See you later, Chicago...for now.

Well, we have been working hard to get Rachel's apartment up to par. Unfortunately, the landlords didn't do a deep clean of this place. So, we have been scrubbing base boards, cleaning floors, sweeping, painting, and washing windows. My Mom was quite the worker-bee. She would wake up at 4AM, and deep clean all the windows. She would be crawling around on her hands and knees with a washcloth and bucket of Murphy's oil. We changed out the light fixture in the bathroom last night, so it would be brighter for Rachel.

One thing about Chicago is you will GPS something that seems "close", like 6 miles away, but it will take us about 45 minutes to get there because of traffic and everything. So, yesterday's Lowe's excursion was no exception. We drove and drove, and Rachel announces she forgot the Lowe's coupon that she received from the Post Office in her "change of address packet". Turning around is not an option because it took so long to get there. We are all aggravated, but I drop Mom and Rachel off at Lowe's, and I drive to the closest Post Office to get a coupon. I fight through traffic, find parking, and get a new packet. Well, the packet they give out here has coupons for Lowe's, but you have to fill out an online survey, then they email it to you with in 2-5 business days. I hike it all the way back to Lowe's, and Rachel says the manager is just going to let us have 10% off with no coupon. So, my trip to the Post Office was pointless, and Rachel then announces she forgot the list, that has everything we needed to buy, the measurements, and paint colors. We did our best to remember everything, and just got the hell out of there.

We have been shopping everyday for this apartment for furnishings. When we arrived there was only two bar stools. Since then, we have bought beds, side tables, a dresser, couch, TV Stand, shelving units, light fixtures, and TONS of home decor stuff. We did the bulk of our shopping at Target, Lowe's, HomeGoods, and Big Lots yesterday.

Every night Mom and Rachel have been taping off and painting something. Whether it is base boards, light fixtures, or vents they have been getting everything prepped and painted.

My Mom just left back to Michigan, and as I write this, I am sitting on the couch at Rachel's apartment in Chicago. It's Sunday morning before Christmas Eve. Rachel is getting ready, and in less than 1 hour we will be back in the car, driving down to Alabama for the holidays. So more pictures of the road and stories to come!!

Guest Bathroom

Guest Bathroom

Backdoor Hallway

Shelving Unit from Nadeau in Guest Bedroom

Guest Bed. We finally got the headboard on!!

Living Room. New Mirror, New Couch, New TV, New TV Stand

Couch

Kitchen

We cleared all the boxes, but haven't started hanging stuff yet

Hurricane Joann Hits Chicago

My Mom arrived in Chicago yesterday morning. To say that my Mom can't handle technology is an understatement. She was using GPS, and I asked her how far she was, and how soon she'd be here. She was half yelling into the phone "I DON'T KNOW, I'M NOT SURE, OH SHIT..I JUST PASSED MY EXIT...OK HOLD ON...HOLD ON...I'M IN A CITY, I DON'T KNOW IF I AM IN CHICAGO...I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I AM IN ILLINOIS...." OK, Hurricane, I am going to hang up so you can focus. 

She made it here alas. She literally parked her car, came inside, and immediately started cleaning, unpacking boxes. Going into full-blown Hurricane mode. 

The picture below were taken yesterday before we started doing the majority of unpacking, and bought any furniture. So I will have updated photos in the coming days....

We have been shopping, unpacking, repairing, and doing our best to get Rachel settled. Today we bought 4 pieces of furniture from Nadeau, a shabby chic antique furniture store. Rachel bought a dresser for the guest bedroom, a small table, a TV entertainment center, and a shelving unit for the hallway. 

We went to a few more stores, and bought a headboard, lamps, rugs, towels, etc. So, we are on our way to getting Rachel moved in more and more everyday!!

Tonight a blizzard is coming in, so we went to the grocery store to buy food for the next few days. We are all in our PJ's watching Apollo Theater on BET, and living the dream. 

Stay tuned!! 

Hurricane 5 minutes after arriving

Buzzing around

Living Room

Living Room

Back Hallway

Part of Rachel's Room

Hallway into Rachel's Room

Guest Bathroom

Guest Bedroom

Kitchen

Hallway

Living Room

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Adventures of Delivery Men

Hello All,
I have some humorous stories for you all for your reading enjoyment :o)

Let me begin with the story of the cable guy, who I will dub "The AT&T Man". The AT&T Man arrived, and from the time he got here, I had the impression that he was trying to find any excuse why Rachel couldn't have U-Verse. He kept asking me questions that I clearly wouldn't know the answer to like "How many phone wires run to this unit?" and "Where is the main phone line for this building?" to which I replied "Err, I have no idea." He would look at different wires around the unit, and shake his head. Eventually, he overcame his defeatist attitude, and found the building phone line down where the storage units are in the basement. Rachel's apartment has two doors, the front which leads to the hallway, and a back door that leads to the locked courtyard.

I left the back door cracked, so he could come in and out. I was on the phone with a furniture company, when the AT&T Man beeped in, asking me to let him in the front door. I walked out of the apartment into the hallway to let him into the main front door, and I heard the door slam behind me. Yes, the door closed and locked behind me, so I had locked myself out of the unit. Rachel was at work, so I was screwed. The back door is enclosed by the locked gate, and the AT&T Man saw the bewilderment on my face, and goes "Uhh, did you just lock us out?" Yes. Yes, I did. He said, "hmm, OK come with me." So we walked around back, he takes out a screwdriver, and like a key just opens the gate. He looks over at me, and says with a chuckle "Uhh, don't tell anyone I did this. I might get in trouble if you said I was breaking into houses."
 OK, so this was great that our cable man got us out of a potentially shitty situation, but pretty scary that with a screwdriver people can just undo a lock. Especially for someone like me and Rachel who watch an onslaught on Forensic Files and Cold Case File Episodes.

Moving on to the Fedex Delivery Man. He was a 65-year-old gentlemen. You may be wondering, how do I know his age? Well, between grunting and complaining, he kept telling me he was 65-years-old, retired, and just doing this for extra money. He came complete with a full on gray mullet, tattoos on his arms that were so fuzzy they were no longer decipherable, and a gold earring in one ear that dangled on a chain. Cutie Pie. So, yeah, Rachel shipped herself 11 boxes from Fedex of linens, clothes, shoes, and one or two boxes of dishes. The guy was full-out grunting, sweating, and shaking his head the whole time. Then, on his last load he goes "Yeah, I didn't know I was a mover." Gotta love disgruntled employees around the holidays <3
The boxes in her hallways-------------------------------->
Last, but certainly not least, RONALDO THE COUCH MAN. My favorite of all. Rachel and I scouted a large gray sectional sofa at Big Lots, but when we asked to purchase it they said they were sold out. Of course. So, a few days later Rachel, Josh, and I went furniture store shopping at other stores. We even picked out a couch at another store, but when we went to buy it they said the soonest they could have it to us was by Friday. Meanwhile the only seating in the apartment we have currently are two bar stools. So, we said we couldn't wait, and back to Big Lots we went. We showed Josh the couch we originally like, but he said he thought it would be too big, and we all decided on a smaller, green sectional sofa. They were sold out of that one too, but agreed to sell us the floor model.

Big Lots does not have a delivery company, but recommends Ronaldo for deliveries. So, we called Ronaldo to schedule the delivery, and gave him the name of the couch, the description of the couch, and numbers off the receipt. He told me he would be here by Noon. Then, noon passes...one passes...two passes, and he calls me to tell me he is at the store wrapping up our items. Maria the manager at Big Lots calls me to ask for the transaction number on the receipt, and a few more codes from the receipt. Finally around 3:45PM Ronaldo, and his friends arrive. I wasn't paying attention when they brought in the first piece of the sofa, but my Mom walked over and goes "Oh, this is a nice neutral color." I look over, and it is THE WRONG COUCH. Yes. The wrong sectional. After I have given numbers from the receipt to Ronaldo and Maria, they accidentally delivered the gray sectional Rachel and I originally wanted.  I told my Mom that isn't the couch we ordered, but I didn't say anything to Ronaldo and the boys because I was in shock.

**Fun Fact** When Ronaldo showed up he was wearing an I <3 JESUS hat. Can you be rude to that? I think not.

So, I watched in shock as they brought in all 3 large pieces of the gray couch, and assembled it in Rachel's living room. After they left, I told my Mom that I actually liked this couch more then the green one, and seeing it in the living room, I thought it looked good. 30 minutes after Ronaldo left, the Big Lots manager, Maria, called to tell us she thinks they delivered the wrong couch. I played dumb. I said my sister Rachel was at work (which was true), and that I didn't know what couch was supposed to be delivered. I needed to stall until Rachel got off work, so I could ask what she wanted to do.

The couch they delivered was bigger and more expensive, and perfect for what Rachel wanted. Rachel said she was OK with keeping the mistaken couch, but didn't want to pay the difference in price since they made the mistake. We sent in Chief Negotiator, aka Olivia, to call Maria.

In the end, Olivia got Maria to let us keep the couch, and not pay any additional money for it. So Rachel payed for a 2-piece sectional with 10% since it was a floor model, and came out with a 3 piece sectional for no additional money :o) Way to go Olivia!

JACKPOT!!


 

Roughin' It

Sorry I didn't update this yesterday. We didn't have internet installed until today.

We woke up in Davenport, Iowa yesterday morning at 6:45AM, got dressed, ate breakfast, and hit the road by 8am. We arrive in Chicago around 11AM, and grabbed lunch at our favorite Greek restaurant, Artopolis. After that we went to a furniture store that Rachel found on Yelp that takes antique furniture, and repurposes them into a shabby chic look. We found a few pieces we liked, but didn't buy anything until we could see the paint colors in the apartment again.

Rachel sold ALL of her furniture, and is buying everything new. So we had to immediately start shopping.
Around 1 PM we met with her landlord to get the keys to her place, which is SO beautiful  The neighborhood is gorgeous, and the inside is all updated and spacious.

We headed straight to Sams Club to buy mattresses, a TV, vacuum, broom, coffee pot, and some other odds and ends.

We then headed to a furniture outlet, then Big Lots on a quest to find the perfect sectional. We found a sectional we liked at Big Lots, but of course, they are sold out. So, we met up with our friend Josh and his roommate for dinner, then headed back to Rachel's apartment to unload some dishes and other items.

Well, the mattresses we bought are these temper pedic foam mattresses that are condensed into a box, once you rip it out of the plastic the foam expands into its normal shape, but you have to let it sit for 8 hours. Since we didn't have enough time to let it sit, we slept on the floor next to the mattresses...but since Rachel's linen doesn't arrive until tomorrow, we only have 3 blankets that we needed to share. We made a make-shift bed on the floor in the corner, and passed out.

Rachel had to work today. So, I have been in the apartment trying to hold down the fort. The cable and internet guy came today, and we found out Big Lot's has our sectional now so we should be able to get our couch tonight or tomorrow morning delivered.

Last night, Olivia called to tell me grades were posted. I took 18 credit hours, and came out making 3 A'S and 3 B's!! Yay!! Some good news!!

My friend Josh is taking me to Target once he gets off work around 5 so we can go to Target and buy...everything Haha We need garbage cans, cleaning supplies, rugs, etc. Then Rachel should be off work, and we will head to Big Lots to purchase the sectional.

Also, Great News!! Our Mom is coming to stay with us starting tomorrow morning all the way until Saturday!! Yay!!

Sorry this post is so scattered. Lots to cover, but I will have more pictures and post to come once we become more settled.

As it stands, we have no furniture other than two mattresses and two bar stools. Hopefully we can change this. Until next time!

First Dinner in Chicago at Artopolis. We love Greek Food.

Goat or Lamb Meat anyone? Gotta love Greek town

Rachel outside furniture store right after we arrived in Chicago

Picking out furniture in the shabby chic store

Loved this furniture store

Outside of Rachel's building

Rachel's neighborhood

We made it!!

Living Room

Kitchen

Hallway

Sam's Club buying everything

CHICAGO OR BUST

Well, I am writing this blog from Davenport, Iowa in our hotel room on the water.

Today was...unexpected. We left Laramie, Wyoming at around 8:30AM. Instead of taking our usual 30-40 minute breakfast or lunch break, we just grabbed a drive-thru breakfast, Subway for lunch, and hit the open road. We drove through Nebraska, and we were planning on staying in Des Moines, Iowa which was 9 hours. We got our second wind, and made the decision to keep driving. We drove an additional 3 hours past Des Moines, into Davenport, Iowa which is only 2 1/2 hours from Chicago!! Woohoo!

I have to say we got lucky in regards to weather today. It was sunny, beautiful, no snow on the ground, and no traffic. We drove 11 hours today, not including the hour break we took to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel in Omaha, Nebraska. We took Coca-Cole Cake and Chicken & Dumplins to the face then hit the road. Our backs are hurting and cramping from being in the car so long, but we made great time. We are waking up bright and early to meet Rachel's landlord to get the keys to the apartment, then off to buy Rachel all new furniture for her new apartment. So, I will have a lot to report tomorrow.

Today we lived up to our motto to "Keep it Movin' " because we drove what felt like forever with barely any breaks. We listened to the book by Kris Jenner, "All Things Kardashian" audiotape, and when we felt our intelligence deteriorating we would put on an NPR podcast.

Sorry for the shortage of pictures. We were so engulfed in our entertainment via the radio, I forgot to take as many today. I will take tons tomorrow of everything! I am off to bed...CHICAGO OR BUST

The Great Plains of Nebraska

The large Lincoln monument in Wyoming

Let's Keep It Movin'

I am writing this blog from our hotel room in Laramie, Wyoming.

Rachel has dubbed our trip motto: Let's Keep It Movin'. We say this every time we pass someone on the highway that is going too slow, we say it after we are ready to leave a restaurant after we finish eating, and all other applicable times.

We drove through Utah yesterday, and stopped at an amazing brunch place in Salt Lake City, UT named Finn's. We found it on Yelp, and it was amazing. Salt Lake City people all dress in this cabin-esque meets hipster vibe. Rachel & I both agreed that we would love to live there one day. As nomadic as we are, I wouldn't be surprised.

The drive was pretty uneventful. We hit a little snow along the way, but we forged ahead. At one point we saw deer running up a mountain in Wyoming, and it was so beautiful.

What is kind of surreal about staying in Laramie, Wyoming is two-fold. First, it is where we stopped to stay the night when we were moving from Michigan to California 3 1/2 years ago. I wish I could tell you we ate somewhere indigenous to Wyoming, but it is filled with chain restaurants. So, 3 1/2 years ago we ate at Chili's, and to keep the tradition we ate at the same one for dinner last night. As we were sitting there we both talked about how much has changed since 3 1/2 years ago. I now live in Alabama, and so does Olivia. Allison, Celia, our Mom, and Adam got married. We adopted Son-Dog Millionaire aka Sonny, and Scootie aka Scooter. Rachel had never traveled internationally, but we all know she globe-trotted and lived in Sydney for 3 months now. We are turning a new chapter. Last night was all about reminiscing.

The second part of why Laramie is surreal is because this is the city where Matthew Shepard was murdered. I remember when it happened becoming obsessed with the case, and it is a little creepy/eery being here. We wanted to stop by the same cowboy bar we did 3 1/2 years ago, but we were talking so much about Matthew Shepard on the way here we creeped ourselves out, and just ate dinner and went back to the hotel.  They do not have a monument to him, and they even changed the street names where he was killed as a way to throw people off the trail to finding it because they did not want this city to be remembered for that.

We are about to have breakfast then hit the road, hoping to get 3 or 4 hours out side of Chicago by tonight, then hunker down and roll into the city Monday morning.

Wish us luck and good weather!! Let's keep it movin...

Rachel scraping ice off a windshield for the first time in 3 1/2 years

You can't see it really well, but it was ALL pickup trucks at the Sonic across the street. Gotta love Wyoming <3

Bu-Bye California!! Chicago Bound

**Please note, you can click on any photo to make it bigger so you can see them better**

Well I am writing this blog entry from our hotel room in Elko, Nevada. Sorry this first blog is so long, but there is a lot to cover. Let me take it from the top:

Rachel had a really emotional yesterday. She had to say bye to all of our coworkers, which made her cry a few times throughout the day. Then, she had to come home, and pack her apartment up, while be utterly exhausted. Her landlord lady, who is a crazy Greek lady, brought her over a grocery bag full of bottled water and homemade treats for the drive. Rachel started crying again. She sold all of her furniture, so she has been sleeping on an air mattress for the past few nights, but decided to rent a hotel room last night so we could sleep in real beds and take hot showers before hitting the open road.

After her emotional day and my day of finals & traveling it was time to eat our feelings.  I took my last final yesterday morning, and landed in San Francisco around 11:30PM. Rachel and I headed straight to our favorite San Francisco restaurant, Tommy’s Joint. It is amazing. It is super dive-y, and it is set up like a cafeteria, but the best part is they serve Thanksgiving type food, complete with delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, and all things necessary to commit complete carb-o-cide. The picture on the right is Rachel about to feast. After taking our delicious meals to the face, we headed to our hotel in Burlingame, CA around 1AM. 

Let me preface by saying, Rachel & I recently discovered Holiday Inn-Express which recently went under a complete renovation nation-wide, and are now as nice and updated as Hilton hotels. So, every time we take a road trip, we make it a point to stay in them. So last night was no exception, we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in Burlingame, California.

OK, so around 1AM we go up to the counter to check in, and no one is behind the desk. After standing there, we call out “Hello” to no answer. We notice a cellphone charging behind the counter, so we knew someone was working. We called the phone at the front desk, which rang loudly, hoping to get someone’s attention. No such luck. So, we notice there is a window that looks into the room behind the front desk, so Rachel walks around and knocks on the window because she saw the top of someone’s head sitting in a chair. Rachel knocking on the window startled the man awake, and he immediately came up to the counter. Yes. The front desk clerk was dead asleep. He came out with the raspy voice you get from being in a deep slumber, and his eyes were half open. He never apologized, and was actually kind of grouchy. Whatever. We got to check-in, headed to our hotel room, took showers, and fell asleep.
 View of San Fran Bay outside our hotel

We woke up at 7AM, had some yummy continental breakfast, then headed to Rachel’s apartment to pack up the last of her apartment, and load the car for our long journey around 8AM.

So, next funny story, Rachel’s landlord is a very energetic, nosey, abrasive Greek woman. She had already given Rachel a grocery bag full of food and bottled water the night before, but that did not stop her from insisting we take more food. We were loading the car, and she said “Rachel, you should take a few more bottles of water. I have tons, let me get you some more.” Rachel told her no thanks, and that we were OK, but Sarah, the landlord, insisted. She came back down stairs with a grocery bag that had 8 more bottles of water inside. Then, we were making another trip back up to the apartment to get more stuff to pack in the car, when Sarah comes down in her thick Greek accent “Girls, here take this cheese too. It is good. Here.” She handed us a bag of individual cheese wheels. We say thank you, and go into Rachel’s apartment to get the last load of stuff, as we are walking out there is Sarah again. This time, and I am not kidding, with a bag full of fruit (bananas, apples, sweet lemons), “Here take this too, you will love them.” We started laughing and thanking her. I put a picture to the right of the front seat filled with items she kept giving us. You would think we were storing food for the apocalypse, but she is sweet.

We packed up the car TO THE GILLS, and we had finally finished packing the car, we were all smiles, hopped in the car, and we were ready to hit the open road!!...until Rachel’s car flashed the “rear door ajar” warning light. Uh-oh. We hop out, try shoving the stuff in, and slamming the door, to no avail, the car was still flashing “REAR DOOR AJAR”. I told Rachel to grab ahold of the side of the car, and push with her boot, but no luck. The door was shut, so we said screw it, we will just have the warning error, and hit the road, but as we pulled out we realized the dome light was on, and would not shut off until we got the door to completely shut. So, yes. We literally had to take half the car out, and repack it so it would fit. By this time of having to pack, unload, and then repack the car, it was time for lunch. We stopped at Pizza My Heart, took a slice of pizza and salad to the face, then hit the open road at noon.

The drive was smooth. We hit some snow around Lake Tahoe, but other than that it was clear sailing. One thing we did not account for was how quickly it gets dark. At 5PM, it is PITCH BLACK, and our drive is mainly through the desert, so we drove until 8:30PM, until we reached Elko, Nevada. In total, we drove for 7 ½ hours today.

We grabbed dinner at a shady Mexican joint attached to an even shadier Casino, then checked into our hotel. I am currently typing this from the bed of my hotel room. We are planning to get an early start, and stay the night in Laramie, Wyoming tomorrow night.

During our trip, Olivia told us on the phone about the Connecticut Shooting, so we have been listening to the coverage on NPR all day. How sad. There are some crazy assholes out there.  

We also listened to Bossy Pants Audiobook by Tina Fey, and just enjoyed the scenery. 

Well that’s it for now. Enjoy the photos! More blog entries to come!!

 The picture above is the inside of Tommy's Joint, set up like a cafeteria. Rachel & I love it here.
Below is a picture of the outside of Tommy's Joint in San Francisco

 A picture of Rachel's apartment as we loaded the last into the car

Below: Packing the car!!

 Below: Rachel carting a load to her car..cowboy hat and all....

 Below: Rachel stressing about getting everything done before we left

The car packed to the gills

Packed to the gills again...

Feeling victorious that we got everything to fit

Only to realize...it all didn't fit. So she was grabbing ahold of the side of the car and shoving it in with her boot....

Changing the GPS state from California to Illinois

Leaving San Francisco... 

Lake Tahoe

Entering Reno...

Nevada Mountains...

Shady Casino where we grabbed dinner...

Literally written on the front of the menu...

The wallpaper in our hotel room.