The Great Debate! aka Life In the Eyes of Carrie Bradshaw

Calling all friends, foes, families, and gays! I need your input. The Wirths have officially outgrown their 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home. Okay, so technically we have 3 bedrooms, but the third bedroom is in the dungeon, and we use it for Christmas decoration storage. Bottom line is this: we are living in tight quarters, and there is shit everywhere. We need to move, and we need to do it soon.

Here's the thing. I have a debilitating hatred of all things related to moving: packing, cleaning, house hunting, showcasing, reorganizing. You name it, I hate it. And who has time for all this when you are working full time and have a baby? Not this guy. I don't even have time to do my laundry.

BUT GUESS WHAT?! We found the perfect house. It has everything we want, everything we need, is in our price range, and has room for an expanding family. I walk into this house and can see myself living there. It's perfect...except it's not, because it's clear across town from where we currently are.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Spokane area, it is divided into little boroughs (if you will). We live in an area called the South Hill, and everyone in the city is aware of its superiority. Although we live in a lower income area of this neighborhood, we have access to the best schools in town, fine dining, beautiful parks, a 10 minute drive to downtown, and a fast commute to work.

We are 3 blocks from one of the best walking streets in town:

Manito Boulevard

We can walk down the street to this beautiful park:

Manito Park

We can walk, bike, drive to all of our favorite restaurants:

Rockwood Bakery

And 90% of our friends live "up" here:

Monday night parties

In my experience, people who "hate" Spokane do not live on the South Hill. But how can you not appreciate the city when this is what you see every day?

Hamblen Park

The superiority and snobbery is pretty much palpable up here, and we fit right in.

And then there's the other side of town. "The North Side" as we call it. 

Indian Trail Neighborhood

It's pretty in a middle-to-uppermiddle-class sort of way, but it's basically a suburb. The nearest restaurant is McDonald's, and Starbucks is the only coffee shop in a 5 mile radius. However, home prices are WAY lower, the houses are in mint condition, and the homes have SO MUCH SPACE. My family is close, the church where I work is 2 minutes away, there is easy access to hiking trails, and the community is wonderful...in a PTA, stay-at-home-mom kind of way.   

When I ask myself what I want our lives to look like in 5 years, I see us living a lifestyle in a neighborhood like this. The lower house payments mean much more freedom for us financially, and it would be nice to be closer to places like Costco and Target. However, I would also feel like I'm selling out, leaving an important part of myself behind. You see, I just don't think the people up North will get my cloth diapers and homemade compost bin. What if I wanted to get chickens? I get the feeling the neighbors would not be impressed with this idea. And the public schools are not nearly as good as they are on the south side. That being said, we could afford private schooling with the lower mortgage payment we would have in this area.

Last Sunday, I sat at the North Side Starbucks scoping out the families I would potentially see on a regular basis. I sat with my Ray Ban shades on, judging a mom who was wearing Target workout pants (have the people up here never heard of lululemon?). Her husband was wearing a short sleeved button-up. Need I say more? I mean, I guess they looked nice enough...

And one more minor problem, to get to the North Side, one must drive through the trashiest neighborhoods in the State of Washington. Seriously, Spokane boasts some pretty trashy people, and they are all on the commute north. Half the time I drive up there, I'm worried a meth head is going to throw himself in front of my car. Or maybe this lady is going to cart herself across Francis and stop 5 lanes of traffic:

Riverfront Park

All that said, if we have to live on the North Side, I know we have found the perfect house: lots of square footage, huge yard, across the street from an open field with walking trails, great neighbors* (yes, I already interviewed them...not lying), sunset views, quiet location, giant closets!!! The same house on the South Hill would cost, at the very least, twice as much.

I wonder what Carrie Bradshaw would do...

They all lived in Manhattan (South Hill) together.

Remember how Miranda (a ginger, like me) got knocked up, married Steve, and moved to Brooklyn (North Side)? She was SUCH a sell out...like me. I should basically cut my hair now.

The rest of her friends remained on the nice side of the (Maple Street) bridge, and she had to cart her baby across town to see them.

Carrie got married too. Her modest apartment was far too small for her and Big, but they had the income to afford a bigger place in Manhattan (South Hill). 

 

They got huge closets AND their dream neighborhood. Why can't my life be more like Carrie's?! WAAAAH!!! 

But what life is best for this guy? 

 What should we prioritize when house hunting? Snobbery, or affordability? Seriously, I am completely at a loss as to what we should do. Any advice is appreciated. North Siders, what do you like about the area? South Hillers, please sell me your incredible house (but only if you have huge closets).

                                                        

*Regarding our current neighbors, here is Jeff's assessment: "The nice people next door are moving to Oregon, they're twats**, he's a douche, and those people are mega douches***."

**They yelled at Jeff when our sprinkler hit their driveway.

***These massholes tell their 7-year-old daughter to "f*** off" on a regular basis, and they smoke pot every other night.