All in a few days' work!

Wow. I have so much to update on. Where to start? ...

So Mark and I had our whirlwind few days in Chicago. All day Thursday was spent running around the city with Mark's cousin who is our Realtor, looking at apartments. To say this was a stressful day is a major understatement. First off, Chicago was dumped with two feet of snow only ten hours prior to our arrival. While that city is amazing at cleanup, there were random mountains of snow everywhere and every few blocks you got a boot full of ice. 

So anyway, after day one we were not sold on any apartment in particular. That night I had a panic attack about the move and about how we had no where to live, and essentially very few people to lean on there. After several tears on my part, a trip to Nordstrom on Michigan Ave., and a phone call to my mom, I was a little more at ease.

Friday morning Mark went to meet with his new office-mates and I had my interview at The Ritz. The job is not to work at the Ritz, just the interview was there, but I thought that was pretty cool. Apparently they have a lot of their events there. Ironically, after the interview, Mark and I found our apartment, one block away.

So... now we are closing our lease on an 11th floor teeny (for us) apartment (but we aren't used to city living). And I just accepted a job offer from the one I interviewed for on Friday!

Needless to say, we are knee-deep in paperwork of all kinds, and I am about to be crazy from all the things I need to do for our move in THREE WEEKS. It seems like we were in Chicago weeks ago when in fact we only got back 2 days ago. Weird.


p.s. I saw the mom from "Little People Big World" at O'Hare! I think it's cool.

And we're off! ... We Hope.

So we have officially picked the worst week of the year for our final/venture trip up to Chicago. Not only were they just dumped with two feet of snow, but had 75mph winds, and public schools were cancelled due to snow for the first time in TWELVE YEARS. Yeah. I am feeling really good about my future living conditions.

Originally, our flight was supposed to leave tomorrow morning from BWI at 9:30am, but for some reason that flight was cancelled and we were put on an earlier flight. I am completely confused at the logic there. Mark was the one who spoke with the person at the airline and they said it was because our original flight was coming in from Chi. Uhh... why would they cancel flights leaving Chi, but not ones coming into it earlier in the morning? Maybe there is some secret airport code to this, but I am not following, and not thrilled that I have a 4am wake-up.

Anyone who knows me will also know that not only am I an anxiety-ridden lunatic, but my one particular phobia is flying. I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE flying. To me, stepping onto an airplane is the equivalent of the olden days when pirates tied people's hands with chains and told them to "walk the plank." I feel as though I am looking death in the face when I am getting on a plane. So far (aka in my life) the only short-term cure to this is to combine anxiety meds and alcohol... which is definitely not medically recommended. But you know what? I don't really care if I am the drugged up alchie because otherwise I would be the person crying and gasping and gripping the chair the entire flight. Unfortunately, my flight is so early tomorrow, I don't think I will be able to find booze at the airport. Is it ok to BYOB as long as it comes in 3oz bottles?

Counting the days

We are starting to get to the point where we are counting down the days... at least to our trip up before the move- and that is 9 days. Right now, Mark is on a 6 day guys ski trip in Montana.  I hate it when he's gone. It feels like I have so much more time on my hands, and I get lonely. However, I use this as an excuse to see some friends, order in food he doesn't like (ie: sushi), and watch a ton of chick flicks.

Someone has applied for our apartment, so keep your fingers crossed that they actually sign the lease and everything goes smoothly.

Awards Season

There's something about awards season that turns me into an emotional idiot. I think it has to do with seeing people's dreams come true. There's just something so touching about seeing someone who is an award virgin receive an award. Tonight kicked off the season with the Golden Globes. I blubbered for five minutes when Chris Colfer from Glee won- but I am a total sap.

Not much progress on the move as of yet. We have had several people "tour"our apartment, to tell us they are interested, and then back out. It makes no sense to me since we are in a brand new building in a very rare Montgomery County subsidized rent program, but whatev. People are strange.

TGFK

TGFK (Thank God for Krystal)

Krystal is Mark's cousin's wife, who happens to live in the Chicago suburbs, and is a realtor. She has been a huge life saver for us, since she helps people find homes for a living.

Being so far away has been a huge burden for us in finding a place. Thankfully, Krystal has been working her magic and finding us potential apartments to rent. Words cannot describe how grateful I am. Without her, we would probably end up in one of the one bedroom shacks we found on Craigslist.

Luckily, the moving process has moved along a little, and we have had people coming by to look at our apartment, to maybe takeover our lease. We have also booked our trip up to Chicago in a few weeks to secure everything.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything else goes smoothly.

p.s. Follow me on Twitter: BonnieLessans  :)

Utter Chaos

This week has been absolutely crazy. Within a week, we got an approximate moving date, and about 400 things to do.

Unfortunately, Mark and I cannot get ourselves to Chicago for a visit/ to pick out an apartment until February 3rd due to scheduling conflicts. Which will give us about 3 weeks to get EVERYTHING set up. To say I am stressed would be an understatement.

On top of that, we need to find someone to sublease our current apartment within the next five days.

Why is moving so insane?

If anyone has tips for moving cross-country- please share!

Seize the day

When I got married, I had that cliche feeling of "today is the first day of the rest of my life." Today, that feeling came back, albeit not as much. Today, we got the good news that Mark could transfer his job out to Chicago. So, we will be leaving the East Coast in March! Yay!!!!

This was such a great start to the New Year, and hopefully everyone else is taking this opportunity to live, and seize the day.