Urbanite, Suburbanite, or Country girl/guy?

[houseelf]

Which are you?

I have spent hours researching possible schools and places to live in Cincinnati. Realize that we ONLY have thirteen months left to research all of our options! Yes, my OCD runneth over. Of course, DH keeps reminding me "We have to live close to the hospital". "Yes darling, you can move into your call room, we understand."

Anyway, parts of inner Cincinnati are gritty. Even if this weren't the case, I'm kind of a suburbanite at heart. I know this is another example of my geeky WASP-iness, but I'm just more at home on a cul-de-sac than an older inner city neighborhood. However, I know the 'burbs are akin to living hell for some of the members here. (Jenn Hussey comes to mind as our city-girl-par-excellence). So what is your preference?

Kelly

[Cumberland]

I would classify myself as an urbanite who is a country girl wanna be. I hope we never live in a neighorhood with no trees where all the houses look the same that is a 30 minute commute to work. I actually fired our realtor when we looked here bc that was all he would show me.

We have always lived in town in homes of varying old age. I like the character, the grown up landscaping and trees, and the proximity to work.

However, I think I am a country girl at heart, I just have never had the opportunity to live there. I have a dream of living on a farm, making my own cheese from milk I got from my own goat, and having a huge beautiful cottage garden where I can harvest my own veggies year round. Then reality hits of how much work that all is.

[DCJenn]

You know my answer.

If I have to get in the car to run errands then I'm too far out of the city. Never, ever, ever, ever will I live in the 'burbs again. Nope. The thought makes my hair stand on end.

and I'm sorry, there some scary shit in the country. Like animals. (excluding of course, the ever lovely Norwegian rat, the squirrel, the chipmunk and the occasional raccoons and possums) Like small towns. Like Republicans...

eeeeek!

Nope, put me in a large city on either the East or West Coast and I'll be at the local Democratic club making posters.

Jenn

[Tenacious_D]

I enjoy aspects of city life (walking, public transportation, ENDLESS SHOPPING!!) but once we have kids, I can't see us anywhere but the burbs.

[Flynn]

I like the best of both worlds.

Right now we live in a "city suburb" which is awesome and family friendly. The average cost for a house is silly though -- AND finding the "right" school for your child when they are school age is a bit too competitive I hear.

So......I like the idea of a "true" suburb that is about 20 minutes or less from downtown. We should get that in our next life when we move but it's only in theory right now. The true test will be to live there.

I would classify myself as an urbanite who is a country girl wanna be. I hope we never live in a neighorhood with no trees where all the houses look the same that is a 30 minute commute to work.

Same here. Where we live now is about as suburban as I can get. It is close-in suburb and about 10-15 minutes from downtown but we have safe space for the kids to run and ride bikes and can have bees, chickens, a garden and all that. But there are things that I miss about our more urban house we used to live in.

I have a dream of living on a farm, making my own cheese from milk I got from my own goat, and having a huge beautiful cottage garden where I can harvest my own veggies year round. Then reality hits of how much work that all is.

Exactly! The reality of that is what stops me. And being farther from an airport, fun restaurants and stores, a downtown area, etc.

[poky]

I'm a suburbanite at heart, but I love me some good public transit to get me where I want to go without having to drive and park.

I grew up in a big house on a big lot in suburbia...a 5 minute drive from where my dad worked (the local middle school). Suburbs *don't* have to mean a long commute. Not *everyone* works downtown!

I now live in a good-sized house on a good-sized lot on a culdesac...a 10 minute drive from where where we both work (Intel tends to build way out in the sticks, and the burbs grow up around it)...and one mile from a light rail stop. I love the fact that we're 3 blocks from farms and a river and can hear crickets and bullfrogs on summer nights, and I love the fact that we can walk to the light rail and be downtown in an hour without having to find parking.

-Sandy

[Meenah]

We are in an older suburb. The house is almost 80 years old and the lot is very nice. We are 8 miles/15 minutes from the hospital where we both work. I'm happy here but I would LOVE to try living in the city and not own a car!!

[SuzySunshine]

I grew up a country girl and while I don't think I could ever live 15 minutes from civilization (and I use the word civilization lightly) again I'd like to live on the outskirts of town so that we could have a few acres. Suburbia is probably where we'll be forever be due to DH's choices of specialization.

Though there are some houses here that are on the "edge" of town that have great views, some actual acreage, and are still close enough to the hospital.

I could never live right smack in the middle of a city for an extended period of time. And when I say city I mean like LA, SF, or NY. Too many people and too much concrete for me.

[Phoebe]

I am more of a burbs person, but I like to be close to the action. We are about 30 minutes from downtown. We have to live a certain distance from the hospital as well. Luckily, DH's employer is on the north end of town allowing us to live in a suburb.

Jennifer

I think that since moving to a small town I am turning into a country girl. I love it that the man who owns the local hardware store knows us by name and never charges us as much as what the price tag says. I love that I know every one of my neighbors within a 3 mile radius and that even strangers will smile and wave when they drive by. I love it that the whole town gathers together every year to sip hot cocoa and sing Christmas carols at the Christmas Tree lighting.

That said, I could never live in the real country. We're in a small town, but since tourism is big here, we also have some of the things that larger cities have to offer...great restaurants, theater performances, amazing horticultural gardens, etc...

I do hate being 45 minutes away from decent shopping, though. Thank goodness for online shopping!

Urbanite, deffinitely. I used to commute an hour outside the city because I couldn't bring myself to move to the suburbs. Because it was so time-consuming, I felt I was being cheated from really enjoying all the culture, restaurants, and dive bars that Philadelphia has to offer, so I quit, got a job in the city, and sold my car Now, I have a job I love and a 20 minute walk to work (or 2 stops on the subway).

I went to college in the sticks of upstate NY and really enjoy rustic mountains and lakes... for a week at a time. I fantasize about having an old farm for a summer home.

Coming from NY, Philly is a very manageable city, so I can see us raising kids here. Unfortunately, the schools are terrible, so we'd send them to a private school, but the cost of living is low enough to make that possible.

[alison]

We live in the city in Chicago and I'm tired of wiping soot off my window sills and furniture. Other than that, I love the city. I'm looking forward to moving back to Seattle, where it's a bit calmer and I don't have entire sections of the newspaper flying into my face while I wait for the bus.

[mommax3]

Suburbs here. I drive past cornfields when I take the kids to school, but I can be in the center of downtown Indy in 15 minutes by driving straight east on a city street. My county has come late to suburbia, actually.....when we moved from Indianapolis to Texas nine years ago there was literally nothing out here. The north side, however, was and continues to be what I think of as true suburbia. It is a fun place to go and shop occasionally, but I wouldn't want to deal with the traffic on a regular basis. The downside is that where I live will become like that if the powers that be aren't careful. There isn't any light rail here, though......I would love to see that.

I love being close to a large city. If I had tons of money and no kids, I would love living downtown. I have lived in my share of small cities and for whatever reason, I don't like it. DH and I value our anonymity quite a bit. We don't really want to be recognized when we are out and about. I guess being harrassed by my middle school students while shopping at Target and having a woman come over and discuss her postpartum discharge with DH while we were out at Red Lobster has soured us on it!

Both of us appreciate rural life, but neither of us really wants to have much participation in it, other than visiting a u-pick strawberry patch and the Farmer's Market!

Sally

PS Jenn, you *know* you wanna be my next door neighbor, take long road trips in the Suburban to go shopping, and go door to door for the local Republicans......

[DCJenn]

Sally, as much as I love you and the Suburban, sadly, you all will have to come hang out with me and Hairy Rat.

Jenn