FOMO

Long time no blog!  I figured I had to break the silence and give a quick run-down of our summer since our initial wedding crush.

I finished working at the end of June, and kicked of my three-week funemployment by going to New York with my family for a joint birthday party for my dad and an engagement party for Dan and I.  While he wasn't able to attend {he was at a bachelor party in Manhattan that weekend}, it was wonderful to see a large group of family.  It was the first time in years that we had gotten so many of us together, so it was great to be surrounded by so much love.

A few days later, we left for our much-anticipated San Francisco trip, and it certainly did not disappoint.  While I thought I was looking for a relaxing vacation after a year of non-stop high-stress work, it turned out to be the opposite of relaxing.  Oh well!  But you know what? It was actually my perfect vacation, because we were really active every day, whether that involved running, hiking, walking EVERYWHERE {and up very major hills} or riding bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge {we did that on the 4th of July, and ended up riding over 20 miles overall, including stopping in charming little Sausalito, where we were part of the old-timey 4th of July parade}.  We ate a TON of mouthwatering food - seriously, I don't think we had a good meal - ranging from a salad place near the Air Bnb we were staying in {which was so delicious we went back a second time} to an amazing Greek restaurant whose chef recently catered a White House event.  We spent lots of quality time with friends, including my friends Maggie and Jordan, but mostly Dan's friend from high school, Trey, his wife, Ashley, and Trey's brother, Ian, all of whom moved to SF recently but have an enviable knowledge of the city.  The three of them spent a ton of time with us, and we were so grateful for them setting up activities for us that were outside of the "touristy" description.  It was the perfect getaway, especially for my first time in California!

When we got back from San Francisco, we had four full days left in DC, and we really maxed them out, spending lots of quality time with family and friends, saying goodbye to some of our favorite restaurants and places.  The Saturday before we moved, Molly threw us an engagement/going-away party at Poste, which just filled me up with happiness.  There was so much love at that party, and almost all of our favorite Washingtonians were there, including both sets of parents.  I could not have asked for a better send-off.  

On July 14th, we packed everything into the U-Haul and Dan's car and drove away from the city that we have come to love so much.  I was hysterical as I said goodbye to my dad and my mom and I drove to Pittsburgh, our first stop on the way to Chicago {luckily, my mom was driving the first leg, which freed me up for some solid crying}.  We arrived in Chicago in the middle of the next afternoon, and we are pretty in love with our new place.  It is kind of industrial, with exposed ducts and unfinished ceilings, but, even with my love of everything old and clean when it comes to houses, I absolutely love it.  The location is fantastic too, allowing us easy access to many parts of the city, especially downtown.  I definitely feel like I am still in the adjustment phase.  I do love our apartment and I am enjoying exploring the city, but I am certainly not at the point where I love it here or it feels like home.  When people mention DC, my heart still skips a beat.

The job has been the biggest blemish of my experience here so far.  To make a long story short, there are a ton of personnel issues in the office, which were articulated to me starting on my first day.  Needless to say, I have gone home from work in tears on several days.  While I don't miss the office politics of my old office, I miss the work, and the students I worked with, terribly. One of my students sent me a really sweet card in the mail thanking me for everything I have done for her, and it honestly made my day, if not my week.  The work I'm doing now is just different, and I don't think I've quite adjusted to it yet.  I'm hoping that things start to get better soon.

The other thing I have been struggling with is significant FOMO. I was talking to Allie about it the other night over a yummy Indian dinner, asking her if she had felt as though she was sort of "out of sight, out of mind" when she left DC after graduation.  As I reflected on our conversation afterward, it struck me that this is very similar to how I felt during study abroad, when I realized that life goes on without me and, as it does, communication with friends fades.  I am looking forward to continuing to get together with Allie and Kristin, but they both have busy schedules, so I'm thinking that, until things pick up with the Partners Club through Dan's program, things might be a little lonely around here.  That has definitely been my overwhelming emotion since we got here.  We grabbed dinner with someone whose wife is in the program and lives in our building, so hopefully, little by little, we'll start making more connections like that one.

Last weekend, I met my family back in my beloved New England {seriously, that place practically makes me weak at the knees!} for a beautiful and moving memorial service for Terry.  Although he passed away back in April, they opted to do the memorial service later on, and, while it was certainly emotional, I appreciated the chance to say goodbye and be surrounded by people who loved and cared about him.  On Saturday morning, we made the short drive from Maine {where the memorial had been} to the Lake and enjoyed 2 1/2 days of uninterrupted sun and family and friend time.  There was definitely a sadness this year, as two members of the "Lake family" are battling cancer, and one is in pretty rough shape at this point.  You know what? Cancer sucks.  It freaking sucks.  I'm tired of people in my life dying from it, especially people in our Lake family.  When I got back to Chicago on Monday night, the first thing I saw on the TV monitors when I got off the plane was news of Robin Williams's suicide, which is obviously tragic and incredibly sad.  I know there is a lot at play with people who attempt suicide, and I have been fortunate enough to never have experienced feelings like that, but, after having been around so much suffering over the weekend, I was struck by the fact that these friends of ours WANT to live, and they're fighting SO hard.  To think that someone just threw it all away makes me really upset, when there are so many people who would do anything to be healthy.  Sorry for being depressing. Obviously it was an emotional weekend for me.  But, at the end of the day, we all got to spend time together in the most special and beautiful place on the face of the earth, so I was happy.

I'll hopefully post again soon with some summer pictures, but, in the meantime, I'm off to enjoy the weekend with Dan's family, since his parents are in town for a visit.  I'm looking forward to having a piece of DC here, even if only for a quick few days!

This Move is Officially Happening...

Last week was a banner week in our household! We started off the week by getting engaged on Sunday, and, by Thursday, we had gotten a condo!  Add to it some slight movement on the job front, and it made for a great week.

To be honest, I was not completely stressed about our housing situation in Chicago.  If I needed to move to start a job, I knew that I had a couple of great friends that I could crash with for a couple of days while I tried to find us an apartment.  However, I feel SO much better knowing that there is a place that will be ours as of July 1st!  As opposed to the job search process, which has been long and drawn-out, the housing search happened at a lightning-fast pace.  We had narrowed it down to one neighborhood that we wanted to target, based on proximity to public transportation, overall feel of the neighborhood, etc.  Dan was able to see a few buildings in this area during a neighborhood housing tour that was a part of Admitted Student Weekend.

Based on the research we had done and the buildings Dan had visited, we were primarily considering three buildings.  On Wednesday, we had our real estate agent go and look at a place for us, and we made a split-second decision to go for it after seeing the pictures that she sent us.  Our plan all along had been to have either one of our friends or Dan's sister go and see our prospective homes before signing a lease, but we soon learned that we were going to need to move more quickly than that, requiring us to place all our trust in our agent to get a sense for these places {this is not a good feeling for a control freak like me!}. We raced to get the application completed on Wednesday afternoon and evening, and found out late on Thursday morning that we got the condo!  It was such a whirlwind, and we certainly got ourselves worked up about it, but I am so glad that everything turned out okay.  We are very excited to move in!

I found out in the middle of last week that I got an on-campus interview for a job that I am very interested in, so I will be heading to Chicago next week.  I am both excited and nervous, since the job-related component of this move is what has stressed me out the most, both from income and healthcare perspectives.  I so badly want to have that nailed down so that I can truly enjoy my remaining time in DC and not need to stress out about my employment prospects.  I will keep you all posted!

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the aftermath of the engagement.  It has been a huge adjustment to refer to Dan as my fiancé, and I have certainly slipped up more than a few times.  Everyone has been so sweet and curious to hear about the details, and I think I have the story memorized at this point!!! We are not moving forward on any major details yet, although I have started brainstorming a guest list, as that will affect the types of venues we are able to consider.  We got to see several friends over the weekend who hadn't seen us since the engagement, so it was really fun to share the story with them.

In general, it was just a perfect weekend! Dan and I got to spend some quality time together, and, very importantly, we spent a LOT of time outside, as the weather was absolutely gorgeous!  Dan, Molly and I went to a Nats game with Dan's dad on Saturday, followed by a great late afternoon/evening on H St. celebrating our friend Alix's birthday on a rooftop.  On Sunday, we went to the Air & Space Museum, which Dan had never been to, and I spent the afternoon with my dad at the outdoor pool that they belong to.  We grabbed dinner with my parents at Blacksalt on Sunday evening {seriously, mouthwateringly delicious fish!} and got to catch up with them post-engagement {they had not seen Dan since then}.  It was a beyond perfect weekend, and this upcoming one will be one of our last in DC, as we will be out of town at weddings the following two weekends.  Exciting times! It is finally feeling like summer, and I think going to Jazz on Friday will make it feel like the official start of summer for me!!

I Can See the Finish Line!

First of all, can you tell it has been a calmer week at work? I've been blogging up a storm, given how infrequently I've been doing so for the past few months.  I've missed it!

Anywho, this was one of those weeks where I felt overscheduled and exhausted.  I blame the fact that it's getting to be that hot and humid time of year, allergies are still a killer and I have had something going on every night after work that has kept me up late.  But you know what?  That is just making me anticipate the impending weekend more.  Also, I had better get used to being busy today, because Dan and I compiled our Official DC Bucket List this week, and there is a ton of stuff on there {okay, mostly restaurants…OKAY, more dessert outings than I would like to admit}, so it's going to be go-go-go until the big move, which is tentatively going to be in mid-to-late July.

Dan is off to western PA for a bachelor party this weekend, so I will be making myself a yummy summer salad for dinner, watching embarrassing amounts of House of Cards and baking and consuming massive amounts of baked goods.  The thought of it just brings a smile to my face :)

I have to work tomorrow morning, but I have a swim to look forward to afterward, followed by dinner with my fam, because baby bro is in town!  Monday happens to be his birthday, so we're celebrating both his birthday and mother's day with dinner tomorrow night.  Also tomorrow, I'm helping a dear friend celebrate her birthday {the boot may be a slight issue for the dancing portion of the evening}, and then I'm having a sleepover with my bestie.  I am so, so pumped for this weekend!

I hope all of you have either an exciting or relaxing weekend, depending on what you're looking for!

A Monday Mish-Mash

Since it's Monday, I'm not really feeling like stinging together a full, coherent post, so I'll just comment on a few things that are floating around in my head right now:

• So, I have a stress fracture in my tibia.  You would think that I would learn my lesson from all of my many running injuries over the years, which seem to become more severe each time, but, for those of you who are runners too, you'll understand how hard it is to go without running, even for a day.  The last time I ran was the Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler on April 6th {which I actually finished in a  shockingly quick time of 1:19, given that I was already quite injured at that point}, and I'm really yearning to run again, especially since running outside at this time of year just fuels my love affair with DC.  Also, I'm not going to pretend that I haven't already plotted out races to run in Chicago.  The doc told me I have to wear my boot for the next 4-6 weeks, so I suppose it's a good thing that I already had one of those suckers sitting around in my closet.  The only reason why I'm not crying on a regular basis is because I'm allowed to swim!  I am in the process of joining a gym with a pool for the next month, and, after going for two swims over the weekend, I think it's safe to say that I'm hooked.  Now, if only I could get Dan to set foot in a pool…the poor thing is traumatized after swimming through college :)
• We had a lovely Easter with both of our families, spending Saturday night with Dan's family {we got to meet his brother's girlfriend and his adorable new dog, Charlotte, as well as see Dan's sister} and Easter Sunday with mine.  I am trying to count my blessings, particularly for these next few months, because I know that this may be the last time we live near our families…sob.
• Last weekend, we went out to the Windy City for Dan's revisit weekend.  While it still doesn't feel completely real that we are leaving our beloved DC in just a few months, I am so, SO excited to get to experience a new city. Having Kristin, Allie and Emily there will be a huge plus for me, and I felt really comfortable with the people that I met at all of the Partners Club events last weekend.  
• We are going to our first Nats game of the season tonight with a group of local admits from Dan's program.  I am excited to meet some of the people who we will be spending 4 years with, and I never turn down an opportunity to go to Nats Park.
• On Saturday, we went to a Drink the District event put on by Living Social.  Despite a brief downpour, it was a fun event, and we got to try lots of good beer and wine {as well as some not-so-tasty mint juleps}.  We went with a group of friends, and, after hanging out with them more at the end of the event, had to say what is likely to be our first goodbye {as some of the friends will be leaving for a few months in Europe next weekend}.  I definitely teared up in the cab ride home.  This endless series of goodbyes is not going to be easy...
• On Thursday, we went to a fun wine tasting event with Dan's parents that was put on by Wine Spectator.  The event was a lot of fun, although I would be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by tasting a $1,000 wine.  I'll stick with my less-than-$20 bottles, thank you very much!!
• I need a vacation.  So badly.  Which is why I giddily happy that our San Francisco trip is creeping up on us.  I just need to recharge.
• So, I must confess that I've recently gotten hooked on House of Cards.  The show is fabulous!  Fortunately, Dan has no interest in political shows, which means that I can binge-watch this series {which he is less likely to do, hence the snail's pace with which we are going through my other current obsession, Friday Night Lights}.
• Oh, and looking for jobs and apartments is stressful.  I know, right?!  I know people mean well, but both searches are stressing me out to the point where I just don't want to talk about it.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! The rest of this week is supposed to turn summer-like, and I am using a bachelor party that Dan is going to this weekend as an excuse for some much-needed "me time', which will likely involve too much baking and too many episodes of House of Cards :)