Sep 3, 2009

places.

i wish i had taken a picture of every house/apartment/duplex/car i've ever lived in.

i have lived in a ton of different houses and apartments - college will do that to you, as will having an insatiable desire to see new things (with not too much holding you back). but my cities seem to have similar themes. city or mountains.

here is a picture from each city i've lived thus far in my 27 years:

manassas, virginia: (no i did not live in the battlefield, but who wants to see a picture of a normal brick house and porch?)logan, utah: home of utah state university. i miss those mountains.
salt lake city, utah - about 75 miles south of logan.
fairbanks, alaska. only a summer, but i swear i would move here and be happy for the rest of my life. "here" as in alaska, not necessarily fairbanks - too many mosquitos!
capitol hill, dc. oh how i miss the quaint streets and jacob's with vanessa + grandma graffiti.
manhattan! my love! see you in about 2 weeks (but only for a couple hours).
and that brings us to where i am today, crystal city, virginia.

how sad and boring. i'm not sure if any of you just can't get enough of crystal city, but i believe it's the least exciting place i've ever lived. hell, even manassas had character, even if it was murders, tamale carts, and mullets. crystal city is a town of young professionals. and i'd rather live somewhere where the town appreciates its population. there's nothing to do - it's just really a place to live. tall lifeless hotels and box buildings with people walking to and from the metro. blech.

gripe, gripe, gripe. in all honesty, i feel really lucky to be living in a such a beautiful home and lovely backyard and right by a park, and with people i really like. at least if i don't like my neighborhood, i like my home.

but manhattan to crystal city? ouch. can anyone relate?

ps - where would i rather be living? london, montreal, or san francisco i think would be just fine. or back to capitol hill? *sigh.

UPDATE:: it has been made known unto me that maybe crystal city isn't so bad - well, i have to admit it's not. and i actually live in this little neighborhood, aurora highlands, which has its own community website, complete with updated plans for construction at nina park! alright, i'm shaking off the bad attitude.

8 comments:

modestmuse said...

Whaaat?! You live in the best of both worlds -- a quaint little neighborhood minutes away from everything in D.C., grocery stores, TARGET :) Capitol Hill is boring row house after row house. Ah, maybe I'm just missing the U.S. :) p.s. the pic is of Clarendon, which I agree, sucketh.

L to the I to the Z said...

Clever! How did you get the comment link to say that?! I'm still pretty amateur to the blog thing. Thanks for saying hi on mine! Yes, please, I would love to see you in the near future. I totally want to come visit your neck of the woods, too.

Steve said...

I have to agree with modestmuse, CC is pretty cool. It's a short commute into the city, less all the homelessness (as long as you avoid the tunnel under Rte 1 at 23rd St), murders, tourists, and higher taxes and parking rates, plus you have all those yummy places to eat on Crystal Drive AND 23rd St. Plus, walking distance to the only mall inside the Beltway worth going to. Besdies, the Crystal City BID does lots of "neighborhoody" things like the Monday outside movie nights, events, and socials. I lived in CC up to a year ago at Crystal Plaza. Although the young professionals can be hard to get to know, I found that a lot of them, like you, WANT to know their neighbors. Once I took it upon myself to be the one to say "hi" first, I got to know a lot of people in my building.

hanner said...

i love logan. i think it is so beautiful. especially the drive through the canyon from brigham city. (side note, my dad calls it "brigham kitty." i love dads.)

anyway, crystal city sounds like a much more exciting place when you do a hand flourish along with "CRYstal CITy!!" just try and imagine it. when i first heard of crystal city it reminded me of cloud city from star wars. and come on. THAT'S exciting.

Julie said...

you guys, i get your point about crystal city being "of the city but not in the city". but those restaurants on 23rd street are not good (mostly) and mainly i just wish there was a grocery store in place of one of the high rises. carrying heavy grocery bags for my 12 minute walk from the metro is my least favorite part of living in cc.

hannah - i did the hand flourish thing, and maybe you're onto something. feeling better.

modestmuse said...

You mean you don't like the option to choose from 5 Ethiopian restaurants in one block?? ;)

Steve said...

Ok, the Ethiopian place on the left hand side of the road is awesome. Tortoise and Hare is pretty decent for quick bar food. The Greek restaurant, tell me you have been there?!?!, is one of the best Greek places in the city, as long as you stick to their specialties. kabob Palace has butter chicken worth sinning for and Crystal City Restaurant has the best lunches with a view, so I have heard, hahaha. The diner is a good breakfast place, if you get there early or late enough. Oh, and the Sushi place was pretty amazing. You get everything you want in one block!!! Nothing in DC comes close!!!!

Steve said...

Oh, blame Charles E. Smith for the grocery store closing. There used to be a Safeway in the area where the banks and Cold Stone is, but he raised their rent so much that they had to close. But Harris Teeter is super close (less than a mile down near Potomac Yards) and there is the bus if you don't want to walk or bike. We still shop there!