...the royal wedding...

It's happening. Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton are getting married on April 29, 2011. Juuuuust around the corner; and I hear time goes by even faster when you have royal blood in your veins. Just kidding. I made that up. But it woooooould be a nifty little trick to have flowing through your bloodstream say during boring meetings, tedious workouts, and time spent watching the SPEED channel on TV*.

It seems as the date approaches, more and more, and then just when you think it can't get any worse, even MORE ridiculous memorabilia pops out of the woodwork. All for the sole purpose of celebrating the event of the "royal wedding." I don't get it. Maybe it's because I live in the United States and the whole idea of royalty is a bit distant for me (except for everything to do with the movie Princess Diaries, because I'm pretty sure I've watched that about a million times), but I just can't wrap my mind around the importance being placed on this wedding date. Whatever. It's providing me with some great fodder because TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THIS MEMORABILIA!

Hot off the kiln, we have Prince William and Kate China!

Because who doesn't like to eat off of other people's faces? I think it's dishwasher safe, but I say why risk it?

The William and Kate T-Shirt!

My favorite part: the facial expressions and realistic farm-like setting where the wedding will take place.

The phone apps!

Attention smart-phone users, there are literally hundreds of countdown applications you can download so you're always up to date on the exact countdown to the day of nuptials. I liked the swans in this one. Very classy.

Mittens.

Coins.

Jealousy.

And my all time favorite. The Will and Kate Fridge.

You can bet that if our apartment hadn't come stocked with a normal and boring black fridge, I'd be in line to get one of these babies!

My advice to you Kate, hang in there. We all recognize that this is absurd and ridiculous.

*Disclaimer: when I'm watching the SPEED channel with Tim, it's ok.

...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.

Hang on Dolly-Lou!!!

Last night, a major breakthrough took place.

Location: Castle Rock

Sub-location: Rockyard Brewery

Event: Cousin get-together

Attendee's: Laura, Danny, David, Andrea, Abbey, Josh, Stephen, Sarah, Tim, Annie, Brandon

Result: Successful

Because Tim and I are moving to the windy city, we wanted to have an "older cousin" hang out sesh one last time. We're pretty lucky to have almost everyone in the same state...so we really had no excuse for not seeing each other.

This particular event was a breakthrough on several fronts. One: No "adult" supervision--and by adult supervision I mean no parents, aunts, uncles, or wayward guests that seem to appear out of thin air. Two: Location change. Our first meeting as a group, EVER, that hasn't been at a family members home. (barring the barrage of weddings that have been happening the past couple of years) Three: Enlightenment. Now that the ice has been broken, we cousins just might do this again sometime.

Thanks so much to everyone for coming! It meant a lot to Tim and I, and we really had a great time. Come visit in Chicago!

Look how happy we are!

Oh and P.S. cousins...I was serious about the camping trip. Let's make it happen.

From Detroit To Chicago

So it's official. We are moving to Chicago. BOOM! Chicago. We officially signed a lease on a new apartment last weekend (more on THAT in another post). We're hitting the road next weekend, in a moving van, driven by ourselves. Yes. I will document in pictures. Prayers for a NON-breakdown during the 1100 mile drive would be awesome!

On February 28th, after a couple weeks of intense packing, we said goodbye to our first apartment in Denver. (By the way, bit shoutouts to Abbey and Josh Davis for their integral packing help!! I couldn't have done it without them!!) After living in Detroit Motor City for exactly six months, it was kind of sad to say goodbye.

Tim and I got lucky and chose an AMAZING apartment. All 515 square feet were amazing. Yes. ALL 515 SQUARE FEET. It was cozy. But seriously, we loved living on the cross-streets of Detroit and Colfax (and if that doesn't sound sketchy, I don't know what does.)

Unfortunately, I have yet to take photographic evidence of the giant metal sculptures of various tools that are mounted on the walls of the apartment complex, AND our huge silver door with our apartment's name, DeVille, prominently placed on the front. I plan to sneak back before we go to Chicago. I did, however, get some pictures of the inside before the packing carnage ensued. Please enjoy.

The Kitchen

The Family Room

The Bedroom

View from the entrance

Sea-Tac!

First of all...did you know that SeaTac is an actual CITY? It's not just the name of an airport. That was my "eureka" moment of the vacay.

Yes! I was in Seattle last weekend...visiting my BFFFFFFFFFFsssss. I'm so glad I have friends that live in such a nifty city. Seattle is one of my favorites. In fact, I tried to convince Tim to apply to several grad schools in the Northwest; to no avail.

Michelle, Maddie, Amanda, Emme, Annie, and myself tromped all around the city. We squeezed so many activities in such a small amount of time, that I can't even remember all of them. Thankfully, Maddie has already documented our activities in writing. Also thankfully, I have no qualms about straight up plagiarizing both our activities list, as well as the following pictures which came from Maddie's camera. :)

Toulouse Petite late night happy hour straight from the airport • Wild Mountain Cafe for brunch • Green Lake walk • Pike Place Market for tea and donuts • Espresso, often • Ballard Ave. shops • Bastille for pre-dinner cocktails • Tarasco for beer and pool while waiting for dinner • Delancey for wood-fire pizza and wine • maybe back to Tarasco for karaoke, where we made K. Perry proud • Molly Moon's for a couple of pints (of ice cream) • lots of Nyquil • Emmer & Rye for brunch • Gas Works Park • University Village for Starbucks and shopping • take-out Thai food and Step Up 3 • Portage Bay Cafe for brunch • Golden Gardens • ...and back to Sea-Tac for a sad goodbye...

Gasworks Park

It was exceedingly windy here. Thankfully we were at times distracted by a group of men and women all clad in short red dresses and skirts. We thought it might perhaps be a Valentines celebration; but it was quite the contrary. From what I understand, the group is Seattle's own Hash House Harriers; a drinking/running club. Should you care to learn more--or for those living in Seattle--should you care the join : here's more info.

In front of the Public Market, although our kind photographer missed the sign slightly...

Maddie. She drinks espresso now. Which is awesome.

Steve was delicious

Oh how I love this commercial. There's an even shorter version on TV which is even better.

Early Spring?

Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring this year. I'm here to say that he got it wrong. As I sit here in my kitchen, I'm watching inches of snow hit the ground. The ground that is already covered with inches of snow from the last storm; which ended yesterday. Blanche was caked under about 2 inches of ice. Sheer ice that made my knuckles bleed when my frostbitten hands slipped off the ice-scraper and skidded up and down my windshield. Not Cool.

I'm also here to say that if Phil keeps predicting the weather wrong, I'm siding with PETA and their quest to change Punxsutawney Phil into an animatronic groundhog.

Phil

Phil Again

Just kidding. Phil is so cute! And apparently, immortal. He is given a dose of "groundhog punch" every summer which is meant to extend his life for seven years. I want to know what's in the punch, patent that ish, and then save lives!