house hunting

Anyone who has spent more than 2 minutes with me knows that I ( and my husband) can not decide where to live. We currently live in Ditmas Park, in the West Flatbush section of Brooklyn, nicknamed "Victorian Brooklyn" after the large Victorian homes built at the turn of the century.

 

It's a nice place to be, usually. We have two, count 'em TWO, restaurants worthy of Smith St....  The Picket Fence, now well-established after 2 years, and brand-spanking new The Farm on Adderley. We have a cafe/lefty bookstore, Vox Pop. There's a food coop, a bakery, a new real estate agent, a jerk chicken shack,  countless Afghany-Indian-Pakistani-Bangladeshi restaurants, corner stores, pharmacies, fruit and vegetable stands, on and on.  Why would one want to leave? It's not that fun. There's no bookstore, yarn store, plant store, clothing store. There are very few hipsters, although truth be told that's probably a good thing - after all who wants to live in Williamsburg when you're over 40? Anyway, I want to either have my own gentlewoman's farm, or live in a neighborhood where I can just walk out the door and go to a bookstore, or a fabulous cheese shop , or even a, dare I say ...... a yarn shop (gasp!!)! So where does this lead us? Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Cobble Hill....yeah, that sounds about right. Of course the prices are crazy, and although we've realized some great appreciation on our current apartment ( thank you sponsor apartments!)  it's likely going to be a horizontal  move, but I am psyched. Now begins the real job.