Steuard and Kim's New Apartment

Kim and I have recently moved into a new apartment here in Chicago, just a block north of our old one (one block north and a few feet to the west, in fact; still on the seventh floor). Yes, that may sound nuts since we expect to leave Chicago next year, but we gave it a lot of thought. We're making more money now than we used to, and we think that the new place will make a big improvement in our quality of life.

It really is a nicer place, with a bit of a lake view and fancy amenities like a dishwasher and air conditioning. There's a fitness center and some sort of "cybercafe" or gathering place on the top floor, too. And we now have two bedrooms, so we can have a separate office for those times when one of us needs to work late at night (or a separate room for visiting guests). And doing this relatively easy move now forced us to sort through a bunch of the junk we've accumulated here over the years, which should make next year's more stressful move a bit less painful.

Here's what the building looks like from the outside:

In the side view, I've circled our apartment. We've been told that this building is the newest skyscraper in the neighborhood, just fifteen years old. It's certainly in much better condition than our old one. For instance, there are three elevators that all work, rather than two that are often broken (and always scary). There's a 24-hour security person in the lobby, too, which is nice.

The inside is pleasant, too. Here's a picture of the living room, of the view when you're near the window, and of the bedroom:

In the main living room picture, the building you can see out the window on the right is where we used to live. We're still not finished unpacking, of course. The office in particular could use a little work!

(Happily, we've made substantial progress on that room in the couple of days since I took that picture.)