*its best to click the links to get the total picture
After I think I've found the condo I want, I take the train from there to outside the Sears Tower, I find that taking the Pink line from the condo gets me within 2 blocks of the tower and taking the Brown line home at night will get me within 2 blocks of my place. Perfect no need to use a car to get around. I then take the Pink line back to the tower and walk over to Union Station to take the Metra out to Ann's. I hop in my car at the Metra station and head back to her place. Even though its only about 5 blocks from her house its about 10pm when I finally get there so I'd rather not walk it.
"So did you find a place?" She asked as I walked in.
"Yes I did. Its the Legacy at Millennium Park and its fantastic. You'll love the view when you come to visit. And its only 15 minutes to work via walking a bit to catch the train and then the ride. Ann says she can't wait to see it and I tell her that the stops near my house for the train aren't accessible so the bus she'd have to take is Bus J14 going to my place and Bus 7 going back to Union.
"You know you could just live here." Ann offers.
"I appreciate that, I do. Its just I don't want to live 90 minutes from work both directions. I don't mind a little commute but this is your place I want to redecorate something completely new to me."
"Ok I just wanted you to know it was an option." She tells me.
"Yes and I know how huge that is because like me you aren't one for roommates." I laugh and we put in a Jovi DVD to pass the night.
While staying at Ann's I make a commitment to slimming down and toning up and a commitment is made from me to me to work at it every day. I also have all my teeth in good repair and whiter than they've been in a while. It feels very good to be on a fresh start. I sit at Ann's and work on the spreadsheets from work for a while and then use my personal computer to search for and order things from my new place. I laugh and tell Ann that it costs a lot to refurbish a house. Its been such a long time since I did it that I'm shocked at the costs. However its much easier to do it now that you don't really have to go anywhere. I order all the pots and pans and dishes from Amazon getting them all delivered for free because the order is large enough I set all my deliveries for the same day. The 5th of August. It sucks that its already the end of July and I'm not downtown yet. I get my keys on the first of August so I ask Ann if she wants to come down and spend the day with me there. I'm going to bring my car and park it at my building just because Brodan told me I may have to go visit locations that aren't on the train route I need to have access to it. I did find a parking place for her that's a 1/2 a block away that's only $20 a day when its not a special event parking day.
That evening I get all the kitchen stuff ordered, all the sheets and comforters ordered, laundry detergent, soaps, Norwex rags and supplies all set to be delivered on the 5th. I get my new king size bed ordered as well which will see massive for 1 person but I have a goal of not sleeping in it alone by the end of the year. I realize that it’s horribly expensive to start over completely so I take my car and drive back to Appleton on the 30th and on the 1st drive back to Chicago, picking up the keys at the front desk I unpack a car load of items, mostly computer, dvd player and some clothes and towels etc. I don’t want to buy things that aren’t necessary but I also don’t want to keep reliving my old life any longer. I have the money to spend for the first time in my life but I also have the smarts to not spend everything. You never know how long things will stay moving in the direction you want. I was smart enough to grab my sentimental photo albums and scrapping stuff while home, as well as mom and Jasper keep sakes and house paperwork. I, of course plan on refinancing my house the moment I can. I’ll have to remember to call Brodan and as if he knows someone I can trust.
The day comes for everything to be delivered and I ask Ann if she wants to come sit at the house with me. She laughs saying sure as long as we have Jovi. I smile knowing that I have bought a iHome speaker system. I really wanted the place to be a whole different feel from my WI house. It was nice to have the high end things and the clean lines that I could never seem to afford before. Or never seem to find the need for before. With the entire room being all windows it just seemed right to have a different mindset here. Besides the room wasn’t nearly big enough for the big overstuffed furniture I had in WI.
The Condo : http://www.thelegacyatmillenniumpark.com/residence-plan/skyline-residence-02/#.VA_qi2BX-uY
“Thats the beauty of it, new job, new city, new house, new me, starting over. I don’t have to be just one thing, besides the living room is open to the public the bedroom is all mine and if you get in here it means I trust you and want you to know more about me.” I then go back to the living room to wait for the rest of the deliveries.
As the furniture starts to arrive Ann is shocked by how it looks. The living room is decorated a large white sectional couch with a chaise lounge on one side of it.
Then a large vibrant throw rug is put down in front with a royal blue comfy reading chair is placed where the only view will be the lake, not necessarily in perfect spot to talk with people on the couches.
“Thats your reading chair isn’t it?” Ann laughs.
“How’d you guess?” I smile.
“Its like your chair at the lake, the one where you can sit and tune out the world.”
“I couldn’t resist when I found it and I just fell in love with the blue too. Matches my Lake Michigan.” I smile at the way she laughs at me for claiming my lake.
As the day moves on Ann asks how much freedom I have to change the place. I tell her I’m shocked that the building allows quite a bit. “What’s odd is they originally thought all these units would sell for millions of dollars. When they determined in this economy that wasn’t going to happen they had to become landlords so pretty much 80% of the units in this building are rented. I can paint walls and hang things if I like. If I was on the side facing the city I’d have more restrictions but since I’m on the 42nd floor and have a corner I get more freedoms. I’m not allowed really to put up curtains on the lake side, they want that line of site to always be uniform but every place that faces another building I can put up drapes or blinds if I want. Only thing is I have to repaint everything to white when I leave.”
She’s there while the king size bed comes in with no dresser or chest of drawers and wonders why.
“Well the walk in closet has enough room to store all my clothes I figure why bother. Check it out, its got drawers, hangers both high and low, even a spot for laundry hampers. Its nice to not have to buy a set when all I really wanted was to splurge on the king size bed.”
“Why such a big bed you’re so small?” She teased.
“Hey maybe I won’t be alone forever, I’m on mission.” I smile with her.
“I fell in love with the wood tones on this bed. And there’s storage underneath and from what I read about condo living you can never have enough storage.”
“Yeah but this is like polar opposite to the living room, that’s so clean with fresh lines and this is rustic.”
And when the wood chair comes in she and I bust a gut because its so me to have a chair that demands you curl up and get comfy.
Next, the small dining room table shows up, square glass table with 2 white chairs
And towards the end of the day the last of the big items shows up. A electric fireplace with a hidden tv that is lifted out by remote. The delivery guy connects my blu ray player to the tv that comes installed in it, he assures me that the TV is perfectly safe from the heat of the fireplace because all of the vents point in a different direction and the fireplace doesn’t get that warm anyway. He does tell me though if I want to be safe, the TV can be raised whenever I want to use the fireplace. The TV unit goes right in the corner in front of the beam that is structural in the unit. There’s two in the living room, both corners of the lake side.
“So what don’t you have? It looks like in one day you’ve furnished the house?” She asks.
I open the door to the balcony and show her, “I have nothing out here yet but I’m not sure I’m going to get it til next Spring since why let it get abused in the winter, and then there’s the office which I haven’t even started on, I figure I’ll put some kind of a bed in there for guests and then an office area for me when I’m working from home.”
“Wow, that seems like a whole lot of money.”
“It is, but its worth it, I have the ability to do this and I’m having fun. I’m going to keep having fun because if you’re not having fun in life you better start over”
She leaves for the night and I plop down on the couch opening my laptop to work, knowing working in this serene environment doesn’t seem like work at all. Tomorrow I have a meeting with Chris and Brodan at my office so I have to finish this report on the West Zone. Thankfully the cable guys got there after dinner so when the TV was already installed and I now had internet to continue with my easy shopping. I finish my report in about an hour and smile, still plenty of time left in the night. I send the report to Chris and Brodan and then open up a browser window. “hmmm what style for the office?” I ponder firing up the mac.
I'm confused...did you leave your car at Ann's metra station? Ok off to read the rest.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great start to a new life in the 'Windy City" . The apartment sounds beautiful. That bedroom set, OMG....I love it!!!!! LMAO, I may not be alone in that big bed for long.
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