{goodbye chicago!}

The movers packed up our place on Monday and today we are headed back to Los Angeles after a whirlwind two years living in Chicago (Evanston near Northwestern's campus to be exact).  We moved to Chicago for Chris to attend Kellogg for his MBA and in the back of our minds we always knew we would be heading back to sunny southern California after his graduation.  Friends had told us we would love this city and fall in love with the experience of Kellogg even more, but we truly had no idea what a life-changing two years this would be when we arrived.  

Chicago is a truly vibrant city (besides the winter) that we had the chance to fully explore over our time here - mostly through unforgettable dining and cocktailing experiences.  The past two years also created tons of travel memories including our Kwest trip to the Dominican Republic, two costume filled ski trips in Colorado, 3 months living in Paris and a spring break trip to Morocco, Spain and the south of France.  But even more dear to my heart than the Chicago foodie scene and our travel destinations has been the lifelong friendships and traditions we created here that will follow us long after we start a new chapter in LA.  I won't ramble on about the sappy feelings that go along with moving away, but I will say that the past two years will always be a source of happy memories...crazy nights out, hilarious costumes, late night dinner parties with close friends, once in a lifetime travel and a million moments that when I think of them I find myself uncontrollably smiling at just the thought.

Here's a little look back in photos of the past two years in Chicago and beyond!

{last items on my chicago bucket list}

On Monday the movers arrive at our place (I haven't packed one box yet!) and 7 days from now we hop on a plane to officially move back to Los Angeles!  I feel pretty good about all the fun Chicago-centric activities we did in our two years living here (especially loved the totally touristy Architecture River Tour and a trip to Hot Dougs).  This next week is going to be filled with the madness of packing up our place as well as a bunch of fun events for Chris' graduation, but I am hoping to squeeze in the last couple things on our Chicago bucket list:

1. The few times I have had Chicago deep dish pizza while living here have failed to win over my heart from my long favored thin crust varieties, but our friends have claimed to know a place that will change my mind so hopefully we can see if the hype lives up!

2.  The Aviary has been a destination I have wanted to have cocktails at since our first day in this city, but somehow we never made it there until now!  I am giddy like a child thinking about reservation this weekend for their 5-course cocktail & food tasting menu!

3.  Even though we are headed back to the beautiful beaches of the west coast, I would love to spend a beach day at Chicago's North Ave beach just once before we leave- hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend!!

{our holiday cards}

Last year I used Minted to create our holiday cards and I was conveniently able to use one of our wedding photos since it was the Christmas following our April wedding.  This year I went the complete DIY route by designing the cards myself having them printed locally in Chicago.  I knew I wanted to take our holiday photo in front of the Chicago skyline so we opted to get a little dressed up and use North Avenue Beach for a quick photoshoot.

My handwriting is horrible so I always chose to fully print our return and recipient addresses since it doesn't take that much longer than handwriting them all.  I used the same envelopes from last year opted for the red version which I ordered from right here.  I am really happy with how simple this design turned out- especially the mix of the light mint green with the stark bright red seams on the envelopes.  Plus DIY-ing the whole thing saved money and allowed me to get exactly what I had in mind!

{chicago living room}

Since moving into our place in Chicago, I have shared our dining room, office/2nd bedroom and black/gold bathroom.  I wasn't sure that we would ever get to a point where I would want to share our living room since  it just hasn't felt quite finished for months.  After returning from a two and half week vacation, we promptly decided to start moving around all of our living room furniture which included un-mounting and re-mounting both our tv and fauxdenza.    It's clear to me after this re-arrange that previously we were simply not using our space in the best way for our lifestyle.  This new set up gives us more usable space surrounding the living room and lends itself perfectly to what we do most which is entertain guests!

 {our bar set up is now front and center instead of our TV which is now mounted on the 

wall to the right in this photo}

 {coral ottomans, throw pillows & floor lamp from Target, rug from Pottery Barn, sources for other items can be found in our previous home tour right here}

 {vintage table that used to belong to my grandmother topped with fashion books & a terrarium 
from Urban Outfitters}

 {Tom Ford book + faux succulent since real succulents aren't real happy in Illinois}

 {view into the dining room}

{tray from CB2, matchstick holder from Jonathan Adler, Laduree books}

 {custom matchbooks from our wedding now sit on our coffee table}

 {gold rimmed glasses which were the best Salvation Army find in my life}

 {blurb photobooks that live under our TV}

Like I said in the beginning of the post- our fauxdenza has been moved and now lives in our entryway which I promise to share along with photos of our master bedroom just as soon as those rooms are 100% done!

{sneak peeks of our Chicago place}

When we first moved into our new Chicago place, we got most of the rooms and projects completed surprisingly fast.  The majority of our place was up and running within a week or two before we left on vacation to the Dominican Republic!

The thing with sharing these spaces with all of you is that I want them to be close to perfect.  So even though our place is 99% complete, I have been waiting to share the different spaces on the blog until I felt like they were "photo ready!"  This past week, I finally finished up some of the loose ends on a few of the spaces and I can't wait to share all the details over the next couple weeks.  For now, here are some sneak peeks...

 {fauxdenza in process- just missing the wood top at this point!}

 {ornate gold mirror}

 {brass perfume tray}

 {preserved boxwood}

 {kitchen organization}

{top shelf in the office}

{chicago home DIY & decor inspiration}

 {the layout of our new place}

 We signed our lease for a our new place near Northwestern in Chicago (Evanston to be exact) almost 4 months ago- without ever seeing it in person!!!!!  Yep- the first time I will see our new place will be the same day that we move in and also my first time in Chicago.   Going from a loft to a two bedroom apartment is definitely going to be an adjustment for us so we made sure when looking for a place to try to find something that would have both a somewhat open floor plan and could fit all of our furniture!  We choose this place based off of some photos and the layout above which is more than enough information for me to start thinking up different decor and DIY project ideas for our new space.  Here are a few projects that I can't wait to get to work on next month:

{a floating "faux-denza" for our living room to be used as a TV stand- tutorial here & here}

{black walls in the guest bath- I have never done anything this dramatic with paint before &
I'm still undecided on this project, but I mean....look at how sexy it is...}

{still searching for the perfect white desk for our 2nd bedroom- so far the front runner

 is the "spotlight" desk (top left) by Crate & Barrel}

{transforming Ikea's Malm dresser into chic nightstands using these overlays, but painted in
tonal white- although I do love the look of the gold in the photo}

You can follow my different Pinterest inspiration boards for our new place here: 

Living Room

Guest Room

Bedroom

Guest Bathroom