...the windy city...

If you know anything about Chicago (which I apparently didn't, as I was told this information by a friend), St. Patrick's day is one of the most celebrated in this city. We're talking about dying an entire river green....and this is no small river. Mental image: loud celebrations, thousands of green beer drinking folks, waaaaay too much clothing in every shade green known to man, and leprechauns running rampant. A general joviality comes over the city, which is fun...but probably not the best day to pick for a move-in located in the heart of downtown.

In any case, let's just say that move-in day was a bit of an overwhelming experience. But not quite as overwhelming as driving a HUGE moving truck throughout downtown on one of the biggest holiday's of the year. Maybe I can get Tim to GUEST BLOG about how he was such a baller behind the wheel.

Before I reveal too much about our epic move and road-trip; it needs to be known that Tim and I BEAT THE ODDS and the twists of fate that were trying to prevent us from moving to CHI-town. A few weeks ago, we visited Chicago to look at apartments and sign a lease. You know, so we actually had a destination when we took off from Colorado with all of our belongings being towed behind us in a questionably sturdy Budget moving van. If I believed in the fates, which I do not, it would have seemed that Chicago gave us a big middle finger upon finding out we were moving there. We took the middle finger, flipped back deuces, and went on our way. But our apartment search was not without a few glitches.

One: We arrived at O'Hare around 1:30. Ante Meridian. Our hotel shuttle was M.I.A. for about an hour, and were were graciously/finally picked up around 2:30.

Two: The next morning, we had an appointment with a company in Chicago that helps people who are moving in from out of town find an apartment. We went to the wrong address. Apparently they have multiple locations... We went to a location all the way through town and out to the psuedo-burbs. Promptly told we were at the wrong place, we did an about-face, and got back on the El heading toward downtown. We then exited for an address at 719 North State Street. Turns out we needed to be at 719 South State Street, which was only about FOUR miles away. Enter taxi ride.

Three: We show up to our appointment about an hour and a half late. Don't worry, we were in constant communication with our apartment finder, who I'm sure thought we were the most annoying people in the world. We left right away to look at apartments, as the day was already about half gone. After apartment viewing numero uno, I reach for my phone, which is no longer on my person. GONE-ZO! As a person who misplaces her phone nearly by the hour, I was originally unconcerned. However, this time it was serious. My theory for the untimely end of my cellular device: I dropped it in a puddle of water, and then it was run over by a car. BLASTED TO SMITHEREENS!!

Four: After seeing about 10 apartments, we FINALLY decided on the one we thought was best. We were at the leasing office of the apartment complex the second the doors opened to find out that the apartment had been leased seconds before through a PHONE CALL. Poo on whoever did that. Poo on you.

It goes without saying that also during this time, the weather was crappy-pants. Raining and snowing the whole time. Thanks for that Chicago.

We DID finally sign off on an apartment, which so far has been great. I promise for pictures and updates proving the fact that we really did drive 1100 miles in a moving truck, towing Blanche behind, through the midwest.

Welcome to Chicago.