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It’s almost been a month since we moved in with my mom and today I wanted to share what it’s reaaallly like with our new roomie.
Spoiler Alert: It has been great and the three of us are all getting along tremendously! We love living at Hotel Jan!
Roomies Yet Again
This actually isn’t the first time that the three of us have all been under the same roof. Back in 2013, Finn and I were moving from St. Louis to Chicago and we didn’t yet have an apartment lined up. We stayed with my mom for about six weeks. Back then, she was living in a big house in the suburbs and Finn and I would take the train into the city each day for work. We all got along great, but we were in a much larger space.
Now that we’re living in a two bedroom, two bathroom condo, we were worried we would all be on top of one another. Luckily, it hasn’t felt like that at all! Her space is so calm, peaceful, and quite big for a city condo. Clearly, Finn has made himself right at home (I’ve never seen him surrounded by so much pink!).
Our Living Arrangement
My mom’s master bedroom is really large and her bathroom is in there too. Plus, she has a TV all set up in there. Every night, she retires to her room after dinner and lets Finn and me take over the remainder of the house. It’s kinda nice that we have two separate living spaces so we don’t feel like we all have to sit on the couch and hang out together every single night (although we do that too!).
Finn and I are staying in my mom’s guest bedroom and it is quite cozy. The only things we have changed are the window treatments in here. We like a dark room and her window shades were not blackout ones. I upgraded my mom to these shades and now the room gets nice and dark at night. Such a gamechanger.
I’m also so happy I redid the closet in her guest room. It’s now so much more functional and between the closet and the dresser, all of our stuff fits easily! It’s funny because my sister came over and was like…where is all your stuff? It doesn’t even look any different in here! All of our items are hidden and out of sight.
Which brings me to…
Being Good Houseguests
It’s so generous of my mom to let us stay with her during these eight weeks. She has a job and a life and we never wanted to make her everyday life harder! So we’re doing our best to be good houseguests. Luckily, Finn and I are both very neat and tidy people so we never leave a mess anywhere. We’re being extra cautious to not leave our stuff around and make things super messy for her. Although, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind one bit!
Finn has also been cooking up a storm. It’s funny because we hardly did any cooking during the month of May because our condo was a mess while packing. The moment we came to my mom’s, we were so excited for some home-cooked meals. Every weekend, we stock the fridge and then Finn preps food for all of us for the week. We did have to purchase some more of our favorite Tupperware because my mom didn’t have quite enough for all three of us. These glass storage containers are the absolute best!
So between the cleaning, staying tidy, and cooking I think we’re being fairly good houseguests for my mom. She seems thrilled to have us here.
Time Away
My mom has also been traveling like crazy for work and for fun, so we’ve had the house to ourselves. It’s funny because we always joke that we’re going to throw a big rager while she is gone.
Fun side story: I threw some epic parties back in high school when my parents would go out of town, but I always managed to get caught. One time, I went out of my way to make sure everything was pristine before they returned. I even sent garbage home with friends so they wouldn’t see anything suspicious in the trash. My parents were home for five minutes and my mom immediately knew I had a party. How, you ask? Well………….the grass in the backyard was trampled from all of the people who came to the party. I haven’t lived that one down since!
While we haven’t thrown any parties at her condo (we’re no fun now that we’re in our 30’s), it has been nice to have the place to ourselves. We also went out of town last weekend to visit my college friends, so I’m sure my mom breathed a big sigh of relief to have the place to herself too!
Working from Home
Since I work from home, I was a little worried about working from my mom’s place. But honestly, it has been amazing. I often visit the house in the morning and chat with my contractor, then I come back and work from my mom’s dining room. Our Finn Fixer Upper is such a mess and I always leave there a bit overwhelmed and frazzled. It’s so refreshing to come to Jan’s place and work away from all of the chaos and mess!
You guys know I love my white board method to plan out my week and I feel bad that I’m still lugging that thing around her place! I’m really looking forward to having a dedicated office in the new house and I plan to DIY a large calendar in there for all of my to-do lists.
I also joined the women-only coworking space, The Wing, and have been working there a few days a week with my intern. Yes, I have an intern! More details coming soon, but she is lovely and I can’t wait for you guys to “meet” her. I’m planning a big post about some of the behind-the-scenes blog updates (including details about my intern, the coworking space, and life as a solo full-time blogger), so that should be coming soon! But having the coworking space has been the best decision to get out of the house and out of Jan’s hair!
Fun with Mom
I have really loved this quality time with my mom. While I only lived a couple of miles away before, it’s really neat to be her roomie again. We’ve gone on walks in the morning, have had wine on the patio at night, and have enjoyed just being together. I’m not taking this time for granted, because who knows the next time I’ll be able to spend this much uninterrupted time with her?
Summer is also an amazing time in Chicago, so we’ve loved walking to the farmer’s market together, trying out all of the neighborhood spots, and going to the movies in the park. It has been a lot of fun and I will be sad to leave!
Our Timeline
Our goal was always to move in by August 1st and so far our contractor says we are on track! Once he is done with his work, we’re going to do a thorough cleaning of the house (so.much.dust.) and then start to bring our stuff from Jan’s over to the new house. Then we’re hiring helpers to move all of our furniture from the basement to the first and second level. It will be crazy to actually live in the house we’ve been dreaming of for the past few months. But we still have a ways to go…
The Three Amigos
We’re just about halfway through our stay with Janimal and it’s going to be bittersweet to leave. But for now, the three amigos will continue to enjoy the summer together and our time at Hotel Jan.
Casey
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