"It's like you own the Mad Men's grandma's house."

Let the record show it was Chelsea's idea to purchase a home in Indiana. Joey was distant to the idea of becoming a Hoosier mainly because he works in downtown Chicago and the Red Line was extremely convenient. But after four months and tons of mortgage paperwork under our belts, we moved into our first PURCHASED single-family dwelling in late August. We're trendy people, and mortgages are super trendy for the first-time homebuyer crowd as of late. Did we get the swinging tax credit? No. We're unapologetically late adopters.

Who needs $8,000? Obviously not the Kirks (sad.)

Why Munster you ask? Why not other faraway burb lands like Naperville, the-always-classy-but-off-the-hellish-Kennedy Schaumberg, or even Highland or the totes vintage Crown Point? Well after our schooling in property taxes, we decided it was the Hoosier way to be affordable. That swayed our decision to cross the state line. Also, Chelsea works in Merrillville and the whole two hour commute was wearing on her psyche. This involved crying and questioning her life's work on Lake Shore Drive.

So long story short: Joey agreed to live in Indiana IF AND ONLY IF our exit was Exit 1 on the Borman. We took a drive and decided on Munster. Several houses later, we decided on a cute, 1960s era bungalow on a tree-lined street.

Goodbye Chicago and all your cool, sweet things. Hello suburbs, where life is gladly a little slower.

We love our house. We love the lady who built this house with her late husband. I even love her flowery wallpaper she chose for the upstairs. But we're also making several changes to make it a little more "us."

As the guy at Design Within Reach told us (after we decided that DWR was NOT in reach for people on media salaries) "It's like you own the Mad Men's grandma's house."

OMG, we do! Pictures next post.