The Common Cup

My sense of well being and faith in all of humanity have been restored.

This morning on my way to work, I decided to stop in the cute little independent coffee shop in my new neighborhood, rather than succumb to the temptation of the Starbucks near my office.

I was pleasantly surprised and delighted. I ordered my usual mocha, and instantly felt more at ease. The owner was working the counter, and rather than several, pushy, snobby people standing in line, fighting to order over each other, to the teenager wearing a headset, she and I actually had a short, personable conversation. I mentioned I was new to the neighborhood, and I was warmly welcomed.

The coffee ended up being around the same price as I would pay elsewhere, but at this point, I'm accustomed to paying $5 for coffee, so, I let that slide... especially since the coffee was actually much better.'

Overall, I highly recommend The Common Cup if you are ever in my neighborhood. Maybe I will see you there!
A.

"She was just 17, you know what I mean"

I have moved several times in my life, and as a result am now holding onto the belief that our new place will be the last one until we purchase a home in the burbs, and I am bound and determined to keep that promise to myself and D. I hate moving. Every time I do it, the same things happen. First, I rethink that whole, " I want to keep all my books so I can have a real library someday" Books are heavy and take up a lot of space. Second, I find some small piece of the past that makes me feel bad about myself.

Last time: Senior Thesis. Apparently, at some point in my life I was brilliant, I said vibrant, interesting , thought provoking things. Oh well.

This time: pictures from when I was 17. First of all, I do not miss being 17, I remember being rather angry and resentful of everything and everyone, especially my parents ( and blonde cheerleaders, though to be honest, I still dislike most). I do however, miss my 17 year old 100 pound figure. And, thus we have been brought back to my earlier statements of wanting to be thin, but not wanting to try. I realize that I will never achieve the results I had when I was 17. My metabolism has slowed and, well my energy has decreased because I'm lazy. Yes, I admit it, I'm lazy and I enjoy fast food. I am an American, get over it. Maybe I will walk more. Maybe I will work out, maybe I will join a gym again, maybe I will buy an elliptical machine, maybe...

While I consider that, I will eat my butter drenched pierogies and drink my Mt. Dew. mmmm.
A.

Apartment Search

The search began in mid-February. I searched the internet every day to get a sense of price ranges and areas. In March, we actually started looking. First, we headed to the well known Chicago Apartment Finders (here). We walked in and met with an agent, who took our details: number of bedrooms, pet preference, and price range. Then, he proceeded to show us only items on the highest end of that range, and we found the perfect place. We rushed around one evening, in a race against time, filled out paperwork and put some money down.

Then, someone else got the apartment. Our agent screwed us over. He called me and tried to talk me into a similar unit, which we hadn't seen, in the same building, but for much much more rent a month. ( meanwhile, if you can afford $2,000 a month in rent, I hate you, and you are probably stupid.. who in their right mind pays that much to RENT?!) As a side note, due to this experience and the fact that the office staff at Chicago Apartment Finders were not friendly nor helpful in any way, nor were they actually interested in finding us an apartment, but rather very interested in getting us to pay them top dollar, I do not reccommend going to this service. In fact, I strongly suggest you avoid them at all costs. If you go to their website and see somewhere you like, I would figure out the address and contact the landlord.

So, we got mad and looked by ourselves. And looked, and looked. And, gave up and called another service. We were skeptical due to our prior experience, but Michael at Apartment People (here)was AWESOME. He was more than helpful, and very friendly. He showed us so many places that met our criteria. We recommend him to everyone! Remember to ask for Mike Rabitoy.
So, Mike was great and we really loved working with him, but in the end, we found something on our own. FINALLY!

The place we found has everything we wanted. Including a garage parking spot ( that's a big deal in Chicago) At least my stress of finding a place is over, now we just have to pack, and move. Sigh.
A.