BrickUnderground

Pining for a house in Brooklyn feels almost cliché. To which we say: So what? There’s a reason it’s become shorthand. But a house in Brooklyn for under two million? As it appears, not such a dream, after all. These properties are all hosting open houses this weekend, and with price tags that — by New York standards, anyway — don’t seem painfully out of reach.

Cable doesn't come cheap: Try anywhere from just under $30 a month (Time Warner's "starter" package with HBO Go and 20-plus channels, for instance) to around $100 or more a month for combo plans that offer hundreds of channels, high-speed Internet, premium channels (HBO, Showtime and the like).

In a list of must-haves, sometimes a stunning view has to fall off, especially for the budget-minded in all of us. But that's not to say we have to make peace with that air-shaft vista, or surrender to staring at a brick wall forever. Apartment Therapy has tips on how to get a better apartment outlook, literally, including installing stained glass and potted plants and herbs on a window sill.

You know that "expectations vs. reality" video in 500 Days of Summer that pretty much breaks your heart every time you see it because it shows exactly how we fantasize one outcome but are sometimes woefully disabused of any notion of true and accurately predicted happiness? (Can you tell we feel very strongly about that movie?)