I Love Apple Pie
I am seeking nirvana. No not the band. Not the state of mind. But a real actual location.
As I sit here in the midst of another snow storm, I wonder about the perfect place to live.
My criteria for the perfect place to live:
1) Nice weather year round
2) Near a large city that has cultural events, museums, theater
3)Good economy
4)Nice weather year round, did I mention that?
5)Affordable cost of living, in other words housing doesn't have to be dirt cheap just affordable compared to salary
6) Cool interesting diverse people, though I suppose this is rather subjective
Places I think I have ruled out(or where I show my fondness for stereotypes and expose my ignorance) :
1) California: too expensive, combined with the earthquakes and mudslides make it less than appealing
2)Seattle, Washington area: too rainy, too cold, even though I do have a fondness for coffee.
3)Boston, MA area: love the city of Boston if I could transplant it somewhere warmer. It has too long and cold a winter and the surrounding suburbs are too expensive. It could also be that I love Boston so much because I went to college there and was drunk most of the time. Everything seems better under the influence of alcohol.
4)Arizona: dare I say too hot, even though the idea of living in a desert wasteland sounds appealing from a no lawn maintenance point of view and never having to shovel snow again sounds nice.
5)Florida: too humid and those big palmetto bugs. And why does it seem like there is so much violent crime in that state? Though Annalise lives there and we could go rock climbing together.
6) Boulder, CO: We used to really want to live there, but I was there last year and it had changed. All the hippies had been replaced by yuppies, and all the cool stores had been replaced by Banana Republics and baby GAPs.
7)Alaska: two reasons...SNOW and no daylight for months on end. I wonder why there isn't more violent crime in this state. Though perhaps everyone is just too cold and depressed to go out and commit crimes.
8)Hawaii: I just don't have the body to walk around in a coconut shell bra year round and it would cut way down on my internet shopping, since no one likes to ship out of the 48, and I hate shopping in real stores. My husband might consider these things pluses though. And Brash Hetty is going to move.
9) New Hampshire: Even though my friend Karen lives there, it is way too snowy and cold. And frankly I am frightened by their state motto which is emblazoned on every license plate: Live Free or Die.
For some reason in the past week I have been hearing/reading about Austin, Texas. From people who are not at all connected with each other. It seems like it might be a nice place to live. Housing seems nice and affordable. The weather seems really nice. An online search found many varied homeschool groups.
But I hate country music. It would seem that would be a prerequisite to living in Texas. I also hate line dancing. Um, and cowboy boots and cowboy hats... unless ofcourse you are a real cowboy. And I'd have to start saying y'all.
Saying this makes me feel decidedly un-American. It's like I am blaspheming the holy American trinity of country music, baseball, and apple pie.
But I'm not, I love me some apple pie.
As I sit here in the midst of another snow storm, I wonder about the perfect place to live.
My criteria for the perfect place to live:
1) Nice weather year round
2) Near a large city that has cultural events, museums, theater
3)Good economy
4)Nice weather year round, did I mention that?
5)Affordable cost of living, in other words housing doesn't have to be dirt cheap just affordable compared to salary
6) Cool interesting diverse people, though I suppose this is rather subjective
Places I think I have ruled out(or where I show my fondness for stereotypes and expose my ignorance) :
1) California: too expensive, combined with the earthquakes and mudslides make it less than appealing
2)Seattle, Washington area: too rainy, too cold, even though I do have a fondness for coffee.
3)Boston, MA area: love the city of Boston if I could transplant it somewhere warmer. It has too long and cold a winter and the surrounding suburbs are too expensive. It could also be that I love Boston so much because I went to college there and was drunk most of the time. Everything seems better under the influence of alcohol.
4)Arizona: dare I say too hot, even though the idea of living in a desert wasteland sounds appealing from a no lawn maintenance point of view and never having to shovel snow again sounds nice.
5)Florida: too humid and those big palmetto bugs. And why does it seem like there is so much violent crime in that state? Though Annalise lives there and we could go rock climbing together.
6) Boulder, CO: We used to really want to live there, but I was there last year and it had changed. All the hippies had been replaced by yuppies, and all the cool stores had been replaced by Banana Republics and baby GAPs.
7)Alaska: two reasons...SNOW and no daylight for months on end. I wonder why there isn't more violent crime in this state. Though perhaps everyone is just too cold and depressed to go out and commit crimes.
8)Hawaii: I just don't have the body to walk around in a coconut shell bra year round and it would cut way down on my internet shopping, since no one likes to ship out of the 48, and I hate shopping in real stores. My husband might consider these things pluses though. And Brash Hetty is going to move.
9) New Hampshire: Even though my friend Karen lives there, it is way too snowy and cold. And frankly I am frightened by their state motto which is emblazoned on every license plate: Live Free or Die.
For some reason in the past week I have been hearing/reading about Austin, Texas. From people who are not at all connected with each other. It seems like it might be a nice place to live. Housing seems nice and affordable. The weather seems really nice. An online search found many varied homeschool groups.
But I hate country music. It would seem that would be a prerequisite to living in Texas. I also hate line dancing. Um, and cowboy boots and cowboy hats... unless ofcourse you are a real cowboy. And I'd have to start saying y'all.
Saying this makes me feel decidedly un-American. It's like I am blaspheming the holy American trinity of country music, baseball, and apple pie.
But I'm not, I love me some apple pie.
25 Comments:
I live in Music City (a.k.a. Nashville) not more than two blocks from Dolly Parton's recording studio, my dentist's office is on Music Row and my husband could walk to the Ryman and the Country Music Hall of Fame from his office, but I never listen to modern country. Bluegrass at times, but not Country, per se. It hasn't seemed to hurt me too much, and this is still a great place to live, even if I am not much of a music person nor a follower of the Southern God of Football. I suspect Austin would be very nice too, even if you might find it just about as hot as Arizona.
I moved to Nashville 5 years ago. Great weather. Great diversity. Cultural events. Theatre. Professional sports (if you're into that.) I NEVER listen to country music. There are plenty of musical genres around the area to satisfy anyone's taste. Beautiful parks, nice "bedroom" communities just a short drive from the "big" city. All in all, a great place to live and raise kids. Wish I had raised mine here... One note of interest: the county leans left, but the state leans right... Personally, I'd stay in the county... We welcome all newcomers and I promise you do not have to say "ya'll!"
how funny - as i was reading this i thought, oh, she'd love Austin! :)
2/3 of my kids were born there. It's a great place. very very very hot in the summers, but you can always swim. Incredibly affordable compared to New England.
Texas has great hs laws, too.
I hate country music and line dancing, and it was only an issue with my in-laws.
If there was a job, we'd move back in a heartbeat. We could actually afford to buy a house sometime in this lifetime.
Tom and I have said we'd move to Kentucky to get away from the snow. It's the furthest south I'm willing to go.
I live in Dallas (somewhat close to Austin) and I can safely say that I never ever listen to country music and the word "ya'll" makes my teeth itch. The weather is really great (Summers are a bit on the hot side, but EVERYONE and their dog has a swimming pool).
It's like a whole other country! (In a good way!)
Oh, come on down! If you lived in Austin, we would be 90 miles away!
But, don't let that scare you! LOL
Austin is wonderful! Tons to do, lots of fun places within a short drive, and the weather is great. Like Rachel said, hot in the summer, but you would end up at Deep Eddy or Barton Springs (http://www.texasoutside.com/bartonpool.htm) every day anyway!
Grab Karen and take a road trip.
As for the music, Texas music is the best. Robert Earl Keen, Bill Pekar (who lives here in our little town), Stever Earl, Pat Green, Cooder Graw etc.
This is the Third Coast, come on down!
Oh, come on down! If you lived in Austin, we would be 90 miles away!
But, don't let that scare you! LOL
Austin is wonderful! Tons to do, lots of fun places within a short drive, and the weather is great. Like Rachel said, hot in the summer, but you would end up at Deep Eddy or Barton Springs (http://www.texasoutside.com/bartonpool.htm) every day anyway!
Grab Karen and take a road trip.
As for the music, Texas music is the best. Robert Earl Keen, Bill Pekar (who lives here in our little town), Stever Earl, Pat Green, Cooder Graw etc.
This is the Third Coast, come on down!
I live in Dallas, also, and grew up closer even to Austin. I think you'd like Austin -- it's very urbane and hip, yet laid back and somewhat charming -- and you certainly would not have to listen to country music. You should be prepared to fly in and out of the state, however, since the rest of us Texans don't appreciate "haters" as much as Austinites do. :)
I'm with you - sick of snow! But I do like your new picture :-) At least snow is pretty (until the traffic turns it ugly grey). North Carolina is pretty nice; I have friends who moved down outside of Ashville and they love it there. It does snow, but it melts quickly, and winter is actually only 3 months long instead of 6 LOL.
I am happy just to be moving farther south in Pennsylvania - 100 miles means 5 or 10 degrees warmer, and Spring comes a month earlier!
Hi!
My husband and I lived in Austin MANY years ago, and we liked the new, trendy atmosphere of the place, but hated the humidity! We did get into country music-it's rather catching and I found that the California term "you guys" referring to a mixed group of guys and girls, was offensive to Texans-I had to switch to "y'all"!
Good luck finding the perfect place, and will you let us know where it is because we have been searching for a while too!
I should probably clarify that we are not in the market to move any time soon. We have to put the big yellow monster back together first :-)
And Rob just started a new job in New York, upstate where it is even colder and snowier than where our house is located. Brrrr.
But he gets job offers from all different places all the time. Usually they are places I do NOT want to move to, though admitedly I am full of stereotypes and misinformation and would probably like a lot more of the places if I was forced to investigate them more deeply.
In a few years though this house will be done and we will be ready to take our money and run, hopefully somewhere nicer and less expensive.
So steaming hot humid summers followed by cold snowy winters surrounded by open fields are out huh? But hey, we love basketball! Go Hoosier!
I was just sent your blog as a must read and I have to laugh at this entry! (Actually truth be told I laughed quite a bit reading many of your posts!!) I'm glad I'm not in your snow! I gave it up years ago and succumbed to the South. We're in GA where the coldest it normally goes is in the 30's (and yes we do wear mittens, parkas at that temp!). I love the new pic!
Isn't it cute how people call them "palmetto bugs" when they're really just GIANT ROACHES? *shudder*
You could always move to Alabama. There's a lovely house right across the street from ME and right down the street from a really awesome homeschooling family. You could leave one house-in-need-of-work for another one!
Oh, but we do have "palmetto bugs." My cats think they're terrific playthings.
I guess I'm the second Nashvillian posting, here - VERY affordable, housing-wise (not that it doesn't have it's expensive areas). I'm former Atlantan, and the climate is just a bit cooler here, which is not a bad thing. Nashville has a fairly decent economy - health care and publishing are the two noted industries here, but there's a good bit of manufacturing in or around Nashville as well. Also plenty of "white-collar" organizations (Cat Financial, Deloitte, etc). I note your cited concern of country music about Austin - I have two comments on that:
a) I wouldn't let that worry you - I live in Nashville, am not a big country music fan, and haven't ever gotten more than my fill here in the "Country Music Capital of the World". In fact, there's a good bit of "other" music here.
b) A buddy of mine lives in Austin, and describes it as more "hippy" than "Texas" - so, you may find it more agreeable than you'd think. He also noted a big "college-town" atmosphere.
Hope that's of some help.
Im with you.
Im in Connecticut or "the land of the neverending snowstorm"
I crave warm, dry and sunny!
Longmont, Colorado.
• Upwind from Boulder, so we don't smell the stuff that they think don't stink, anyway ;-)
• Closer to Rocky Mountain National Park.
• Reasonably priced houses along the Front Range -- think even about Fort Collins.
• Good peeps and reasonably diverse.
• Cool little places like Mead, with great little churches and a real sense of community.
• 320+ days of sunshine a year. Yeah, baby!
Oops -- wait. I love it here, but it's getting over-crowded. I wanted them to SHUT THE DOOR after we got in four years ago! ;-)
Hi,
I'm still praying like mad for baby Jack. Any news?
Yes, how is baby Jack?
Forgot to comment that I love your new pic. I can see the yellow now with the snow against it! It would be hard to leave a cool house like that, but I understand the aversion to being trapped in it due to the weather.
Except for teh sdtable economy thing (which you have an upper hand with as an US citizen) Quito, Ecuador fits your bill nicely. It is the land of eternal fall (or spring)... a lovely place... though you may want to go to the suburb of Cumbaya or even to Pifo.
OK, forgive those heinous spelling errors in previous post...
Austin is one of the music capitals of the country but it's sure as hell not country music. At least probably not what you consider country music. Mainstream, overproduced, diluted Nashville-esque music is pop country, not real country.
Regardless, Austin's not about country music. It's about music, period. It's where the annual South By Southwest music festival is held, where all the up and coming bands, as well as established artists, can be seen.
I'd move to Austin. If moving were in my immediate future and we didn't have a vacation home in Colorado, I really would.
I'd also move back to New England in a heartbeat. ;)
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