Yes I still exist!

….I’m just approximately 10x cooler now that I have my own apartment downtown.

Just kidding I’m approximately 10x poorer but it is so, so worth it.

The move went as smoothly as possible — minus the hiccup of forgetting all my electronics at home — I guess I was just so excited to make the move that I left my laptop, charger, iPod and phone charger on the kitchen table. Talk about scatterbrained.

But nevertheless I am officially a resident of Chicago. Living that 60657 life, yo.

This is the before pic of my new habitat. It has so much potential and I love it 🙂 I’ve already made it my own with race medals, travel posters. candles and a variety of French paraphernalia. The best part? The light. I know very few things in life but one thing I do know: I can’t live anywhere with limited natural light. I’m a “who needs curtains let’s let the sunshine in at 5am just because it’s magical” kinda gal and this place does just that. Have I mentioned how happy I am and how lucky I feel?

Even better than having a nice space to rest my head at night is that I’m living with two wonderful people. Megan, who you’ve seen around these parts a lot, is my best friend from high school. We’ve been friends since we were 14 and always said we’d live together — who knew it would actually happen. And Colleen – Megan’s friend from college – is a hoot and a half. The three of us have only lived together for 72 hours and we already had a night of ugly Christmas sweaters. champagne and decorating.

I’m on cloud nine.

Trust the timing of your life

When I moved home six months ago, I couldn’t see past the pain. It was like a wall that I couldn’t get past – I just kept hitting it, clawing at it, trying to jump over it or run around it. But it’s once I finally sat down and rested against the wall for a little that it finally disappeared and I was able to see the light on the other side.

There is nothing worse than being in the midst of a storm and someone telling you “everything gets better with time.” It makes you uncontrollably, inexplicably angry. But it’s true. And unfortunately all you can do is weather the storm for as long as it takes.

Now that I’m on my own, all set up in my new place that I am paying for on my own, going to a job I love every single day, and thriving in a community of like-minded fitness junkies, I couldn’t be more full of joy.

Now I just need to figure out how I’m going to fit my high-maintenance grocery demands into my budget. Woof.