Today marks one year since Tim and I moved in together, and a year (give or take a few days) since we got married. It's a nice thing, definitely. We've done so much in the last year, though I know that there is so much more we could do and could have done.
But one year on, we're having a great time. We spent the day relaxing together, which was nice since we often don't get days off at the same time, and the times we do see each other, it is either right as we get home/eat dinner, or sometimes just before bed. So spending a day together was really, really good for us. We wanted to go out on a walk, but the weather was rainy and very windy, so we just drove over to the mall and walked around there instead. We browsed books, shopped for new glasses (for fun) and looked at the terrible (and I mean, TERRIBLE) costumes at Spencer's Gifts. We never go in there, but I wanted to look at the costumes since I knew they'd be laughable.
After a while, we got coffee and tea at the nearby Starbucks and waited for our reservation at Biaggi's, an Italian place that we'd been told about by a few people. We got our table, ordered and had a nice, leisurely dinner and talked about the things we wanted to accomplish in the next year. It's a pretty small list, but I think we'll manage it just fine.
After dinner we went home and watched some movies, then read some library books. We've also been allowing ourselves to dream a little bit. For fun we've been looking at houses online, learning what we do and don't like. We've noticed one thing for sure: we definitely look for things that most people don't think twice about. We're weird that way.
I'm excited about what the next year has to bring.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
New Place, Weddings and Other Such Things
It's been a busy few weeks here for us in Minnesota. We finally got enough money together to get an apartment of our own (thankfully it was reasonably close to our storage unit!) so we got to move out of our friend's house after about a month and a half. I am so thankful to them for all their help and support in getting our feet underneath us and moving forward. We are very grateful.
Our New Place is pretty awesome. It's a two bedroom place, about a room and a half bigger than our apartment in Chicago, on the third floor (no neighbors above us to stomp and scream, like we both have had problems with before). So we're still settling in, and it's been about a week. We are almost all done, and we're just gobsmacked about how much space we have. Before, we had almost none, and now we've got an excess of it. It's nice, but it makes me feel like I'll have to buy more furniture.
My cousin Jill got married to a wonderful guy last weekend, and Tim and I had the honor of coming up to see it. I'm so glad we took the time off to go, because it was an absolute blast. Before the reception and after the wedding we went for a walk down the Grand River, and while on a bridge we turned to look and suddenly we saw Jill and Jim taking pictures. Of course, being the oddballs my family are, we whistled and hollered and somehow got the attention of the photographer, and then we started waving like lunatics. I think the photographer took a few pictures of us waving at them, which I think is sweet and funny. I wonder if they'll turn out or not.
Not much other news. Just a lot of little things.
Our New Place is pretty awesome. It's a two bedroom place, about a room and a half bigger than our apartment in Chicago, on the third floor (no neighbors above us to stomp and scream, like we both have had problems with before). So we're still settling in, and it's been about a week. We are almost all done, and we're just gobsmacked about how much space we have. Before, we had almost none, and now we've got an excess of it. It's nice, but it makes me feel like I'll have to buy more furniture.
My cousin Jill got married to a wonderful guy last weekend, and Tim and I had the honor of coming up to see it. I'm so glad we took the time off to go, because it was an absolute blast. Before the reception and after the wedding we went for a walk down the Grand River, and while on a bridge we turned to look and suddenly we saw Jill and Jim taking pictures. Of course, being the oddballs my family are, we whistled and hollered and somehow got the attention of the photographer, and then we started waving like lunatics. I think the photographer took a few pictures of us waving at them, which I think is sweet and funny. I wonder if they'll turn out or not.
Not much other news. Just a lot of little things.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Jobs, Driving and other Adventures
Things are working out well enough here in Minnesota for us. I have a job working at a local bank, and Tim is in the process of getting a job at a retail chain store that doesn't deal with books.
I'm really enjoying my job, which is something I'm really happy to be able to say. I work roughly 20 hours a week, and I really love it. I have some cool coworkers and I'm starting to have my own social life and social circle. This is a wonderfully good thing for me.
This week was fun for us, as we have been working harder at figuring out our lives. Tim got his learner's permit this week, so yesterday I took him out driving for the first time. I drove to an empty parking lot and parked the car, then moved to the passenger seat. I let Tim basically drive around in circles for about 20 minutes, which was all I decided he needed to just dip his feet in the pool.
In a few weeks we are flying into Grand Rapids for a wedding (which we are pretty excited about) and to have some R&R, which I think we really need. Not too much else is going on with us, as we've been trying so hard to get our lives in order. Also, hanging out with family is good too.
Will update again in a few days/weeks.
I'm really enjoying my job, which is something I'm really happy to be able to say. I work roughly 20 hours a week, and I really love it. I have some cool coworkers and I'm starting to have my own social life and social circle. This is a wonderfully good thing for me.
This week was fun for us, as we have been working harder at figuring out our lives. Tim got his learner's permit this week, so yesterday I took him out driving for the first time. I drove to an empty parking lot and parked the car, then moved to the passenger seat. I let Tim basically drive around in circles for about 20 minutes, which was all I decided he needed to just dip his feet in the pool.
In a few weeks we are flying into Grand Rapids for a wedding (which we are pretty excited about) and to have some R&R, which I think we really need. Not too much else is going on with us, as we've been trying so hard to get our lives in order. Also, hanging out with family is good too.
Will update again in a few days/weeks.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Update from Minnesota
Basically, Tim and I left Chicago a little under a week ago. We've kept it under wraps until now (or rather, as much as possible) simply because we didn't have the time to explain it fully. We gave our notice at work, packed up our stuff and high-tailed it to Minneapolis, MN. And we did all of this in a little under 2 weeks. Between the first call (June 9th) and our last day of work (June 20th) we had done nothing but plan, pray and hope to God that it would work out in our favor.
We left Chicago with no jobs, no house and very few possibilities, however we've had people on the ground in the area looking for us and helping us with job leads. This has been helpful. The last week has been an absolute drain on us, and we're still recovering.
As it stands today, Tim and I are renting a room from a friend's parents for short term, meaning about a month or so until we get jobs and enough money for a deposit and such. Tim has a job interview this afternoon, so I hope he gets it. I have a good chance of getting a job at another chain bookstore in the same area. I'm handing in my application today.
The issues we're facing right now are daunting, but we are well equipped to handle them. We've been crashing on the floor of a friend's house for the past few days, and they have been legitimately surprised by our drive to Get Things Rolling and to move on and up. I don't think a lot of people really understood our decision to move here. I'll try to explain.
Graduating college in 2008 was going to be a struggle. The economy, while still not at choking point, was starting to tank pretty bad. Graduating college in Michigan in 2008, with the expectation of getting a job was impossible. I can count on one hand the number of people who had jobs starting after graduation. None of them were instate. This was one reason why we moved to Chicago. We had hoped that the Michigan Unemployment/Job Bubble stopped just short of Chicago, and that we'd get jobs. As you know, this was not the case.
So after a year of working part-time minimum wage, we had a choice, thrust upon us by the rental company. Sign a new year long lease, or get out. Since our jobs were ending in December anyway, we got out. Minnesota's unemployment rate, while still high, is actually under the national average, and there *are* help wanted signs in the windows of stores and places where people work. Now, they're not great jobs, but they're jobs.
So we're in Eden Prairie. Jobs, while not overly plentiful, offer us some more stability than what we have had in Chicago. Once we figure things out a bit more, we'll update again.
We left Chicago with no jobs, no house and very few possibilities, however we've had people on the ground in the area looking for us and helping us with job leads. This has been helpful. The last week has been an absolute drain on us, and we're still recovering.
As it stands today, Tim and I are renting a room from a friend's parents for short term, meaning about a month or so until we get jobs and enough money for a deposit and such. Tim has a job interview this afternoon, so I hope he gets it. I have a good chance of getting a job at another chain bookstore in the same area. I'm handing in my application today.
The issues we're facing right now are daunting, but we are well equipped to handle them. We've been crashing on the floor of a friend's house for the past few days, and they have been legitimately surprised by our drive to Get Things Rolling and to move on and up. I don't think a lot of people really understood our decision to move here. I'll try to explain.
Graduating college in 2008 was going to be a struggle. The economy, while still not at choking point, was starting to tank pretty bad. Graduating college in Michigan in 2008, with the expectation of getting a job was impossible. I can count on one hand the number of people who had jobs starting after graduation. None of them were instate. This was one reason why we moved to Chicago. We had hoped that the Michigan Unemployment/Job Bubble stopped just short of Chicago, and that we'd get jobs. As you know, this was not the case.
So after a year of working part-time minimum wage, we had a choice, thrust upon us by the rental company. Sign a new year long lease, or get out. Since our jobs were ending in December anyway, we got out. Minnesota's unemployment rate, while still high, is actually under the national average, and there *are* help wanted signs in the windows of stores and places where people work. Now, they're not great jobs, but they're jobs.
So we're in Eden Prairie. Jobs, while not overly plentiful, offer us some more stability than what we have had in Chicago. Once we figure things out a bit more, we'll update again.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Millennium/Grant Park day
Today the weather was (mostly) cooperative, and so Tim and I headed to Millennium and Grant Parks, to just walk around and enjoy both the weather and the pretty gardens. As usual, the trains were packed and people were annoying, but we made it in good time to the Bean. We didn't get too close because there were a ton of people around it. So we just kept walking through the park, enjoying the flowers and everything else that was there.
A small exhibit called "Sculpture from China" was in between the rows of trees, which was both interesting and a bit weird (My favorite was the giant red T-Rex, the weird one being a gold pig, eating a man, and another man's head being in the first man's body, trying to save him from being eaten by the pig). After we walked around the touristy part of Millennium Park, we crossed the street into Grant Park and walked through the gardens, stopping to look at a Monarch butterfly and a Red-winged blackbird who was squawking at us. It was pretty cool.
Then we crossed another street into the Green, where Barack Obama accepted the election win. Let me tell ya, that was a tiny, tiny little area. How they fit that many people into the place, is beyond me. It was kinda cool to be there though, because there weren't many tourists walking around and being kinda annoying, though we did see one or two Segway tours go through, which prompted us to sing this song.
Then we walked a bit further and saw a huge fountain, made famous in this TV Opener, and thought it was interesting and sort of funny. Once again we started singing that theme song and had quite a bit of fun. We wanted to buy ice cream but it was over $3, so we didn't. After that we decided to head home because it was getting rainy.
It was actually really good for us to spend that time together, especially because we haven't really seen each other much in the last few weeks due to very conflicting work schedules. It was very peaceful. Maybe we'll go somewhere else next week.
A small exhibit called "Sculpture from China" was in between the rows of trees, which was both interesting and a bit weird (My favorite was the giant red T-Rex, the weird one being a gold pig, eating a man, and another man's head being in the first man's body, trying to save him from being eaten by the pig). After we walked around the touristy part of Millennium Park, we crossed the street into Grant Park and walked through the gardens, stopping to look at a Monarch butterfly and a Red-winged blackbird who was squawking at us. It was pretty cool.
Then we crossed another street into the Green, where Barack Obama accepted the election win. Let me tell ya, that was a tiny, tiny little area. How they fit that many people into the place, is beyond me. It was kinda cool to be there though, because there weren't many tourists walking around and being kinda annoying, though we did see one or two Segway tours go through, which prompted us to sing this song.
Then we walked a bit further and saw a huge fountain, made famous in this TV Opener, and thought it was interesting and sort of funny. Once again we started singing that theme song and had quite a bit of fun. We wanted to buy ice cream but it was over $3, so we didn't. After that we decided to head home because it was getting rainy.
It was actually really good for us to spend that time together, especially because we haven't really seen each other much in the last few weeks due to very conflicting work schedules. It was very peaceful. Maybe we'll go somewhere else next week.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Night Out with Old Friends
Last night Tim and I met up with a few old friends in the West Loop area since they were in town from Minneapolis and wanted to see us. Most of the guys we met with are folks we haven't seen since Travis got married in 2007, so it's been quite a while. It was a lot of fun, and a really good night.
We took an adventure and had fun because we haven't really done anything other than work, sleep and chill out at home, mostly because we didn't have the money. We still don't, but we wanted to live a little. We ended up at Bar Louie on Randolph, which was great because we had a one piece band try to play Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" on an acoustic guitar. Needless to say it was hilarious, and basically everybody in the place was either dancing or singing along. For bar music, it was pretty good.
I was the only girl in the group we met with, since they were all part of a gaming convention for WarHammer, and Jason was quite happy that I had shown up, because he had been around "geeky" men all weekend. A little later Travis and Brady arrived, and these guys are like Tim's brothers, and ever since I met them they've taken me into their group as if I was family. It felt really good to see them all again, because it had been too long since we had seen them. We laughed a lot about old things and shared stories. We also planned and schemed for Tim and I to find jobs in Minneapolis/St. Paul/St. Cloud area so that "Tim can come home."
Our jobs at the bookstore have gotten significantly worse in recent weeks, and I can't really say why, because I've thought and thought about it and can't come up with a reason. Most of my co-workers are tired of the job and being treated as poorly by management as we are getting treated. So we are actively, desperately seeking new employment due to these deteriorating conditions. My old boss Elizabeth got a better and higher paying job at another store, this time specialising in where Brides and Grooms go to make their registeries, and our new boss isn't very friendly. Most people I talked to don't like her much, and she's been here for a week or two.
I'm also excited because I'm going to Grand Rapids again in the coming weeks because of two showers and a wedding. I'm actually really excited about it, because I haven't been back in a while. So that's basically what's going on in our lives. I apologize for no new updates--there hasn't been much else going on.
We took an adventure and had fun because we haven't really done anything other than work, sleep and chill out at home, mostly because we didn't have the money. We still don't, but we wanted to live a little. We ended up at Bar Louie on Randolph, which was great because we had a one piece band try to play Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" on an acoustic guitar. Needless to say it was hilarious, and basically everybody in the place was either dancing or singing along. For bar music, it was pretty good.
I was the only girl in the group we met with, since they were all part of a gaming convention for WarHammer, and Jason was quite happy that I had shown up, because he had been around "geeky" men all weekend. A little later Travis and Brady arrived, and these guys are like Tim's brothers, and ever since I met them they've taken me into their group as if I was family. It felt really good to see them all again, because it had been too long since we had seen them. We laughed a lot about old things and shared stories. We also planned and schemed for Tim and I to find jobs in Minneapolis/St. Paul/St. Cloud area so that "Tim can come home."
Our jobs at the bookstore have gotten significantly worse in recent weeks, and I can't really say why, because I've thought and thought about it and can't come up with a reason. Most of my co-workers are tired of the job and being treated as poorly by management as we are getting treated. So we are actively, desperately seeking new employment due to these deteriorating conditions. My old boss Elizabeth got a better and higher paying job at another store, this time specialising in where Brides and Grooms go to make their registeries, and our new boss isn't very friendly. Most people I talked to don't like her much, and she's been here for a week or two.
I'm also excited because I'm going to Grand Rapids again in the coming weeks because of two showers and a wedding. I'm actually really excited about it, because I haven't been back in a while. So that's basically what's going on in our lives. I apologize for no new updates--there hasn't been much else going on.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Couple Hard Days and Celebrity Sightings
Let me first say that it has been an extraordinary few days.
Late last week Tim got pretty sick, so I spent a few days taking care of him and doing what I could to help him, despite the fact that there wasn't anything I could do more than what I've already done. He still isn't feeling 100%, so hopefully he'll get over it soon. He got a pretty froggy voice yesterday so I loaded him up with medicine and some aspirin to take to work. I've also been pushing fluids on him, but I don't know if that helps much. I sometimes get frustrated because I can't "fix" it since there are no real symptoms I can take care of, save general achiness.
This turned out to actually be not so bad compared to Wednesday at work. Wednesday afternoon, a co-worker died on his lunchbreak. He walked over to the food court in the mall across the street as normal, and after eating a bit of his lunch, from what I heard, he fell asleep. About an hour later, mall cops tried to wake him up, and I guess they found he had just slept away.
He was 84 years old, and worked in our store part time, manning the information desk most days. He was constantly happy and constantly smiling, excited to be there. He will leave a hole in our staff, and today I saw that the lock on his locker was open, just like he had left it the day before. It just sort of hit me then that he wouldn’t welcome me into the store anymore, and this made me sad.
Wednesday night, shortly after I heard the news of my co-worker's death, Roger Ebert came into the store to do a signing for his latest book. I thought it was pretty cool because he walked past me and smiled. I also saw him do his classic "thumbs up" to his wife and assistant, who both accompanied him. He was wearing his neck covering because of his illness, but it didn't look to be too bothersome to him. Though I think it is a terrible shame he lost such an iconic voice in film critique. I remember always watching Siskel and Ebert growing up to hear about the movies that were playing in the theatres.
I also saw Brian Dennehy the other day in the coffee shop. At first I didn't even recognize him until a co-worker pointed him out. It’s the second time I’ve seen him in our store, because he’s in Chicago doing a play. He hasn't bought anything particular from me, but I still think it's cool. That’s all the celebrities I’ve seen so far, though I missed meeting Kat Von D by about 15 minutes when I came in on Monday. One of my bosses/friends is STILL giddy about meeting her and loses his cool whenever he talks about her. He's such a sweetie when he talks about it. Most of the people I work with don't tend to get star-struck (with the Kat Von D exception) but I still think it's cool. While I don't get too starstruck (in fact, seeing Ebert made me feel happy on the inside because I respect the man), I imagine that one day I will meet someone famous and I will absolutely lose my cool.
Tim has met a few more famous people, but I don't know who they are off hand. One of my other co-workers got to check Madonna's ID a while back, because apparently her credit card wasn't signed or something. According to him, she was like "really? you really need to check this?" and he was like "yes, yes I do." Truth is, he has to check because it's store policy. Still though, it's funny that he checked Madonna's ID. Celebrities come into our store all the time because we are a pretty big/nationally known store, so that's cool. If I see anybody else, I'll let you guys know!
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