Justin has safely returned from his adventures in the great beyond and is starting his first full week of commuting to work. He's lucky to only have a 20-40 minute drive (depending on traffic), considering the average commute is about an hour one way! His office is in Burr Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, which is also close to IKEA, Meijer, and other big box stores. Lucky for me, he can make quick stops at lunch or on the way home (maybe not at IKEA), so I don't have to drive aimlessly around the city with people honking at me....precisely what I did last Thursday.
I decided that we needed a bookcase for our random books and tchotchkes that have been sitting in boxes for about four years now, since we don't have room in storage (which the perpetrators finally cleaned out). So I found a bookcase at World Market that was a pretty good deal, and decided to go for a drive. I put the address in GPS and headed out. For some reason the Honda GPS likes to take me right through the middle of the city....not such a good idea for me. GPS also doesn't recognize the stacked streets here. There is an upper, lower, and dungeon level of several streets in Chicago. I tried my best to keep my cool and not panic with cars whizzing around and honking every 30 seconds. I've got it in my head that every time I hear a honk, it's at me....whether it is or not...I've turned into a very paranoid driver. At one point, I was turning left at a light (no arrow), the car behind me honked, then went around me and turned left right in front of me! Geeze....I'm sorry I didn't want to risk getting plowed so you could make the light!! My NC plate makes me a target for impatient drivers. Wonder if I'll get less honks once I get an Illinois plate....probably not. After getting very turned around, even with the GPS, and taking about half an hour to go 4 miles, I finally made it to the shopping center. I secured my bookcase and got out of there as quickly as I could so as not to get stuck in 5:00 traffic. I checked the map and figured out my own way home instead of following the GPS, which took much less time and was much less stressful.
I also made it to Target last week and discovered the shelves stocked with heavy duty winter boots....in mid September? Our cabbie Friday night did say that we could see snow in October, so I had better get prepared! I see a long puffy coat in my near future....but where am I going to put it? We are going to need another closet just for our winter gear!
this isn't charlotte target for sure!
We had our first thunderstorm, which isn't really a big deal, but it was very cool watching the raindrops stream down the side of our windows and hearing the thunder echoing in the buildings. I can just imagine seeing snow swirling in the wind 25 floors up...it will be pretty the first time, but I'm sure the thought of a blizzard won't put a smile on my face halfway through the winter!
clouds setting in over buildings
Once Justin made it home from work in the Friday afternoon traffic, we grabbed a couple beers, and some chips and salsa for a little appetizer on our roof. It was such a gorgeous day, and the scenery is just amazing from up there!
check out those boats! view of the chicago river thru the buildings
lakeshore dr. and navy pier
Friday night we decided to hit the town....party animals that we are. We blindly picked a restaurant/bar called Hub 51. Ok, Hub 51 must be the place, or one of the places, for all the young, beautiful 20 somethings to congregate. It's hard to know what to expect going out here. I was definitely under dressed....or over dressed, depending on how you look at it....my heels needed to be about 4" higher, and we were missing our entourage. Surprisingly the food was really good, but we couldn't hear each other or the waitress over the girls behind us screeching about their ex-boyfriends. I sound like an old stick-in-the mud....it would definitely be a fun place to go with a group, and at least now we know. After dinner, we walked down the street a little ways to a much lower key Irish bar and had a couple drinks. I think we'll be checking out more of the Irish bars in prep for Justin's St. Patty's Day b-day! On a side note....one thing that is great about going out in the city....cabs on every corner. Although we have yet to meet a cab driver who actually knows how to get to where we live because it's so new....you're asking us for directions??
We woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a helicopter hovering above a building across from ours, and streets blocked off all around our block. Maybe this is a common occurrence in a big city, but it's certainly not one we are used to. We speculated what it could be: Obama's in town, prep for a movie scene, police training, maybe they're just changing out an HVAC unit. We never discovered the reason for a helicopter landing Saturday at 8:00 a.m., but it was entertaining for a while at least. It was also funny to see other people appearing on their balconies in PJ's to see what was going on.
Saturday night we took advantage of some Groupons and Living Social deals I bought. We hit up Navy Pier (dubbed by Justin as the Myrtle Beach of Chicago) for some hotdogs at America's Dog and then caught an Imax 3D showing of Avatar, which I have to admit was awesome! Although I think seeing it 2D wouldn't be half as good. We took a stroll to the end of Navy Pier between our hotdogs and the movie, and saw some awesome views of the city.
our building is the squatty one in the middle
in front of the big white one
Animal update: we are learning to get along in close quarters....sort of. More like, we are establishing our territories in the apartment. Once in a while, I let Brizzie in our bedroom (deemed the kitties' room) which doesn't please Molly and Annabell. I still have faith we will one day all get along peacefully.....
happy sunbathing kitties how dare you let that mutt in here
I sense something evil lurking behind me
Lessons of the Week:
1. don't trust the GPS
2. If they're honking, it's at you
3. get some winter gear
4. take advantage of the nice weather while you can
5. enhance the party wardrobe
6. cabs are fab...sometimes
7. Groupon is great!
8. hovering helicopters are normal
