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Originally Posted by wholewheatchick  I've been interested in your username for a while! Can you tell us how you came up with that?
Do you like living in Ann Arbor? It seems like it is beatiful up there, from what our friends say, but I've never been.
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I chose my username because It's simple and catchy and in a very cheeky way represents me. In some ways I am pretty crunchy (hence the
Granola). My husband and I are planning to cloth diaper, co-sleep, breast feed, we are not vaccinating, if the baby had been a boy we would not have circumcised, and we prioritize natural products in our home. The
Gucci part of the name eludes to my love of fashion, good hair days, and grooming. In actuality I don't eat granola often or own anything designed by Gucci, but the sentiment is there and I liked how the two sounded together.
I love living in Ann Arbor. After high school my husband (then boyfriend) and I moved to Chicago to attend college. We both enjoyed the big city and I couldn't wait to get out of Ann Arbor. A couple of years later right after we got married we realized that our quality of life would be ten times better if we moved back to Ann Arbor.
Moving back home has allowed us to live in a lovely townhouse with hardwood floors and our own basement with washer and dryer (having your own washer and dryer is pretty rare in a big city). I feel safe here (even in our very expensive "nice" neighborhood in Chicago there always seemed to be a serial rapist or string of burglaries) and we have been able to build a real life on a modest income.
Being the oldest pair of 25 year olds on the planet
, we are happy with the variety of family friendly activities including: a year round farmers market, pumpkin patch, cider mill, summer art fair with thousands of booths, lakes to swim in, tons of music, dance, and theater through the University of Michigan, great food, decent shopping, free lectures and recitals through the university, and an awesome public library (complete with free events for kids and adults).
It's also easy to shop locally here which is important to us. There is a garden/general type store where I buy spring bulbs, canning supplies, sun hats, and mulch. Great local bakery that sells bread worth swooning over. A food co-op that is well stocked and well maintained (that has an adjoining cafe featuring free trade coffee and tea, and a hot bar/salad bar with delicious natural foods). The public school system is very highly rated, the crime is low, and the unemployment rate is always lower than the rest of the state. For James and me it was about finding a place to raise a family that allowed us access to the things that are most important to us. Turned out that place was right back where we started.
Ann Arbor is probably not for you if you are: very conservative, can't deal with snow or winter, need a very active nightlife (there are clubs and bars that stay open late but it's not the same as a big city), don't own a car (public transport is fine during the week but it's not great on weekends and would make running errands difficult).
the things you said are what we love, too! This place has almost zero of all that, and it is frustrating to me, but at least it is temporary. 
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