New Digs

I feel like screaming. I am so excited!

We have been looking for a place in Chicago for the past month or so; the only problem was, we had pretty specific criteria that we wanted to meet: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, updated kitchen, nice neighborhood, dogs allowed, park nearby–oh, and all this for an affordable rent. And it didn’t help that Jared and I had slighly different ideas about what we wanted. He’s always dreamed of living in a loft apartment, which are plentiful downtown. I did not want to be downtown, but rather in one of Chicago’s cozy, quaint neighborhoods.

So we got an agent and dragged poor, tired, whiny Judah along to look at six different places last night. It was worth it. We both knew it the minute we walked in this place. It’s the perfect loft apartment, totally updated but in a charming old warehouse building. It’s in a highly desirable neighborhood and within walking distance of great restaurants, markets, and boutiques. It’s on a street lined with big trees and ivy-covered old brownstones and graystones. It’s got a brand-new park no fewer than 20 steps from the front door of the buliding. Hooray for Murphy! And did I mention that it was the cheapest place we’d looked at?

This is an image of the cross-street, which I pulled off Google Maps.

*Swoon*

The only problem was, four other people wanted it too. Big surprise. So we offered a smidge more rent per month, and our agent wrote this pull-your-heartstrings letter describing us as a sweet family with a baby, steady jobs, and a history of home ownership. They bought it, and we got it!

Nevermind the fact that it’s $200 more per month than our last mortgage was, for less than half the square footage. Ah well. Who really needs that kind of space?

Oh, and did I mention that we found out, ON OUR VACATION, that the buyers of our house in Arkansas had their financing denied? Super duper. Good news is, they still really want the house and are working on getting new financing, so we hope all that is resolved soon. Then we can really celebrate. Maybe at one of those fabulous little restaurants down the street from our new place, eh?