Two Peas in a Condo

Mark it down in the books, check it off the list, get ready for the housewarming party....Russell and I have found a place to live! Our first place! Wow that sounds so strange to say. Strange and exciting at the same time. In case you were wondering, we decided on Apartment #2, and signed a one year lease last night. It is a one bedroom with a den, with plenty of room for all our things. It also comes with extra storage outside of our unit, which is absolutely essential (especially when you take into consideration that we would otherwise have nowhere to put all the boxes of random stuff Russell has accummulated throughout his lifetime). We are on the first floor, and we have a nice patio which looks out into a courtyard. All we need is brand new furniture, a new computer, and a 50" flat screen television with HDTV..... and let's just say we'll be livin' sweet. Hmmmm, that all might take quite a while to accummulate, so while we save our money we find ourselves very fortunate to be living in such a great town with lots of stuff to do to keep us out of trouble. Our new hometown will continue to stay the same. If that makes any sense....but just to make it clear, we are remaining in Naperville, which has become a really great place for us. There is so much to do, with its' bustling downtown district, the Riverwalk, Centennial Beach, plenty of shopping, and we will still be close to all major congested highways. As I stated in a previous blog, we wont be shortening our commute, but we definitely wont be making it any longer, so life should remain pretty stable for us. Which is good, because we'll have enough adjusting to do when we start seeing each other all the time! I'm pretty easy to live with, and Russell seems to be as well. We will both find out the real deal in about two months..........and neither of us can wait! We are especially looking forward to cutting our driving out, as we go back and forth and back and forth to visit each other all week long. While we currently only live about fifteen minutes away from each other, it will be so nice when we wont have to worry about it. Russell will be moving in July 15th....I will be joining him in September. Look, ma! I'm a grown-up! : )

Here are some pics of Naperville to give you an idea of our new surroundings (all of which are VERY cicada-free, to Russell's delight):

The infamous Naperville Riverwalk. This stretches for miles along the DuPage River, and is our favorite place to walk. It really is gorgeous. Oh, and our engagement photos will be taken here as well (look for those after June 30th)

Russell's favorite fountain along the Riverwalk:

A view of the North side of Downtown Naperville

Fast Facts About Naperville

-Population: 140,358

-County: DuPage & Will

-Is the fourth largest city in Illinois, behind Chicago, Aurora, and Rockford

-In July of 2006, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Naperville second on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States (behind Fort Collins, Colorado). This was up one spot from the previous year, where the city was honored with third place

-Founded in 1831 by Joseph Nader

-Has six different zip codes (ours happens to be 60563)

-Land area: 35.5mi

-Originally a stage-coach stop (in early 1800's) from Chicago to Galena

-Since 1998, the Naperville Public Library was ranked the #1 public library in the U.S. in the 100,000 to 249,999-population category by American Libraries magazine, the official magazine of the American Library Association

-Home to five public high schools

-Nitra, Slovakia has been Naperville's official sister city since the Naperville City Council approved the partnership on November 17, 1993. Nitra was chosen, in part, due to a desire to create a special bond with a city in one of the newly-formed democracies brought about by the fall of the Iron Curtain

-Is a college town, home to North Central College