Following Our Bliss to...CHICAGO!!

Last Tuesday (May 12) after much anticipation, Pete the Boy Genius found out that he got in to University of Chicago!! Hugely exciting news, which constituted a hugely exciting last minute upheaval of plans. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to make a plan, I am just now learning the true meaning of my mothers phrase "The best way to make God laugh is to make plans."

Pete and I had always planned on living in Chicago for the summer and had even secured a super swanky, full furnished, bachelor pad for our stay. However, packing for three months is a lot different than packing for three years. Somehow, though, in the span of a week we did it! Monday morning, after a fabulous farewell fiesta with our loved ones in Houston we awoke on the wrong side of 4:00 am, drugged our dogs, and headed out into the sunRISE towards Chicago!!

We arrived here Tuesday to THE most glorious weather Chicago has to offer (I think Pete is tricking me moving me here in the Summer, because I keep hearing some startling stories about winter). We are all settled in and the puppies seem to be adjusting well to their new digs.

Our neighborhood is amazing, and just to bring my largely Southern readership up to speed on Chicago neighborhoods we are going to have a little Geography lesson:

Chicago is a long, narrow city running North/South along Lake Michigan, and extending out towards the West. The central most downtown area is called "The Loop", which is mostly a commercial/business area. The residential neighborhoods extend mostly North and South from there, bordered on the outside by the suburbs. For you sports fans the South Side is the White Sox's domain, and houses such neighborhoods as Hyde Park (Obamaville) and the esteemed University of Chicago. The North Side is Cubs territory and is home to the posh Gold Coast, funky Old Town, and young Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, and Wrigleyville neighborhoods. We are living in Old Town, and for all of our more visual learners, the maps below should be helpful.

Map of Downtown Chicago

Map of the North Side of Chicago.

We spent our first full day here (yesterday) exploring our neighborhood for the summer, Old Town, and trying to get a better feel for the adjacent neighborhoods of the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park where we will be looking for more permanent residence! Old Town is perfect for us this summer, it is really residential with very quiet streets and a lot of families. A block away from us is a sort of Old Town Main Street with cafes, flower shops, dry cleaners, and a grocery store! Pete and I have been very green so far, walking with our reuseable bags to the market each day. There is a farmers market on Wednesdays and Saturdays a few blocks away in the park, and an art fair outside our door in June.

This little beach bungalow my favorite house in Old Town, it is nestled between two large brownstones and reminds me of the episode in Seinfeld where Kramer installs the screen door outside his apartment to create AnyTown U.S.A. My summer mission will be to make its owners my best friends, and as I have seen them out on their "front porch" each night in their rocking chairs enjoying a highball, I think we will be fast friends.

Today Pete and I are heading out to (hopefully) find a bungalow of our own (we are so grown up!) so I will report back on that soon! Until then, I suggest you all start looking up airfare to Chicago and planning a trip to visit us in this fab city!!