A Bluegrass Christmas (less banjos than you might think)

Several weeks ago, Cary Anne and I began getting in the holiday spirit by decorating our place. Despite the fact that our apartment is already cramped, we decided to lose a little more square footage by putting up a tree. Last year, after Christmas, we bought a star on sale, and this year we learned that the thing is just a bit to heavy for our hand-me-down artificial tree, so it's almost constantly leaning at a 45 degree angle.

Originally, we were hoping to get to spend Christmas in Virginia this year considering we haven't been back there since our wedding last year and we haven't seen Cary Anne's parents in over 6 months. Sadly, with our limited time off and limited income, a quick weekend trip down to Lexington became a much more practical plan.

So last Friday, the 23rd, I drove downtown to pick CA up from work around 4pm. It was my first time driving the car into the heart of the city. It was rush hour, and it was not a pretty sight. I quickly learned you basically need to have zero value for your fellow human beings in order to get anywhere. You know, real holiday spirit stuff.

Chris and I aren't as great at posing for
pictures as Cary Anne and Hannah.

We arrived in Lexington shortly after midnight and immediately headed to bed since we had made plans to meet our friends Chris and Hannah for coffee at 9am the next morning. Nothing says vacation like waking up at 8am. Over lattes, Chris and Cary Anne exchanged stories about working at a law office while Hannah and I pretended to be interested. (Click their names for a link to their blog. They haven't updated in 6 months so feel free to leave them a nasty comment.)

After coffee, we headed out to Paris, Kentucky, to my "Cousin" Judy's horse farm. (She is technically my father's cousin. Not sure what that makes her in relation to me...?) We've started a bit of a tradition of sharing brunch out there around Christmas time, and it was great to see everyone since CA and I had to miss out on the annual Thanksgiving get-together last month.

Of course, the only thing better than a delicious, filling meal shared with family is the glorious nap time that follows. After dozing for a couple of hours, Cary Anne and I headed out to Southland Christian, the church we used to attend in Lexington, where we met up with our friend Al and her family for the candle light Christmas Eve service. As expected, it was a beautiful event.

The next morning we got up and went to the church I was raised in during my teenage years and the church my parents still attend, Rosemont Baptist. Like Christmas brunch, it was a time filled with hugs and "Good to see you"s and "How's Chicago?"s. It's always fun to go back there and see the things that have changed and the things that never will.

After church, we threw some logs on the fire and my uncle Bob came over for present opening time. There was a chorus of "Ooohhs" and "Yaays" and "Don't worry, I saved the receipt," and overall, everyone came away with some great presents. Cary Anne and I got new covers from basically everyone since we recently moved to an icy tundra (though at this point in winter, Lexington has accumulated more snow than Chicago.) Later, in true Hall family fashion, my dad changed the oil in our car. Apparently, that guy can't even catch a break from mechanical work on Jesus' birthday.

After that, Cary Anne and I hopped around town a bit to visit some more friends. First, we stopped in at the Kelly's, where we got to catch up with Kate as she shared stories from her first semester working for Teach for America on a Native American reservation in South Dakota. We also got to play with puppy she rescued/adopted during her time on the reservation. Then, we hopped over to Waffle House for a late night snack with our friend Sharonda, and we all stuffed ourselves on greasy breakfast food as she shared the latest antics from her job.

The next day, our small vacation came to an end as we journeyed home. However, on the way, we were fortunate enough to get to stop in Cincinnati to meet some friends from Cumberland, Laura and Allison, for lunch. For some reason, Allison decided that meeting at a restaurant attached to a mall the day after Christmas was a smart idea, but we managed to fight the crowds. Allison shared her adventures from her first semester as a teacher in Winston-Salem, and Laura filled us in on all the latest Cumberland gossip.

Overall, it was a great Christmas weekend. 

Field Trip

Last Friday, I took the Vespa downtown to meet Cary Anne at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art after she got off work. Our friend, Lisa, had scored a pile of free tickets from her job and passed them out at our Bible study last month.

We took the camera along with us and made this video. Enjoy...

Click on it while it's playing, and you can view it larger over on YouTube.

Summer Vacation is Over

Our biggest concern in this whole "move to Chicago" plan was how long it might take us to find steady employment. About two months before we moved, Cary Anne and I began sending our resumes out to dozens of job postings we found online, but received virtually no responses. That, coupled with everyone talking about the bad economy, definitely had us worried.

As soon as we were unpacked, we began hitting the streets. Restaurants, book stores, theaters, part-time, full-time, seasonal, it didn't matter. If there was an opening, we were applying. After that, our stories diverge a bit, so I'll let Cary Anne tell you about her experience...

Cary Anne

As Spencer said, it was a difficult starting out. While it was nice to have time not working, it was starting to feel a bit like the second week of summer vacation, when I start to get a bit antsy... and bored. Before we moved, my godfather told me his sister worked at a law firm downtown and I should send her my resume. Even though I've never worked in law and don't know anything about it, I sent in my resume because...well, why not? Unfortunately, at that time there was nothing available that would work for me. However, when a new position became available my godfather's sister remembered me and sent me the information. By that time I had already interviewed at a local Barnes & Noble for a seasonal position.

After initially hearing that the law firm wanted to set up an interview with me, there was a long period of silence that worried me, so I decided to take the offer from Barnes & Noble because I love books. As fate would have it, the law firm called to set up an interview while I was in the middle of orientation at B&N. I managed to find some time to go downtown that week between my shifts at the book store. The personnel manager was super welcoming and kind. The interview went great, and early the next week I got an offer! I was so thrilled that in my excited state I went to my manager (of 5 days) at B&N to adjust my availability. Unfortunately, that didn't go over too well and I was immediately dismissed. 

So, once again, I found myself on unemployment summer vacation, but I knew it was only temporary. It was only a week or so because I started as a Department Assistant for Perkins Coie just last Monday! It has been great so far; everyone has been incredibly nice. And I get to commute into the city everyday for my full time job with benefits...like a real adult! I have my own huge desk, which quickly filled up with filing to be done. I feel overwhelmed at times because I don't know anything about law and usually have no idea what I'm looking at when filing, but I'm learning (slowly but surely), and I think I'll really enjoy working there.

Now, me...

After a couple of weeks of having little success in my job search I was starting to get depressed. I had had an interview for a position at Barnes & Noble, but they ended up hiring my wife instead. (Can you blame them?). Then, Cosi called, which surprised me because when I turned in my application they said they weren't really hiring. But they offered me an interview and I went. Once there, Lindsay, the general manager, mentioned that she had a stack of applications on her desk roughly the size of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and I gulped and tried to imagine how many others she was interviewing. Luckily, the interview went very smoothly, as I regaled her with tales of my Krispy Kreme days while playing with my tie.

Three anxious days later, she called and offered me the job. I've now been working there almost a full three weeks, and it has been great. Cosi, if you don't know, is a lot like Panera (only better in every conceivable way, of course). Sometimes I have to get up at 5am, when it's still dark out and everything is cold and quiet, so I can be there by 6:30 to give people their bagels and coffee. Then later, I take sandwich orders from business men and Northwestern girls decked out in purple. Though I'm no important office worker, like my wife, my jobs gives me the opportunity to interact with lots of people and there's free food. 

Once again God has shown us that all of our concerns were silly, because just as our Chicago savings is starting to run dry, our first paychecks are rolling in. Really can't ask for more then that.