Love, Actually

Tuesday, September 18 - Day II.95 (460) 

Today I arrived safely to my grandmother's place in Los Alamos. This place is holy to me. It is the only place I feel is something akin to "home." This is truly tierra sagrada, and I am so grateful for every moment here.

My grandmother's handmade stained glass windows

Wednesday, September 19 - Day II.97 (461)
Today I had to shell out a lot of money to make my car safe. But at least my car is safe.

Thursday, September 20 - Day II.98 (462)

Nothing quite like a New Mexico hike - we did the Red Dot Trail down from the mesa to the Rio Grande. And yes, we jumped into the pool when we finished.


Friday, September 21 - Day II.99 (463)Bandelier. I love this place, in all its seasons, in all its permutations.

Enter the kiva!

Climbing to Alcove House

View of Frijolito Canyon

Reward for a long hike

Saturday, September 22 - Day II.100 (464)
I believe in love.

Congratulations to Shane & Jesse!

Hacienda Dona Andrea by night

Congratulations to my dear friends on their wedding day. I am tremendously honored and excited to be here with them on this special day, and to celebrate love. May we all have the joy, privilege and right to marry our person.

On the Road Again...Chicago to Colorado

Sunday, Sept 16 - Day II.93 (458)

 Safe travels today from Chicago to Omaha, Nebraska. This country has some serious prairie in the middle, and a lot of space. This whole "amber waves of grain" thing is pretty beautiful.

Monday, Sept 17 - Day II.94 (459)
 Today I cut across Nebraska and then down through Kansas to Colorado.

 I spent the night with my dear friend Kim from high school. Her husband made us strawberry margaritas and let us watch girly tv - what a great guy!

I am grateful for a few moments stolen with an old friend to catch up.
Tuesday I'll drive on to New Mexico. As I came to central Colorado, the land starts turning familiar and I can feel the excitement in my blood. That's one of the reasons that I love driving instead of flying - you can see the land change. You understand the terrain, how things melt together and evolve gracefully. I can feel New Mexico coming - every time I come to this place, I am draw, it's magnetic. This place is holy holy ground for me, this place is home, this place is a piece of my soul. 
 

Moving to Chicago, the final coda

Friday, Sept 14 - Day II.91 (456)
Chicago Files

Today, while still waiting for the movers to remotely arrive in a timely fashion and deliver my belongings (now that we are officially on the far side of my delivery window), I rode my bike farther down the lake shore. This time I went all the way to Navy Pier, past North Avenue Beach.

Saturday, Sept 15 - Day II.92 (457)
Chicago Files
I had to stay around my neighborhood today because of the movers delivering my mess. 
So I went for a run up to Evanston, where Northwestern is - it's about 2.9 miles, and I can run up the lake the whole way. 

 I also walked over to my fave coffee shop and got a coffee. Rogers Park has a mystery crafter, who just leaves these little guys all over. I love it!

Now that my stuff is here, I'll take off Sunday on my road trip down to New Mexico to visit my grandmother and attend Shane & Jesse's wedding (with a hot date on my arm! I'm such a lucky girl!).  So I'll post my gratitude from the road, and when I return to Chicago on the 25th, I am officially and for the foreseeable future a Chicagoan!

Poutin Stil

Day II.90 (455): Thursday, September 13
Chicago Files

I have located my local bar. Now I can really settle in.

I am starting to get my bearings here: where the Walgreens is, the Dominick's (big grocery chain), the fruit market, the train stop, the local coffee shop and the local bar...these things are key. Last night I met up with Shardul, a friend from NYU, and I picked a bar that was close to my apartment so I could walk there and home.

The bar is very laid back and has a Jack Russell terrier mascot who hangs out there, and even sits on the bar stools. This is definitely the kind of relaxed atmosphere that will help me survive grad school.

Day II.89 (454): Surmounting Bureaucracy

Chicago Files
Today was about bureaucracy. Everyone's. But particularly the Illinois DMV.

I am excited to get into why I'm here, and relieved to have the long lines and "take a number from the dispenser" do-you-have-15-irrelevant-form -collated-properly thing behind me...

Day 449 - 453: Baby steps in a new town

Day II.84 (449) - Friday, September 7
Chicago Files
I am definitely starting my Chicago Bucket list. I have at least seven restaurants on here already.
On the list:
Frontera Grill
The Girl & The Goat
Belly Shack
Koval Distillery
Goose Island Brewery
North Shore Distillery
How grateful I am to live in a place with so much to explore!

Day II.85 (450) - Saturday, September 8
Chicago Files

 When in Andersonville, check out the Brown Elephant thrift shop. It's quite the experience, housed in an old theater.

You come across some serious finds. Clearly.
Side note for gratitude: how grateful I am for this man, who makes me laugh. I'm so glad to spend time with him every chance I get, and we have a great time no matter what we do!

Day II.86 (451) - Sunday, September 9
Chicago Files
Today I learned two things about my new city:
1). Bears fans are for real. Everything you heard about them is true.
2). There is some seriously covet-worthy real estate in this town. Like this place!
(Of course the nerd in me would love to live in a conservation project)

Day II.87 (452) - Monday, September 10
Chicago Files
Chicago is a bike town. At least right now! We'll see how the two-wheelers hold up in the snow. I rode my bike from my apartment down the lakefront.
There's a golf course on the lake, and a cafe called the Clock Tower.

Day II.88 (453) - Tuesday, September 11
Chicago Files
Today I swam for the first time at Northwestern's pool. It's great - nice & big, with windows overlooking Lake Michigan.

I also visited the Roger's Park Fruit Market, at the corner of Clark and Rogers Ave. I highly recommend it: it reminds me of Three Guys in Brooklyn, my favorite place to shop for groceries in NYC. Perhaps it was the weird Jamaican spices and odd mix of immigrant foods (Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic) and delicious fresh produce, but whatever it is, it's my new go-to place in the neighborhood.

Day 443 - 448: Los Angeles to Chicago

Day II.78 (443) - Saturday, September 1
Thank god for Bernadette. Again. Thank god. 
Los Angeles, California to Salina, Utah
A new month, a new life, a new project underway...what a lovely view from the last morning in California (for a while, at least!)

And at the end of the day, the Arizona/Utah border...

Day II.79 (444): Sunday, September 2
Safe passage from Salina, Utah to Cheyenne, Wyoming

 Good morning, Utah!

 Central Utah...

Where are we now? Oh lordy.

Wyoming...big sky country for reals.

Sunset over Wyoming. Big sky country don't mess around with sunsets - this was one of the most spectacular & stunning nightfalls I've ever lived through.

Day II.80 (445): Monday, September 3
Cheyenne, Wyoming to Omaha, Nebraska

And a homecooked meal. YES!

Day II.81 (446): Tuesday, September 4
Omaha, Nebraska to Chicago, Illinois
The inexplicable road tripper's pleasure of finally seeing your destination on the sign:

Picnic tabletop in Iowa

Welcome to Illinois!

Check out my new digs:

 Pretty sweet! Shirts for sale at my new local coffee shop:

Day II.82 (447) - Wednesday, September 5
So Leslie and I took care of ourselves today by going to the Art Institute and play in downtown Chicago. After all that time in the car, it felt so great to not be traveling and to walk around on a glorious late summer day.

 Day II.83 (448) - Thursday, September 6
Got my WildCard at Northwestern today, so I'm officially a Wildcat! Until 2017. Goodness. Went for a run by the lake. I never thought a lake could be as blue as Lake Michigan was today. I'm so excited to learn this city.

As I was running, I was mentally linking the path I was on against the map in my head. I knew there'd be an overlook where you should be able to see the city skyline. I started to run faster - instinctively, as I got closer, I knew it was coming, I could feel somehow something exciting was just around the curve.

And there was.

I am so profoundly grateful to be here, in this moment, in this now. I am so profoundly grateful for my LA community, for my home. I am so profoundly grateful for what is coming: for the friendships I have, for the man I can't get enough of, for the studies I'm undertaking, for the community I'm growing here. I must truly be the luckiest girl in the world. And I'm enjoying it. This life is so full of goodness, and I want to honor that.