I need to take yoga or something

because I have a whole lot of stress in my life that I don’t know how to deal with. Sometimes I wish I were an anonymous blogger because then I could just rant about things. Since I’m not I’ll just be all vague and annoying. I hate it when people write posts like this. ::waves:: Hi, my name is Abigail and I have problems that I’m only going to allude to.

A big part of our stress is stupid effing money. Moving, getting a job that actually pays me blah, blah, blah. I wish we just had enough to not have to think about it all the freaking time. I know things will work themselves but sometimes I wonder how. And then I start wondering over and over until I have a headache.

Anyway, everyone has stress right? So there has to be healthy ways to do it that don’t include crying, screaming or eating copious amounts of sugar. Anyone want to give me any hints? Or a million dollars, that would be even better.

Summer Dreamin’

I love summer. I’m cautiously welcoming the summer weather here. I hope it’s going to stick around. It is memorial day weekend after all. If you’re familiar at all with Chicago though you know any kind of weather can be here one minute and gone the next. They say if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Anyway, it’s been in the 80′s and 90′s for almost two weeks now so I guess it’s time for me to pack away my sweaters and get out my summer clothes. Yes, it’s almost June and I still have my sweaters out. I didn’t want to jinx anything.

Anyway, it’s a shame Chicago isn’t like this all year round because I am never more comfortable than when I’m in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. Is there a better season than summer? I don’t think so. Since I’m kind of a freak about making lists I thought I’d just list some of the top things I love about summer.

*Outdoor festivals: Outdoor concerts, movies in the park, plus, each town has their own special festival or parade. I love all the stuff happening outside when the weather gets nice

*The fair: This one is mostly about the food. I’m obsessed with fair food. Cotton candy, elephant ears, corn dogs, corn on the cob. Then of course there’s the walking around seeing crafty things I’ll probably never make, large produce I’ll probably never grow and farm animals with signs behind them about what parts are best to eat. 4H is kind of weird when you think about it….

*Going for walks: Is there anything better than going for a walk on a warm summer evening? Plus I have to walk a lot to counteract all that fried fair food I love to eat.

*Fresh fruit: I crave fruit more than anything else hands down. Chocolate has nothing on a giant bowl of fresh berries. I’ve also been known to polish off an entire half of a watermelon on my own, in one sitting. Nom!

*Six Flags: Joel and I are getting season passes to Six Flags Great America this year. I’m an adrenaline junkie and the season passes are cheap this year. It’s only about an hour away so if anyone wants to join us we’ll be spending many free days up there.

*Clothes: I may not be 100% happy with how I look all the time but I love wearing as little as possible. Obviously I try to stay classy but flip flops are almost being barefoot and shorts and tank tops aren’t much either. I hate having to bundle up so the warmer it is, the better.

*Swimming: I love to swim. Floating in a pool or laying out next to one is one of the most relaxing things in the world for me. It’s slightly less relaxing since I became obsessed with sunscreen but in between applications I’m in heaven.

There are probably five dozen other things I love about summer. These are just the ones I’m day dreaming about right now. I’m so happy summer is here. Hot weather, please stick around. You are very, very loved.

NBC should totally hire me

Remember how last time I went to book club I was told I look like Erin from the office? I could kind of see it. Last night I was told I look like Annie from Community. I don’t really watch the show so I had to look it up and I don’t see it nearly as much.

I will leave it to you Internet. What do you think?

Erin?                                         or                                            Annie?

Either way, I’m clearly NBC comedy’s type and they should call my people asap.

Laughter is good for you

Tonight was another book club meeting so it was full of wine and lots of laughing and talking. I can’t recap the evening for you other than to say I had a wonderful time.  Instead of a recap I’ll leave you with a little laugh of your own. Enjoy.

I do not speak Russian

Today we “officially” started searching for apartments. We’ve already been kinda sorta looking on the internet for a little while but today we actually had an appointment with an apartment finding service. Looking for an apartment in the city can be incredibly overwhelming so it’s nice to have someone to weed through things for us. Even with an agent I still feel pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing.

I love the city and I really miss living in it. Searching for apartments in the city isn’t like searching in the suburbs though. You look at apartments that people are still living in (!) instead of a model or an empty one that’s similar. More on that later.

The first part of the process was just talking to the agent about what we did and didn’t want. Turns out, not being picky can be a bad thing. There are a bazillion choices! Luckily we have a dog so that narrows things down a lot. Once we got in the car to actually start looking at places things got a little more interesting.

The first place we went we couldn’t get into. Our agent had the key, he just couldn’t open the door. It was strange. The lock would turn and wiggle but the dang door wouldn’t open. After several minutes of trying we gave up.

The second place we were discussing as we approached the building. Out of nowhere this seemingly random lady starts yelling at us, asking us which apartment we’re going to.

Lady – Where you going? 1E? You have appointment? I know you not have appointment today. You have appointment tomorrow, 5:30.

Agent – I talked to the building owner and he said we could come and to call him when we get here. He said he was going to call his wife. Are you his wife?

L- Yes, you call tenant? She not home.

A- Her number is disconnected.

L- She have dog.

A- Well is it a big dog?

L- Yes, very big dog.

A- Your husband told us about the dog, we’ll be ok.

L- I call my husband.

She then proceeds to talk to someone in a foreign language for.ever. Probably a solid five minutes. I didn’t understand a word she was saying except something that sounded like apartment several times and 1E which is the apartment number. She said what sounded like Da several times which led me to think she was speaking Russian. She also said what sounded like Ok, bye like seven times throughout the conversation too and did not hang up the phone. So unless ok bye has another meaning in Russian I probably have no idea what language she was speaking.

The funny part is, all this time the agent had the key, he just couldn’t get a word in edgewise to tell her. Finally she disappeared around the corner for a couple minutes, leaving us standing there looking at each other wondering what to do. When she returned she had a key and took us up to the apartment.

I don’t know who lived there and don’t want to sound judgy but the place was really dirty. It kind of smelled too. It was the size of a shoe box so it was probably hard to keep clean especially since it looked like whoever lived there had a kid. Plus they had a cat and a dog. In their defense, they were probably planning to clean for whomever was coming at 5:30 tomorrow.

Oh yeah, this “giant” dog? Barely bigger than Phoebe. That thing couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds soaking wet. It’s name was Coco and the biggest risk was it licking us to death.

Anyway, it looked like the set of Barefoot in the Park. You seriously had to stand on the bed to open the closet. Um, thanks but no thanks.

The third place we went to was much less dramatic although there was a mix up over which entrance to use. What building in Chicago doesn’t have a number on the front? That was quickly fixed because thankfully the tenant was home and gave us directions. That one was really nice but was on the higher end of our price range without utilities.

The fourth and final place was really nice. The tenant was supposed to be home, we could even hear the tv on but they never came to the door. Our agent had a key so we let ourselves in and did a speed walk through the place. I was really hoping it wasn’t anyone with heart issues because, expecting it or not, it would’ve freaked me out to walk back into my apartment and find three strangers looking through my closets.

We’re going to follow up with the agent in a few weeks. We’re not set to move until the end of July so it’s still a little early to start seriously looking. The agent was telling us how much nicer apartments are if we went up $150-$200 a month in rent. After talking about it (and taking a Twitter poll of course) I think we’ve decided to stay in our budget. The whole point of moving into the city is so we can have more to do and we need money for that. If we wanted to have a nice, big apartment we could just stay in the suburbs.

So yeah, I’m trying not to stress about it. It was a very different experience than I’m used to. The good news is, we love the neighborhoods we were looking in so at least that’s not an issue.

If you have any good tips for looking for places I’d love to hear them. Also, a Russian to English dictionary might come in handy. If you’re not using yours of course.