Coincidentally, Jeff and I are technically no longer “in the loop” (ok, West Loop maybe). I also happen to be retiring what has been referred to as our “relationship blog” on our third anniversary.

I hope you’ll take some time to check out the new site and update your feed and blogroll if you have one!

Romulus shows off his camouflage skills on the new floor

We’re settling into our apartment bit by bit. There are still a few boxes to be unpacked (entirely my fault), but overall it feels like home.

The neighborhood has had it’s frustrations. It’s definitely “up and coming,” and we’ve already run into three local businesses that ended up being closed down. Unfortunately, one of these businesses was a local grocery store that we thought would provide us with easy access to necessities. So now the closest grocery store is almost a mile away—a bit of a hike for a couple of people without a car in the middle of winter.

Which brings me to another issue we’ve been wrangling with. Now that we’re a little “out of the loop,” if you will, it takes a lot longer to get anywhere. We have a free parking spot in our building, and we’re considering a car in the somewhat near future. It would also be nice to be able to go back to Michigan to see family (and my favorite little nephew). I’ve just prided myself on getting by without a car for so long, it almost feels like giving in (almost).

One highlight of the new neighborhood—we’re just a short walk from the West Loop Athletic Club (WAC). We just joined today, so I’m looking forward to some yoga dates and generally getting out of the apartment a bit more. I haven’t been to a gym with classes in almost two years, and I can’t wait to get in there!

Around 11:00 PM, an alarm started going off in our apartment (LOUD, and about every four seconds—our neighbors must already love us). Said alarm is up in the rafters completely out of reach, so we had no idea what to do. Figuring it was carbon monoxide, we called 911 and stepped out onto the patio to get fresh air and avoid death (Romulus was not a fan of being held out the door, and he was already stressed from the move). Although the fire department is across the street, they came in full truck, full siren and full gear (again, neighbors must love us). They tested the air for carbon monoxide (all clear at this point) and climbed into the rafters to shut off the alarm (brave man—he had to stand at the very top of the ladder to reach the alarm).

We figured it must have been caused by our gas fireplace, which we ran for about an hour earlier in the evening, although we’re not entirely sure. At least we feel like we did the right thing (and they came very quickly. See Mom? I’m very safe here).

And since we had a ladder in our apartment, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some overhead shots of the apartment.

Standing on a ladder looking down at the kitchen

Standing on a ladder looking down at the living room - Romulus managed to sneak into this one

View of living room from the kitchen - note the use of wedding vases that will never actually be in a wedding (fail)

The Move – Stop Motion from Allie Osmar on Vimeo.

The view from our current living room

The movers are coming on Friday morning at 7:30 AM. We made these plans today at about 2:00 PM, and we spent the evening packing frantically. 2010 is off to an insane start.

Moving to Chicago’s West Loop feels a bit less “sexy” than living in an apartment overlooking the theater district, but we’re excited to add an office away from our living room now that we work from home—and we’re looking forward to getting a few little luxaries that we don’t have now (washer and dryer, garbage disposal, fire place, patio).

Please come visit?

Our new living room

We’ve been through quite a few changes around here. Jeff and I started a business along with our friend Ryan (see our Monday and Wednesday “office” above—we work at Noble Tree as a part of Jelly Chicago). We also found out that our wedding venue went out of business, so we’ve pushed our wedding back to November and moved it to the Riviera Maya, Mexico. On top of this, we’re looking into moving to a bigger apartment since it doesn’t make sense for us to be living in downtown Chicago in a one bedroom now that we both work from home (squish).

2010 is shaping up to be an interesting year! Stay tuned.

And because it was such a fun assignment for both of us, we’re including extra photos. Bonus!

Allie

My friend Kate was in town this weekend to look around for bridesmaid dresses (I already have plans to have my friend/bridesmaid, Susan, design my wedding dress—we met over Thanksgiving and she has some amazing ideas!). Anyway, bridesmaid dress shopping was a bit of a fail, so I’m starting to think I may just see if everyone wants to wear their favorite versions of little black dresses with similar hair pieces or necklaces or something. Maybe this is Susan’s chance to launch her whole new wedding line—dresses, hair pieces, jewelry, etc.

You hear that Susan? I’ll most definitely be your first full out wedding client.

Anyway, Kate’s long-distance boyfriend, Nate, came into town and I wrangled them into posing for me. They were troopers in the cold Chicago weather.

Steph

Bonhomie [bon-uh-mee, bon-uh-mee]

—noun: Frank and simple good-heartedness; a good-natured manner; friendliness; geniality.

The first is mine, and the second is Steph’s.

Benison [ben-uh-zuhn, -suhn]

—noun: Blessing; benediction.

You can tell where my priorities are. I spent the week with family and friends (truly a blessing), and I chose to photograph a different kind of blessing in my life—all things chocolate.

The second is Steph’s dog. I absolutely love the lighting in this photo.