It was 60 degrees in Chicago today. Posey and I took a casual stroll in our neighborhood, and I was reminded of one of the city’s charming quirks: Garbage. Everywhere. Our jaunt down Fullerton was full of swirling Wendy’s bags and empty tequila bottles. We love the city, but ever since Posey was born, I tend to see more of the negatives than the positives.
That being said, Beef and I are beginning the overwhelming task of deciding where our family will settle down– eventually. Since I grew up in the area north of the city, I am pretty much only well versed in those towns. Over the next several months, our goal is to explore some new ‘burbs, which I will chronicle here.
Up first: La Grange (23 miles from downtown)
Something about the name is so ugly. It reminds me of gangrene. It sounds like a place fun-loving youngsters go to become mangy. Then we went to visit last Sunday… and you know what? It wasn’t half bad.
Pros:
- Super-cute downtown with places we’d totally go
- People walking around that didn’t scare us away
- Houses that have personality and are far from the cookie cutter sub-divisiony things I feared
- Easy access to highway, making it pretty accessible
- Close to Beef’s work
Cons:
- Far away from our parents
- Far from downtown (but not as far as a lot of other places)
- We don’t know anyone that lives there
Overall impression: I could picture us there. Beef can’t. But then again, he did have a really hard time adjusting after our last big move. Which was exactly 1.5 miles away.
Posey Pie Productions 
Have you thought about Highwood?? I grew up not too far away and it has a lovely downtown AND though it isn’t AS close to the city, the train runs right through the downtown! Plus, the schools are excellent and the homes have that charming non cookie-cutter feel (which is very, very scary).