My Kind of Town

 

I have to be honest. One of my favorite parts about being in Chicago is listening to Frank Sinatra. I'll listen to Frank anywhere but it's kind of magical to listen to Chicago and My Kind of Town when you are actually dancing around the room looking out at the city views. 

I am starting to agree with Ol Blue Eyes, Chicago is my kind of town. It's definitely a bigger city than Pittsburgh, so there's a lot more to do, see, and eat. The buildings are huge and so unique, the rivers are beautiful and it's built next to Lake Michigan so there's a beach! But it's not as big and chaotic as NYC. It really is my kind of town. I told Jaden that sometimes I have to pinch myself that we're living here. But we also both agree that we don't want to do city life long term. However for the summer Chicago is going to be a lot of fun. 

Monday was Jaden's very first day at his internship at EY and it was remote. He was bummed to have come all this way only to work remotely but it's only for this week and then the rest of the time he will be going into the office and likely be onsite at the client he is assigned to. 

The project he was put on is for a company called MXD (Manufacturing Times Digital). So much of what Jade does goes over my head but my understanding of MXD is in kindergarten terms is factories and robots. A little more descriptive is picture a factory and each machine/robot in the factory is connected to a computer that is connected to multiple networks and Jaden is on projects to monitor those networks and protect them. I think. I could have really butchered that but that's my understanding of it. He is so excited to finally get back to work. It was fun to listen to him introduce himself in different groups as he went through orientation. He really is so good with people, I know I am biased but I really have no doubt he'll be successful no matter where he goes. 

I will also say though that I really feel for people who were cooped up in one apartment with multiple people during COVID because being on calls at the same time in a small place is tricky. I found that it was best if I had a call while Jade was on a call I would unplug my computer and run into our bedroom and shut the door and sit in the corner so we weren't talking over each other. It's been pretty entertaining. 

After that first day of work we headed over to Jacquelyn and Dane's for dinner. They asked us to pick up Giordano's deep dish pizza (which conveniently has a location right behind our building). We hung out and had dinner and they gave us the low down on places we needed to go while we were here. Even though they are moving away for a few weeks it really is so comforting to know people that have ties and recommendations here. Makes it a lot less overwhelming to be in a new place. They're the best! I had never met them before we stopped through last summer on our drive out to Pittsburgh so it has been really fun for me to get to know them better. As we walked across the street to their building Jaden and I talked about how fun it will be one day to bring our kids back here and show them where we lived. It really has been such a crazy jam-packed but amazing year.

They recommended we go to a grocery store a few blocks behind our building called Mariano's basically it's like a mini Smith's aka Kroger's. It was so nice to use my rewards number again. I have been shocked to find groceries are less expensive here than in Pittsburgh. 

It’s been pretty cloudy, rainy, foggy so far here. Which is what we’re used to in Pittsburgh but it’s kind of cool to see the fog settle in around the buildings.

The rest of the week was spent working, studying and watching our new favorite show: Suits. I’ve been kind of bummed that I am in school right now when we’re living in such a cool place so I always have homework tying me down and preventing me from going out more during the week. Luckily this block of classes hasn’t been nearly as strenuous as the last one so I’m able to balance it pretty well and am trying to stay on top of things and still give time to do things on weekends and hang out with Jaden in the evenings after work. 

Friday evening we went over to Jacqueline and Dane’s to help them finish packing up and clean out their fridge, freezer and pantry. They were so nice to give us a bunch of food and some extra kitchen things like bowls and pans, our kitchen feels more and more stocked every day! They also gave us some plants to babysit for them while they’re gone. My track record isn’t great but I’m hoping I can keep them alive for a few weeks. 

Saturday was a big homework day I had to study for my first Econ test. It’s open book but also timed and covered twelve chapters of information so there was a lot to study and a lot of notes to organize. It ended up going well, like I said before this block of classes is so much better than the last one! 

Sunday we walked to church. It took us about thirty minutes and was pretty hot and humid but we saw a lot of the city and it was good to be outside. Thankfully I had the foresight to bring my heels with me in my bag and wore comfortable walking shoes on the walk there and back. We say behind a couple and their adorable baby girl who entertained us the whole meeting. Sacrament meeting were focused on prayer and actually the opening prayer was my favorite part of the whole meeting. A recent concert gave the prayer and one of the things I loved that she said was “thank you for the opportunity to get to know you.” It was such a sweet reminder that church is a time to get to know Heavenly Father better and I loved that she thanked Him for it.

Relief Society after was on the talk “Then I Will Make Weak Things Become Strong” by Kevin S. Hamilton. There was such a good discussion around change and being true to our truest self: a child of God. One thing I kept reflecting on as we discussed how to change and not be frustrated that we aren’t changing as much as we’d like is the idea of giving yourself compassion. Ever since I studied Elder Soares talk The Savior’s Abiding Compassion my understanding and love for Compassion has grown. I think it is something that is often so much easier to give to others than it is to give to ourself. Two examples of change that were thrown out was exercising and reading scriptures. As we discussed our thoughts about having good physical and spiritual habits something that struck me was that as women especially I think we get very caught up in comparisons and big picture goals. And if we aren’t measuring up to those around us (or our perceptions of those around us) or if we aren’t consistently doing the perfect routine of getting up early and working out for an hour and studying for at least a half hour than we get frustrated and often bag it all together. Someone brought up the scripture that Christ grew grace for grace. How can I expect to grow and change any differently? Do I give myself Compassion when I fall short of my goals? Do I allow words that God would never say to me but Satan would run through my mind? Do I get frustrated with myself and think that it’s not possible to change so why try?

No matter what we are trying to change and improve the Savior can help us. When asked how we stay motivated to change one woman simply said, I pray and ask for help. Sometimes I am guilty of not wanting to concern God with something I think might be too superficial or something I should just fix myself whether it’s working out or getting more sleep or doing my homework or reading scriptures. But it’s silly of me to think that God isn’t concerned with those things. Prayer isn’t just for big questions, big trials and big decisions. It’s meant to help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father and allows us to better understand ourself as well. So many times in the middle of a prayer I’ll have a realization or realize how grateful I am and it realigns my perspective. It’s Satan that doesn’t want us to have those experiences. He’d rather have us be in a mindset like Elder Hamilton’s story “leopards don’t change their spots.” But like the prison warden and his story said “I don’t work with leopards I work with men, and men change every day.” That’s what Christ would say to Satan. That’s what Christ would say to us in those moments when we feel like we can’t change. We can change if we come unto Him and ask for His help and have Compassion with ourselves. He makes weak things strong. 

Ether 12:27 

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ​​​weakness​. I ​​​give​ unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ​​​grace​ is sufficient for all men that ​​​humble​ themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ​​​weak​ things become strong unto them.

Peaches:

• So glad I brought a mini waffle iron with us. When you’re married to Jaden you know that whenever you go waffles must follow 
• Tried Nando’s chicken, a south African restaurant with a famous chicken recipe that Jaden had when he went to DC with his buddies. There’s one right by our building so of course we went. We joke that we have everything we need (except church) within a couple of blocks from our building
• Stocking up our pantry and fridge 
• Jaden is loving his internship 
• Meeting new people in the ward
• Finding an engagement photo of mom and dad in my purse she hid last time she was here. They have hundreds left over from when they got married and over the years mom has randomly hidden them around, you never know when Trav and Nance are going to pop up
• And speaking of popping up mom is going to come visit us for a few days after going on a little girls trip to Cincinnati she’s going to come see us before heading home
• Church was great

Pits:

• Jacqueline and Dane moved
• Showing up to church feeling sticky and sweaty
• Having lots of homework
• I got lost in our elevator system when I went to do laundry. IN MY DEFENSE, I did not realize there were multiple sets of elevators one for each side of the building. So after I threw our laundry in the washer (credit card payments by the way so no quarters for a couple of months HALLELUJAH) I just ducked in an elevator hit floor 26 and was beyond confused when I stepped out and did not see our door anywhere. I was second guessing everything and had to text Jaden and ask him if I was losing my mind or if we truly were on floor 26. He helped me realize that I had gotten in the wrong elevator... he gave me a pretty hard time about it but hey I've never lived in a high rise before so give me a break!
  

 

Lessons Learned

• Church is a little bit more of a trek than we anticipated
• Prayers is just as important for the little things as it is for the big things
• Listening  to Frank Sinatra in Chicago is pretty awesome