Food, Oak Cliff, decisions.

OK, well so much for another drunk shoe report. Maybe that will be a once a week special here, as I do my shoe audit and have less tipsy days. Or, maybe that was just an idea that sounded awesome after a few glasses of wine and in retrospect is sort of silly. That said, "Memories as Recounted by Various Clothing Items & Accessories" has a certain McSweeney's feel to it. I'm sure some of my bras could tell good stories.

Last night we had our first Dallas Restaurant Week booking at an Oak Cliff restaurant called Hattie's. David had been there before but since I don't know much about Dallas anymore I had never heard of it. It was exactly the sort of restaurant I like - open, clean, and modern, but with warm lighting, traditional finishing, and a cozy atmosphere. It reminded me very much of one of my favorite restaurants called Maihofli, in Luzern. The food was good and we were feeling adoring and romantic. It was a perfect date. We hadn't been on one in a while. But we have three more restaurant week bookings coming up, so I guess we're about to get our fill.

Then we made our way to a new place called Bolsa, as a friend of David's is the manager, part-owner, or something. He was very excited about it and had good reason - it was another fresh, new, really nice place. Oak Cliff is starting to remind me of the first exciting years of Boston's South End, when great restaurants were opening, but not everyone knew about them yet, except for those gay, edgy, &/or city mod living types of us who moved in early. I'm sure it will also suffer the off-putting genrification transitions the South End did too, but that's probably a few years off yet, and in the meantime I guess we'll enjoy it for what it is now, instead of fearing what it could become.

One reason we were soooo happy last night is that we have made a big decision: we are going to move house.

We do not, for various reasons, want to leave Dallas (yet), especially now that I have a job I like (knock on wood). So, since I can not imagine wanting to leave this job for a couple years, we know we will be here for a while... but we cannot fathom being in our house any longer than, say, the end of the year.

I am so over that house.

The final straw was the past few days when our water pressure reduced to nothing. A mere trickle. We called the city; they came out and confirmed that the problem was, indeed, with the house. The pipes from the city spigot to our house are old and have to be replaced, and apparently have a lot of rust and such so we were advised not to drink the water. Which is a little late, since I drink the water all the time.

Anyway, it is something that can be fixed, and relatively easily, but it is the final straw in a situation that has been drawing to a close anyway. We've been unhappy since we moved in - the house was in much worse shape than I had been led to believe; the support we received was not as much as we thought we would have; and all in all, my mother and I were just on different pages about what the outcome was to be. I'm not angry about it anymore - they are all just facts. In my mind, we were to move in, renovate as quickly and efficiently as possible, and then she could get renters in (maybe us, if we decided we liked it). In her mind, we were going to move into my grandparents' old home and I'd never want to leave it because it is my grandparents home. She never SAID this, of course, but I know. The two main problems with her hopes and expectations are as follows:

1. I am not sentimentally attached to the house. Everything that made it their house disappeared when they died. 2. The house is total, utter crap, and it needs a LOT more than she is able/willing to put in it; and it is certainly crappier than I'm willing to live in any longer.

I mean, it's been a good experience. We've learned A LOT. If we ever buy a place, I'm soooooo much more educated about what to look at and ask about. If you need superficial work done like tiling, dry-wall replacement, hardwood refinishing, cabinet installation, etc., we can help! And we will certainly never need to wait around on handymen on things like that in the future.

However, the wiring is old and has to be completely redone. The fuses are always blowing, causing David to panic about his computer and me to worry about fire. There are leaks in the roof that will HAVE to be seen to. The ceilings are ugly as shit. It is dark and a little dank all the time. And there are NO TREES in the backyard!

But we could deal with all that eventually. More than anything else, we really want to be somewhere we can walk or bike to things we like to do. In our neighborhood, there is nothing.

Anyway, with this decision, we both feel an overwhelming sense of relief. I mean, it's a little sad, after all the decisions we made and the work we put in, but whatever. I feel like I helped my mom out and it is totally rentable now, unlike when we moved in. So I do not feel at all it was a waste of time or anything - it's better than how it started, we paid WAY less than we would have renting elsewhere, and we learned a lot.

We aren't rushing into anything - we are going to start looking around at new places - probably in Lakewood, Junius Heights, Lower Greenville, or maybe even Oak Cliff - and aim for a December move. That will give me plenty of time to work with my mother to finish off the last parts of the house that have to be done before people move in, and get things purged and packed.

David is practically a new man since we decided this, obviously relieved and happy about the decision.

Another fun thing? We've been together two and a half years, and are now married, but it will be the first home we pick out TOGETHER. We're pretty excited about that.

Comments

[Sandy]

I am so down for you moving to OC but I know you love East Dallas. Hopefully you can find something in 75208. That's where my parent's building is. They pretty much live there now and the upstairs is loft-like. A very untastefully decorated loft if you can imagine. Still that's the neighborhood where I grew up. They've had the Desoto house on the market for 2 years now. My mom still visits it a couple of times a week to water the Saint Agustine and pick up the mail. It's her thing.

[z.]

YAY! Glad you guys have decided on that... and that you have a new exciting house hunt ahead of you!! xoxo

[genevieve]

hey... maybe we can all move to oak cliff this winter - that is where keith and i are going to focus our house-search! (we want to buy, and will not be able to afford anything in lakewood..., plus, like you said, fun places in oak cliff)

[lauren ahkiam]

yay! sounds like a good decision. i have major love for east dallas, and picture myself living there whenever i'm home. walking to mai's, bangcok palace, jimmy's, whole foods, green living, homemade tamales. awesome! brick buildings and trees! my plannerd heart gets all aflutter. i have friends living on swiss near fitzhugh (they call it baby swiss since the houses are normal sized and there are apartments and stuff instead of mansions). lakewood is also awesome!! when i left dallas i never dreamed i would have such good feelings for it.

haven't spent lots of time in oak cliff, but did go to this killer super delicious vegan place there, spiral diner, that i wish was in LA.

[Angela]

Matthew and I will take it - I graduate in May and we want to move to Dallas if he can find work there.