He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

3 celebrations in one week!

Our anniversary was on March 27th:) Our ONE year!! Woohoooooo, yay for us!!
However, sadly, we spent March 27th packing all day for our BIG move to Chicago.
But we are still as happy as can be. See:


The Baltes' know how to celebrate in style.
At a Cubs game that is.
And that is exactly what we did. 














It was such fun, the Cubbies were runless until the 8th inning when they scored 5 runs!! Taking the lead, and finally winning it in the 9th!! It was so much fun, we were high fiving everyone around us.
Now that's what it's like to watch a real baseball game at Wrigley field......Everyone becomes your friend when the Cubs start scoring :)

It was a blast, and a perfect afternoon date!

We ended the day with a lovely dinner at Frida's. A 2 minute walk from our pad.


Frida's is BYOB (yeah, that's right. They encourage you to bring in your own wine for a measley $3 corkage). Tons of other restaurants in Chicago have the same deal, some don't charge a fee at all. Yeahhhh!

Our 1st test of trying Mexican food in Chicago. The food was amazing!!
I had Chicken Mole, sooooooo my fav when dining Mexican Style. And Frida's delivered a delicious Mole.
The menu boasted "fresh local ingredients", "no lard in the beans", "all homemade sauces", "vegetarian options" like Plaintan Enchiladas. (So wish I had tried those. Next time.)
Scott got something called Parrallidas. A combination of chicken, steak, and shrimp.
It looked delicioso! He gobbled it all up, so it must have been.
The beans and rice were VERY good as well. The chips were "ok" in my book. Not as "crisp" as I think a freshly made tortilla chip should be. But the salsa had a serious kick!! It was good.
The restaurant was very small and intimate and dark. Perfect for a sweet date with my hubs.


The walls were decorated with beautiful(to say the least) pictures of Frida Kahlo.


Next time we want to try the homemade sangria......YUM!!!!!

All in all, a perfect date for our 1 year.




Okay, so did you get the 2 celebrations from above?? Our anniversary, the Cubs win......and........it's totally off subject but I found a job!! Yayyyy!! Such a relief, and a blessing from God to have found something so quickly!

I went hunting on Monday, walked into the first coffee shop I saw that seemed interesting enough.
Safari Cup. It's right across the street from Starbucks. Haha. Which isn't really saying much. There are atleast 3-4 coffee shops within half a mile of eachother on this one street, Southport.

But I did overhear the owner of Safari Cup, in his rich Zimbabwe accent, talking smack on Starbucks. 

Had a nice little chat with the owner's wife who told me all about their journey to coming to the States, starting off with a shop in Alabama, and then finally making their way here almost 2 years ago.
Their shop is decorated with a safari/African theme. It's nice, cozy, friendly, and their coffee is very good. I enjoyed a cup on my walk back home. 
All their beans come from a region in Africa, they carry around 8 different varietals. And they roast them there. A big plus!! Seeing as how coffee shops are the "it" place to hang out, lounge, visit, and work, I think the more unique you can be from other coffee shops the bigger crowd you'll draw in.
They offer an alternative to a simple "drip" cup of coffee called a "pour over". It costs just a few cents more but offers a rich, fresh, smoother cup of coffee. And it allows the customer to choose their own bean. Versus a drip cup of what we already have brewed.

Anyways, I start tomorrow. They cook, bake, and stew from scratch a small menu of breakfast and lunch items. Which I hope to also be a part of in addition to being a barista. 

Our Place...boasting the Cubs Win!


Friday, April 1, 2011

Early 1900's duplex

Soooooo, here we are!! Living on the top floor of a beautiful Chicago house. Our landlord lives below us.

I absolutely and totally LOVED our 1950's home in Racine, MN.

BUT, I am totally and utterly in love with our new one in Chicago!!
It's OLDER than our last home (which I love and can appreciate).
It's all single story.
It's got ALL wood floors! (although, there's some gross fake wood laminate in areas, but I imagine it's beautiful wood underneath that just needs a little TLC)
We're in walking distance of just about anything and everything you can think of you'd want near you in Chi-town (Wrigley Field, shopping, Target, coffee, bars, canine pampering[for our future non-human child], Trader Joe's[come May!!])

So you see, it's just magical. (p.s. you think I love it?!!......Scottie is in heaven!!)

Enough jibber jabber, here are some sneak peeks at our "little" BIG apartment in Lakeview, Chicago, Il.
front room

living room overlooking the street
(Scott working on our puzzle:)

Janssen St., such lovely homes

guest bedroom, off of the living room



front door...still thinking on what to put on that wall......

Our little office, Scott's Cubs tribute room to be completed later


hallway from kitchen, almost EVERY doorway has a door!

bathroom, soooooo ugly...whatever. atleast the rest of the apartment is AWESOME!

our bedroom. closet space is about 1/9 of what we had in Racine. I figured 1/9 because our old room had 3 closets in our bedroom and each was about triple the size of what we have here.....  :)

love this kitchen, nice n BIG! and a walk-in pantry! I've not had an actual pantry in about 3 years.

our bedroom right off of the kitchen, not my ideal location, but it was the only "room" that fit our bed :)

sundeck on the back of the apartment, just past the kitchen. aka storage.

our shared yard with the landlord! I think any dog will be able to appreciate this ;)

totally loving that built in china cabinet ;0)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Oh Little Town of Racine

oh little town of Racine.


and little white farmhouses?

don't you just love old red barns.....



 

nearby creek



 



















 

he's so frisky

















 

kitty is a great exploring buddy!!

                    

















 

hydrangeas! my fav:)




















 

 

these noisy birds torment poor kitty



3 gifts that I love.
a vase from my lovely friend LouLou,
a halltree from my mom's friend Kate,
and dried pussy willow from gramma Mary.


a kitty to say hello

                                      
Racine was my first experience of "midwest life". It is beautiful here! I'm so glad Scott and I rented Mary's farmhouse instead of renting in the "city"....Rochester. It was a wonderful experience, something I hope to do again. I would love to raise a family out in the country. It is so peaceful, serene, and "un-modern" here. I can always appreciate the "old fashioned" way of life. As much as Mary will miss us, and we will miss Mary...I will very much miss this peaceful little house and I am dissappointed I won't live here long enough to see Racine in "full bloom"!! I was really looking forward to gardening and maybe even raising some lambkins.

Oh well!! To the city we shall go!! And how delighted I will be!!!