I forgot lunch today, and it's a full 12 hour work day. This is a suck.

I'm happy to learn that more and more of our friends (ok, only four) are looking to Chicago as their future home. Two will be here in a month, to live less than a mile away. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and enjoying our city together. The other two may be here within 9 months. Chicago is magnetic, I tell you.

While spending time with our soon-to-be-Chicagoan friends, I was pulled in two directions at once. I was overwhelmingly happy for them, feeding off their excitement as they look forward to moving from one big city (Boston) to another (here.) But after they were gone I reflected on my life and my excitements, which left me feeling a little lost and not quite sure what to think. I love my life, don't get me wrong. I have an amazing husband, a great job, a wonderful apartment, two loving cats; my life is complete, at least as complete as this 24-year old's life can be. But I don't have a huge life-changing event to look forward to, something equivalent to a cross-country move or purchasing a home. I get excited over cooking dinner and hanging pictures, and going to farmer's markets. I suppose it's ok to be settled, to be happy, to be content, but I'm still sitting here and waiting for something bigger and I don't know how to get rid of the itch.

We're planning a weekend of in-law entertainment, which I am always both nervous and excited about. Today I'm more nervous. They arrive in two days and we have to clean, shop, plan, buy tickets, and do laundry. And I won't be home until late tonight. Poo.

More planning: We are taking a big trip after Thanksgiving to visit three good friends. We will stay in five different households, visit with family and friends we sometimes think of as family, and we may take a night in between to see NYC. We also hope to be able to take a trip this winter to escape the snow and ice and run to Hawaii to visit my best friend. Free place to stay + free kitchen = cheap vacation to paradise. No more shoe buying while I save pennies for our plane tickets. Well, maybe one pair.

Ugh. It's only 9am and I'm hungry for the lunch I didn't bring.