I Want to Live in Star's Hollow

My husband and I have started the process of buying our first home. So far, it's been exhausting. Interesting, but exhausting.

We started looking several weeks ago. Since the beginning, I have had visions of us finding a cute little house inside the perimeter. Nothing huge, nothing expensive - just a cute little place with a yard and a nice kitchen. In my fantasy, the important thing is the neighborhood. It's the kind of neighborhood that I see on television all the time. There are friendly women walking down the street with cute dogs on leashes. There are nice people working in their gardens next door. There is a neighborhood pool where residents have cookouts and Christmas gatherings. In essence, the whole place feels like home.

Over the past few weeks, we've searched hard for the fantasy house. It involves lots of driving around, following small red "home for sale" signs with arrows and balloons attached. It means pulling out lots of fliers rolled up into tubes or plastic boxes. It means being really patient.

We've had to revise our search a couple of times, but we've got some good prospects, I think. Maybe soon we'll be homeowners!