Hey Howdy
It's pretty hard to believe it's August already. Time has absolutely flown by since I've been back in Chicago! I still have dreams regularly about Japan and traveling. Many of my dreams center around my now-expired passport: I either need to travel abroad but can't or am abroad and need to get home but can't. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and renew my passport? Hmm.
Austin and I moved into a new place in late-April. It's a seriously cute one-bedroom (WITH CENTRAL AIR) that I love to bits. Since this is the first apartment we've had on our own, I've been slowly decorating and gathering the necessary furniture and household accessories we were missing. We somehow had a couch but no coffee table, and loads of records but no record player. After a brief obsession with apartmenttherapy.com and lots of searching on craigslist, I finally got the living room all in order.
The biggest challenge was finding an agreeable solution for Austin's massive beer collection. In his old apartment it took over most of the pantry, refrigerator, and various other nooks and crannies, but I wasn't having any of that. We finally agreed on a 5x5 Expedit from Ikea and it has performed its task beautifully. (More pics of the apartment are on flickr.)
The job front is rather discouraging. I've been working at a sushi restaurant since March and while it's certainly not a bad job in general, when I do have bad days all I can think about is how my education and experience is going to waste. It really gets me down sometimes, but most of the time it's fine. My coworkers are a motley crew and lots of fun to hang out with. I make surprisingly good money and am only working 4 days a week, so I really can't complain too much. I spend my days reading on the porch, walking around the neighborhood, doing this or that chore, and bumming around the internet. Not to shabby.
The one thing I haven't been doing much of is music. It's a real shame and I need to get off my lazy fanny and tune up both my shamisen AND my poor neglected violin. Two of the girls from work and I have been discussing starting a piano trio and the prospect of having a classical outlet is really exciting to me. This is the problem with not having regular lessons or performances; if there's no reason to get out my instruments, they just sit and gather dust.
At any rate, the great job search continues as always, and the apartment will continue to bloom as we settle. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future, but optimistic nonetheless. At the end of each day I know that I am a lucky, lucky girl to be where I am, to be happy and healthy, and to have a wonderful man to share it all with.
Austin and I moved into a new place in late-April. It's a seriously cute one-bedroom (WITH CENTRAL AIR) that I love to bits. Since this is the first apartment we've had on our own, I've been slowly decorating and gathering the necessary furniture and household accessories we were missing. We somehow had a couch but no coffee table, and loads of records but no record player. After a brief obsession with apartmenttherapy.com and lots of searching on craigslist, I finally got the living room all in order.
The biggest challenge was finding an agreeable solution for Austin's massive beer collection. In his old apartment it took over most of the pantry, refrigerator, and various other nooks and crannies, but I wasn't having any of that. We finally agreed on a 5x5 Expedit from Ikea and it has performed its task beautifully. (More pics of the apartment are on flickr.)
The job front is rather discouraging. I've been working at a sushi restaurant since March and while it's certainly not a bad job in general, when I do have bad days all I can think about is how my education and experience is going to waste. It really gets me down sometimes, but most of the time it's fine. My coworkers are a motley crew and lots of fun to hang out with. I make surprisingly good money and am only working 4 days a week, so I really can't complain too much. I spend my days reading on the porch, walking around the neighborhood, doing this or that chore, and bumming around the internet. Not to shabby.
The one thing I haven't been doing much of is music. It's a real shame and I need to get off my lazy fanny and tune up both my shamisen AND my poor neglected violin. Two of the girls from work and I have been discussing starting a piano trio and the prospect of having a classical outlet is really exciting to me. This is the problem with not having regular lessons or performances; if there's no reason to get out my instruments, they just sit and gather dust.
At any rate, the great job search continues as always, and the apartment will continue to bloom as we settle. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future, but optimistic nonetheless. At the end of each day I know that I am a lucky, lucky girl to be where I am, to be happy and healthy, and to have a wonderful man to share it all with.