April, this month is so premium.

April flew by here in Chicago, highlighted by several fun events...

First, Cary Anne and I had the chance to see some live theatre, which, sadly, is not something we get to do very often. Luckily, I found a good deal on some tickets at a small theater in Evanston the week before the show closed. The production was "Everything is Illuminated," which was an original adaptation of one of mine and Cary Anne's favorite novels. I decided to make the date a surprise for Cary Anne; I told her to get dressed up and made her wear a blindfold during the car ride. The production was very entertaining, and now Cary Anne is insisting we be more deliberate about seeing live theatre.

Not long after that, my parents had the opportunity to come visit. My father's work sends him to the area for training every now and then, and, of course, my mother insists on tagging along. The last time my parents came to visit, CA and I were still living in our studio in Roger's Park, so we got to show them our new(ish) apartment and neighborhood. Though we were only able to spend about half a day with them, we still got enjoy lunch and take a walk along Lake Michigan. 

The next weekend, a group of us from church went to see our friend Lana's piano recital. Lana was graduating from Moody, a local Bible college, so it was her final senior performance. Of course, she did amazing, and now she has moved off to New York to pursue her dreams. After the recital, Kelly and I hopped on the train and went to the Chicago Theatre to see Jim Gaffigan's newest stand-up show. We had bought our tickets a little late, so we weren't exactly close to the stage, but there's not really a bad seat in the Chicago Theatre. It was a great show, and I'm sure Cary Anne grew tired of us quoting it for the next several days.

At the end of the month, our friend Craig announced that he was moving to Kentucky, to be closer to his family, so we invited him over for a farewell dinner. We told Craig that we were going to cook up some steaks, and he offered to bring over some crab legs that he had won in a local meat raffle. (Yes, I said meat raffle.) So, the dinner turned into surf and turf night, which is probably the fanciest meal we've had in this apartment so far. The evening was great. Craig was a huge part of the muscle that helped get all of our stuff into this 3rd floor walk-up, and he has been a big part of our church over the past several months, so we're really going to miss him.

"Summertime Girls are the kind I like; I'll steal your honey like I stole your bike" - LFO

It's finally starting to feel like summer in Chicago...most days. Everyone keeps talking about how great the city is during the warmer months, and Cary Anne and I are starting to see it for ourselves.

One of the best things about warm weather in the city is that the beaches of Lake Michigan are actually useable. (Walking down and sticking your bare feet in the sand isn't exactly pleasant when it's in the 40s.) Just a few weeks ago, our friend Kelly invited Cary Anne and I down to the beach for an afternoon of reading in the sun. Turns out, there wasn't actually much reading involved. We mainly just sat around and talked and threw rocks at seagulls. (We're sadistic in that way.) Sadly, I learned that just because the weather is warm, it doesn't mean the water is. Guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks to actually go swimming.

After the beach, we picked up our friend Sam and headed to a custard shop Cary Anne and I had been wanting to try called “Lickity Split.” During our year in Lexington, a self-serve frozen yogurt place called “Orange Leaf” got really popular, and expanded from one location to at least four in just a few months. With tons of flavors, lots of toppings, and reasonable prices, it wasn't uncommon for us to swing by on a nearly weekly basis. We've been looking for a suitable alternative here in Chicago, but so far nothing has blown us away. But it looks like we may be switching to custard now. Though “Lickity Split” only has 3 types of custard on tap at any given time, there are dozens of toppings assorted into different glass jars, like an old-school candy shop, making the combinations basically limitless. (I had vanilla custard with hot fudge and dark chocolate covered pretzels.) Kelly and Sam seemed equally impressed by the shop, and I would not be upset if it became a summer staple.

Recently, we got to travel back to Kentucky for Memorial Day. Our friends Chris and Hannah in Louisville were nice enough to put us up in their spare bedroom for the long weekend. The great thing about our friendship with C&H is that we're able to have great time with them even when we're not doing anything particularly exciting. That was evident over the weekend based on the amount of time we spent playing “Settlers of Catan,” looking up videos for old bands we used to listen to during our middle school years (think BBMac, Bwitched, and LFO), and the hours Chris and I spent shooting zombies on “Call of Duty” while our wives reevaluated their life choices. 

However, we did leave their apartment a few times. On Saturday we went for a walk down by the water front, where we stumbled upon bus loads of old English dancers. They had on puffy white shirts and bells strapped to their shins, and they marched around in a line twirling ribbons. It was very captivating and confusing. Sadly, it was over 90 degrees outside, so we quickly returned home. After cooling off, we decided to go bowling. Somehow, during the course of the second game, it was determined that Chris and Cary Anne, as a team, were trying to out score Hannah and I. Things looked bleak when Hannah stepped up for the final frame and we were down by 10 pins. She only succeeded in knocking down 9, and Chris and CA leapt into celebration. However, their cheering quickly turned to tears when we realized Hannah had gotten a spare in the previous frame, so her 9 pins were enough to put us in the lead. I started telling people to suck it. (I'm not a gracious winner.)

On Sunday, CA and I visited Chris and Hannah's church. I was distracted during the sermon because the guy sitting beside me had his iPad out. I thought he was taking notes, but when I glanced over I realized he was actually surfing Cracker Barrel's website. Later that night, my folks drove up to have dinner with us and show us photos from my cousin's wedding, which, sadly, CA and I couldn't afford to go to. On Monday, our other college friend Shelby came over for a big brunch. It was great catching up with her considering we hadn't seen her in well over 6 months. 

So far, summer has been off to a great start, and hopefully it will only get better. 

Last month, we (mostly me) also started a journaling project where we film 5 seconds of our life everyday. I'll be sure to post the videos here...

"I knew the years would move quickly, but never quite as fast as this." -DCFC

Somehow I convinced myself it hadn'tbeen that long since I lasted updated this blog. Apparently it's beentwo and a half weeks...which is quite a while in blog time. So whathaven't I talked about yet?

A few weeks ago, CCC Edgewatercelebrated it's first Easter service, and we did so by gathering onthe beach at the shore of Lake Michigan. It was a great time. Thoughthe weather had been pretty cold the previous week, it was quitepleasant that morning, and I was almost hot in my button-up andsweater. We all spread out on some white tarps that were nailed intothe ground, and for about an hour we sang and listened to Rich preachas sea gulls called to each other down by the water. Afterwards, weall walked back to Rich and Dori's apartment for brunch.

About a week later, “Blue Like Jazz”the movie hit theaters. BLJ the book is a set of spiritual memoirs byDonald Miller that has meant a lot to me. I was given a free copy bythe Christian Fellowship at my school during my first week of collegeat Pace University. The concept of spiritual memoirs had never evenentered my mind before, and reading the book is what made me switchmy major from Theatre to English. The next year, I became a leader atPace's Christian Fellowship, and I had a great time handing out thebook to everyone, telling them how it changed my life. We would ordermini versions in bulk and carried them around in big mesh laundrybags. People on the subway would give me weird looks, and I wouldoffer them a free copy. As you can imagine, I was excited to see thefilm. We went on a Monday night with our friend Lisa. When we firstwalked in, the theater was vacant but a handful of others filtered inbefore to movie started. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Despite thelow budget and the complexities involved in turning a set of essaysinto one continuous plot, the movie was an engaging and earnest lookat faith and, in a larger sense, becoming an adult. Go see it if youget the chance.

After the movie, we all went and ate atthe Ihop where our friend Josh recently got a job as a server. Lisahas been on a vegan kick lately, so when we were all talking aboutwhat we wanted, she said, “I can't eat anything with a face.” SoI said, “I guess you can't eat this, then,” pointing to the kidspancake in the menu that was topped with strawberries and whip creamin the shape of a face. I thought that was hilarious, but apparentlyno one else did.

The next night, Cary Anne and I wentwith a couple of friends from church to see Death Cab for Cutie playat the Chicago Theater downtown. I noticed that our concert-going ismoving in a circular pattern. When we were dating, we saw DashboardConfessional, Avett Brothers, Death Cab, City and Colour, and TheSwell Season. Now, since we've been married, we've seen Dashboard,Avett Bros, and Death Cab. Music has always been a big part of CA'sand my relationship, starting with when we used to trade mix CDs backwhen we were just friends. On this night, DCFC was playing with theMagik*Magik Orchestra, which was particularly amazing. The stringsbrought so much emotion to the music, adding a deeper sense of sorrowto songs like “What Sarah Said” and “Tiny Vessels” while, atthe same time, adding a greater sense of joy and beauty to works like“Soul Meets Body” and “Passenger Seat.” One of favorite partswas the fact that they played some of my favorites from their mucholder albums, like “No Joy in Mudville,” “Tiny Fury Bugs”(which includes a nice Chicago shout out), and “Army Corp ofArchitects.” Even the stripped-down, orchestra-less encore of“Steadier Footing” was great. All-in-all, it was easily one of myfavorite concerts I've ever been to, like discovering Death Cab forthe first time.

There's more to catch you up on, butthis post is already getting a little long, so I guess it will haveto wait until next time. Hopefully it won't be another half a month.

Winter's Arrival

Back at the end of 2011, Cary Anne started telling me she needed new rain boots. She would go to her closet, pull out her boots, and yell "Look! Look at how cracked these are! They don't even keep water out!" Soon, she came home from work talking about how she found the perfect pair of rain boots at a shop downtown for a mere $125. Of course, after our big move to Chicago, we couldn't exactly rush out and spend that kind of money, but CA insisted she wouldn't be able to survive the sleet and snow of winter without reliable boots.

"All you need is a big pair of galoshes," I insisted.
"That's all I want, but they're harder to find than you think!"
"We just need to go to Walmart."

In Lexington, Walmart was a 5 minute drive down the road. Here, we have to make a 20-minute cruise out to the suburbs. I was under the impression that all Walmarts are basically carbon copies, but when we walked through the doors, I realized the Lexington Walmart was actually a "nice" Walmart. The Walmart here is cramped and dingy, and the width of the aisles can make you feel claustrophobic. When we finally made it to the boots, we discovered that organization is apparently optional at this Walmart. The boots were basically in a large pile which you had to sift through to find your appropriate size. After about 15 minutes of digging, Cary Anne had 3 boots, and though they were all the right size, they were all also for her left foot. For every boot of the wrong size we found, we tried to place them back on the shelf in an understandable order, but I told CA she could probably throw every one as far as she could in separate directions and no one would notice. Eventually, we did find a full pair of boots for Cary Anne, and I bought myself a box of Skittles as a reward for only spending $23, rather than $125.

It was a good thing Cary Anne got new boots, because we recently received two substantial snow storms here in the Windy City. When we first started telling people we were moving to Chicago at the start of November, all people seemed to talk about was the weather. They reacted as if we were Napoleon telling them we were going to invade Russia at the start of winter. However, despite all the talk, up until last week, winter had been freakishly mild here, with most days lingering in the mid-40s. (I was not expecting to still be riding the Vespa around town at the start of January.) Then, about 10 days ago, roughly 8-inches of snow accumulated over about 18 hours of straight snowfall. Now I feel like we're getting a taste of the Chicago winter I was expecting to experience. Here are a couple photos I took of the lake during a more recent snow storm that dumped about 4-5 inches...

A few days after that first big snow, my parents returned for another short visit thanks to my dad's job. On Tuesday, I gave mom a tour of all the places Cary Anne and I go on a regular basis, since the first time she visited we had just moved to town and had yet to develop any sort of routine. The tour ended with us seeing Skygate (aka- "The Bean") and picking up CA from work. That night, after Pops finished up with training, he headed into town and helped me change the headlight in mine and Cary Anne's car (meaning he changed the light while I held the flashlight). Then, we all headed down to The Pony for dinner. The Pony is Chicago's bar of choice for UK alum, so they show all the sports games. That night, we got to enjoy the men's basketball team demolish Arkansas. During commercial breaks, there was a trivia contest. While we could answer some of the more basic questions about Kentucky on our own, I often texted my brother when it came to the more detailed sports questions. In the end, Jon led us to a 1st place victory, and a $30 gift card prize. It was a great evening all around. Now if we could only get more people than just my parents to visit.