Hello, 

I have the window open, and the weather is perfectly chilled and people are having a good time out in the bars, celebrating the start of a great summer season. Finally…one nice day before I leave. Weather’s been pretty bipolar these days. But I will be sad when all I can look forward to is the heat.

My stuff is packed into two suitcases and a backpack. I’m lying on the air mattress and thinking about grabbing late-night dinner since I’ve been cleaning all day and I missed dinner. I was thinking about calling A but she’s probably sleeping now so she could go to the airport with me in the morning. Or maybe I should randomly roam the city until 5am when my taxi arrives?

Tomorrow, I return to Houston. I feel more regrets than anything else, because it was really too short. It was too short of a time to be able to assess the progress or setbacks I may have experienced. It was too short of a time to be able to befriend people with frankness and sincerity. I did try, and maybe that was enough. I feel like my life has been half-unpacked here, but never fully laid out. hm.

I’ll miss the city life, and I definitely hope to be out here or in another big city one day. Until then, I’m heading back home to be with family and friends :) I’m sure I’ll love exploring my hometown, too! I can’t wait to see familiar faces, now that I think about it. 

Anyways -

Bye, grad school. Bye Chicago.

So tired from force-taping four boxes shut with masking tape. I didn’t even do a good job of it. I’m going to go nuts if I find out that they won’t take my boxes tomorrow. I will literally throw a fit. RAWR. 

Turns out that my life in Chicago amounts to 5 fedex boxes and two suitcases. 

p.s. Turns out Fedex shipping is not so simple after all. I have to give them an early morning call. I HATE MOVING.

I like it when strangers ask me for directions on the street or just make random conversation :)

// moving //

Checklist of things that need to be completed moving-wise:

1) Figure out which service I’m going to use. Fedex, USPS, U-Haul

2) Buy properly sized, standard boxes, not the weird, too-long, too-bulky boxes that my parents used to send stuff

3) Figure out how the shipping service is going to pick up the boxes from my house/or how I am going to move the boxes to USPS office/Fedex Office (since I don’t have a car, maybe I’ll go back and forth to the station using my handy-dandy *sarcasm* shopping cart)

4) Pack everything evenly in weight so that one box is not tremendously heavy/overweight

5) buy/collect newspaper so I can wrap all the glassware I would want to take

6) Set aside the things I would need for survival in Chicago until I fly out and make sure it can all fit in my suitcases.

7) Which also reminds me, I need to pack all the clothes & shoes I’d need for the next month (May) since I’m going to be traveling all month. 

8) Figure out what I’m going to do with my bed and table…it would be nice if I can sell them, but if not, I will have to take it apart and trash them.

Apart from moving:

1) Study for finals so that I could pass the classes

2) Prepare for Mock Trial so I don’t embarrass myself and cry in public

3) Write thank-you cards/letters to people I met in Chicago

// book recommendations/warnings//

• The Great House by Nicole Krauss
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 
• Bel Canto by Anne Pachette
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Romantic Fiction

• One Day by David Nicholls
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffers & Annie Barrows 
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

// Easter//

Christ has risen. 

It’s so easy to complain about how challenging our lives can be. Just a week ago, I’m pretty sure I was sighing up a storm about how wretched and hopeless my future seemed. Looking back, I know I lacked in faith and confidence in our God. All in all, I was lacking a thankful heart.

This is the perfect time to remind ourselves that Jesus already gave us the most wonderful gift we could hope for. I forget that God has saved me time and time again from my sins. So here’s to remembering His sacrifice. Nothing else matters but the salvation through Christ. Through that selfless substitutionary love, we are called as children of the amazing, glorious Father :) 

Thank You, Lord. Help me to remain in awe of Your love and sacrifice.

Happy Easter!