time and keep researching and planning and I hope that with my local Orlando friends help over the next few months I can figure this out and get ready to start #newlife #flochiohana #arewethereyet #2016 #mommydaughter

Let's drive...

So.....This happened today! Looks like 2017 is starting off good!

This is a great start for #newlife #flochiohana #arewethereyet #2017 #mommydaughter

Definitely will help!

I am so excited! I have never had a BRAND NEW car in my life! So this is amazing!! 2016 Hyundai Accent! 30 miles on it!

I feel very blessed.

Unexpected...

I found out a few days ago that I need some work done to my car. I've been leasing it for 2 years, is a 2003 Saturn, 146k miles. I've already done some repair work on it, close to $1k. I am not sure about putting more money into a car that I still have to make payments on, so, this week I'll be looking into finding out about getting a new car. Like a NEW car.

I'm nervous because I've never had a brand new car before, always just gotten hand me downs or bought used ones. However, since I have 7 months until the move, it's probably the right time to look into this. Of course this makes me nervous because right now my money is still a little tight and I wasn't planning on this expense, but life doesn't always go as you planned. 

So, I'm gonna make it happen and work my way through this situation. I'm excited though to get a new car, it's finally something that I am going too need for our #newlife! 

2017 - #NewLife #FloChiOhana #AreWeThereYet

Happy New Year! 2017!

This is the first day of a brand new year. A chance to start fresh. A day to begin planning for a new life!

Those of you that know me are aware that I've always wanted to move back to my home state of Florida! This should be no surprise to anyone who knows of my love of warmth, palm trees, beaches, and Walt Disney World!

So last August 2016, while on vacation with Princess Kayla and Mommy, I came to the realization that I was tired of waiting and that I would finally do it. So I made a plan that by August 18, 2017, we would move down and become Florida residents.

Tentatively, I am hoping to move down once Kayla finishes the school year, which is the end of June, so I have a July 1st at the earliest for a move date. I am going to give myself that little bit of time between then and August 18th, just in case.

We are so excited for this change! We can't wait to be out of the cold Chicago winters and into the beach any time we want! Of course, being close to Disney will be a small plus, lol.

I am scared of course. I have so much to plan and figure out still over the next 7 months, but I know it will work out. There's some criticism of course from people in our lives, but this is the best for myself and Kayla. To live in a place that feels like HOME, where I can be myself and truly be happy. To be able to provide for Kayla a better quality of life and happiness! My daughter is my WORLD and I have always done anything and everything I can to take care of her every need.

It's time for me and her to be happy... It's time for us to have our own life an do things how we want to do it and do things that we enjoy.

I'll be sharing ever day things that I am working on as well, as my thoughts and feelings, so please check back often for updates! Thank you to everyone who has been supportive and offered advice and recommendations so far! I definitely will be reaching out more over the next few months, so please feel free to contact me at FloChiOhana@gmail.com!

Happy New Year my loves! XOX

Anxiously awaiting my future!

I can not wait for my future in Florida! I know everyone says to live in the moment and enjoy the now....and I do. However, I have been thinking about my future a lot. Especially since coming home a couple weeks from my solo trip. I just keep thinking of how life will be and all the new opportunities that lay ahead for me and Kayla.

Everyone keeps asking me why I want to move. I try to explain and just tell people I feel comfortable there and at "home" and peaceful. Here in Chicago I feel stuck and like I'm not allowed to be myself. I feel unsupported at times and like no one believes in me. I am 37 years old and feel a lot of times that no one sees me as an adult capable of taking care of myself and Kayla on my own. I have been critizied and ridiculed that I won't be able to do it on my own.

I have a great support system of friends in Florida who are happy that we are moving next summer. I will have that same group of friends to hang out with and do stuff with. Having a connection with other Disney people makes it fun!

So, while I am here in Chicago living my day to day life...I long for the day I wake up in Florida permanently! Some days it's a struggle, sometimes it feels so long and never-ending.

I am going down to Florida this upcoming weekend and I am SOO excited! I am going to do some research for our move next summer...gonna look around at a few different areas for housing. Also, I am going to do some networking about some employment leads. I am also going to talk to some friends who have relocated to Florida the past few years and get some advice and recommendations from them!

I also am going to fit in some #DisneyBlogger time and spend a couple days at The Magic Kingdom for the 45th anniversary and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party! #WDWFanZone

I will be going on this trip SOLO!  It feels weird to plan a trip just for myself. I have never went anywhere by myself, so this is going to be a new experience! I feel a little sad that Kayla won't be with me. We have never been apart for so long with such a distance between us. I also wanted her to experience MNSSHP, but there will be more opportunities.

I need a weekend away on my own, just to think and figure out my life and my future! I am working every day a little bit on things that I need to do to prepare to move. Somedays I am really scared and nervous. I know everything will work out, but it is the work and preperation to get to that.

Follow me on Twitter @jrobbins79

#newlife #flochiohana #arewethereyet

A dream is a wish your heart makes...

Dreams...

We all have them. Not literal, in bed nighttime dreams of falling or winning the lottery. But actual dreams. Dreams of the life we want to have. What we want to achieve. Goals.

I have been dreaming of moving to Florida for as long as I can remember. I was born in Miami, but moved to Chicago when I was about 3. We would visit through the years as I had family there and of course my mom began to take me to Walt Disney World when I was pretty young. So now we all know where that obsession came from.  LoL Ever since I was maybe 8 or 9, I knew one day I would move back. I always wanted to work at Walt Disney World. I remember wanting to work the trams from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, because you got to tell everyone heading the MK all the fantastic things going on for the day!  As I grew older, I looked at the Photopass CMs because I loved taking pictures and figured that would be a fun job! Still even I would love to be a character attendant, so that I could help everyone with that magical meeting with their favorite character. One day I will get my job at Disney.

In the meantime, my life has been full of pursuing other dreams while living my life. Graduation from high school, going away to college for a year, then attending community college.  Working my first job. Having my first boyfriend. Breaking up with him. Dating many, many others. Meeting, dating, and marrying Princess Kayla's father. Having a baby, Princess Kayla. Being a mommy. Going through a divorce. Being a mommy. While being unemployed. Being a mommy. Moving back home with my parents. Being a mommy. Finding a new job. Being a mommy. Being promoted to full time and receiving benefits. Being a mommy. Living life. Enjoying what life offered, eduring hardships, constantly growing and changing.

All the while, the dream of moving to Florida grew further and further away while living life here in Chicago. Annual vacations helped re-kindle it, but then once returning to real life for a few weeks, the dream would die. Until after my divorce. I knew it would be hard but I knew eventually I needed to move myself and Princess Kayla to Florida. I've struggled with the thought of moving so far away with her. Would it be the right decision? Would I be able to be independent and strong enough to support us? I debated these questions over and over for the past 3 years.

Finally, while on vacation last month, I realized that I need to be happy. I need to live MY life. I need to live somewhere that I can build a life and a future for me and Princess Kayla. Something about being in Florida feels right. It feels like HOME! Some people tell me, "Oh, it's just because of Disney and you can go all the time". Well, yes and no. It's not all about Disney. Yes, that will be an amazing bonus once we move to be Annual Passholders and be able to go anytime we want. Hopefully one day I will be able to be a Cast Member there and fulfill that dream. It's something about Florida that makes me feel like me. That makes me feel alive. That makes me enjoy life. I feel happy and at peace.

I am not giving up this time. I have wanted this for so long. I am NOT going to continue to let my life get away from me. I am going to follow my dream. As is the theme of many Disney movies. Never give up. Always do your best. It may be a bit of a struggle to get things in order, everything worked out as it needs to be. Am I scared? You have no idea how terrified I am! Am I determined? Absolutely!!! Will I do it? DEFINATLY!

"A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will loose your heartache, whatever you wish for will be. Have faith in your dreams and someday, your rainbow will come shining through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true!"