It is true? A HOUSE?!?!?!?!

I think so! It looks like we've found a house in Omaha. After braving the crazy Omaha real estate market we've finally found something that is within our revised budget (since we haven't sold our house in Boston) and has nice finishes and it's even on a golf course!

That's the thing about this real estate market. People say that you get so much more for your money, but we were finding that to be untrue. I saw things here for $700K in dyer need of updating. People would take their old oak kitchens and put granite on them and call it new. They'd have linoleum on the floors and wall-to-wall carpet. It might be bigger, but not nicer.

Coming from Boston, I was accustomed to much smaller spaces that are significantly nicer. Even if you found a smaller home in Omaha, you couldn't update it to make it what we'd expect coming from the east coast because then you'd have the most expensive house in the neighborhood; it would be impossible to re-sell. In Omaha, if people want to spend that much more money, they'd just assume go to a nicer neighborhood.

So, this house is lovely, and has granite, cherry, tile, built ins, etc. It's got an attached garage (I guess everyone in America has an attached garage, but it's a big deal to me since I've been carrying my kids up and down the stairs for the past 3 months) and a mud room complete with hooks for coats and benches for helping kids on with their shoes. I guess this is what suburbia is supposed to be. We are closing next Friday and I can't wait. I told Neal that I haven't felt this good since before we even entertained a job search that would lead us away from Mecca... I mean, Boston.

Wish me luck! I'm really trying to give this suburbia thing a try. We'll see how it goes! But after giving this a try, if I still am not wild about this place, I told Neal that I'd rather live in a 1000 sq ft, 2 bedroom apartment in Manhattan!

Retail Heaven.... or Not?

I have a confession. Ever since I was 14 years old, I have wanted a Gucci bag. My mother wouldn't let me have one as a teenager, and as a young career woman, I just never got around to buying one. I have 8 or 10 Coach bags and 2 Burberry's but no Gucci bags. And my husband even worked for Gucci's parent company for 10 years!

This year my mother gave me some money for my birthday, so I thought that in my miseray here in Omaha, I would make myself feel better by buying a cute little Gucci to take to my husband's company Christmas party. There's every kind of retailer in Omaha, so surely I can find a bag, right?

Wrong. I went to department stores, boutiques, and asked everyone, and there are no retailers who carry these bags in Omaha. I find this shocking. I was recently went to pick up BBQ for dinner (yes, you can get any kind of food you want here within 5 minutes from your home) and while I was driving out of the parking lot, I inadvertantly came across two stores that I needed visit, and saw a drive through ATM for my new bank. They have EVERYTHING here except Gucci.... and Burberry. It's a good thing that I already have 5 coats!