When it rains, it pours

Although I did purchase a cute purse size umbrella, it didn't do me any good on Saturday morning as I realized it was sprinkling, went back up to my apartment, and realized I was locked out. This was just the beginning to what would be a not-so- fabulous day. After arriving at work a bit soaked for my second real day out of training, I come to discover that 1 girl didn't show up and the other 3 that did, it was their first day...yeah, we're all "newbees" who don't really know what to do! Well of course the born leo and leader that I am, I take a bit of charge and make things happen. The day actually goes pretty well until we realize that 3 out of the 4 of us are on a double (including me) meaning we should be cut early in the day so that we can have a few hours of break time before our next shift. Well that would have left a day one newbee working the entire restaurant alone for a few hours, so dumb/nice me offers to stay and just work through into my next shift and then be the first one off in the evening. Sounded smart. It wasn't. I worked 15 hours straight without ever sitting, eating only a bite of pizza & two bites of turkey chili. But worst of all was that I was wearing new shoes that went through 10 band-aids and still destroyed my feet. As 1:30 am rolled around and I was painfully walking home, I was actually feeling a bit good about the long day because I had just counted my money and there was lots of it. That happiness soon went away when the heavens decided to open up and literally pour down on me in the form of shreekingly loud thunder, bright bolts of lightning, and bucket sized rain drops. Normally I would have jumped in a cab but since I was less then 3 blocks away and didn't want to just stand in the rain trying to get a cab among all the drunkies in downtown...I ran/bolted home. I arrived home out of breath and so soaked that I pealed my clothes off, threw them in the wash, and fell fast asleep.


Thankfully a "rainbow" did follow my rainstorm. Sunday was gorgeous! Becky, our friend Jen and I had brunch at Tavern on Rush while the sun gleamed on us and the Bellini's kept on pouring! We then continued Sunday Funday by jumping on our friends boat and zoomed around Lake Michigan and then anchored it in "the playpen." For those of you who have ever been on a Havasu Spring Break trip...this is no Havasu (probably a good thing) but still very fun with lots of boats and people everywhere. Even wave-runners, which I of course jumped on the back of one!
Thank you mother nature, I needed that fabulous weather :)


Right now I am also dealing with organizing my unorganized/never answering the phone movers to get my stuff from storage in CA to my new apartment here in Chicago before I leave town for a wedding and on the days I can use my service elevator. So far not working out so well. I'll keep you posted....

Chicago Lesson #1...

...always carry an umbrella, even when it is 5pm on July 10th and 80ish degrees outside. Mental note, must find a cute, tiny, with some form of cute case, umbrella for my purse. As I was leaving my new temporary job and walking the 5 blocks back to my new temporary apartment, the heavens opened up and poured on my tank, skirt, and umbrella-less self. I'm going to go with that must be my guardian angels' tears of joy over my amazing few days I've had :)

So before Oprah adopts me, I want to have a fabulously fun filled summer and really live it up in Chi-town. Well, apparently that's all still going to cost me money and since LAUSD decided that they actually don't owe me $15,000 more (we'll see about that), I needed to get a quick fast money making job to not only chip away at debt but also enjoy life to it's fullest. We'll after walking into one of my favorite restaurants/bar on Tuesday, I was once again hired on the spot (4th time so far!) at Rockit (rockitbarandgrill.com). Oh and by the way (btw) at our intro meeting yesterday I was informed that the designer of this fab place was Nate Berkus.... OPRAH'S designer!! The signs are everywhere!!!
The other great news is that Becky found someone to sublet her apartment yesterday and today we found and signed papers for our fabulous new condo. It has everything we were looking for in look, amenities, and location! Pics will be sent after our Aug 1st-ish move...get excited, we are!!

oh, btw I know that I use fabulous quite often and it is not because I don't have an extensive knowledge of more adjectives, it's just that fabulous is MY word, and if you know me, you already knew this :)

Oh Beeky...

Apparently my dear Becky wasn't 100% sure I was really coming to Chi-Town. She had spent a week in Cali for a family visit and our friend Hil's bach weekend. During that week we spent a lot of it together whether up in LA (where she could see I hadn't really done any packing) or in Palm Springs among other best friends. In that time she kept hearing stories of how much I had cried the week prior. Sad to leave my great school wonderful staff and students, goodbye parties with family and friends, physically closing down my classroom of 3 years and my California life of 26 years, I did some crying. However the tears were filled with both joy and sadness. The thoughtful gifts from my students such as a blank pink key to use in Chicago "so every time you open your door you will think of me" from my little Karen...she's eight, an amazing scrap book put together by my aide filled with pictures and quotes from present and past students (I will always treasure this, thank you Kristen), many words of strength and encouragement, and the hundreds of goodbye hugs...well this just all made me cry, a lot.

So between these emotional stories, even witnessing a few tears herself, my change in flight plans, and the fact that I didn't answer my phone at the airport on the morning of the 5th...well this all got my Beeky thinking that I just may have backed out last minute and decided not to make the big move. Oh silly Beeky. But I guess my phone call right before take off reassured her and she went out and bought markers and poster paper.

I'm here!

I have arrived in my new home...CHICAGO!!

Let me first start off by giving a tid-bit of background info on this new move of mine. My name is Jennifer Champion hence the "story of a Champion". I am a third grade teacher and love everything about it, well of course the money could be better. But as a whole it is perfect for me: I love children, helping, teaching, being creative & silly, and love summers off for my other love - traveling. I am also born and raised in southern California back and forth between the LA area and San Diego, but always near the beach. I love the sun and have never really experienced living through a cold and snowy winter. My wardrobe mainly consists of dresses, tank tops, bathing suits, flip-flops, open toed heals, and sunglasses. So with all of the above said, I completely shocked my mother, friends, and co-workers when I announced that I was basically quiting my job and moving to Chicago.

I like to call it my quarter life crises. In reality though I am just pursuing a few of my other passions. I've always wanted to live in a city city. I love organizing and planning fund raising events. I want to help children in Africa. I love Oprah. When I added these all up, it equaled Chicago. And between my three Chicago visits to see one of my best friends Becky, I just felt right and at home in Chicago....

So as most of you know, my departure day had always planned to be on July 2nd. Well when my movers showed up on July 1st three hours late and without boxes my plans changed. And yes I paid the extra to have them do most to all of my packing due to the fact that I had just boxed up and closed down my classroom, not to mention how extremely busy I was with goodbye parties and bachelorette weekends. So when I literally pointed out my "full service package" on my contract, mover man realized he'd have to come back the next day...my flight day. Well thanks to wonderful new Chicago friend Yanelle (pronounced Janelle) a flight attendant, I was able to use one of her buddy passes allowing me to change my big fly off to the 5th. Although I had originally really wanted to spend our Independence Day in my new home town of Chicago, it was secretly really nice spending it with my fabulous friends in Manhattan Beach. These friends mean the world to me so spending my last night with most of them surrounding me and fireworks in the sky was perfect :)

"We are now landing in Chicago. The sky is clear with a temperature of 85 degrees. If you are catching a connecting flight, the information is to the left when you exit. If you are returning home...welcome home." This is when not only do I smile but also tear up a bit. An even larger smile and yell come out of me when I go down to baggage claim and find Becky and Dee standing there holding my welcome signs.

And now the journey begins....