The Big Bad City

I woke up this morning totally overjoyed. Today was my first day off since the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I slept in until 9:30, finished a book, talked with Mom, and thoroughly enjoyed my time to myself. I decided I wanted to make gingerbread cookies since it's December and I haven't baked anything since November. It's a baking drought.

You know those days when the universe is warning you not to leave the house but you decide to challenge it anyway? This was one of those days. Really really one of those days.

Here I am, running to the corner (in my beautiful new Sorel boots) to catch the bus to the grocery store for molasses and milk, and when I get on to pay, I realize I forgot my wallet. My card for the bus fare was in my purse, but not my wallet. So I'm a bit panicky since I'm already on the bus and it's moving and I don't have my wallet. Thankfully I have a Dominick's gift card in my bag and I know I can get what I need without an issue.

I'm hurrying to the back of the bus in my beautiful new Sorel boots and the next thing I know the bus lurches forward and I'm on my butt. Sitting in the aisle while all the sweet old women are gasping and the senile old men are laughing and the nice co-ed says, "are you alright?" One of the aforementioned sweet old ladies has griped my hand in the death grip and is still gasping and saying "Oh, dear. Oh, dear" thinking that it will help me in some way. I quickly took stock and realized that while I might be bruised in placed that don't see the light of day, nothing was broken or seriously hurt. So I got up and moved to a seat, where I realized that the whole bus was staring at me as if I might fall again. I wanted to say, "I promise I won't magically fall out of this seat and slide to the floor again." But I held my tongue and smiled at the sympathetic and expectant stares.

I walked to the grocery store and laughed the entire way, knowing that if I didn't, I'd cry from the effort it took to waddle the three blocks to the store. I groaned every time I dropped something and had to bend over and grimaced every time I had to lean over something.

I eventually made my way to the self checkout and kept everything under the $50 gift card and bag everything. I noticed that it started to rain while I was checking out, but no big deal.

I waddled the three blocks back to the bus and quickly realized that it was raining much harder than I had anticipated and puddles had formed in the gutters.

I missed the bus by one light and started toward the shelter with my two bags, purse and brand new beautiful Sorel boots. I set my bag on the bench and wondered why the seat was wet. The next car set me straight. The wall of water that came my way was at least four feet high and filthy. And this is no side street. This is a busy street with four different bus lines and many many cars traveling 40-45 mph. 25% of the cars and busses traveling this road drove through the puddle, sending wall after wall of water toward me and my "fresh" groceries (including fresh bread). Eventually I moved behind the shelter to use it as a shield, but not before I was soaked, my new beautiful Sorel boots were drenched, and my groceries were soggy.

So now I'm home, my clothes are in the washing machine, my groceries are drying out and my boots are near the radiator. I'm sitting (gingerly) in a chair on a bag of frozen corn after downing three IB profen and have my hot water bottle in my lap.

Next time the universe warns me, I'm listening.

Job Hunting

So as the title of this entry might indicate, I am looking for a full time job. Anywhere. As long as it pays well. And has benefits. And isn't too far away. And... Well, I'm trying not to be too picky, but REI really spoiled it for me. Everyday I wake up and pull my computer up and apply for several jobs at a time, hoping that one of them will think I'm the perfect fit for me. Hopefully it won't take too much longer.

In other news, Harold has almost finished his second week at school and I'm readjusting to having him gone most of the time (or at least holed up in the den studying). The weather has turned cool almost overnight, and although it is just the first part of September, I can already tell I'm going to love Fall here. It's still sunny, bright blue skies, and there is still a breeze, but it's in the mid sixties. It's perfect!

Mom is going to be coming for a visit in a week and I'm SO excited. I was able to trade hours so I have the time off to spend with her and not have to work. I can't wait for her to get here!

There isn't a whole lot going on besides working and looking for jobs, but I figured I'd drop a small update anyway.

Not Enough.

I've been accused of not updating this enough. So here is another post!

Life has been fairly crazy for both Harold and I. I've been able to log into work for the past week and a half, and since we now have internet, I've been able to do it from HOME! So I'm still working 40 hours per week, though this will be the last time I'm able to do it for a while. This Thursday marks my last day at Headquarters... for good. Weird! Though this has been an easier way to "go out" since I've been able to wrap up loose ends for my replacement and the rest of the Studio.

Harold and I bought a couch! It's beautiful and we love it, but it hasn't arrived yet. It is supposed to get here today between 10-2 and we couldn't be more excited! We ordered it before our pod got here, so we've been sitting in our bean bag chair (thanks Mom) and our rocking chair (again, thanks Mom). We can't wait to have something that we can sit on, take naps on, and make our living room look like it is supposed to!

Work at the store is good, though a lot harder than I remember. My feet kill me after one 8.5 hour shift even in good shoes! However, I'm loving being in a store and in the retail environment again. It's been a lot of fun!

We have decided to be as thrifty as possible when it comes to food, so we're buying things like a whole chicken and yeast for bread so that we can have yummy things multiple times without having to buy them every time. For instance, I made my first whole roasted chicken on Sunday, carved it, then boiled the carcass with veggies and herbs and made chicken stock. Then we used part of the chicken in pasta a few nights ago, more in quesadillas last night, and we still have some left over... Not to mention the stock! Harold made rye bread from scratch as well, and while I'm not a huge fan of caraway seeds, this particular recipe didn't have a lot, so we've both been enjoying the loaf throughout the week. It's been fun! I baked cookies and have been able to have something sweet when the mood strikes as well. Life is good!

Also, I discovered a Hancock Fabrics down the street from us and I'm not sure I could be more excited about it. I bought a book on easy projects for the home so that I can make pillow covers and kitchen towels and pot holders without having to go out and buy them from a store! I'm super excited for it. Plus it gives me something to do in the evenings when Harold is studying (he's already started and classes start on Monday...) I also bought a puzzle that I've been plugging away at. I'm trying to only buy things that will give me drawn out pleasure, hoping that I won't use it all up and get tired of it, then go buy something else. Projects, I guess you could call them.

Anyway, I should grab some breakfast while I'm thinking about it. More later!

We are officially moved in!

Tuesday was one of those days that you only live once. Why? Because once you move yourself in four flights of stairs, you never do it again and realize why you would pay movers to do it for you. My legs are still shaking at the thought of it...

We hired two people to come help us move, knowing that only having two hours was going to push our limits. One guy showed up (Brian) and informed us that he was the only one that would be showing up. So we had one mover. The pods were supposed to arrive between 11:00 am-12:00 pm, so we asked that Brian arrive around 11:15 or 11:30. He got there at 11:15 and by noon we were still wondering where our pods were. Harold called and they informed him that after a whole week of waiting for them, we'd have to wait another hour. Awesome. So we told Brian to go for a walk or something (he was hanging out in front of our building drinking coffee) and we'd hopefully have the pods by the time he got back.

1:00 rolls around and we still don't see a blue and yellow truck coming down the street. Harold called again and got no answer. Around 1:20 the truck comes rolling down our street with a happy-go-lucky driver. Harold and I couldn't figure out why he rubbed us the wrong way, but I think it stems from being over two hours behind schedule and not apologizing or acting as if anything was wrong.

He finally drops the pods in our alley and says, "You have two hours starting from when I parked the truck out there on the street." So Brian, Harold and I got to work. We opened one pod and attacked the contents (it was mainly furniture stuffed with boxes). Brian was incredible. He literally put two of our heaviest boxes on his back and carried them BOTH up four flights of stairs. He was so nice and considerate, he didn't even ask for water when he needed it. It put my manners to the test trying to remember that every time I needed water, so did he, but he wouldn't ask for it.

Four or five loads into the move I started questioning our ability to get these things unloaded in the amount of time we had. I looked at Harold and said, "It's the stairs! Without these, it wouldn't be hard!" Well, with about 10 minutes to spare, we got the pods unloaded and into our house. As I said, Brian was amazing! He looked at us after we were done and said, "I hope you people are not planning on moving for a long time..." We made sure to give him a really big tip :-)

Yesterday was my first full day of work at the Lincoln Park REI store! It was a lot of fun to be back on the floor talking with customers and really seeing some of the headquarters decisions being put into place. It was a long day (left the house at 8:45 and got home around 7) but I loved it! My feet aren't so sure if it was a good idea though...

Thoughts on Working from Starbucks

I'm sitting in Starbucks for the 4th weekday morning in a row trying to connect to work, and while I'm waiting for my computer to connect to work, I thought maybe I'd write some thoughts down on life and working from Starbucks.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days so far. Harold came to sit with me at Starbucks until around 12:30 or 12:45pm and listened to me venting about my inability to connect to work. We went back home after an unsuccessful two hours for lunch (leftovers and sandwiches) until it was time to leave for work. I'm WORKING! It was only about two and a half hours, but it was still awesome to feel like I have a purpose in this city besides shopping for furniture I can't afford. While in a meeting with the store manager, the sky opened and it started pouring. It felt so good! It feels like the air holds on to all of this humidity until it just can't stand it anymore, then finally releases all of the moisture of the entire week in one fell swoop. After the store tour and meeting the many smiling faces of the Lincoln Park REI, Harold met me and we caught the L to come home. We got soaked! Just the two block walk to the L from the store and we were totally drenched.

Once back in Rogers Park we went to this old fashioned family Italian place a block north of our apartment. True to what Weezer and Jen said, this place had FANTASTIC food! Their minestrone was amazing! I warned Harold that that was going to be my "I'm sick and need soup" soup. Yum!

We went home and read, telling ourselves we were going to open a bottle of wine to celebrate our last night on the air mattress, but we both almost fell asleep on the floor by about 9. Oh well! Thankfully Harold remembered to pull the wine out of the freezer before we got into bed : )

Today we cleaned up the apartment because... our PODS are finally arriving!! They should be here in about an hour or so as should the movers that we hired to help us get everything up four flights of stairs. I can't wait for our apartment to start feeling like our home!

So, as I said at the top, I have started trying to work from Starbucks since we won't have internet until tomorrow. I've been at two different stores, and I've definitely noticed the differences in the neighborhoods.

In Andersonville:

~More dogs.

~More babies.

~More crazy coffee orders

~More young people

~More active store

In Rogers Park:

~More family of the employees

~More foreign languages

~More old men speaking those languages

~More meetings between friends

~More banter between the customers and the baristas

~More of those people who are considered "odd"

~More students studying

Both places had those funny conversations that you hear parts of, but I love the Rogers Park store for the basic fact that I live here. I see the same old men every morning and a different group is here whenever I stop by in the evening. The morning groups are the foreign language men who gather at an outside table and smoke and the evening group is a collection of older guys who have thick Chicago accents and talk politics. I love it!

Off to help Harold get the place cleaned up and wait for the pods!

First Full Day Down

Good Morning!

Yesterday was our first full day in the big city and we both really enjoyed it. It still feels as if we're visiting since we don't have any of our furniture and are still living out of suitcases.

We arrived on Tuesday around noon and boarded the "L" train from O'Hare and we didn't even have to get outside before it felt like you could have cut the air with a knife and our "Seattle Summer" clothes were stuck to us. Let me tell you, two suitcases (one a backpack), jeans, two layers of shirts, socks and shoes were not the best choice. By the time we got to the apartment finders that had our keys, we had to just sit for a few minutes on their couches in their air conditioning. Both of our shirts were soaked through!

By the time we reached our apartment (after another walk and another "L" train) we walked up our four flights of stairs to find that our landlords hadn't expected us for some reason. Lovely! The whole place was (is) covered in drywall dust and still had a ladder in the middle of our living room. In a matter of minutes Larry was at our door and showed Harold how to install air conditioner filters and how to change the batteries in the smoke detectors. At this point our shirts still hadn't dried, so this was pretty much the last thing on our list of things we wanted to be doing. However, Grace (Larry's wife) brought us up linens and a blow-up bed so we could sleep on something other than the hardwood floor. They had also turned on our air conditioner for us so we cooled down fairly fast.

Apparently there was a "heat index temperature" of 104 degrees that day, and man did it feel like it. It was around 94 degrees without the humidity.

We basically settled in (dried off), put different clothes on, then headed to an early dinner at our current favorite cafe a block north of us. We came back, blew up the bed, then fell asleep by around 7:30. Well, Harold was asleep by 7:30. We had a very exciting thunderstorm that evening where the lightening was constantly flashing across the sky. Then the thunder shook the building and the rain pounded on the window of our bedroom. I read the National Weather Service report while it was happening and it said to move to the lowest and most interior room of your house because of "deadly lightening, large hail, and winds in excess of 60 to 70 mph." Ha. Welcome to life outside the beautiful PNW!

Yesterday Harold and I took the bus into one of our favorite little neighborhoods (Andersonville) and met up with one of our favorite camp people (Weezer) who happens to be visiting a friend in the city! It was awesome to see a familiar face and be able to chat about something other than our move. We furniture shopped at a few cute antique stores, had lunch at an amazing sandwich place, and overall had a pretty wonderful afternoon.

In the evening Harold and I ate leftovers from the cafe while sitting on pillows in our empty living room (did I tell you the storage place in Chicago is closed on Wednesdays?!), then we decided to take a walk along the beach since the temperature was more enjoyable than Tuesday. It was stunning! We are hoping to make a evening ritual of it until the weather changes. We left the apartment feeling good about many of our choices that led us to this big city, and our walk confirmed it. We watched the sun set over our new city and realized that we are really really in this together.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Four Days, Nineteen Hours, Fifty-six Minutes.

Last night was our going away party where we had about twenty of our closest friends and family members come see our mostly empty house and eat Zeek's pizza, and while it still doesn't seem real that Harold and I will be out of our house in four days, nineteen hours and forty-eight minutes, it was a blast to see most of the people we love in one place. My mom, dad, Dawn, and Alex and Lisa were here, as well as Jimmy and Andrea (Harold's friend from childhood and his wife). Ruthie was here (and took the chair and a half and our two living room tables home with her) as was Paxton, Caleb and Kevin, Lunchbox, Beanie, Summit, and Justin Huertas. Beef and Daffy, Bacon and Skipper (our newest West Seattle neighbors) and Yoshi (with sweet baby Quin). It was a fantastic night and only one spurt of tears for the entire night. It was the perfect way to leave Seattle, rainy cold day included.

Since last week, Harold and I have packed our entire kitchen, most of our living room, and given loads of clothes/utensils/shoes/knick-knacks to the Goodwill. Now that Ruth took the chair and a half, our living room actually echos. It's bizarre. Mom came over yesterday and helped finish painting the bathroom (that I started three months ago) and help me organize the house in time for the party. I ended up packing more kitchen and living room things and she helped to do some cleaning that we will now not have to do this week. I'm feeling good about where we stand in regards to our move.

Yesterday began our good-byes with a whole group of people that we won't probably see again until Christmas. Then this morning I had brunch with Yoshi and Quin and we just got back from dinner with Lunchbox. This next week holds good-byes to our house, work, co-workers (the best ever), and all of our belongings (until we see them again on August 3rd). Starting Friday is camp again with a whole host of hard good-byes wrapped up with it.

And then come our good-byes to our families, which are the hardest of them all.

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."