Hey everyone! I went to visit my friend this past weekend in Chicago. I have been to the city before, but never stayed the night. I got to see what big city life is like. (We currently live in a suburb of Cleveland).
OMG so fun. My friend lives right by Wrigley Field. We walked or took the train everywhere. We ordered breakfast...and it was delivered to the apartment. There were so many not chain restaurants and coffee shops that are so unique.
I never thought I would want to live in a city, I always loved the burbs. This might just be a temporary jealousy, and I might hate living that life all the time. Anyways, just wondering if anyone has moved into the city after thinking they would never do it. Do you like it? Pros, cons?
I live in downtown Chicago and I love it. we don't even own a car. I walk almost everywhere (shopping, restaurants, concerts, musicals, museums, the beach, soldier field, etc.) and take the train to school/work.
con: walking everywhere during a snowstorm is miserable. but once summer comes you forget how painful winter was.
I grew up in a small town, went to college in a small town, and now live in the major city in our state. I wouldn't be able to live in the suburbs unless they were an inner-ring (older, more established with trees and non-cookie cutter houses). We'll probably stay in the city or move to a small college town. There is no in between for us.
Post by wildfloweragain on May 5, 2013 13:48:13 GMT -5
I don't like cities for a long time, but I like to visit. I've discovered that my max amount of time I enjoy even my favorite cities (Dublin, Boston) is 4 days.
DH is a firefighter in a city 40 min away. One of our daydreams is to have a loft or other nifty city place for weekends when we are older and have more money.
I like cities to visit, but I've lived in some big ones (Boston, San Francisco) and I think that at this point, I'm all citied out. H and I live in a 'burb that's close enough to SF that we can get into the city on a whim and spend the day, but then leave when we want, and that's perfect for us. Frankly, the tourists and the noise aren't appealing anymore (and I don't mean to sound like a snob when I say that, but I can't think of better phrasing).
Visiting is fun and one of these days, I'll drag H to NYC so we can tour it together (haven't done that yet - separately, yes, but not together), but I don't think we're either of us really "city folk" at this stage of the game.
I grew up in a small town, went to college in a small town, and now live in the major city in our state. I wouldn't be able to live in the suburbs unless they were an inner-ring (older, more established with trees and non-cookie cutter houses). We'll probably stay in the city or move to a small college town. There is no in between for us.
I'm just gonna ditto this.
I love being able to walk everywhere, enjoy night life, not have a car, and order what basically amounts to room service for lunch and dinner.
I love the country life. We live in a very tiny village. The type of town where the doors don't need locked. We are planning on moving to a country home in a few years so I can move my miniature goats back. It's important to me that the kids grow up with animals.
Post by Jalapeñomel on May 5, 2013 15:18:51 GMT -5
I love living in the city. I love all the different cultural events, the fact that I will meet new people every day, thousands of activities happening, the zillions of restaurants.
I lived in a small town in high school, and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I was so very bored.
I moved into a high rise in a very walkable city area with DS when he was 3 because I was sick to death of my ridiculously long commute from my cookie cutter suburban neighborhood. I loved it. My office was two blocks away. We walked to parks, walked to get pizza, walked to breakfast. I could walk to meet my friends at the bars or restaurants when DS was with X and not have to worry about driving home or getting a ride. There was an amphitheater with a summer concert series a block up the street. It was great. For a while. As DS started getting older it was harder and harder and I eventually started wanting a yard for him to play in so I didn't have to stop what I was doing every single time he wanted to be outside. Plus I missed gardening. Last fall, after two and a half years of apartment life, we bought a house in an older suburb with smaller, 50's-60's ranch brick bungalows, mature landscaping, and absolutely no cookie cutter, new suburban feel at all and we love it here too. Different lifestyles for different life stages. I don't regret doing the city thing at all for that time.
I live in Chicago and I love it. The only thing that makes me think we won't stay in the City forever and ever is trying to figure out what we'd do about educating our (hypothetical) children. CPS is...um...well...cause for concern, and private schools are fucking expensive. If we end up without children, I don't see us leaving.
I lived in Chicago for 10 years and the near west burbs for another 3. I loved it and miss it, some of the time. When we were renting and living in an apartment it was better, though I missed the outdoor space to have plants. Once we moved into a house in the burbs (but still on an L line), it just got too expensive. Taxes were skyrocketing. Our 100 year old house always seemed to have something that needed fixing. We worked all the time to pay for our house and small yard. We never had the opportunity to actually enjoy all the city had to offer. So we ultimately moved to another state.
While I love our home here and the much lower COL, I do miss Chicago. But I don't miss the commute, the high taxes or the long hours we needed to work to afford it.
I grew up in big cities, so moving to a small town for college was like culture shock. I ended up getting married and staying there for a while, but THANK GOD I'm back in a city. There's so much more to do, different food, different people... Also we're talking about rural Iowa vs Austin, TX, so the weather is a big factor, too. And just the whole mentality.
I live in a nice, family friendly neighborhood smack dab in the center of town. I have absolutely no desire to move to the suburbs!
I live outside Seattle. I couldn't live in Seattle itself. Too many pedestrians that don't watch for traffic, terrible parking and one-way/small streets.
I think it depends on the city. I would live in Chicago but I wouldn't live in New York City.
Says the girl who has NYC in her sig. LOL
I have the view of NYC from my house in Suburbia. I lost 2 very important people when those tower went down. That is why that picture is there. I love NYC. I visit all the time but I don't want live there. I like having a car, I like not paying $600K or more for a run down studio apartment.
I wanted to buy a small condo downtown when both DH and I were working and kiddo had moved back with her mom. Condo downtown for the workweek and weekend island place...sounds awesome. Unfortunately, we now have both girls and downtown Seattle just doesn't work anymore for us. I'd love to do it someday though but it doesn't seem likely since DH will be approaching retirement by then.
ilovelamp - I was in Lakewood for seven years and Brunswick for another three. I like the Cleve burbs but could never live downtown there.
Sorry to post and run yesterday, I got called into a 16 hour shift at work. Boo.
I'm not sure if I would really like living in the city or just like the idea of it. We do eventually want kids and I don't really like crowds. Maybe I can find a nice little in-between?
I don't know how to tag people on here, but Mrsbpo- did you like living in Lakewood?