walkability

Lately I've been thinking about a photo exercise that a friend of mine did where she took photos of everything within a two block radius of her home. The idea was to see what you lived near, and gain an appreciation for your surroundings. She lives in a great area of New Orleans near many awesome cafes and shops so her photos were lovely. If I were to complete that same exercise though, all I'd get would be photos of houses and maybe a gas station or two. Where we live, you have to drive everywhere. It's a real pain in the ass, especially with twin two year olds. I remember when my husband and I were moving here from Chicago, we just wanted a house so badly we didn't think much about just what sort of lifestyle we were moving into. Now it's all we think about but we're trapped. The down housing market means we're stuck in this house for a while unless something miraculous happens. I know as soon as we can get out we'll be moving somewhere more friendly to a pedestrian lifestyle. I think these days many people are finding that it's better to have a smaller space in a more dynamic area than a larger one in the middle of nowhere. I just wish that was a lesson we had learned earlier.