Covetous Thoughts

My husband and I are the very early stages of buying a home.  And by very early, I mean we have not determined how much we can realistically put down, have not been to a mortgage broker, bank or realtor.  What I really mean is we look on craigslist for open houses.  And  sigh over the pretty pictures of houses we cannot afford.  

One thing we are realizing is we will likely have to leave our beloved San Francisco, for the, only mildly less astronomically priced, greener pastures of the East Bay.  No concrete decisions have been made (see above) but that is where we're leaning and it already makes me wistful for the city by the bay, even as I reside in it. 

And on that note, lately I've been looking at nearby dwellings with at least 2 of the 7 deadly sins (usually lust and envy.  Sometimes gluttony).  In truth, coveting my neighbor's house is nothing terribly new to me.  Whatever rental I've lived in, there has always been at least one house nearby--rarely the biggest, prettiest or most expensive; in fact it's usually somewhere between the most modest and the most grand on the block--that I've fantasized was mine.  There's just something about these houses (or flats).  Sometimes it's an inviting red dining room with crown mouldings that looks so cozy, yet opulent, when lit up at night.  Sometimes it's the tiniest sliver of a back deck, peeking around a corner unit--sun dappled at all times in my imagination.  

This time it's two things:  flowers and blue.  The color of this house and the eclectic, homey jumble of flowers in the front yard makes me just want to walk right in, pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down at the kitchen table to look at a cookbook.  

Maybe our future house, in a different town, will give me that same feeling. Here's hoping.