Eek!

As I had mentioned in the previous post, we are thinking about moving. There seems to be a lot of that going around right now, but anyways...there is a big decision looming: Do we move out of state? Scary to even think about really but we have thought and thought. Although I doubt that we will make a move like that soon, it is still lurking in the back of my mind.

My favorite, most dear cousin Julie lives in Chicago(she moved during her college years) and has told me why we should move there. We mentioned that we may come and stay with her for a few days in June and perhaps go look at places. Get a feel for the city as an actual HOME. Even typing this makes me nervous. Chicago certainly isn't that far away but it isn't that close either. No hangouts on weeknights with close friends. Nope, we'll have to make some there. Eek!

As I said, this is pure talk and excited speculation but I have more and more come to love the idea of living in Ferndale/possibly Royal Oak. Maybe Ferndale will be the first step. Maybe it will be a final step. I guess that is what makes it so exciting.

Where to?

There has been much talk (mainly on my end) between Jake and I about our next move. Somewhere along the line I have turned into a gypsy and can't seem to find a place that I feel is right for us. Jake doesn't seem to care much about where we move so long as it isn't even further away from his work. It would take a lot of effort to get even farther. His 80 mile a day commute is wearing thin and he is ready to live, at the very least, a smidge closer.

This means that I have pondered and pondered where I would love to live next. We are most likely not going to be in the position to buy a home that we would like, so renting may be the option we must turn to for now. We certainly could buy a home, just not a home that we wouldn't be thinking of selling shortly down the line. That isn't exactly appealing. If we know we are going to be moving soon, why not just rent and make it much easier on ourselves? That said...I have the yearn to own a home and have fun 'home improvement weekends.' You know, trips to the Depot, the list of projects and the sense of accomplishment. I digress....

Barring a handsome raise, we have decided on renting. There I said it, there has been one decision made. We most likely won't move until late August but where to? Ahh...the debate begins. Having lived on the East Side my whole life, I really enjoy knowing where everything is and being able to navigate anywhere I need to go. However, the alluring idea of not knowing the best grocery store and learing the quickest ways around sounds like fun too. A new town for a new start or something like that.

We currently live in Grosse Pointe Park and we love the area. As I dove into house-hunting in a truly 'Amanda' fashion(fall in love with first house I see and want to move, like, yesterday) I began to see some really AWESOME homes in the Grosse Pointe area. Flat out-swanky homes that we can afford to rent? Suddenly my dreams of walking on Kercheval with Starbucks and puppy on leash do not seem so silly. Sure I live in the area now, but I feel like a fraud. These homes are so great, so posh, so 'right' zip-code, so beautiful, so not us. Everything seems great but we are again, very far from Jake's work. This would mean a much higher rent with no less money spent on our enormous gas bill each month. And no fun of discovering a new town. Hmmm....

My next browse will be the Royal Oak, Ferndale, Clawson area. There are so many reasons we want to live in this area. Best friends are super close. it would cut Jake's drive to work almost in half (half the gas money??) and it would be a great area to raise kids. It may sound cheesy but I love the idea of raising our potential children in a really tolerant neighborhood. My kids would grow up seeing men holding hands, women holding hands, men and women holding hands...or hugging...or kissing! It would be a great way to grow up. It would just be how things are. No odd stares(fingers crossed) just a great area to grown up in thinking that it doesn't matter who you love. I'll admit(it is obvious, I'm sure) that this alone is a big draw to me. Never mind the kid aspect. Just living in an area where it is okay to be yourself. This would not be the case 15 miles away in the conservative Grosse Pointe.

There is a Trader Joe's right there on Woodward too...ok, again, this is a minor detail.

Hmmm...are there huge, great areas I am not thinking of? I don't know, but I really want to be sure we make the smart decision and not an impulse decision as we are both apt to do. We did take a somewhat decent time looking for our current home. I think that is only because we didn't see places that we really liked until this one.

Decisions, decisions..they are my friend and foe all at the same time. We have decided one other thing-we are definitely paying movers. Actual movers. At least for the big stuff and if it isn't too expensive, all of the other stuff too. With this nomadic lifestyle, we certainly cannot ask another favor. I would be outed from a potential co-op group before it begins!

On a completely unrelated note-I felt the need to take a pregnancy test and I was cheap and bought the Target Brand. BOTH test that came in the package were duds. Neither of the 'control' windows worked. I can't exactly walk into Target with some used pregnancy tests and demand my money back, but DAMN! I guess it was the fates letting me know that it isn't the time to take another test. Whatever. I want my $7.00 back.