I'm having a bit of suburban anxiety today. As in, I fear that our future is going to be filled with talk about mortgages, earthquake insurance, dishwashers, and ultimately...after-school activities.

There was a time not too long ago when I thought I would live in the middle of a city forever. I was all, I'd rather have a 2-bedroom apartment in the center of the city than a mansion in the suburbs. Well, right now we have neither. It's more like a small, single-family residence in the sort of 'burbs. For one thing, there's really no center of Los Angeles, and living in Valley will be no different than living Silverlake or Santa Monica...I j just won't have the same street cred.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Van Nuys. "Van Nuys is in the heart of the San Fernando Valley and home to about 100,000 people; the main thoroughfare, Van Nuys Boulevard, is noted for its car dealerships."

Oh god, what have we done?

We spent last evening at a friend's house in the serious 'burbs. Lovely time, but it was a scary little glimpse into our potential future. Like gallons of water being used to keep the natural desertland from creeping into the manicured subdivisions kind of scary. Like a future of never having any money, but paying off a giant house equipped with a NASA-worthy barbecue grill and a swimming pool that requires an army to maintain it. That kind of life.

I also just remembered and had to email my best friend and 90210 cohort...Van Nuys was where Andrea Zuckerman lived. She pretended to live with her grandmother in Beverly Hills so that she could get a decent education at West Beverly High. There was a whole episode about it.

In any case, our house is awfully cute and charming. If I ever feel isolated from city life, I'll pretend that it's our little country cottage getaway. Or I'll take the car and drive down the street to Target. Either way, it'll be a whimsical adventure.

I don't know. I figured since I feel such peace and inner joy when I'm watching Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, I should watch more Food Network. A whole network dedicated to food? It's a miracle I didn't think of it sooner.

I must say, I'm not terribly impressed with the lineup. The Barefoot Contessa creeps me out, and right now Bobby Flay is on the most convoluted reality show I've ever seen (and that includes Paradise Hotel, which happened in almost real time and they kept changing the rules on a whim). They tricked a fireman into thinking he's on a reality show called "Real Men Cook" or something, but in reality the game is that Bobby Flay can duplicate the fireman's signature recipe. I'm, um, not sure if anyone wins anything on this show.


I haven't blogged in a while due to sheer burn out from the computer and the need to stare at the TV, drooling, during my free time. But the big news is that we bought a house! I know! It's all very exciting, and I'm truly in love with the house. Here are some pics:


The front. It's very Brady Bunch, aka California ranch.

A blurry kitchen:

Living room:

Covered back patio:

Backyard for Otto!

We're both a little nervous about the amount of money being spent- it seems surreal, especially because I'm in major debt for the first time in my life. We're trying to learn how to economize--Aaron became very good at out out of necessity, but since he started earning a good living, he's been loving the fact that we could just buy whatever indulgences without having to think much about it. Food, electronics, whatever.


So we went grocery shopping today, and were very impressed by how much you can save by buying generic and foregoing the lox ($18 a pound!). Next up, I'm going to learn how to clip coupons. It was kind of fun, but I found myself craving uber-expensive items that I've never bought in my life, like pate flecked with black truffles and limbergur cheese. I'm a little concerned over the quality of Hoffy Hot Dogs as opposed to Ballpark Franks. Mmmm...Hoffy Hot Dogs.