A Lovely Date

This afternoon, BF took Leo and I to a place called the "Melrose Restaurant."  Just a typical greasy spoon in my neighborhood, this place is special because they allow dogs at their outdoor cafe.  Leo got bacon!  And crackers, and fries, and bread.  This restaurant is really a nice find right around the corner.  It seems like something you might find in Stars Hollow.  And they still have the Monte Cristo on the menu.  I might be in trouble with that one.  Thank you, BF, we enjoyed ourselves very much.

And see below, Leo was being sneaky earlier today...

So cute, but so bad.  He is not supposed to be on the bed!

Settling In

Working every day for me is not a drudgery.  I find that the only thing I'd rather be doing is shopping.  And since work enables me to go shopping, I happily go to work.  Or stay at work.

Since our office is still in the build-out stage, I've been working mainly from home, and having interviews at Dunkin Donuts.  And believe it or not, I've only had one donut!  Interviews have been going very well.  We've hired a total of 11 people, I think, and I really am so happy with the staff we've got so far.  I have one regret, someone I didn't hire and I'm starting to feel I should have.  May change my mind.

Unfortunately, I have mostly done my shopping at big box stores for the apartment.  I have re-purposed some things I already owned to make things work better in my little tiny box, and I think I'm pretty happy with my place!  Incredibly, I actually really like my apartment!

Settling in, getting into a routine, dating like a normal person...this is the life. :)

Happenings and City Sights

I've lived in Chicago now for almost 3 weeks.  I have developed a pretty good routine most days.

1. 6:45am - Loud clanking of dumpsters being emptied wakes me up.
2. 7:15am - growling at the trash man, I get out of bed and make coffee.
3. 7:30am - brisk morning walk with Leo, greeting several of my building-mates in the elevator.
4. 30 minutes before work - hop on my bike, head down to the Dunkin Donuts by work, carefully observing the sales at all the shops along the way and making mental notes for later.
5. 30 minutes after work - walk Leo down to the faux dog park at Lake Shore Drive and let him play with the other doggies.
6. 9pm - turn on the tv to watch something on Tivo, and instantly fall asleep.  (this is in response to the dumpster man that same morning)
7. 12am-6:45am - wake up multiple times to hear the bus announce it's presence, along with many fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances driving by.

Ok, I know this all sounds very sarcastic, and believe me, some of it is annoying, but I really love living here.  I've been a city girl all along and just didn't know it until now!  Here are some pictures taken from the last few weeks.  

The view of Belmont Harbor from my roof

My new bike rack!

Grand & State

Today was my first adventure on the "El."  The "El," short for "elevated train," is Chicago's version of the subway, and it is also part of the CTA.  Well if you need to get somewhere very quickly, the "el" is the way to go.  I needed to go to Target today, and there aren't many Target stores around here.  So I started at the Red Line stop at State and Grand, and ended up at the Target in the South Loop.  It was so very fun. You just head through the turnstyle and swipe your CTA card, then get on a train like the one below, and ride to your stop!  Just be careful when you come out of one of the underground stations.  It's so easy to lose your sense of direction.  On the plus side, I now know that the GPS nav for Blackberry works!

Identical Cousins

"They're cousins,

Identical cousins and you'll find, 

They look alike, they walk alike, 

At times they even bark alike"

Leo got a rare opportunity a couple of days ago. In Chicago there aren't many chances for a dog to run free, but we happened to be walking in Lincoln Park the other day and ran into Leo's doppelganger! This dog's owners were allowing him to run around off his leash, and John and I decided to be brave (or at least we decided we could catch him if he ran off), and let Leo try it out. It turned out that this other dog was a cocker-spaniel/poodle mix, and was Leo's perfect playmate. They ran together and played for a little while. It was a lovely surprise for all of us.