Chi-town

Our first week in Chicago was so full of adventure. When we drove up to our apartment for the first time I nearly died. I was overwhelmed with how different it was. There were people everywhere. There were cars everywhere. There was parking...nowhere. It was crazy. We finally found a parking garage that was two blocks away from our apartment. We moved all of our stuff in from the car and we set up our air mattress and there we were, in Chicago! We spent the next few days making tons of trips to the nearest Target (30 min away) and the nearest Bed Bath & Beyond (3 blocks away). We bought a mattress, a computer, a desk, a microwave, and folding table and chairs. We had sub-leased the apartment for 3 months. We had not seen the apartment before we moved out. It was very old, had no AC and was just not what we wanted.  

 Through a random miracle we were able to get our of our contract and we moved out a week later! We only moved two blocks away down the same street. So now we live in a high rise apartment with a parking garage attached! (Moving twice in the same week was awful btw, don't ever do it). I can now say that I am a professional U-haul truck driver. 

Here is a list of things I have learned about living in Chicago. 

-5 and 6-way intersections exist

-5 and 6-way intersections are impossible navigate. 

-It takes 30 minutes to drive one mile.

-Quarters are a rare commodity

-Wells Fargo does not exist in this city

-Everyone loves baseball for some reason

-There are cops everywhere, but I rarely see people getting pulled over
-Gas is so expensive ($4.70/gal) 

The list could go on and on. Now that I have lived here for 4 months I can say that I love it here. There is always something fun to do. Our first week alone we went to the beach, to a comedy club, to 3 museums, to the zoo and tried a ton of great restaurants right on our street. Here are some of the other great things we have done...

Free Death Cab for Cutie Concert

Boat tour with Colin's company

Watching Pride parade

Navy Pier

Cubs game

Museum of Science and Industry

Millennium Park

Planetarium

Basically Chicago is awesome and you should come visit!!

Journey to Chicago

After we returned from Florida we had a couple of days to get all of our stuff packed to move across the country. I was so excited to start such a crazy adventure. The reason we moved out to Chicago was Colin got a job with a consulting firm and he was scheduled to start at the end of May. The plan was to drive Colin's car out to Chicago. All we really had to pack were our clothes and wedding gifts. We had absolutely no furniture. We didn't even have computers because both of our laptops died a week before graduation. All of our stuff would not fit in his car though, so we ended up renting a U-box from U-haul. All we had to do was go to the nearest U-haul in Littleton and fill this storage unit with all our stuff. They then shipped it out to Chicago.

We had a few hiccups in our journey. The first one being that the car wouldn't start the day before we left. We tried to jump start it a few times but nothing was working. I was freaking out because I thought it had died for good (its a '95 Buick Skylar so this was a possibility). Colin then had the great idea to put a gallon of gas in the tank and see if it would start then (This was not obvious at first because the fuel gauge said we had a quarter of a tank left). We put in a gallon and it still did not start. For some reason Colin thought we should try another gallon, so we went back to the gas station and bought another gallon. It started!!!! The stupid thing was just out of gas. I made my mom swear not to tell my dad about the whole thing. I knew he would not let us leave if he found out. She didn't tell him and we left the next day!

We split the drive into two parts. The first day we drove 8 hours to Omaha, Nebraska. It was also Colin's 23rd birthday. I felt so bad because it had to be the worst birthday ever.  We ate at Applebee's to celebrate his life and then spent the night in an extremely ghetto motel.  

The next day we drove another 8 hours and finally got to Chicago!! We had no problems along the way. The drive was horribly ugly and boring, but I am glad we made it safely.

Disney World

Two days after our Colorado reception we packed our bags and flew down to Orlando to spend a week in Disney World with my family. My family is in love with all things Disney. I had not been to Disney World in about 4 years, so I was excited to go back! Colin had been to Disney World a few years ago, and lets just say he is not as in love with it as I am. We still had a wonderful time in the happiest place on earth! ;)

 My mom bought these hats for us. I got Colin to agree to put it on for one picture. This is the picture. 

We spent four days at all the different Disney parks. My favorite park is Animal Kingdom because I love animals I guess. 

 One of the highlights was when Tamsen and Colin auditioned for the American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios. 

I got to sit in on both of their auditions. They both did a great job but neither of them made it. I was still a proud wife/sister. 

We also spent two days at Universal Studios which is like 20 minutes from Disney World.

The best part of Universal was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! 

The butter beer was delicious!! 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was at night my sisters would come into our room and Colin would do magic tricks for us. We also played poker with my sisters and they were way better then me. It was a great time and I am sure we will have many more Disney adventures throughout the years!!

Wedding Reception

Hello again blog world. It has been weeks since I have spent some quality time with you. This is due to the fact that I am so dang lazy when it comes to writing on this thing. Oh and my precious lover decided to post an extremely embarrassing video of us singing together. Anyways, I have decided to spend my day off catching the world up on our lives. Unfortunately that means going all the way back to May and giving brief descriptions of all the exciting things we have done since then.

The first major event that needs some attention is our Colorado wedding reception. What a long time ago that was...May 5th to be exact. There are many things about that day that should never be remembered. Like the fact that I spent the first half of the day ordering my army of decorators around as we prepared for the reception. This army included my mom, my three sisters, Colin, and other amazing family members that randomly showed up throughout the process. Once again I was possessed by a demon known as the bridezilla!! Despite my craziness, we were able to prepare a lovely reception!

Here are some pictures of our work. 

    

We had such a great time at the reception. So many lovely friends and family were able to come and it was so great to be able to catch up with everyone.

Some of the most memorable moments were:

Cutting the cake:

I dominated. 

 

Throwing the bouquet: 

On my first try I accidentally hit my grandma in the face.

Luckily she survived. 

On my second try my sissy Tamsen caught it. I hope what they say about catching the bouquet is true...

and Dancing!!

Dancing is something Colin and I didn't really plan for at our wedding because Colin hates to dance. 

To my surprise my family decided to break out the moves. I was so happy. 

Me trying to convince Colin to dance 

 I had such a great time and I am so grateful for everyone who came!