Our New Chapter

For those of you who don't already know, this summer marks a major change for Andrew and me. We've spent the past two years living and working in Hopkinsville, and while it's been a great experience for both of us, now it is time to move on. We've always known we were (hopefully) headed to the "big city," although until about March of this year that's always been kind of a vague ideal. However, that murky vision is now much clearer, and we're poised on the verge of moving to Chicago - aka the Windy City, ChiTown, ChiCity, (my personal favorite) etc. Everything, thank the Lord, has actually fallen pretty perfectly into place; although it has been stressful, looking back over the past few months it's been unusually smooth. Andrew finished his round of auditions and was accepted to several good universities, then he decided on DePaul after working with his new professor there. He also got one their highest scholarships, which of course will help immensely. Then I began the horrible and nerve-wracking process of applying for jobs in a city with 500+ high schools. Although it seemed pretty intense at the time, in reality it was probably much easier than I had a right to expect. I began putting in applications in late March/early April, interviewed several places in May, and then received the job offer from my dream school (this is not at all an exaggeration) the first week of June. After that, all that was left was for us to find an apartment, which we did last week. My new school is sending me to the ASCD conference in Boston next week, and then I officially begin my work at ChiArts the first week of July, as they have curriculum work/planning/PD for two days a week throughout the summer.

Our new apartment is in the middle red brick townhouse.

This is a pic off google - it's pretty and green right now.

I know we will miss our hometown area. For the past week or so, I've been paying a lot of attention to the fields. Those rolling acres of green and gold just aren't going to exist in Chicago. Even though our new street actually does have a respectable number of nice trees lining the sidewalks, it just won't quite be the same. Plus, this is home. Our friends and family are here. I don't think we'll be able to leave without a hefty element of sadness. However, I know we're both looking forward to this opportunity so much. We'll be surrounded by everything, which will be a nice change from being surrounded by mostly nothing. Also, the area we'll be living in is almost entirely made up of college students and young professionals, so hopefully our new friend cup will runneth over. And for those we're leaving in KY, there's always facebook! Plus, we'll definitely be back lots for holidays and breaks. Overall, I just think it will an incredible experience, and I'm going to do my best to actually keep a good record of it. So if you want to keep track of what's going on with us as we begin this exciting new adventure, keep on reading!