The Kitchen, continued...

The Kitchen... is basically just an L shaped counter. Fridge, sink, dishwasher and then around the bend is the Stove. We dropped our butcher block in to give us prep space and behold our new dining table with leather chairs. We went with a table that expands to seat at least 6 and use our extra chairs in the office for desk seating.

one of my favorite rooms in the house...

So....when we lived in West Hollywood we purchased a stack washer and dryer and installed it in the master bedroom bathroom.. we were able to do laundry whenever we wanted without having to leave the apartment. When we moved to Brooklyn, we had no laundry facilities so I would drop of our laundry at the wash n fold on my way to the office and pick it up on my way home. The Pakistani couple who ran the laundromat spoke very little English and I found it interesting that the cost varied so much each time.When we moved to Bedford ave I would drop our laundry off at the Chinese laundry between our apartment and the subway making it very convenient. The Asian couple who ran the laundromat were so nice.. and they used Tide products so our clothes were always so fresh smelling and clean, although she did use bleach a bit too freely resulting in some discolored darks..

When I looked at Loomis Street Lofts the thing I was so excited about was the fact that we actually have a laundry closet. Ken and I purchased a Haier XQG50-11 all in one unit. Meaning that it washes and dries all in the same unit. So here's our new laundry room...

The entry...

The loft...

behold the empty slate.. just waiting for our touch...

Welcome to the neighborhood

I traveled to Chicago the first week of June to find us a new home. I really had no idea where to look or where we wanted to live. The main criteria was to get as close to an L stop that was a reasonable commute to the loop as possible and that was pet friendly. Since we would not have a vehicle, I also wanted to be close to neighborhood amenities such as grocery, bank, post office etc... well I found it.. we are approx 5 blocks to the L, lets see how long 5 blocks are when it's below zero this winter :-) we are across the street from a beautiful market and a library branch and just down the street from a bank and post office. Our neighborhood is called Pilsen. It's predominately Latin. The neighborhood is home to one of Chicago's "best" Mexican food restaurants and "best" wings Chinese restaurant. The smell in the morning of the tortillas and pastries from the local bakery is unbelievable and the lady who sells her home made tamales on the corner is very sweet. Definitely go for the jalapeno and cheese tamale.. it is the bomb! Our new home is a loft. The building was retrofitted about 5 years ago and is basically non- descript but we have managed to make it a home.

Our new city....

What a beautiful place Chicago is. It's like NYC only much cleaner and way less expensive. I can't wait to experience more.

I'm Back... 2 weeks late...

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since we arrived in Chicago. My goal is to get up to speed here asap.... Our travels were fairly uneventful except for a tire blowout just 74 miles shy of Chicago. So close yet so far away.