Chicagoland

Well, friends. Less than 4 weeks ago, I made a decision to move to Chicago. I put in my 2 weeks notice at my job that day. Found someone to sublet my apartment within a week of posting it. Found a place to live in the windy city. Packed up my life. Drove to Detroit. Then drove to Chicago. Tried to organize my life. Started a new job. Life is crazy. I made no New Year's Resolutions because my only goal was move and start up life again in a new city.

My new place is not everything I hoped that it would be. But it's manageable. I have everything that I need. Except maybe a microwave. (How do people make hot chocolate after a freezing cold day without a microwave? Heating it up on the stove top just takes too long!) 

I was concerned that there aren't any decent grocery stores around my place. (Note to self: next time you move, look into more than just subway accessibility. Look for grocery stores. Food is key. You like to eat.) However, today while trying to find the Aldi, my phone was taking me to a further away Aldi and I passed by a Jewel Osco. (a grocery store!) I tried to go in, but the grand opening is tomorrow. So there is a grocery store about 1.5 miles away from me (a 12 minute drive). Yay!

The moving process.

 Luckily at about 11 am on Saturday morning (when I was driving from Detroit to Chicago) I sent a message to the Bishop asking him for help with the move. Three guys from my ward showed up to help me move. They were quite a blessing. I don't know how my dad and I would have been able to move the heavy dressers that I now own. I don't know how people make it through life without a community. It really does take a village to raise a child. I still need my village pretty often!

My bed all set up. Although my sheets say full size, they look a little small to me.

The spare room with all of my extra stuff. I need some serious organizational space saving tools to make life make sense.

The Bean

 But then I get to look out at this each day. My office is the short building just to the right of the bean. I love working downtown. There is an energy and life to working every day in the center of the city.

Although it's cold (and windy), the weather has not been anything like it was last week. Thank goodness I missed the polar vortex! I would not have been able to get anywhere or anything done had I tried to move last week anyway.

My reflection in the bean

My job is really interesting. I only have about 8 cases to start off with. I think that's a pretty decent amount. There is a lot to do, so I'm definitely keeping busy. Some things that have been less than fun are filling out a limited license application for the Illinois Bar. I have to fill out every place that I've lived and worked for the past 10 years. Apparently I've lived in 19 places... Maybe it's time I think about settling down. I don't know how many places I've worked or interned, but it's probably close to 19 as well. Filling out all of that paperwork was miserable. And I'm not done yet.

Also my least favorite thing is having to bill time. I don't want to think about my life in 6 minute increments. But apparently that is how my future will be chronicled.

Other than those two things, I can honestly say that I'm loving what I'm up to. Although there are a lot of uncertainties, I'm so glad that I decided to make this crazy change. On to the next adventure in the windy city!

Making Lemonade

My 2L year of law school has been challenging and a bit frustrating at times. I feel like I've done nothing but complain for 4 months. But I'm really trying to have a good attitude and enjoy whatI do.

Coming back from break was going to be stressful because I was planning on moving apartments. I had stored all of my stuff in a friend's apartment for the break and I was going to come in Sunday night, load up my car and move. Of course, my plane was delayed an hour and it took forever to get the baggage and every single person flew into Salt Lake City at the same time so it was slow going. I get back to my apartment and my car is frozen shut and I don't know if it even works because the keyless entry didn't unlock it, indicating that even though I bought a new battery for my car just before break to prevent this from happening, it is probably dead; there is probably some electrical problem with my car which is going to be more expensive. I have to still figure out all of that.

I crash on a friend's couch for the night and contemplate my options. On Monday, I have this huge paper due (that I'd been procrastinating) and not a lot of time to find someone to donate their time and car to me and help me move and finish the paper. I decided to ask for favors anyway and I successfully moved and finished the paper by 8:30 pm. (I ended up sleeping from 9:30 pm to 6:30 am). Things are looking a lot better today. I have a lot of work to do, but it's manageable.

Today, I'm whittling down my "to-do" list, and I think by tomorrow, I'll feel like I'm ready for the semester to begin. At least it's the beginning of the semester and I don't have a ton of work to do. :)

On an unrelated note, these are the types of emails we get at the law school. It just cracks me up.