real

I booked a one-way flight for myself and KaliLou last night. Thursday, February 9th is the official date of the big ol' move. Eeeeek.

My to-do list between now and then is a mile long. I may post it somewhere eventually to look back upon one day, but just know that it's boring and tedious stuff. It's mostly stuff that I hadn't actually even considered: buying a cover for my car? closing out my local safe deposit box? Blech. These things're actually no big deal in the grand scheme of things, really. The list just seems to get irritatingly longer every day.

In other news: Chicago got its first big snowstorm this week! Rob missed it while he's in Omaha for training, but it sure looks pretty in pics on other blogs from the comfort of my warm and cozy office:

not my pic, but I can't remember where I borrowed it from...sowwy.

I ordered some kick-the-shit-outta-the-snow boots last night too...legit gear is SO much of the battle. Function over fashion is quickly becoming my new mantra.

(PS: where the HELL is my funny, lately?! boring posts, be gone!)

kick-ass weekend recap

Friday

• found our couch on the world wide web and tried it out in person (SUCCESS!)
• got crafty: turned a regular ol' scarf into an infinity scarf/snood with a pair of scissors, the ability to tie a knot, and a little patience
  

Saturday

• my first good run in a while, even if it was <2.5 miles
• made our place sparkle
• ate Kel's delicious crock-pot jambalaya
• pre-game beer and football at a bar
• Sharks vs Capitals: row five. you hear that?! ROW. FIVE. it was so much fun...the game is so much faster and the guys are so much bigger when you're up that close. every time the Caps were on penalty, our section was in a heckling uproar. and they WON.

Sunday

• hit up the shooting range for my stepbro's birthday: it was my first time ever shooting a gun. it was so loud, it made me giggly at first. then I felt like a bad ass. fired a .22 pistol, 9mil, 40, 45, and a .22 rifle. I counted it as my workout to withstand any and all recoil.
• lounged around (hey look, I even blogged!)
• early to bed for some solid sleep

cool story, Hansel.

so this is really happening, huh...?

We have a place to live in Chicago!!! Its super cute, insanely central, and has all of the hundreds of things we wanted in one form or another. I've been dreaming of the shiny new stuff that we'll need to fill it up (we'll have not one, but TWO bedrooms. we're so fancy).

we'll be on the top floor...love the windows

Crazy, right?! Then, today, we bought a couch. For the first time ever, since all of our other couches were parentally-owned hand-me-downs/’rounds. We’ve never lived somewhere long enough or took my/our place seriously enough to plunk down serious cash before, so this feels like kind of a big deal. And while I’m at it…a small self-pat-on-the-back for us: since we’re living in different cities until I move out there, we each went to different stores in the same chain and tested couches separately with obvious success. But when it came to picking a color? We both get all nervous committing to any ‘forever’ detail, so I expected the worst. Believe how pleasantly surprised I was when the conversation went: me: so um hey, I like XYZ color. which one do you like? him: the same one, actually. BOOM. DONE. As a little icing on the cake I took advantage of a humungo sale and capped it with an extra discount from taking some three-minute survey and got the thing for like 56% off, delivered. It was a total fluke that I even looked at this store's site when I did, so I'm pretty damn happy with the result.

the worlds teeeeeniest pic...ours will be a greyish brown "cocoa" color

The years of limbo are (strangely) coming to an end, and while I'm nervous and sad to leave California for a little while, I'm really really really stoked about a year or two of big city livin' in one of the funnest and tastiest cities in the country. Flights can be cheap enough, and we have an extra room just waiting for our first visitor...