The great experiment

We are moving.  To Washington D.C.

At present we live on the Mississippi Gulf coast in a 3 bedroom house with a ginormous back yard for all my menagerie to frolick in, and in which I can be found sun bathing in the company of a naked baby on many days.

Here is a question I posed to myself and my husband last night: "Do we pick up our lives and continue living as we are only in a different location, meaning we rent a house outside the city and drive everywhere and be suburbanites?  Orrrrrrrr, do we get crazy?  And by crazy I mean, take our 2 dogs and cat (bunny and turtle will have to find new homes) and our maniacal little baby and live in the city."  

If we choose door number two I am prepared to sell a car; my heart breaks slightly at the thought of parting with my BMW.  I will ride my new bicycle everywhere or walk with Ellie and take the metro wherever we need to go.  I will stop doing bi-weekly grocery shopping and will instead go to the market or grocery daily and carry purchases home in the basket of my bike.  We will sell many of our personal belongings because they will not fit into an urban living space.  ( side note: I find it an ironic twist of fate that after losing every possession I owned in Katrina three years ago, I am now contemplating parting with much of what I have worked so hard to replace.)

This is my new bike, expept mine will be in white. Mmmmmm

This kind of lifestyle may seem standard and undaunting to many people, but it has been a long time since I have lived in a large, urban enviornment.  Not to mention with dogs and a baby in tow.  I am unaccustomed to public transport and bicycling around a city.  I think many people I know share these sentiments.  But, in my gut, I feel that door number two is the right door.

I have recently become obsessed with
Dutch girls and how they just manage to look effortlessly beautiful with their damn skinny legs, and all without going to the gym.  They just ride their bikes or walk everywhere.  Denmark has one of the lowest instances of obesity in Europe, and many people attribute it to their healthy bicycling lifestyle. We live in a culture of excess and consumerism and are often driven by the need for things that we don't necessarily need.  I am attracted to this idea of letting go of much of this "stuff" and living a more simple life.

So, for now, door number two looks like what we are going to choose.  Stay tuned for more info on this self-inflicted experiment.