moving to chicago.

welcome back! 

after the blissful experience of living in hawaii for three years, my husband and i recently made our first major move together as a married couple. to where you may ask? the windy city: CHICAGO.

why to the windy city? 

my husband john was offered a job with Marriott as a management trainee in rooms operations management. the recruiter working with john gave him first pick of where we wanted to move to. before we heard our choices, i jokingly told john how the only place i wouldn't want to move to was kansas. our two choices? kansas city, kansas or chicago, illinois. we couldn't help but laugh about kansas, although kansas city is a big part of john's family due to his grandparents and father growing up there. we made a pros and cons list for each city, talked about each extensively, prayed about it, and came to a decision. john accepted a position at the JW Marriott Chicago, and we started making preparations for the big move.

i've always known that i wanted to follow my husband with his job wherever it took us, but honestly? i was TERRIFIED. 

when i was applying to colleges in high school, i applied to BYU-Hawaii with the intention of not expecting to get in. i just wanted to see what would happen. but in december of 2009, i received the best Christmas present of my life. 

my acceptance letter to BYU-Hawaii. (like my peace sign onesie?)

as you well know, a quick drive home for the weekend from hawaii is impossible. it's more like this: let's spend a couple hundred dollars on a roundtrip plane ticket, plan car rides to the airport and back, pack a bag not over the weight limit, and most unfortunately, say good-bye to my family after the trip back home. not an ideal situation for a recent high school graduate.

how does this relate to my mental preparations to move to chicago? well, moving to hawaii was one of the toughest decisions of my life. 

i graduated high school mid-june, and not even one month later, i was on a plane to the beautiful island of oahu with my whole life packed into a few suitcases. the moment my mom left me to go back home, lonely thoughts came into my mind: who would i become friends with? how would my classes be? would people like me? i was TERRIFIED, but i knew that i needed to make every effort i could to get involved and to meet people. i wanted to make my mark on BYU-Hawaii, and i had to trust that by putting myself out there, it was going to happen! and little did i know, my decision to come to BYU-Hawaii would change my life forever.

because of this guy.

because of my choice to adventure to the middle of the pacific ocean, i found the light of my life. and together at BYU-Hawaii, john and i had experiences both amazing and challenging while adventuring together in paradise. 

as our senior year of college was ending, my senior vocal recital came and went, and graduation festivities came to a close, i started to get anxious. anxious for our big move. as we packed up our lives into a few suitcases, previous thoughts recurred in my mind. only now, more daunting thoughts haunted me: where were we going to find a place to live? how were we going to afford expensive city living? would people like us? how was i going to cope with the life of the big city as a girl that grew up in a small town? 

all i could do was trust. trust God, trust john, and trust that our move to chicago would be what we make it, whether i wanted to move there or not. 

and, how has it been? 

i would be a complete liar if i said that initially there weren't nights where i stayed up crying myself to sleep, because there were. i felt so alone, a microscopic guppy in the biggest sea i had ever ventured to. but overall, i can sum up my experience into two words: wonderful and terrifying. 

let's start with a list of the terrifying (i don't wanna end this post being a debbie downer!)

-still a plane ride away from my family (i dream of the day we will live close!)

-the craziest drivers i've EVER seen in my life. no joke. 

-job hunting while being very pregnant in a huge city.

-did i mention that chicago is a HUGE city?

-the midwest summer weather + me = one sweaty, nasty, gross human.

-not having any friends for awhile bringing on painful homesickness. 

and scariest of all...

-while i was walking around downtown chicago by myself, a homeless man walked up to me and grabbed my arm (very firmly, i might add!) asking me for money. this experience caused me to get pepper spray that now hangs very clearly from my key ring.

thank you, sports authority!

and now, the wonderful things!

chicago ALWAYS has something fun to do! festivals, museums, concerts, shows, sight-seeing, fireworks, you name it! chicago has got it going on!

all summer long, they had free classical music in the park. as a music major with a HUGE appreciation for classical music, i was in complete heaven. 

listening to these concerts involving orchestras and choirs made me miss performing! they inspired me to audition for a community chorus called the DePaul Community Chorus, and i made it in! rehearsals begin on september 17th, and i am counting down the days.

chicago is known for its fabulous museums and zoos! the lincoln park zoo is FREE and so much fun to go to! 

another particular place that john and i have ventured to is called Shedd Aquarium, only the best aquarium in the country!

and last but definitely not least, chicago is home to over 8,000 restaurants. yup, you heard me! EIGHT THOUSAND. 

thai, mexican, greek, guatemalan, vietnamese, chinese, italian, burger joints, fancy sandwich shops...

and deep. dish. pizza. 

steamy, cheesy, delicious pizza. need i say more?

in just a few short months, we will be having our chicago baby. in order to start his life properly, i need to accept the fact that we are here to stay (at least for a short while). chicago has so much to do and so much to experience! don't get me wrong- there are many things about chicago that i do not like or am still warming up to, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.  

whether we live here for two years or for the rest of our lives, we have begun our new life here and i'm going to make the most of it.

and as long as this heavenly deep dish pizza still exists, we will be here for a long, long time.