Somewhere over the rainbow...

Today while I was enjoying my relaxing mani/pedi I realized why I hate this area. The way the other women in there were talking made me sick. They were all either caught up in the gossip magazines or talking needlessly on their cell phones. I wonder if I am a product of this self-centered stuck up area, something I have tried so hard my entire life not to become. I don't want my children growing up in an area where it's a competition between who has the newest and most expensive Coach purse or the latest designer jeans or sunglasses. I want them and myself to be able to walk outside my house and know the neighbors name. Somewhere where people don't travel for weeks on end for business and are rude to the grocery clerk who takes a little long in their lane.

I want a simpler life where you don't have to worry about violence, finances, rapes, and kidnappings. My biggest fear in life is that I will never find that. It will always be 1330 rent for a one bed one bath apartment and people paying hundreds of dollars to get their hair done every month or their nails every week. I don't want to live in such a material world. It's not the Madonna song I want in my life. I try to stay away from the latest trends, not to be different like the "wanna be punk rockers" I just want to be myself and not get caught up in the life of Northern Virginia where there is a Starbucks on every corner. I want to go to the corner shop and see Jane or Flo or Carol and be able to have a conversation with them and not mention that I paid $300 for a pair of sunglasses.

Does such a place still exist?