Yay! It's the first post of 2011!

How was everyone's Sunday? I had a decent day -- actually managed to accomplish a few things, so that's good. :) I rearranged the extremely cluttered closet so it is slightly less cluttered, and I unpacked a couple more boxes (unpacking somehow seemed to cease the week between Christmas and New Year's... I guess I considered that "vacation time"??). I am determined to get this place looking like a "real" apartment this week... as opposed to some sort of pawn shop filled with random items...

Rick and I also walked about three miles around Lincoln Park this afternoon, doing a bit of exploring and stopping for lunch and (naturally) coffee. It was about 22 degrees outside... not ideal walking temperature... but I think the key to walking a few miles in sub-freezing temperatures is to be certain there is a Starbucks somewhere on the route. That provides you with extra caffeinated energy to keep going, plus you have a nifty cup-shaped hand warmer for the rest of the walk (or at least for the next five or ten minutes of the walk... coffee cools down pretty quickly in 22-degree weather...).

We also accomplished something yesterday, by way of conquering the laundry room. Okay, "conquering" is probably unnecessarily dramatic. But honestly, I haven't needed to leave my residence to do laundry since... uh... 1994?? Gosh, that makes me feel old... (shut up, Faisal... :)) The last time I had to leave my home and walk to a communal laundry room was when Rick and I were first married and living in our first apartment... Our second apartment had a washer/dryer, and since then we've been in houses. So this "carry all my laundry down to the laundry room and pay to use a machine" thing is a new experience... I mean, really, 1994 was so long ago I've forgotten what it was like...

Since I'm still working on getting everything in order and ready for a blog picture tour, I'll leave you with some pictures of the view (it's really the best part of this place... which is why I've been continually taking pictures... :)):

Here's my proximity to people I know:

 

Here's me in the kitchen with the view behind me:

 

 

And me in the living room with the view behind me:

(The sun was setting and it was getting dark... :))

Off to make dinner... Hope everyone had a good weekend!