Onward...

One year ago today, Rick and I pulled our car into the parking garage of an unfamiliar building on Superior Street. The car was full of only what we absolutely needed (which turned out to take up EVERY available space within the interior), and, unlike every other road trip we'd taken to Chicago, we did not end the night in a a fluffy-duvet-cocooned hotel bed at the Sofitel. No, instead, we carted our car-sized load of things up an elevator to the 20th floor, and opened the door to our tiny -- er, COZY -- 600-square-foot temporary apartment, where we attempted to find space for our pared-down possessions and spent the first of many nights on a much-too-hard-and-too-small bed...

Since that day one year ago, so much has occurred:

We moved from one temporary place to another. Our condo was still small, but the view made up for it:

We survived our first Chicago blizzard and celebrated with Caribou coffee!

Our attempts to purchase not one, but TWO downtown condos fell through, leading us to believe we'd never find a place we really loved. And then, just as the lease on our temporary place was about to end, we found THE condo -- it may not be absolutely perfect, but it covers most of the bases: tons of light, cool loft design, great exposed brick and cement, decent view, more square footage than either of the other places we tried to buy, and a great location. (The cupcake store that just opened across the street doesn't hurt the appeal, either...) And everyone -- especially Riff -- is very comfortable here...

Mom and dad bought their own downtown condo so they'd have a place to stay for all their visits up here. Which turned out to not only be great for them, but great for those of us who need a place to park, or do laundry, or have impromptu pizza parties as well... (have I mentioned that my mom and dad are awesome?? :))


And then, of course, there's this guy:

Over the past year, we've tried new restaurants; learned the best routes for driving from one side of the city to the other; hung out with new friends and spent more time with old ones; fell asleep with window-rattling street-paving trucks just outside our building; discovered that having everything we need within walking distance is pretty darned cool and convenient; marveled at fireworks and sunsets and skyline views; eaten more Indian food than we ever have in our lives (YES!! :)); and have still barely scratched the surface of all this city has to offer.

Bring on year number two...