No nap. :(

Last night - around 3 a.m. my evil feline decided to wake-me-up.  Why? you ask.  Well...I'm not quite sure. 

I am not certain the span of time between the wake-up and my fall-back-to-sleep but somewhere in the middle, I heard three loud gunshots.  BANG! BANG! BANG!  Because I was fully aware that it was too early to wake-up, I told myself, "Angie Good, it was just firecrackers."  In my more alert state (sometime after a mug of coffee around 7 a.m.), I determined that it was probably NOT firecrackers...as the 4th of July has come and gone.  (Sigh.)

It seems to me that it's getting more apparent that I need to move.  I dislike moving...but now that I think about it, I hate 3 loud gunshots at 3 a.m.  I hate the three nights in a row that had shootings a couple weeks ago.

I love the cottage.  I like my neighbors.  I just don't like the location any longer.

A couple years ago, I contemplated & prayed about moving and at that time, the answer was "No.  Wait."  The more I pray about it now, it seems the answer is "start looking."

Did I mention I dislike moving?  I think it's the whole box-everything-up-and-haul-it-to-a-new-location-and-unpack-it that I least like.  Don't get me wrong, I like the purging and getting rid of stuff...it's just the packing.  Ugh.  Not my fave.

Earlier this week someone was arrested right out infront of the cottage.  As in AT THE END OF MY DRIVEWAY infront of the cottage.  This morning there was a police car on the side street to the left of the driveway.

The 'hood is apparently moving to "adjacent to the 'hood" and the girl with curly hair is contemplating moving.

During our last humid weather streak, I made the mistake of telling my favorite co-worker (and I must have said it wistfully), "It's days like today that I wish I lived in Alaska.  There isn't any humidity in Alaska."  His reply was PRICELESS!  "You should move there!  I'm serious!  Add it to your summer TO DO list."  The dumbfounded look on my face brought on another 5 minute lecture on why this is now the perfect time because _______ hasn't fallen in love with me yet.  Once that happens and I won't want to leave.  Who's blank?  I don't know.  My co-worker has a theory and we'll just leave it at that.  He made moving to Alaska sound like the perfectly logic thing for me to do.  He's ridiculous which is why he's my favorite.  :)  I informed him that my summer TO DO list included a couple more trips to Lake Geneva and one more mental health day. 

Since the "You should really move to Alaska" speech, he has managed to bring it up once a day.  (Sigh.)  Honestly I think if I just plan a trip to Alaska, he might stop pestering me. 

His most sincere reason why I should move to Alaska..."Don't you know that the ratio of men to women is like 13 to 1.  Down here it's like 0.7 to 1.  Not good.  Not good at all.  If you move to Alaska, you will have men knocking on your door every night.  You will have 4 boyfriends and when it's dark outside, you can knit."  SERIOUSLY.  He said all this outloud. 

(Sigh.)

I just now glanced at the title of my post, "No nap. :("  With the whole wake-up-at-3-am situation, I was feeling nappish this afternoon.  The trouble with taking a Sunday afternoon nap, it will totally interfere with my ability to fall asleep tonight.  Honestly - it's not that critical tonight as I have tomorrow off.  I'm spending the day in the Windy City with Summer Joy.  We discussed the potential for this day in the city about 4 months ago, give or take a month.  :)  I'm so super excited.  The last time I went in to Chicago ("Chick - ah - go") was a year ago and it was for a seminar which really shouldn't count...as I drove to Cumberland, took the blue line CTA metra train, walked to the hotel hosting said seminar, and only "explored" the city during my 60 minute lunch break.  Not much exploring happened during those glorious 60 minutes.  I believe it was more of a meandering through Millennium Park. 

Today on my way to church, I was trying to think of my last FUN-touristy trip to Chicago and sadly, I think it was either 2008 or 2009 when Bryan and I met to go to the Christmas parade.  Wow - 4 if not 5 years ago...

With Chicago being so close, you would think that I go into the city often, but I don't.  I love the city at Christmastime.  My favorite thing to do is drive down Michigan Ave and look at the lights. 

I'm looking forward to spending the day with Summer.  I will post about our many adventures.