Halloween FAIL

Ok, so I bumped into our neighbour in the elevator during the week (he’s the neighbour that has done this beautiful decorating of our hallway), and he invited us all to his halloween party that he was hosting tonight. Of course I asked him if people usually dress up for these events, and he replies something like, “yes you are welcome to dress up.”

Everyone we’ve spoken to advised us naive Australians that Americans love a good Halloween party, and that we’d look like right tools if we turn up not in costume. So, I dutifully spent 3 hours this afternoon pushing Sylvie downtown to look for an appropriate costume for all 3 of us. Finally found the Halloween store, and lo and behold found the cutest Koala costume for Sylvie, a Steve Irwin wig for Crez, and a passable Teri Irwin wig for me. Pretty happy with my purchases, I pushed Sylvie all the way back home.

So tonight we wander over, knock on the door of our neighbours, are greeted by the super nice couple, invited in, and introduced to all their family and friends…. only to see that NOBODY ELSE is in costume. Sigh…. massive halloween fail! So now pretty sure that they think that all Australians are really weird people who, when politely invited to a casual get-together, crash in crusty, cheap blonde wigs, for no good reason! Good thing Sylvie was so cute in her koala suit or I’m sure we’d be ostracized from the building.

Sigh, still shaking my head and laughing.

A lovely day

Bad news: Sylvie still isn’t over jet lag – up nightly from about 10pm to 1am, so we are not getting much sleep.

 

Good news: Had a lovely day! Getting colder here, but mostly blue skies and not too windy (about 10degrees C). And met up with Cazz from Sydney and her little girl. So Sylvie and I both had friends to babble to and compare notes on being recent arrivals to the windy city.

So, to enjoy the beautiful sunshine we all went for a lovely afternoon out walking the streets of Chicago. And, almost as excitingly, we actually found good coffee! Intelligentsia coffee! Yum. Thank goodness – was almost about to give up and come home.  We also saw the bean sculpture finally…

And tried cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (Sex and the city link) which were actually not as good as I expected.

Plan for tomorrow – try to find a halloween costume so that we can go to a halloween party our neighbours are throwing! Eeek. bit nervous about it really. Oh well. Maybe we can just buy a super-cute costume for Sylvie and that will overshadow the fact that we aren’t dressed up??

Day 2 – getting better

Monday. Unfortunately last night was hard – Sylvie decided that she wasn’t going to bed from about 10pm to 1am, so poor Crez volunteered to play with her while I slept. So I guess we are all still a bit jetlagged.

Today was beautiful! Big blue skies really showed off the city, so we went for a lovely big walk to try and stay awake. We went through the huge park in the city – so beautiful and green, with lots of squirrels for Sylvie (and me!) to squeal at.

And…. dragged Crez around till we found my mecca! Debs, here is a bit of yarn p*rn for you!…. this shop (Loopy Yarns) was amazing – this is one of about 4 rooms that were just covered in floor to ceiling with amazing colours and textures. And so much cheaper than back home. I had to wipe my drool from the floor when I left.

And here are my purchases! yummmmmm! They wrap them in pink tissue paper…. so spoily! I’m going to make Sylvie a stripey zig-zag blanket like on attic 24 since I lost the other one I made while I was pregnant. Just have to decide whether to do it rainbow like you or just random stripes. What do you think?

The colours don’t really show up very well in that shot- it was dark by the time I took the photos so I’ll post some better ones tomorrow. Cant wait to get started- eeeeee! (hahahah they also have lots of classes – I was trying to encourage Crez to go to the “Mens knitting and crochet group”).

Day 1 in Chicago!

Hi everyone! The short story: we made it, and it’s not as cold as I was expecting (yet!)

The details (warning – mundane, everyday news that not everyone will appreciate):

It took us 24 hours, business class was a-maz-ing, but being rudely transported in economy for the 2nd leg from San Francisco to Chicago was hard. Oh well – reality check! Sylvie was great on the plane, slept for a lot of the long leg (in short bursts though, so I only slept for 45 mins at a time too) but unfortunately somehow caught a cold so was very snotty, sniffly and snorty and hard to settle. I think she’s getting better now, but has been grizzly for the last day.

And so, after a bit of a scary taxi trip back from the airport (think the taxi driver was going at 70mph, which in my head translates to 140km?) we got here at our apartment at about 7pm last night.

Here is the view from our living room! This is looking east along the Chicago River, towards Lake Michigan. We are on the 20th floor, so it all feels very cosmopolitan. It’s huge, with 2 big bedrooms, so if anyone is keen to visit while we are in this apartment, feel free.

Here are a couple of photos of our living room/kitchen for mum… 🙂

Unfortunately last night was a bit tough – Sylvie was very upset which is unusual, so I think being overtired from the plane, the cold, and a new house was all a bit too much for her. So we gave up settling her in her own bed, and brought her to snuggle with us, and we all passed out for a while.

Today we went for a couple of exploratory walks – it was a beautiful day – blue skies, no wind and about 16 degrees but felt warmer. Every passer-by smiles and says hi to Sylvie – they love her here! Of course she just loves it back. We are located kind of in the financial district of downtown, which means it felt a bit dead today as it was sunday, but then we walked up to the big shopping area and it felt a bit more alive, which was reassuring.

And found some little friends….

And finally had a very american meal at the nearest eatery…

And now, thankfully, Sylvie went to sleep without a peep, and Crez and I are watching some baseball game on tv (Crez just told me it’s the world series… whatever that means).

So, that’s the news! I’m pretty tired, and still a bit apprehensive about having everything in order, but had a nice 1st day.  Crez has tomorrow off too (Monday) so I think we’ll try and get some things organised, like mobile phones and bank accounts. I’m also hoping to drag him downtown to go to a yarn store I’ve sniffed out to buy me some wool for my next crochet project. Debs, need you here to help me choose colours!

xxx

Oh the places you’ll go!

Loving food! 5 months old.

 Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

– Dr Seuss “Oh! The places you’ll go!”

And we’re off! Here I am, trialling a blog to allow us to keep everyone back home up to date with our travels.

A quick summary:

• We leave for our new home, Chicago, Il, USA on October 22.
• We’re hoping to stay for 2 years or maybe more.
• We would love visitors! And will have a spare room. Please come!

How am I feeling? Very excited. A bit overwhelmed still with the amount of things we need to do before we jump on that “airplane” (already starting to practice my American). But I’m sure it will all come together soon. Right now I’m trying to find new owners for a lot of our electronics and furniture, deciding on a moving company, getting all the odd jobs done on our place so we can rent it out, worrying about how the dogs will fare on the long flight over (yes, we are taking them with us of course!), and doing all this with a 6-month-old on my hip! Tiring but worth it.