Does this Zipcode Make Me Look Smart?

Hubby and I made our annual trek to Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival in Manchester, Tennessee. If you are unfamiliar with this event, it is four days of music, 70,000 sweaty, stinky people and scorching heat. Doesn't that sound fabulous? Are you already making plans to attend next year?

Just in case you are undecided, let me sweeten the deal with camping. In a tent. I personally have been camping four times in my adult life. The first was when the kids were little, and I swore I would never do it again. Three years ago, I happily broke that promise to myself to go to Bonnaroo, and it was so worth it.

While we set up camp on Thursday (and by we, I mean mostly Hubby), I went around meeting our neighbors. Pretty much the first question asked is where are you from. We of course got very nice reactions when our answer was the Raleigh area.  Several people made comments about the education level of the Triangle. When one guy said there are a lot of very smart people in the Triangle, Hubby and I said in unison that an exception was made for us.  Several people asked if we were professors or worked at one of the universities.

We are no dummies, but around here, we are pretty much average joes. The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area is always in the top ten rankings of most educated regions of the country, most PhD's per capita and most STEM workers. Living in the Triangle is like seeing yourself in a smart mirror which is similar to a skinny mirror except instead of reflecting a slimmer version of you, it reflects a more intelligent version of you.

Of course here in Cary, I am pretty quickly recognized for what I am which is a liberal arts major from a southern state school. When I tell people that I have a daughter who goes to Carolina, I'm often met with a look of skepticism.  I am sure they are thinking 'Really?! How could you possibly have produced a child smart enough to get into Carolina.' Oh well, I look smart to the rest of the world, so I am going with that.

Tiny House

Someone asked me today if there were any tiny houses for sale in the Cary/Raleigh area.  She did not mean a 1,000 square foot bungalow; she meant a tiny house.  As in the 250 square foot homes made popular by HGTV's Tiny House Hunters.  I was genuinely sorry to say I did not know of any in the area because I would love nothing more than to tour a bunch of houses with less square footage than the master bathroom of the houses I typically show.

Adorable Tiny House

The appeal of tiny houses is undeniable. They are just so darn cute with their cozy porches and pipe chimneys. They are filled with little cubbies and hidy-holes to store all of your stuff. And speaking of stuff, you would actually have to get rid of most of yours if you moved into one of these small abodes which is a dream of many people too.

I think one of the big reasons people like want a tiny house is they get all this fabulous cuteness for a tiny amount of money. But from what I hear, divorces are expensive, and I am pretty sure that is where Hubby and I would end up if we tried to co-habituating in a space barely larger than a king sized bed.

This is why instead of a tiny house, I want a tiny camper. I think we could survive a week together in a canned ham. After all we do five nights in a tent at Bonnaroo. Believe me, accommodations that include A/C, a toilet and a shower would be pure luxury compared to that.  Plus with a Camper, it is only temporary. A week in it and then I can spread out in my suburban palace with all my stuff again. Seems like the perfect compromise.

My Version of a Tiny House