Life Update: Last Weeks in Chicago and First Weeks in Texas

June was a crazy month with our last few weeks in Chicago and our move to Texas, but we still managed to have some fun.

Our last weeks in Chicago were all about food. We had a lot to celebrate, and I wanted to try as many places as possible before we left. Our first new restaurant was Bavette’s, an amazing French steakhouse where I had one of the best steaks I’ve ever had and a really delicious crab cake.

The biggest event in June was Christopher finishing intern year! I wrote about it here, but I am so proud of how hard he worked in Chicago. To celebrate, we went to Café Ba-Ba-Reeba for some amazing tapas and peach sangria!

I absolutely loved celebrating the end of our time in Chicago with the Wendella Fireworks Cruise. The fireworks were amazing, and I always love seeing the stunning Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan.

On our last full weekend in Chicago, we stopped by one of my favorite festivals in the city—Printer’s Row Lit Fest. I love looking through all the booths filled with books. Last year, we bought several Coca Cola ads and old Chicago advertisements that I can’t wait to put up in our new place.

We also met up with friends for dinner at Eleven City Diner, one of my favorite casual restaurants in the city. I decided to try something different from my usual brisket sandwich and got the patty melt. It was super delicious, though the brisket sandwich is still my favorite thing there.

Our last week was filled with lots of moving logistics, but we still managed to eat well! Of course, we had to have some stuffed pizza from Giordano’s (although Giordano’s is considered one of the big three deep dish pizza places in Chicago, their pizza is technically stuffed, not deep dish), which was amazing, as always. We also went to one of the most unique places we tried in Chicago-a Peruvian restaurant called Tanta. I hadn’t tried Peruvian food before, but everything we had was seriously delicious.

On the Friday of our last week in Chicago, I managed to walk to Lake Michigan to say “see you later” to my beloved lake. We also stopped by to pick up food from Wildberry, a fantastic brunch place in the city. My parents arrived later in the day, and we met up with some of their friends at Taverna 750, which had great drinks and even better food.

On my last day in Chicago, I went up to our roof to take some photos of the gorgeous view. Then, Chris and I headed to Greek Islands, a nice Greek restaurant in Greektown. Chicago sent me off with a gorgeous sunset!

With my dad at the wheel, we made the drive from Chicago to Texas in 13 hours. It was a long day, but it was worth it to do it all at once to get the chance to relax for the next few days. Thankfully, I had a pretty good health day until we reached Oklahoma. For those who have driven through Oklahoma, you know the roads are terrible. It’s noticeable as soon as you cross the border from Missouri to Oklahoma, and the roads are fine again as soon as you hit Texas.

I spent the week catching up with my mom until Christopher showed up on Thursday night. Then, we visited some of our close friends in the area. My best friend also stopped by on a day I wasn’t feeling well and asked me to be her matron of honor. I can’t wait for her wedding in November 2017. A few days later, I met her up for lunch and to wish her well in her new adventure on Long Island!

Our last week in June was all about moving in to our new place. It’s been hard for me to feel like I can’t do much during our move, but I am so thankful for our families, who helped us out so much! My in-laws even found this place for us since we couldn’t fly home. I am loving our new neighborhood. Once it gets cool enough to walk (and once I’m recovered from surgery), there is a fun park to walk Skyler and plenty of restaurants and shops to walk to nearby.

I have really enjoyed catching up with family and friends these past few weeks. On the last day in June, I met up with my former boss (who is a great friend!) for a great lunch at a sushi place capped off with some pie from Emporium Pies.

Phew. That was a long update. Tell me what’s going on in your life!

Linking up with Kristen and Gretchen