Success!

Good News! We will not be homeless in May! Aaron, Ian and I are back from our adventures in Chicago. We found a great apartment in Oak Park. It's a two bedroom Victorian with a nice modern kitchen and bath. It also has a little study that if necessary could be put to use as a nursery. We are a 5-10 minute walk from the el, near a library, and just one block from a school with a playground. It's in a block of mostly single family homes and on a quiet residential street. We were very pleased with Oak Park. It seems to be a kid friendly, vibrant community. There are lots of parks, a good library, a lot of families with young children, a Unitarian Universalist Church, good restaurants and cute little shops downtown. Oak Park is the birthplace of Earnest Hemingway and was the location of the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Unity Temple we will attend was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is the only public space that he designed that is still being used for its original purpose. We didn't get a chance to take a tour but are looking forward to attending services there - it looks beautiful (and I might add is a cast in place concrete structure).

I went and saw my new workplace. It's small, but that was to be expected since as of right now there are just three of us in the office. By May, they expect to have hired four more - two mid level engineers, another grad and an intern. That will make a good office. I will have a desk and the office is located at One South Dearborn in a newer high rise. What's nice is that on the seventh floor is a gym for all the people that work in the building. This may help me in my resolution to lose some weight and get back in shape in Chicago.

Oak Park also has a cheese shop! Aaron stopped by there and the shop is expanding into a new space as well as opening up a butcher in the old space. The owners are going to be at Zingerman's tomorrow attending a ZingTrain seminar so they will be stopping by the cheese counter to meet Aaron. I'm sure Aaron will have a job there. They would be dumb not to hire him especially since we assume they will be hiring since they are expanding. I don't know anyone that knows cheese better than Aaron and if they are looking to model after Zingerman's... well that's just such a good fit. We would both feel good if Aaron was working in Oak Park because then if Ian is in daycare there, Aaron would be close. He did interview with a shop in downtown Chicago but didn't get a good vibe. I think the place was a little too trendy and snooty for Aaron. And really - why commute if you don't have to! He could ride his bike to work or even walk!

So I think our trip to Chicago was a grand success. It is good to be home though. Ian slept in his own crib and only woke up once at 9:30 pm. It is now after 8 and Aaron and Ian are still sleeping. This is bliss. It feels good to have things mostly sorted for the move. Just need to find daycare now!