Gotta ♥ NJ

I thought last week that perhaps I would have to scale back the Gotta ♥ series because I was running out of things to love.  You know how once something becomes the norm, it is hard to see the goodness in them.  I mean it is still good, but you lose that wonder or that desire to talk about it because you assume everyone already knows.  That is how Germany went also.  I raved about it for about a year or so and then it just became our lives.  I thought NJ might be losing its sparkle after just a few months.  Then a couple of things happened and I am back to thinking this is a pretty cool place to live.

This week I would like to focus on my redneck side.  I have one, ya know.  I am from Tennessee.  You can't help but have some redneck in you if you are from there.  Nothing over the top, just a little love for things not quite hip.  I've heard that NJ has its fair share of rednecks, but we live in a pretty yuppy town, so we don't see much of that here.  I also assume that NJ rednecks are like those people on Jersey Shore.  I could be way off since I have never seen the show. I am just giving you my impression.  Anyway, I got to let my redneck side out this weekend when E put up the...Tire Swing!! (in the front yard, no less!)

In Texas we had those pesky things called Home Owners Associations (HOA).  I mean, I got "reminders" about my driveway needing a cleaning or the fact that I dared to put a bench in the front of my house (so I could sit and watch my kids play).  The "reminders" were quite annoying.  I, being from TN, totally understood that the point was to keep people from putting cars up on blocks in the front yard or putting out a flock of flamingos (I've always thought that was sort of funny though).  But the HOA took itself a bit too seriously in my opinion.  I mean, limiting the height of play structures in your own backyard. Please.

Where we live now, houses have been here for 50+ years.  People buy them, renovate them, change the neighborhood.  There is no HOA.  And that means that I can have a tire swing in my front yard and that my family and I can INTERACT with neighbors while enjoying our currently wonderful weather.

So, I gotta love NJ for mature trees and no HOA's!!