Wednesday, May 25, 2011

My journey to the city I love...

My first visit to Chicago was exactly six years ago. I instantly fell in love with this city and when I finished graduate school a few months later Chicago was where I wanted to be. Prior to graduation I began applying for jobs in Chicago. I got a few great job leads but none that went anywhere. Feeling that Chicago was where I was meant to be I sold my car, found an apartment, loaded up a moving truck and was headed to Chicago.

I will never forget the morning of the move. I checked my email one last time before heading to Chicago and to my amazement I was offered a job interview. I honestly could not even recall applying for the job but when I looked at the job description it was a job that fit my "ideal job" to a tee. After moving to Chicago I went to the interview, got a second interview and was hired within a month of moving to Chicago. Throughout this experience I felt God's guiding hand asking me to simply trust in him. I did just that and have not looked back since.

I added a new tab to the blog called, "Chicago Favorites." I thought I would keep a running tab of some of my favorite places to go in the city (i.e. restaurants, shopping etc.). What's your favorite thing to do in Chicago?

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day!

The reality that our families live so far away, and here we are in this big city without them, has definitely been on my heart lately. Right now we have family in Oklahoma, Michigan, Spain, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Needless to say living so far away takes a lot of planning on where to go for holidays, birthdays and vacations…and yet there is still never enough time.

What we are quickly realizing is that what is more important than being around one particular family during any given holiday is the quality time we are able to spend when we can get together. In February we went to Spain to visit Mr. Jordan's father, Judy and siblings (check out Judy’s amazing blog here). We had so much fun enjoying cava, paella, and great conversation. Last month when I went on a cruise with my parents, sister and nephews it was so good to connect with them as I had not seen them for a few months (which is rare). Mr. Jordan’s mother and step father were in town last weekend and we enjoyed a concert, some really great Chicago food, and even celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday at every restaurant we went to (you are welcome Carol).



We also had miniature visitors all the way from Spain stay at our house last night…my little brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Aren’t they cute? Even our cat Sandy likes when they visit. I really love family and all the fun-craziness that goes with it…I just wish there was more time to spend with everyone.



In honor of our two really great moms(Tammy & Carol)and in loving memory of a really classy and beautiful woman (Grandma Maroney) we miss you, happy mother’s day!