12 of 12, May 2008

Yay! 12 of 12 time! Since last time I'm moved into a new apartment, so while the pictures are still pretty boring (it was a work day) at least I have some new backgrounds!

Thanks to Chad for this idea.

7:05am, Kitchen: Sadie is still enthralled with the cats and can't understand why they don't want to be licked all the time. Marbles and Jinx basically live on window sills and counter tops these days. Here's Sadie trying to get to Marbles while Marbles just jumps to another counter.

7:08am, Kitchen: Trying to figure out what to bring for lunch. As you'll see later, it's not very exciting. And none of it's from the multiple pieces of tupperware (aka leftovers) that you can see in the fridge.

7:16am, Front Door: I'm just leaving for work now. My commute is shorter these days so I can leave a bit later. When we first moved in I was leaving at 7am; now it's 7:15. I figure in the next month I'll eventually be leaving around 7:45. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I can sleep in though--the bathroom schedule is pretty tight!
7:28am, Division Blue Line Stop: I've finally made it to the el. It's a nice walk now, but I imagine I'll be cursing it when it's 20 below and there's a foot of snow! All along the way there are bars and restaurants and cute little boutiques so there are many temptations to lure me in! I've resisted thus far--hopefully I can keep it up!
7:47am, Mercantile Exchange (aka Work): I've made it to work. My office is at the Merc in Chicago. They've recently transferred most of the traders to the Stock Exchange so the lobby is pretty quiet these days.

10:54am, My Desk: Look! I did work! We had a meeting about some new projects for California. You can also see my origami of the day in the background--it was an owl, which was kind of tough. His beak is a little warped...

12:40am, My Desk: Lunch. Frozen meal, Cracker Jack, and a Diet Mountain Dew. Our new vending service only stocks a few Diet Cokes at a time so I have to resort to the Dew once in a while. Not great--but better than Diet Pepsi! (Side note: I've had MANY conversations about how diet coke drinkers are very strict on how they like their pop (yes, POP! I'm from Chicago), whether it's in a can or bottle, over ice, etc. And how most diet coke drinkers do NOT like diet pepsi and won't drink it. Fascinating, I know. But I totally get it.

5:56pm, Division St: The rest of my day was meetings and work. No pictures there (dull). Now I'm walking home from work. As it gets warmer, more and more of the restaurants have seating outside down Division. It's a bit chilly today (around 55 degrees) so there are not many people out, but the restaurants are ready for them!

6:40pm, Family Room: We bought Mario Kart for the Wii yesterday. FUN! I came home to find that Bob had already played a bit and unlocked a new race set. It's time for me to pick up my game and try to keep up with him. This is Bob playing--thus the 1st place ranking. I tend to fall around 3rd to 4th place for now.

7:50pm, Bedroom: Now that it's warmer, I've decided to pack my sweaters away and get out the summer wear. Hopefully it'll stay warm enough so that I don't have to go digging for something woolly anytime soon.

9:04pm, Family Room: Chocolate Pudding and watching the Cubs trounce the Padres. (12-3? YEAH!). A good end to the day.

9:08pm, Family Room: Bob give Marbles a taste of pudding. I had NO IDEA that cat's tongue was so long. Yeesh.

That's it! I hope you all join me next month!

This is Awesome

For my teacher friends. :)

Moving is Fun

Ah moving. What a FUN process, huh?

It actually went really well. The movers showed up around 8:30 (30-minutes late) and proceeded to pack up all of my stuff in under an hour. And I have a LOT of stuff. We then went to Bob's place, loaded up his stuff (minus the cats) and then headed to the new place. After figuring out how to open the (already unlocked) garage door, they uploaded all of our stuff and were on there way.

Total time: about 3 hours. Incredible. My movers are the BEST.

Bob and I made a couple more trips to his place to clean up a bit and pick up the cats and some odds and ends. The cats were NOT PLEASED with the move. Marbles glared at us from the bathroom sink.

While Jinx scared the bejeezes out of us by opening up a cabinet (talented!) and hiding under the sink. Who knew cats could open doors?
We've now been in the new place for a few days and are mostly unpacked. The pictures are from Saturday morning so I'll have to take some newer ones soon. Since these pictures were taken we've been to IKEA and gotten rid of more stuff.

Side note: it's amazing to me how much stuff I can get rid of AFTER I move. Wouldn't it be easier to not move the stuff in the first place???

So, here's the kitchen. Notice the pot rack! Wee! I love the pot-rack. I'm fairly certain there's a cat on the counter as well. The cats and the dog are learning to like each other, but for now they hide on window sills, under chairs, and on the kitchen counter.

Here's a pic from the doorway of the kitchen looking back into the front room(s).
This mess is the main bedroom, pre-dresser. There's a huge closet, which is nice. Especially now that I have to share!
Here's the front room. Yes I own pink fuzzy slippers and a stuffed dog. Both of which are hiding in the back of the closet by now.
And here's the second bedroom, otherwise known as Sadie's room. Until the animals all get along, Sadie spends a good amount of time here. Hopefully they'll all be able to be out at night together soon since she has to be caged during the day as well. That's a lot of time to be trapped up into one place.
And there's the mini-tour! We're getting close to putting it all away and have been exhausted for the last few days, but it's totally worth it. The new place is FAB. :)

New pictures soon!

Life Update

What have I been doing? Well, I've been packing. And packing. And packing some more.

I have a lot of stuff.

Bob and I are moving tomorrow into our new apartment (hurrah!) and for the last few weeks I've been trying to gather up all of my stuff, reminiscing about things that I have found in the corners, and cursing the remainder of the things. It's amazing how much stuff just comes out of the depths of an apartment when you have to put it all in boxes. I KNOW I have a lot of things, but after moving 2 times in the last two years, you'd think I would have gotten rid of some stuff. Apparently that's not the case.

So here is (almost) all of my belongings. That stack goes back about four boxes. And they're about three wide, and four high...so...a lot of boxes (48 boxes????? really?). It's reached the point now that I'm packing in garbage bags. CLASSY!
Thank goodness I have movers. :)

Edit: Yay! I get to remove my little countdown meter from the right column! It's been up there since January when I first started counting down. And my desk-side countdown post-it can be thrown out too. The first post-it note started at 125 days or something. It's so exciting to be down to one day!

Elevator Courtesy

Seriously. This should be required reading (and testing!) for everyone before they're allowed to use an elevator.

I can't wait for the subway version (which is very similar in my mind, except NEVER sneeze into your hand and then grab the pole again. Ew. Use your elbow)

12 of 12 April 2008

I can't believe it's 12 of 12 time again. Where has the time gone? It could be that it's still 30 degrees here in Chicago--it sure doesn't feel like April!

Check out Chad's blog for more info on 12 of 12 and see pictures from other people around the world!

11:15am: I'm moving next month so I did a little more packing this morning. There's a postcard in this box from my mom from her trip to Australia--who knew emus were that cute?


11:16am: The packing I've done this far. It feels like a lot more than what's in this picture. But there's SO MUCH MORE to do.
11:18am: My roommate got drums. That's...great. We had a fight this morning because I found my clean bath towel on the drums. He didn't understand why I was annoyed that he was drumming on my white towel. I think it's a good thing that I'm moving...

11:29am: Sadie and I have to walk to the vet today and are checking out the rainy day outside, preparing ourselves for the 4+ mile walk. Ick.


11:54am: I also found out that my roommate had broken a window last night. I'm REALLY glad I'm moving. (sigh)


12:40pm: Almost to the vet. You can usually see the Chicago skyline from this bridge, but since today's such a rainy gray day you can only get a glimpse of it. If you squint real hard!


6:41pm: I took a 4 hour nap once I got back from the vet. I was pooped.

6:45pm: Watched an last week's episode of Kenny vs. Spenny

8:15pm: Then Bob and I watched the Cubs lose to the Phillies. Bummer.

9:13pm: Sadie joined up for a beer before dinner.

9:21pm: When we left for dinner it was snowing out. It's April! Luckily it didn't stick. (Unfortunately you can't see it in the photo, but they were pretty big flakes)

9:47pm: Dinner at el Cid. Margaritas and tacos. Yum!

New Apartment!

I have a new apartment! Bob and I signed a lease for a great place in Wicker Park and I'm totally excited.

It's so pretty!

We're moving 3 weeks from tomorrow. Much to do!

(Oh, and there's a pot rack in the kitchen. I'm weirdly really excited for this...)