Leaving the Nest

While our intention was never to publicize it, it's no longer a secret that we are moving onto a significantly different chapter of what's turning out to be our rather unexpectedly conventional life. First comes love...you know the rest...

So after 7 years or so of living in Washington, DC with a daily routine of riding the subway, lobbying Congress (or just working on Capitol Hill as in erik's case), and being car-less in our 100% walkable neighborhood of Dupont Circle, we are taking a trek back to the hill country of Austin, TX, where we will pursue life, liberty and cars for all. Most everyone I know (and don't know) has had positive comments about Austin and how "hot" it is right now (in a good way, though it's often hot in a bad way, too). But it's our close (in both senses of the word) family and friends that wish that this placed called "Austin" was just a suburb or Washington.

Indeed, it is this whole other country - nothing like DC or it's suburbs. And while we've both lived there before, the culture will be shocking in all aspects after living within the Beltway for so long. For one, the gas stations are not only plentiful, but are the size of an entire city block in Dupont. Oh, and the parking - as in...it exists ("lots" of parking, in fact...or parking lots as they're known). Texas is great in size, and it's greatness greatly scares us because all things seem to mimick the state in size: big drinks, big cars, big steaks, big hair, big belt buckles...you get the point.

But the place where it has yet to bother me so far has been on the house-hunting journey! What is great in size in Texas regarding houses is truly great - tripling what we could ever afford in DC and for half the price. And an anomaly at this point to me is the fact that I could potentially be the owner of 1 or more gigantic pecan trees, in addition to a piece of land that is measured in acreage.

The plan was never to buy. The "plan" was to live free of obligation (aka a scary mortgage), and to mimic our current city life. And that really was the plan. However, exposure changes everything, and hence, we're on a house-hunt due to exposure through HGTV (and curious internet surfing). Who knew that Erik's desire to build his dream kitchen (in which he will hopefully cook) would outweigh renting an as-is house in order to preserve "freedom" and $$? And who knew I would more quickly go from scared to obsessed in .01 seconds (ok...most of you probably knew I'd accomplish that challenge).

Anyway, to wrap-up an incredibly long introductory post, our Texas "hunting" trip has begun, and we are truly in the "wild" (having no idea what we're doing, but finding quickly that we have not prepared enough...).

Such is life. People keep telling me that you shouldn't try to control exactly when you buy a house or have a baby (more to come on the latter later... :)