Real Girl In The City

Yesterday my cousin and I went walking and exploring because I’m visiting and he wanted to take me somewhere that I hadn’t been before.  Anyway, as we were walking we ended up in this amazing section of the city right downtown that was near a river and park and had shops and outdoor eateries and basically looked so hip and cool it easily could have been Chicago, LA, or New York.  Even my cousin who lives here was impressed.  He and his wife started talking about maybe even moving there; that is until we looked and found an approximate price tag.

It made me think about something my aunt has always said about how your life needs to match.  This was mainly in terms of ownership.  Like you might not want to pull up to a 500,000 dollar house driving a 1977 POS (If you don’t know what a pos is please rent Men In Black right now).  And the reverse is also true.  You don’t drive a brand new Lexus or BMW if your house has bed sheets for drapes.  You need to find a happy medium. 

But what if you want the hip and city lifestyle and you find it a little of a stretch on your budget yet you think you can swing it?  Do you buy the downtown condo and the nice car?  What about the extras?  See I think that is the part everyone forgets; the extras.  Like once you move in, do you move your college had me down, mix-match furniture into a 500,000 loft or do you need to buy all new furniture?  If you’re living in the city proper do you still where your old beat up sweats to go jogging or do you need the new cute ones you saw at Nordstrom’s?  And if you have to have the new sweats can you still jog with your high school headset or do you need the new mega-megebit Ipod with the special cover?  All these things start to add up and we aren’t even talking gas, food, going out (and of course your doing that more now because your in the city), or utilities.  When do you stop being hip and start being broke?

Don’t get me wrong, I would easily life there and have the fun “Friends” lifestyle on the outside and be stressed and depressed on the inside as I am sure some of those people are.  It’s funny how much we work just to “look good”.  I know that I kinda poke fun at “Sex in the City” with this blog but if I had the chance to life that lifestyle I would do it in a New York minute as would most.  It’s the appearance of fun and style and chic that makes everyone want a piece of it.  Yet would you trade security for it.  Some would say yes and some would say no.  Me, I think I would base my decision on the old adage about judging a book by its cover.  If you’re not hip on the inside why fake the outside; because in the end it will all catch up to each other. 

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