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.

Thanksgiving Things

Last weekend, Chicago had it's annual Lights Festival, which is when the city decides it's close enough to Christmas to turn on all the stringed lights along Magnificent Mile and throws a parade. Since Cary Anne and I have been making an effort to get out of the apartment and actually see what the city has to offer, we decide to take the Vespa downtown to check things out. As you can imagine, there were about a million people there (and, based on the population of Chicago, that estimate is probably not hyperbole.)

Though the actual festival is an all day event, Cary Anne and I just made it down for the parade portion. Apparently this town loves parades so much that they have one for the Lights Festival, then they have another one 5 days later for Thanksgiving. However, this parade started at 5:30pm, and the Thanksgiving one kicks off at 8:30am, so you can guess which one I'd rather go to.

Overall, the parade was everything you'd expect: big floats, marching bands, screaming children. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night in Chicago.

Then, yesterday was Thanksgiving. When Cary Anne and I decided to move to Chicago at the beginning of November, I wasn't sure what to expect for Thanksgiving. I knew we really wouldn't have money to spare to go to either one of our home towns, and I thought there might be a good chance that the holiday would turn into Cary Anne and I eating turkey sandwiches alone in our apartment, which was a depressing thought. But then, lo and behold, we got invited to two Thanksgivings here in the city (which is really just God showing off).

First up was Thanksgiving at our friend Stacey's apartment. Stacey and I each attended Pace University during our Freshman year of college, then we both transferred to schools closer to home, and we've just recently reconnected here in Chicago. Thanksgiving at Stacey's was basically an Orphan Thanksgiving, where a bunch of people who had no where else better to go ended up together. So the whole thing was 15 relative strangers sitting around, sharing a meal together, and getting to know one another, which was really cool. 

Next, we hopped over to Jesse and Ruth's, who are friends of ours from church, for desert. Much like Stacey, Jesse and Ruth were hosting several friends who had nowhere better to go. It was a really great time getting to know a whole bunch of new people (for the second time that evening), and we are continually surprised by how many people God has put in our lives in such a short time when we really knew no one in this city. All in all, we got to eat good food, play a lot of games, and thank God for how He has provided for us over the past year while celebrating where is is leading us.

After celebrating new friends, we got to celebrate something even closer to the American spirit: consumerism! Thats right, we stayed up til midnight to score some sweet deals on presents for friends and family (which really was necessary this year seeing as how we blew the majority of our savings on the move and being unemployed for a month). If you want to hear details about our Black Friday adventure, hop over to Spencer's comedy blog.

Settling Down, Settling In

Well, we've certainly been keeping busy since our last update. First, on Sunday, my parents stopped in for a visit. My dad's job sent him up for some new training, and of course my mother couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop by and see our new place. Since my parents are tourists (and Cary Anne and I are barely more than tourists), we decided to head down to Navy Pier for the evening, where my mom enjoyed souvenir shopping and Pops enjoyed looking out at the boats.

That same day, word came from Colorado that Cary Anne's brother, Marshall, had proposed to his girlfriend of a year, Mackenzie. Their first date was mine and Cary Anne's wedding, so we like to believe that we had something to do with it. We all knew the proposal was coming, so it was nice to finally see it come to fruition. Back in August, Marshall moved across the country from Virginia to be closer to Mackenzie so it's good that things worked out, because if not I can only imagine how awkward it would have been.

On Monday, my Kentucky license expired so we headed to the nearest DMV so I could get a Illinois license, and it was...crowded, to say the least. When I would renew my license at the DMV closest to us in Lexington, it wasn't uncommon for the employees to outnumber the customers, but at the Chicago location it looked like a crowd waiting outside a Best Buy on Black Friday.

Luckily, despite the sea of people, my number was called in about 20 minutes. I guess when Illinois officials envision the streets of Kentucky they see a lot of horses and tractors because they didn't trust me enough to give me a license without making me retake the written test. Before going, I had reviewed the more obscure info in the state handbook, and I kept spouting off little tid bits to Cary Anne on our way to the DMV. Know what the punishment would be if I got convicted of illegally passing this school bus, babe? A three month suspension of my license and a $150 fine. In the end, my studying paid off because I passed with a perfect score.

After our trip to the DMV, we headed out to the suburbs to see my parents one last time before they headed home. Since we were already out west, I couldn't resist stopping by the local Krispy Kreme, since there are none in the actual city. The place was roughly twice the size of the store I worked at in Lexington, with a large sitting area, two production lines, and bays for the delivery trucks to back right up to the warehouse. I sent this picture to my old boss, Clayton, with the message, "They have chocolate cake!" Our store stopped making chocolate cake back at the start of the year, and I think Clayton is still bitter about it.

On Tuesday, Cary Anne and I headed to our weekly Bible study. We've been attending the Edgewater campus of Community Christian Church since we've been here in Chicago. Community Christian is a church that started out in Naperville, and has sprouted satellite campuses all over Chicagoland. The Edgewater campus, right now, is basically 25 people meeting in a rented out art studio, a big change from the mega-church we attended back in Lexington. 

After the Bible study, our group of 7 decided to head out and do some chalking, which is basically diet graffiti with a positive message. Apparently, this is something the Edgewater campus has been doing basically since they launched a few months back, so once a week we go out and use chalk to write short, encouraging notes on the the sidewalk for people to read on their way to work the next day. At first I thought the idea was a bit silly, but as the night went on, people kept coming up to us talking about how they had seen the chalking before and how much they enjoyed it. So, my attitude quickly started to change as I realized even the smallest gestures can have meaningful impacts. All in all, it was a great evening and really made us feel like we are actually starting to settle in here.

New City, New State, New Time Zone

We've now lived in Chicago for a week and a half, and the days seem to be flying by. As you can imagine, most of our time up to this point has been defined by unpacking and applying for jobs. Finally, it looks like things are coming to a close on the unpacking front. When we first unloaded the truck and got everything from our old two bedroom apartment into our new studio, things seemed pretty overwhelming...

But slowly, box by box, our apartment started to take shape, and now it's almost completely organized. Here, I'll take you on a small tour...

This is our entry way. On the left is closet space, and on the right hang our movie posters.

As you come out of the entry way, on the left is our living room.

Just off the living room is our kitchen. And we though the amount of counter space at our old place was rough...

If you take a right out of the entry way, you'll enter our bedroom/office.

And just beyond our bedroom is more closet space and our bathroom.

So, the place is small, but we've managed to fit all of our stuff in, and it is helping us learn to humble ourselves, to realize we don't really need as much as we think.

Between unpacking sessions, we've been out hitting the pavement, looking for work. At this point we're both looking for pretty much anything, just so we can get a little revenue generated, so we've been applying anywhere and everywhere- book stores, restaurants, movie theaters, law firms, etc. We've both had some interviews, but at this point neither of us has officially been offered anything. Hopefully that will change in the coming week.

Luckily, we've been able to take the occasional break from unpacking and applying to get out and actually enjoy the city. Over the past week and a half, we've been to several free comedy shows (bet you can guess whose idea that was), and we've also made a trip into downtown (where the Christmas lights are already starting to show up), and we've even taken a walk along the coast of Lake Michigan near our place (despite the temperature being in the the low 40's).

We're basically tourists.

We're looking forward to really getting into the swing of the Chicago life, whatever that may hold for us. And we just hope it's exciting enough to keep our lives interesting and to keep you guys reading!

Everything in Transit

Apparently, when Cary Anne and I moved into our first place, we did it the easy way. We were able to do it in shifts, and we had a lot of help. This time was a little more strenuous-  we did it in one big jump, and we didn't have much help. 

Last Monday, we woke up, rented a truck, then went back to our place where we thought we had most of our stuff packed. Turns out, we didn't. First, we loaded the heavier furniture, like the bed and the couch, which was not easy with just the two of us. But we took frequent breaks...

As the day went on, my parents showed up to help out. As they loaded up full boxes and some of the smaller furniture, Cary Anne and I realized just how much stuff we hadn't packed. We began to throw together random boxes- our printer mixed with mismatched socks and some ipod chargers, a couple of books mixed with a frying pan and part of our vacuum cleaner. This really slowed the whole process. About a week ahead of time, we planned on driving up to Louisville to crash with our friends Chris and Hannah for the night, and though we would arrive around 7pm, but once we got the truck fully loaded and made the drive, we actually showed up around 11pm. Thankfully, they were still (kind of) awake, and we got to spend some time with them before heading off to bed. 

Our fully loaded moving truck, Vespa and all.

The next day, we drove the rest of our 5 and a half hour journey to Chicago. When we arrived, one of the maintenance workers provided us with keys to the building and to our apartment, and I pulled the truck around to the back so we could begin unloading. With basically no one to help (save our very nice neighbor, Wayne, who helped with the God-forsaken couch), moving in became a two-day process. As if things weren't bad enough with just the two of us on the job, the situation was worsened by the fact that the elevators in our building are something straight out of a horror film. A quarter of the time they don't even work, and when they do they lurch and jump, and the lights in them are constantly flickering. (However, the certificate posted inside says they were just inspected last month.)

Another stupid move on my and Cary Anne's part was the fact that we didn't label any boxes. In some ways, this was fun, because opening every box was kind of like Christmas, but for the most part it was terrible because after a sweaty day of moving, you don't want to have to go on a search for clean underwear when all you want to do is take a shower. 

Moving is exhausting

But now, five days after we started moving, things are coming together steadily. All of our stuff is in our apartment, and pictures have started to go up on the walls. (I'm sure we'll share pictures on our next post.) We've been getting to know our neighborhood by going out on walks, and yesterday we began applying for jobs at the businesses around us. Overall, we're settling in nicely.

Chicago sunset, as viewed from the window of our apartment.

Officially Unemployed

This week, Cary Anne and I each became officially unemployed. Here, we'll break down our thoughts on the matter separately.


First, Cary Anne: 
Its not the first time I’ve been unemployed. I was unemployed just before and after Spencer and I got married, but it feels like such a bigger deal now then it was then, probably because Spencer is going to be unemployed at the same time I am and, in case you haven’t noticed, NOBODY is getting hired these days. Call us stupid, but we’re actually quitting our jobs in this economy and spending a boat load of money moving to a brand new city (that I’ve never even visited before in my entire life!) I feel like I should be scared. But I’m not, not really anyway. A few weeks ago I was absolutely terrified that we were doing this, but now I’m more excited than anything else.


I’ve been though four jobs in the past year. Some were good, some mediocre. I will definitely miss the people more than the jobs. The mall was brief and rather unreliable, but I had fun and discovered how much I would love to make clothes! The call center… well, it was a call center. I met some great people and didn’t always hate being on the phone, but it was just so…full of regulations (to put it kindly).

My favorite job of the past year was definitely working part time at the library. I LOVE the library. I read so much! Mainly when I was supposed to be shelving the books as opposed to browsing through them, but I managed to keep my browsing under control and actually get a decent number for books shelved in a night.  I loved the people: always friendly, funny, and had GREAT book recommendations! There was always great conversation to be had, whether it was about routines and products for curly hair or defining the ‘science fiction’ genre or about physics (I would elaborate here, but I never really understood what was going on in these conversations, people who work at libraries are too smart).  I had a great time every night and weekend I worked and will truly miss everybody at the Beaumont branch of LPL.


Now, me:
Yesterday, after 2 and half years, was my final day at Krispy Kreme. And it was bittersweet.


I took the job back in June of 2009 thinking it would probably just be a summer gig, but it quickly stretched into the longest stent I've ever worked in one place. What I think I liked most about the Double K is the people. Believe it or not, after graduating from a small Southern Baptist college in rural Kentucky, my friend base was not very diverse. (A lot of white bread in that crowd.) Working at Krispy Kreme, I've become friends with people of different ages, and races, and backgrounds, and Wing Feast on Sunday Afternoons (where a bunch of us from Krispy Kreme gather at Buffalo Wild Wings) has become one of the favorite parts of my week.


While working at a fast food joint can be extremely tiring and frustrating (which I've written about over on my comedy blog and even wrote a stand-up routine about), some of favorite memories are also from my time at the doughnut shop.

Over the past several months my manager, Clayton (the guy up in the boxes on the right), has been trying to scare me into staying. (Believe it or not, hard-working, reliable people aren't always easy to come by in the fast food business.) He keeps saying that Cary Anne and I won't be able to find work, that we'll end up on the street, and that he'll have to come save us when he takes his vacation in December. I think he's joking (for the most part), but it definitely is a real fear. I'm leaving steady work at KK and I even turning down an offer to come back to work at Geno's (a formal shop here in town that I worked at during prom season and loved) to move to Chicago. It's a big gamble, and hopefully it pays off.

A New Beginning

It's official. We're moving to Chicago.

They sent us the lease to our new place this week, and our apartment is already starting to fill with boxes.

Before Cary Anne and I got married, we were already planning on heading to Chicago. For me, Chicago's appeal lies in the fact that it's basically the Mecca for studying comedy in the United States, with training centers like Second City and Improv Olympic. Cary Anne is excited because she hopes to put her Theatre degree to good use, and because she'll be able to ride public transportation all the time. (That's right, a good public transportation is seriously one of her requirements for where we live. She's saving the Earth one Metro ride at a time.)

We currently live in Lexington, KY, in the apartment we moved into right after we got married last year. We thought saving up for Chicago would take us at least a year and a half, but over the past year we've been pretty frugal, so we've been able to raise enough funds in just twelve months. Though our financial situation is hardly stable since we're moving to Chi-town on faith, because neither one of us has secured a job there. (I can hear your "Really? You're doing that in this economy?" from here.)

Much like with our current place, I was put in charge finding us an apartment. Last week, I spent four days in the city getting lost, looking at places, catching up with a couple old friends (neither of which I'd seen in roughly 5 years), seeing lots of improv shows, and crashing at a local hostel. Luckily, I was able to find us a "spacious" (note the quotations) studio in the northern part of the city. Sadly, "spacious" for us means moving to an apartment about half the size of our place now. We've already started selling off some of our furniture on Craigslist. (Anybody need a sofa?) While I'm sad to see some of the stuff go, I'm reminded of the lyrics from one of my favorite Death Cab for Cutie songs: "Flames and smoke climbed out of every window / and disappeared with everything that you held dear / but you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need / 'cause you knew you were finally free."


Since we're now moving away from many of our close family and friends, we figured starting a blog would be a good way to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in our lives as well as record our family history. When our friend Chris heard we were moving to Chicago and starting a blog, he exclaimed "You can call it 'Chi-blog-o'!" So maybe our name isn't quite as catchy, but we hope you'll keep reading.