let's get up to date!

urbs in horto, muthafuckaaaaahs we've got a danger cart!

leff and i made it downtown last weekend.

we found a camera for leff to buy once the house has closed (we are SO CLOSE RN PLEASE KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED)

this is not the camera, this is one of the saic lions. (do not have membership yet. SOON)

and THIS is rainbow cone! not from the orig place but from the pop up at navy pier.  still delicious tho!

we got our library cards.

they've been very handy

i've already finished housekeeping. so. good.

food wise, we hit up bop bar for some incredible kim chi fried dumplings. 

and dropped by la unica for an amazing cuban sandwich.

have to admit that i was jealous of leff's fried chicken though. it was so tender!!

picked up an inca kola for the road.

this past weekend, we made it to pride. it was HUGE!! and awesome.

and conrad the unicorn was great. here's vid!

 k, back to the grind which is not really a grind because i love it here so far. even though it is so hot we are melting, i am still happy. which is crackerdog bonkers but so fine with that.

hi! i am not forgetting about you!

guys, guuuuuuuyzzzzzz, i swear i'm not abandoning this place. i am just tired and crazy on the go for doing essentially...nothing. if you *really* need to see what's up, hit up ig.

i'll do a real post soon, pinky swear.

taking a break from unpacking/organizing

have i mentioned that when i'm not sneezing from moving dust (where DOES that come from anyway?), that i'm really, really fucking happy?

it is still foreign territory to me but it's ok. i'll cope.

leff and i have been on a great furniture hunt since we donated the majority of ours before we left. that is how we found ourselves at west elm.

i'm telling you, w.e. is wasp central. i would say it's also dink capital but there were too many kids (blargh). uh, what? here's a plate that i didn't buy.

we will prob get some stuff from we and also cb2. and also target. or wherever. (we are the dinks. why should i lie to you about that? XD XD)

to date, lincoln park is as far as we've gotten from home.

we'll prob head downtown this weekend. or navy fucking pier. what. don't look at me that way. they have rainbow cone there now.

ah, you want me to get to the food and bev portion of this post. ok, here goes. soooo, WE WENT TO BINNY'S AND 1) IT IS AMAAAAAAAZING 2) THE DUDE DIDN'T THINK I WAS IN MY 40S LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL christ am i ever in my 40s 3) THEY HAVE PIMM'S FOR DAAAAAAAAAAAYZZZZZZZZZZ

i kinda need to go back to binny's. it could be my new home.

we stopped by the new andersonville goddess and the grocer since a portion of their rainbow cake sales are going to the pulse gofundme. (more info about that here.)

the cake is delicious. so is their cold brew.

hit up the edgewater farmer's market last saturday! stamper cheese was there!

so was six generations farmin' local!

(and not a goddamned tarot card or henna tattoo in sight at that market! :D :D :D)

also new to the neighborhood (it's not just me and leff who just arrived, heh!), tina's italian ice! so incredibly refreshing! i had both citrus blast and cherry.

leff got blood orange and chocolate. all of those flavors were SUPERB and i can't wait to go back for more!

tonight we had takeout from dak since it's way too hot to cook. here's my bulgogi and dukbokki that lasted maybe five minutes. SO GOOD

but, best of all, wait for it....WAIT FOR IT... NANDO'S THERE IS FUCKING NANDO'S IN CHICAGO AND WE WENT THERE OMFG

it is even greater than i remember. i might want to live there after i get tired of living at binny's.

k, time to get back to unpacking. i CANNOT WAIT until i'm finished.

this getting settled business is exhausting

we have been making steady progress since the movers brought our stuff two? three? days ago. 

things would be going faster if leff and i hadn't both come down with something. blargh and etc. still, we're exploring the neighborhood a little at a time. check out park 517!

we've made it to hipster coffee which is not only some of the best coffee i've had in years but also has redeye and not motherfucking "shot in the dark" on the menu.

shot in the dark. it's not a pink panther movie, assholes.

been getting a lot of delivery since, well, reread the title of this. crisp was amazing and i cannot tell you how great it is that we can get fresh kimchi, bulgogi (add egg), bibimbap and korean hot wings DELIVERED.

also showing up at the casa, fucking deep dish. you know it. it came with a free rc cola RC FUCKERS (there's goddamned cheerwine at the jewel. YAAAAAAAAAAS (please ask me about how the soda tastes better here because it's a different bottling plant. it is SO good.))

we also ordered cannoli with that pie. i am still dead from it. XD

you know how i used to complain about the lack of even passable chinese take out in the tacky? yeah, not a fucking problem here. SO. GOOD.

but we haven't JUST been eating and marveling at being back in a place where flavor is considered essential in food (lol (true tho)). nah, we've been to the beach a few times.

and the antique store.

oh! and the asian grocery that WE CAN WALK TO. this was across the street from it.

they had six flavors of thai lays chips! AND KEWPIE!!! HOT DAMN

yeah, it's been pretty great during this honeymoon period, i am not gonna lie! i'm happy for a change and it is weirding me the fuck out since i've only enjoyed life while on vacation during the last decade. whatever, i'll get used to it, i guess. XD XD

peel is pretty happy too!

but she's not as in love with this place as i am.

k, time for a cubs game. will update as time allows!

an instagrammed moving story or how leff and i got the hell out of washington and ended up where we belong (chicago)

yeah, i know. this happened in quasi real time on instagram but if you didn't follow along or want some slight commentary/"behind the scenes" crap, read on. 

the day after my birthday leff and i listed our house and loaded up a rented dodge durango with cats, their supplies and whatever was left over in the house (read:  power cords, cleaning supplies, etc, etc and four bags of garbage since we had our bins picked up before we moved. (ha. bad timing with that one.)) and set off for illinois. 

here is the last picture i ever took of washington fucking state. 

we left crazy early because of anticipated sasquatch traffic. it still didn't keep us from seeing some festival kids on the road. one guy had an "i heart bigfoot" sticker on his truck but i thought leff said "i heart dickfoot" and so we rechristened that cryptozoological beast.

lemme tell you, eastern washington is just as heinous, if not more so, than western washington. we spent a horrible night in spokane. the cats were just as miserable as we were.

but once we crossed the state line and started to put some distance between us and the shit ass drivers that washington is known for, things started to get better.

idaho. for real, in idaho, people are nice. at this gas station with the moose head

and deer trophies for sale

i chatted with a nice lady about how great of a selection they had in the store. (for real, mint m&ms are SO GOOD get some if you, like me,  loved the m&m royales from the 80s.)

but we weren't in idaho for long. nah, we had montana to deal with. it is fucking brisk there.

and gorgeous.

scary too though. several of the worst mountain passes were in montana.  should i mention homestake pass? jesus christ almighty, that was TOUGH. (i don't handle elevation well.)

also in montana is little bighorn. we didn't stop, sadly. the cats made sightseeing incredibly difficult on this trip as someone had to be with them at all times. but leff did duck into the tacky little shop which has these teepees in front.

i could have sworn that i took some pictures of wyoming but maybe not. idk, intensely beautiful scenery blends together after a while.

all i know is that south dakota is fucking HUGE. it was here that leff decided that "gusty crosswinds" was his road name and that we think we saw a dodge dorf. (tim conway was our patron saint on this trip.)

anyway, finally made it to wall drug but couldn't go inside because of the blasted cats. this is as close as i got.

so i didn't get to take a picture of the dinosaur there and this sinclair one will have to suffice.

not only were we haunted by tim conway, we were also chasing lewis and clark. there was a marker celebrating the centennial of the corps of discovery near this overlook of the missouri river. amazing, isn't it?

in another category altogether is the corn palace. i still don't totally understand it but i do love it.

i had never been through south dakota before. another state i was able to mark off my list was minnesota. there was a real honest to fuck thunderstorm!!! I HAVE MISSED THOSE!!

there was also a sonic and i got a cherry limeade. so. happy.

but not as happy as when we sped through wisconsin (which i love. i can't explain it but "escaping to wisconsin" is totally something i believe in doing once in a while. (yes, we had cheese curds. ha!)) and arrived in chicago. christ, the traffic around o'hare!

all worth it though. this is two min from the apartment.

so is this view.

yeah, we're in edgewater. look, i'm old. i need to be in a quieter neighborhood. i can easily hop the red line and get somewhere exciting very quickly but for now, i am content with lake michigan.

oh, and freakin' patio beef. dear god, it is amazing.

leff and i ate there last night. here is my italian beef, dipped, with hots that i devoured shortly after taking this photo.

on the way back home, we passed the first of many little free libraries where i found a book i've been meaning to read for years.

basically, this place is treating us well. we've found a great locally owned hardware store, target and the aldi. i'll hit up the library for a card once i get some mail to prove that i live here.

we've already been stuck in game day traffic at addison and i didn't have a panic attack. XD XD

movers get here next week. until then we'll be sitting on overturned laundry baskets and gawking at this view.

i swear, i feel like i'm finally home.