Better than I expected.

There came a point last night, probably around 3am when we were still moving in boxes and shelves, that I thought "I've made a horrible mistake".  I felt pretty awful, but there it was -- we had so much stuff, we didn't have a kitchen, we had spent a small fortune (by our standards) on the U-Haul and new appliances, and I was really afraid.

What if this isn't at all what I thought it would be?  What if I was going to fall asleep crying for my old bedroom?  What if Dave was unhappy, too?

But this morning, all of those feelings of doubt faded away.  I stepped out the front door of my new building, onto a busy, bustling, loud sidewalk packed with people from all walks of life.  There were cabs honking their horns, and bicyclists defying death in the intersection, and I realized that when I had pictured moving to the "big city", this had been what I'd had in mind all along.  Chaos and noise.  It was like music to my ears.  I thought "this is all mine", and I smiled.

This is my little corner of the world now.  An office with a view, high ceilings, at least a decade of dust caked onto the windows, and a man outside picking through the trash and screaming at nothing or no one in particular, while I sit at my desk and listen to Charlie Parker.

I'm so immensely proud of where I am today, and so grateful that Dave is on board for this journey.  This is going to be a hell of a time.

Don't forget, I'm still running my giveaway for a season pass (for TWO!) to the Randolph Street Market here in beautiful Chicago IL!

Enter here!

Ah, what the heck!

Wanna hear a funny story?  Well, okay, it's not really a story, and it's not all that funny... but today I started packing up the kitchen, and was getting SO frustrated!  Where does all of this stuff come from, anyway?  I have three different kinds of flour?  I even found a stick o' lard.  Seriously, lard.  So I called my sister, and she assured me that this wasn't unusual (she is a fellow frequent-mover), that the kitchen is always the most difficult room to pack.

But the best part?

Our new place doesn't actually have a kitchen.

I've dramatically named this the "dedicated cooking area".

Yeah.  I'm going to spend at least 2-3 days packing up a room with nowhere really to put the things once I get them to the new space.  I find that moderately funny, anyway.

We've got kitchen-esque plans, of course.  Shelves, Mason jars full of dry goods, a fancy-schmancy new mini fridge (with an adorable little freezer).  But seriously, I might have to really start cutting down on my kitchen supplies, because this is starting to look a wee bit crazy.

I feel like I've arrived.

We signed the lease and got the keys today.  I'm still in a bit of a state of disbelief -- about the space, about the gallery, about the new neighborhood -- all of it is so overwhelming in the best way.

We went to lunch at Native Foods (god, I'm going to go broke with this spot only a short walk away), and took a walk to the park that must be the neighborhood's namesake (Wicker Park).  It's so exciting to have a whole new neighborhood to explore!

I'm so relieved that the waiting is over, even though it means that the packing and cleaning is starting.  So I'm pretty tired, and I don't know if I'll be posting a lot this week (out of excitement) or not posting at all (out of exhaustion), but when the time comes, I can't wait to share more pictures of the space with y'all.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free season pass to the Randolph Street Market HERE!  I've extended it to the end of the month, because I know I'm going to be busy this week.

Okay, time to be lazy on the couch.

What to do...

I've wanted to write something for the past week, but I've been at a total loss on how to start it... I haven't really got anything to say, because this thing I'm thinking about hasn't happened yet, but just the thought of it is getting me all riled up.

I went to see an art/living space.  I really liked it, and as I am prone to do, I got a little... obsessive.  I think about the place almost constantly, and I've made more pros/cons lists than I care to admit to.  All of them come out the same, with the pros outweighing the cons.  I've also made quite a few hypothetical budgets.  Oh, how I love making budgets.

But at this point, I'm having way more anxiety about it than it's worth.  I want to get on here and tell you how excited I am, how it's totally going to work out, and post pictures of this beautiful space, but for now all I can do is wait.

I'm awful at waiting.

So if there is anyone out there reading this who believes in positive energy, please send some my way, because I could really use it right now.  I want this to work out so badly, but not at the cost of my sanity, or my boyfriend's sanity more likely.

I appreciate you in advance.  :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Have you noticed that I've been absent for a while?  Busy with work, busy with school, blah blah blah... finally, I got busy doing something that made me really happy -- I moved!!

The apartment is fabulous, the neighborhood is fantastic, and the kitchen is a dream.  Oh, yeah, and I can have a dog... one of which I recently apprehended... oops?

There will be pictures, there will be updates, and there will be stories, but first let me get these boxes unpacked...  See you soon!