An Ode to Chicago from a previous co-worker

Chicago.....and all that jazz....

You may notice that it's really flat
I'd like to know what's up with that
Did all the mountains go away?
Did they go West on holiday?
Did God who designed an elegant fiord
Stop at Chicago, and because he was bored,
Just decided to do nothing at all
that gave even a hint of being "tall"?

You can go to Millennium Park
It's really cool there after dark
The fountain and the giant bean
Is something like you've never seen
The architecture is great, for sure,
So make sure you take the river boat tour
Enjoy the wind, it blows alot
But being flat that's all you've got.

The winters are bad, or so they say
You tend to stay inside all day
Where it is warm and really nice
If you're outside, you turn to ice.
The summers tend to be extreme
I've heard that water turns to steam
If left out in the sun too long
It may be me, but that just seems wrong.....

I wish you luck and a wonderful trip
There is nothing that you'll want to skip
Chicago is a wonderful place
And most people you meet won't require MACE
There is something to be said for that
And it's not all bad it's so darn flat....
It is an adventure so just have fun
and now this stupid poem is done......

i'm back on online and in Chicago!

We left Seattle early Saturday and started our first leg of the drive to Chicago. We drove 8 hours to Boise and stayed with our good friend from college. The kitties were happy to be out of the car!  Sunday morning, we drove across Idaho, the North tip of Utah,  across Wyoming and down to Boulder, Colorado. It took approximately 12 hours but we were listening to the audiobook, World War Z by Max Brooks and we hardly noticed. Even our two kitties spent the whole day sleeping! 

We meet up with Mr. F's cousin for the night! Early Monday morning, we drove across the rest of Colorado, the length of Kansas and stopped at St. Louis to stay a night with the in-laws. 

(We saw signs for the Oz Museum when we were halfway across Kansas but didn't have time to stop!) These 13 hours felt significantly longer and we were listening to a second audiobook, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. 

Yesterday, we only had a short hop from St. Louis to Chicago. We saw Normal, IL on Wednesday and it made us laugh!

We finally made it to our new apartment in Chicago after 4 days (nearly 40 hours) in the car! The kitties are still a little wary, but they're busy exploring now and happy to be out of the car. Here's Lily inspecting the new place, Wednesday afternoon.

This morning, the rest of our stuff got here, so we spent most of the day unpacking and running a few errands. It's starting to come together! I'll post more pictures after we put everything away!

Elizabeth Taylor

I'm driving from Boise to Boulder today! Enjoy this fabulous photo of Elizabeth Taylor! I wonder what movie it's from, she looks like a dancer!

This pretty picture was found on the Lovely blog!

It is very strange that the years teach us patience – that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. - Elizabeth Taylor

My last day of work in Seattle tomorrow

This week has been a whirlwind. I finally found a few minutes between saying goodbyes to give a quick update on my lovely blog. I've been working on finishing major projects at work before I leave tomorrow. Mr. F and I had multiple family dinners with my family this week. We had a fabulous Indian buffet at my work goodbye party today. We've met friends for happy hours to catch up. I think we're practically ready to leave. It's bittersweet but there's an awesome adventure ahead of us. Saturday, we start our four day drive though Boise, Boulder, and St. Louis to get to Chicago. I hope our two kitties don't fuss too much! The vet recommended Rescue Remedy, so hopefully they will be enough of a stress  reliever for them!

[photo taken by my Mom]

The camelias and cherry blossoms are bursting in Seattle. I wonder if the first spring flowers have started to show in Chicago yet.

I'm excited to start my new job April 4th, as well as moving into our new apartment in downtown Chicago!

Hasta luego, Seattle!

Our last week in Seattle

It's a bittersweet post. We're moving to Chicago in less than a week. Our condo is pretty empty because the moving truck took 90% of our stuff on Friday. The kitties were pretty freaked out and hid in the cupboards for a few hours. Fortunately, they forgot about it by the weekend and they enjoyed frolicking in the extra space.

Mr. F and I went to all our favorite places over the weekend. Saturday, we ran errands including going to Seattle Wine Storage to cellar a significant portion of our wine. It was back breaking lifting our many cases of carefully collected wine, but worth it. We now have a perfect temperature wine storage locker, saving all our wines that need to be aged 3-10 years.

We had dim sum for brunch on Sunday, we went to the Jolly Roger for a post work out treat, we had dinner with my grandparents.

Before we left, Mr. F and I got a picture with the Fremont Troll a few weekends ago, as a reminder of Seattle.  

Seattle...we will miss you.

 

This was March 2010 on Magnolia. 

We already hope to come back in July to go paddle boarding and enjoy Seattle's summer!

For Japan with Love

 

According to Paloma on the Lovely blog, "Lydia of Ever Ours and Henny & Lucia of Utterly Engaged have launched a blogger initiative and fundraiser to raise awareness and send much needed aide to Japan during these difficult times: For Japan, With Love. All of the proceeds of the For Japan, With Love fundraiser will go to ShelterBox.  ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most. Each large green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items. A whole box costs $1,000 (US)"!

I will not be blogging tomorrow. Our moving truck is getting here too!!

My parents before I was born

Wow, Wisconsin 1980! It's so cute to see my parents so young, happy and smiley!!

Only 10 days left in Seattle until I move to Chicago!

This week has been a whirlwind of finishing projects at work, starting to edit over 1000 photos from Cabo and thinking about packing. I keep thinking I'm going to start packing but I keep avoiding it. I distracted myself by watching Glee rather than packing a suitcase for next week. The moving truck gets here on Friday morning and then we'll be without our furniture and the majority of our stuff for a week, before we drive from Seattle to Chicago next weekend.

Here's a few favorite snapshots from Cabo last week. I've only edited the first few days of the trip. I'm hoping I'll be able to go through the photos more this weekend, after our house has been boxed up!

Wish me luck for the next two days of packing!!

Hasta luego, Cabo!

We had a wonderful and full semana of fun en el sol. I'm really going to miss the infinity pool and this amazing view of Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.

Muchas gracias to our hosts! We had muy delicioso meals every night whether we prepared them together or went out to a fabulous restaurant.

I'm going to take one last dip in the pool before we get on the plane back to Seattle this afternoon. I'm so excited to see our gatitos again and edit my several hundred photos!

Next week we're loading our moving truck up and I have some serious catch up at work, so posts may be sporadic. I can't believe we're moving to Chicago in two weeks!!!!!!

Tsunami warnings and fun with balloon hats in the pool

Did we hear that there was an over 9.0 earthquake in Japan yesterday? Did it effect us in Cabo? We watched for the potential tsunami waves that were projected to be 10 feet high, in our infinity pool. The marina was closed, so our Playa del Amor plans were thwarted thus, we decided to make the best of it with our balloon hats leftover from the Office last night!

We waited for the waves, thinking they might arrive around noon, but we didn´t see much. Were you effected by tsunamis?

My Beach Reading List

 The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee has been on my must read list since I saw it in the Sea-Tac airport on the way to Chicago last month. It is zany and hilarious. I think it is fascinating to read about the origins of chop suey and General Tso's chicken in the search of the history of the fortune cookie.

Best Enemies by Jane Heller looks like a light, beach read.

I'm also intrigued by The Finishing Touches written by Hester Browne. (I really enjoyed  The Little Lady Agency and The Little Lady Agency In The Big Apple by the same author!)

Baby Needs A New Pair Of Shoes (Red Dress Ink) by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (I loved reading this author's previous books: How Nancy Drew Saved My Life andA Little Change of Face (Red Dress Ink Novels). They were such fun and breezy reads!)

I'm also working on filling in my Moleskine City Notebook Chicago!