My husband and I are moving to New York soon. I am equal parts excited and terrified.

We are both Midwesterners--my husband was born and raised in St. Louis, and while I was born in New Jersey, I was raised in Nebraska. I met my husband in Kansas City, where we both have lived for more than a decade. We own a home in a Kansas suburb of the city, and have 4 cats and 2 dogs--right now the plan is the dogs are going to NY and the cats are staying home. We are renting our house to a friend, who will take care of the kitties, which makes me feel a little like Meryl Streep's character in "Sophie's Choice"--not really, that's a tasteless exaggeration, but it is strange to even think about, let alone choose, which of your "children" you will take with you, and which ones you will leave behind.

My husband is being promoted and transferred by his ad agency, and I am along for the ride. I am a hairstylist, primarily a colorist, and I love the idea of experiencing my profession practiced at the level of a Manhattan salon. It would be an amazing learning experience. The question is--can Dorothy swap Kansas for Manhattan? And survive, let alone thrive? We will find out. I started this blog to chronicle this huge life change for my own enjoyment, and to help me cope with it, so if anyone reads this and is bored out of your mind, I apologize, but blogging is free, and therapy isn't.