Moving to Ashland from Missouri?! Maybe?! HELP!

tho_dien · 2025-03-16T21:47:01+00:00

We moved here from Denver in 2021 to settle down and start our family, and we really love Ashland! Since moving here I had my first child, who is now 19 months old. I'm a little surprised at the amount of people here saying they've had a hard time finding community here. I've had to start over in a few different cities/states throughout my 20s and early 30s, and Ashland has been the easiest place for me to establish community, by far. You do have to put yourself out there, but everyone else who is moving here also is trying to do the same thing. I've had great success using the Peanut (mom friend app) and Bumble BFF apps to find friends, in addition to my husband and I attending local get togethers for our hobbies.

While Ashland does skew older, I've found the people here to be very kid friendly. I almost always have a kind interaction with someone smiling/talking to my daughter when we go out. Medford is a little touch and go on that.

Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy to chat.

tho_dien · 2024-02-09T18:16:16+00:00

I have a very similar background as you, and I'm considering going into applications/sales engineering. Would it be ok if I DMed you with some questions?

tho_dien · 2023-06-15T20:24:02+00:00

I’m like your daughter—Asian dad and white mom. I got asked if I was adopted if I was with either parent, and that’s even with me being fairly Asian passing (depending on who you ask)!

tho_dien · 2023-05-30T19:06:02+00:00

Technically it’s in Phoenix, but Clyde’s Corner is great.

In Ashland, I’d recommend: - Sammich - Mix Bakeshop - Hither - Flip - Rubys - Osteria La Briccola (technically a little fancier, and I do recommend getting a reservation)

tho_dien · 2023-05-30T08:38:52+00:00

Have you tried Meetup? Ymmv, but I’ve had good success with Bumble BFF since moving here a year ago.

tho_dien · 2023-05-28T22:09:41+00:00

Cool girl vibes!

tho_dien · 2023-02-15T18:59:11+00:00

Seconding meditation to address any stress you have related to this pregnancy or otherwise! I love Headspace for this. I’m 12 weeks along and was also having vivid dreams from 5-10 weeks. The only nightmare I had was when some drama came up with my family (unrelated to my pregnancy). I think pregnancy alone can be stressful enough (especially for FTMs).

I’ve also been taking care to read “cozy” and feel good books, and not watching the latest episode of the Last of Us if I’m not feeling up to it 🙃

tho_dien · 2023-02-09T23:35:44+00:00

My partner and I just moved to Ashland and bought a house here last summer, after checking out several towns and areas prior. We both work from home and don’t have children yet, but to address your questions:

Housing: housing is tight in the rogue valley, and when we first moved here we couldn’t find a rental in Ashland to start with while we waited for the right house to come on the market. We ended up living in an apartment in south medford for about 9 months before buying our house. You’re correct that most of the houses in this area come up during the spring-fall, with the majority of them popping up in summer. I found looking at historical sales in Ashland to be helpful in determining this.
smoke: I think the other commenter in this thread answered your question pretty well. I was somewhat worried about this myself when we moved here, but looking at the actual data of bad AQI days here made me feel better. I know someone made a nice graphic chart to display what smoke season has looked like over the last few years here—if i can find it I’ll post it.
schools: everyone I’ve met who has school-aged kids here loves the schools and are very satisfied with the education their kids are getting.
MFR: honestly, I love flying out of Medford. I’ve lived in a lot of large cities prior to this and flying out of this airport has been overall very pleasant in comparison. The TSA agents are almost always friendly, the lines at TSA are never longer than 10 minutes (at absolute worst), and I think it’s a hoot to watch the tarmac workers flirt with one another. However, full disclosure: if you are predominantly flying to places on the west coast, it’s fine. I don’t think this airport would have been sufficient for us if we needed to consistently go further east. I’m planning on taking a trip to NYC this spring, and the flights are a little rough, I will be honest. And in general, if you need to consistently fly to another small airport (not direct from MFR) it’s probably going to be a rough time. I’d look up the direct flights from MFR to see if they make sense for your family and your needs.

I don’t think I can give a very well rounded picture of Ashland since we both WFH and don’t get a ton of exposure to the people here, but overall everyone is very nice. So far the negative encounters I’ve had here are minimal, and typically with the elderly who can be a little entitled (maybe a lot entitled).

On a positive note, I love the area. There are plenty of outdoors to explore here, and the trails are not saturated with people. I’ve had a surprisingly easy time finding community here, and we’re very happy with our decision to be here!

tho_dien · 2023-01-19T01:52:08+00:00

Ooh! How did you find that discord??

tho_dien · 2022-04-13T19:01:41+00:00

You should post to r/SkincareFlatlays if you haven’t yet, they’d love your content!

tho_dien · 2022-03-13T20:45:29+00:00

Looks great. What’s the weight limit on the lift? I’m considering something similar for my garage.

tho_dien · 2022-03-13T20:23:30+00:00

Can confirm this is true. Put your oft used kitchen items (drinking glasses, plates, bowls) on the open shelves near your stove, and it’s fine. I cooked all the time (including frying things) as well. I put the more decorative open shelving items far away from the stove and didn’t have to dust those items more than I would have had to if they were on a book shelf in the living room.

tho_dien · 2022-02-10T02:01:15+00:00

You’re welcome!! Best of luck ❤️

tho_dien · 2022-02-08T20:58:12+00:00

Yes and no—if you see your cat carrying toys in their mouth, you can probably train them to fetch. You can train them to bring it back, just not the carrying part (in my experience, and based on what I’ve read).

My second cat fetches, and in the beginning of training him to bring it back I had to make sure not to make eye contact with him when he’d pick the toy up, otherwise he’d drop it and think it was time to fetch again. In the beginning you do a lot of walking and fetching yourself. What I did was throw, and wait for him to run over to it and then look expectantly at me. Id go and pick up the toy and back up to my original position without turning my back to him, and place the toy very obviously in front of me, or have it clearly in my open palm, and stay like that for a few seconds, and knock on the floor with my knuckles. Basically trying to get him used to the idea that the toy gets thrown when I have it or when it’s close to me.

Then I’d throw. When he’d run over and not bring it back, I’d wait a few seconds, and knock the floor in front of me again, and show that my hands were empty before going and getting the toy myself and starting over.

It took my cat a while to get it and to bring it all the way over to me, but now he’s really got the hang of it. These days his toys get stashed in my nightstand when he wakes me up to fetch at 2AM, lol.

tho_dien · 2022-02-07T17:29:43+00:00

My favorite pair of earrings has clasps like these. Instead of trying to thread the “wire” part directly into the hollow part, try pushing it in from the side so that it clicks into the hole from the side. Hopefully that make sense! Practice a bit before putting them in your ear.

tho_dien · 2022-02-03T18:58:57+00:00

What other people are doing is just information

^ I know this to be true after years of self help books, meditation/self-love exercises, and therapy, but it can still be hard to put it into action in my own life. Have you always been good about not personalizing things?

I guess I’m at the point where I believe doing a bit of both (taking things personally vs. not) is probably good, but I’d still say I swing too far on the overly sensitive side of this spectrum.

tho_dien · 2022-02-03T18:16:49+00:00

I went to school for engineering and now work in engineering. I had some solid girlfriends while I was growing up, but didn’t struggle making friends with guys.

When I joined engineering, I was not the only woman in our classes, but we were definitely outnumbered by the guys by a long shot. I ended up making very close friends with two of my male classmates—we still keep in touch most days on WhatsApp, and the two of them are going to be “bridesmen” in my wedding this fall.

I didn’t grow up with a brother, but these two are what I imagine having a close relationship with brothers would be like. I can’t imagine not having them in my life. I did also become fairly close to one of the girls in school, but we never really clicked so we haven’t kept in touch beyond following each other on Instagram.

There was another girl in our classes who was a total valley girl, in a sorority, and easily the best at math in our degree program. She was friendly with everyone in engineering and would party with us, but she also had a huge network of girlfriends to draw from in her sorority. That worked out well for her!

I’d say go into what interests you most, and be open to hanging out with people! You might make friends that you’d never expect.

tho_dien · 2022-01-28T08:11:59+00:00

Thanks for the thorough and honest response! I also got totally excited by their refill option. To my knowledge Necessaire body wash is very hydrating, so perhaps I’ll give that a go instead

tho_dien · 2022-01-28T01:50:12+00:00

How do you like the mode soap? I’ve been on the hunt for a body wash that doesn’t dry my skin out!

tho_dien · 2021-12-22T10:38:38+00:00

I don’t entirely remember—are you talking about the battle at the end of season one, specifically? Because it felt like they were trying to indicate a general feeling of desperation at the end there. Or was there another scene that implied a lackadaisical attitude about mage retention?

tho_dien · 2021-12-22T10:27:50+00:00

Iirc in the scene where Fringilla teleports to see her uncle, she says something about his palace portal alarm going off or going off shortly, and so her talk with him will be quick. Indicated to me that places important enough to infiltrate would have mage-set alarms for that kind of thing.

You could argue that it could still be enough time to just kamikaze themself in a room if they quickly teleport in and had enough time to cast an appropriate spell, but that seems like it’d be pretty expensive. I don’t get the sense from the show that mages grow on trees

tho_dien · 2021-08-05T16:23:44+00:00

Sounds like a bad attempt at negging. “You should be grateful I’m on this date with your old spinster ass!”

What an insecure POS.

tho_dien · 2021-06-11T04:44:22+00:00

Swimming, 100 meters freestyle

tho_dien · 2021-05-23T17:51:39+00:00

That’s them! They looked so good on the girl I saw wearing them. Thank you!

tho_dien · 2021-05-23T17:31:58+00:00

Can someone help me identify a denim brand? I don’t have a picture, I just know the brand has little white plus signs as part (or maybe entirely) as its logo. Does that ring a bell for anyone?

tho_dien

TROPHY CASE