Out on the Town!

Andrew and I had a great time yesterday! Well, I probably had a better time than he did since he had to work on homework most of the day but it still ended on a good note. Andrew had to head down to the school to work on some homework and I discovered that where I need to get my license changed over is in the same area. I thought that maybe I needed to get it done for my Temp Agency interview so we rode the bus together and then split ways. It took me a while to find the building, and when I did I was informed that I had to go to a different building for something like that. So I decided to go explore the big wide city! There was SO much to see. I took a handful of pictures of the fountains, buildings, and artwork around. I took a picture of the Blues House and some church, the Vietnam memorial, and things at Millennium Park. I'm pretty sure I walked quite a few miles. Luckily, I've been trying to keep up with working out so I didn't have to pay the price the next day. There is also a huge Art Festival going on this weekend! I checked out a lot of it and had to keep reminding myself that someday I can buy all the pretty things I want. That someday just isn't now >< . Still, seeing all that neat stuff woke up part of my artistic side and I've got a couple of projects in mind that I wouldn't mind trying my hand at. We'll see if my ambitiousness actually gets anywhere. When Andrew and I met up again we both stopped at the Art Festival so I could show him the Dick Blick booth (it's a store he buys his art supplies from) and they have a wheel that you can win free stuff. I won him a free marker (whoo hoo!) and he went back today and got a coupon for 30% off! I also won a $1 off on Dairy Queen. Not that I know of any around here. We're planning on going back on Sunday so we can both check out the booths and what they have and try to win some more coupons.

When we got home we got changed and headed out to take a bike ride. We were out riding for over an hour. It was fantastic! We literally live in a great spot. If you head East, you hit the lake. If you go West you hit City. If you go North you find parks and open fields of grass. South is beach and Navy Pier! We had a great time riding and we're hoping to go out everyday if we can. Granted, it's raining today and for most of this next week....*sigh*

Today Andrew had an interview at a Borders! Woot! I tagged along cuz I am tired of being stuck in the apartment. I also got a call from the temp agency about my application and assessment tests. Turns out I need to work on my 10 key numeric a bit but otherwise it seems I did pretty well. They said I can retake the test when I show up for our interview on Tuesday. Yeah for a step forward!

As a treat to ourselves, Andrew and I went to eat at Panda Express and took our lunch to the Millennium Park. That was wonderful. It's a tad windy but it's finally crawling up to be 70 degrees. We sat on a wall and ate our lunch and I tempted some birds to us by feeding them. I can see why people have fun feeding them. Andrew said I reminded him of the Mary Poppins's song 'Tuppence'.

Fireworks

Last night I finally got my 'surprise' that Andrew has been trying to get me to go see. First time we went too late to catch the bus on time. The second time it was cold and icky and Andrew and I took a nap and missed it. But last night we finally got to go, which is good cuz the weather threatened to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day and night.

So we caught a bus (we ran for it, but we made it) and headed towards the Navy Pier. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's an amusement park on the beach. It has a huge Ferris wheel that lights up at night and I'm sure various other rides. I haven't been in there myself but we can see it from the beach. We walked in the ritzy part of town toward the beach and walked on the bike trail for a while. I had guessed what we were there for by the time we got there. When we had gone to the movies with Bob (see post called Movies) we had gotten to see a tiny little glimpse of the Navy Pier fireworks on our way back home. I guess they do fireworks on certain nights, and Andrew had found out which nights those were.

They were fantastic! We had gone down the the strip of beach close to the Pier and played around for about a half hour in the sand. Andrew even threatened to throw me in the water. Jerk. Took some pictures, and then at exactly 10:15 PM the fireworks started. The cool thing about a big place like Chicago is they don't cheap out on the fun stuff. The fireworks were huge, and they even had some fun ones like smiley faces and hearts with arrows through them. That went on for about ten minutes and then they were done. It was a pretty great surprise =) .

Planetarium

About a week and a half ago, Andrew and I checked out the Planetarium! It was pretty awesome, and free! We were only able to stay for 40 minutes or so because we're late for everything (see Museum post) but what we did see was pretty cool.

Andrew seems pretty into everything about the place, while I only really like the hands on exhibits. There were some neat looking 3D movies on the planets, too, but because we only had 40 minute we weren't able to go to any of them. The next free day is sometime in June, I think. We'll go check it out then.

The REALLY awesome thing is that the bus 146 that stops at the end of our block goes all the way down to the Planetarium, which is its last stop. Even cooler than that is that NEXT to the Planetarium is the Aquarium and a museum of some sorts. I personally can't wait to go to the Aquarium.

To The Movies!

Bob, Andrew, and I had decided to go to the movies the other night. I resolutely refused to go to the Terminator movie and opted to go by myself to Night at the Museum 2. I don't mind going to movies by myself every now and then, but I don't like making a habit of it. I seriously need to find someone out here who shares some common interests with me. Not that I don't love Andrew, because I do. And not that I dislike Bob, cuz I don't. It's just nice to have someone else to relate to, and spend time with when the boys are being..boys. And I am not so cruel a fiancee to force Andrew to all the cutesy movies and whatnot I want to go to.

I'm in a hard place right now, because with all these changes I'm really wrapped up in my little bubble with Andrew. I absolutely hate talking on the phone, so I feel like I am alienating my friends and family when I'm not meaning to. I get along well with texting, but hardly any of them text. Sucks for me. I do email or post on facebook, but just like I don't like talking on the phone I don't think they like posting/emailing. So I'm going to resort to snail mail here soon. And posting a Want ad in the paper for a friend. No, only joking. So far. Things will get better once I get a job, I hope. It's only been about a week since I started applying to jobs and this weekend was Memorial weekend, so it almost doesn't count. But I'm impatient and want things to magically happen. Anyway...I'm getting off topic.

The movie! It was pretty good! About the same as the first one, and in the same type of category as Bedtime Stories. Not so spectacular that I want to see it again and again, but pretty good not a waste of money and only a one time need to see.

The theatre itself was pretty rockin'. The first floor is just where you get your tickets and where the bar is to the ajoining bowling alley. The second floor is all concessions and the theatres. The place is HUGE. Of course, the prices are also huge. One ticket is $10.50. Hence why a movie is a treat and why netflix is so wonderful.

Going to the Museum

Andrew and I have been keeping an eye out for free events in Chicago so we can keep semi active in what is going on, without spending tons of money. Some of the free things are even cool! Like the Art Museum, which we were planning on going to once we found out that it's free on certain nights, at certain times. So we took the bus as far as we could and walked the rest of the way. You wouldn't believe how amazing their flower beds are! Chicago roads may suck (a lot.) but they sure shell out the money to make their little patches of earth look breathtaking.

Unfortunately, Andrew and I missed the museum. We were sure that they closed at 9 P.M. but it turns out they closed at 8 P.M. instead. He and I have a bad habit of missing things like that. But the night wasn't wasted. We walked over to Barnes and Noble so he could pick up an application. Susan (Andrew's mom) had given us some money (I think I should call it Fun Cash, cuz that's all we use it for. We're bad at using it for something useful. Like bills. ><) so I had fun begging Andrew if I could get a trilogy of books for my collection. I got the Sevenwater Trilogy, a wonderful collection by Juliet Marillier that I often try to steal from my mom. Well, now I have my own so I can stop stealing them from her ;) .

After that we headed toward the fountains that are near the museum. They are pretty fantastic, two big pillars that have water running down them and show videos. I'm sure they have a name and are some big tourist attraction but I don't know what that name is. I'm a bad tourist like that. Since we didn't get to go to the museum, Andrew relented and we went for a night time walk in Millennium Park (I only know the name of that cuz there was a sign). It was amazing with it's wooden walkways and their diverse gardens. We both had a good laugh about the large patch of grass they have where Obama held his speech. We thought it was amusing that we're not used to seeing grass anymore. But then again, we had a good laugh at the expense of a guy who was marveling over tree leaves. Us country folk are spoiled like that. You see one leaf, you see them all I guess. You appreciate nature more when there is a lack of it. We've even debated on getting a house plant to make us feel a little bit more at home but we're afraid the cats will eat it.

The Move

A lot of you probably don't know what the plan was when Andrew and I decided to move to Chicago. Truthfully, half the time we didn't either. It has been one big up and down roller coaster ride since October (2008). To give a short recap on what life has been like:

Andrew decides he and Bob want to go to school in Chicago =
Maybe bad...

Andrew proposes October 17, 2008=
Good!

Athena graduates SDSU December 13, 2008=
Good!

Athena finds a job as a data entry clerk for CitiBank December 26, 2008=
Good!

Athena finds out the night before her first day at the job that she cannot work
due to a faulty fingerprint scan AFTER she had already quit her other job. December 28, 2008=
Very very bad.

Athena has to ask for her old job back =
Bad.

Andrew agrees to let Athena get a new kitten! =
Good!

Athena can't get the kitten until April =
Sad.

Athena can't get a full time job because she'll be moving =
Bad.

Athena decides that she'll join the Reserves in Chicago to help with finances March 2008 =
Maybe good!

Athena spends a week trying to get all the paperwork ready for the Reserves March 2008 =
Annoying.

Athena and Andrew move to Chicago April 1, 2008 =
Good! I think.

Athena and Andrew have to pay for bills =
Bad.

Athena gets to stay home by herself waiting for paperwork to go through for Reserves =
Bad.

Athena get a kitten! =
Good!

Athena finds out that the Reserves isn't going to work out =
Maybe good

Athena pays to have her resume redone =
Hopefully good

Athena applies to jobs =
Good

Athena waits impatiently for a job =
Bad

And that's the short of it. The long of it is a little more tedious and stressful. My current position is waiting for someone to get back to me about the applications I've been sending out. Cross your fingers! It's only been about a week so I need to be patient but I've been stuck in this apartment for over a month. I need OUT.