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Today I had lunch at Lulu’s with a new friend, Cheryl, saw Casino Royale (loved it), and browsed in a couple of shops in Evanston. We had a fabulous time.

I have never experienced a city so full of lovely and fun people who are crazy about their town. I have met nice people all over the world, but I know of no other city with such a strong concentration of positive, life-loving, civic-boosting people who are driven to make good things happen. This may be the first place ever that I feel I truly belong, where I think I have all the most important qualities in common with those around me.

November, surprisingly temperate this year, has given me a gentle welcome to the city. Still, tomorrow I will venture into the glinting downtown to do a bit of shopping, mostly for a few warm things for myself. I learned in my first few days here apartment hunting that Chicago weather is moody and dramatic, ready to change drastically within moments. Even the weather is dynamic and ever evolving, searching for a good place to land, making sure you’re not taking anything for granted.

I have been working very hard on developing my business and attracting new clients in Chicago. Things are going reasonably well so far, especially given the short amount of time I’ve been here, and I am very hopeful for the future. I would like to spend more time writing on this blog, but, naturally, I must attend to paying work and the framework that supports it first.

Two different new friends invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner, and I will be spending it with Matt, Richard, and some friends of theirs. I was very touched by the invitations, extended to a relative stranger in a new city by kind people. I’m taking fancy cranberry sauce and sweetly spiced Texas pecans from my parents’ pecan trees. My mom sent me two big bags that she herself gathered and shucked. Normally, I would make something more involved, but pretty much everything else was covered, and both of these things will travel well.

I am learning more and more every day that the best way to succeed is to move forward with confidence. Believing that you will prevail infuses everything you do with energy and purpose. I am certain I want to be here, doing exactly what I’m doing, so I’m all in on everything I do. I have never loved a place as much as I love Chicago.

Within easy walking distance in my neighborhood, I have:

• a great diner
• a grocery store with lots of ethnic selections and good prices
  
• a messy thrift store run by a Russian man who plays Russian radio
• a dry cleaner’s
• Lake Michigan
• a hardware store
• several cheap and yummy Mexican bakeries
• train and bus stops
• Metropolis Coffee Company
• a bike shop
• good Thai restaurants
• a tasty taqueria where you can have a feast for $5

I love to stroll along the sidewalks through the autumn leaves, admire the well-crafted houses, pop into the shops, and see all the lovely people. I’m sure I’ve only barely begun to scratch the surface of what this area — not to mention this city — has to offer.

I’ve been here briefly, but my life is already so rich and so much where I want it to be. I have a lot to do, for my business, my creative aims, and my future, and I am in a prime spot to make great things happen.

I got this cup and saucer at that Russian thrift store the other day. They’re not a set, but the cup fits perfectly into the groove of the plate. Together they were 75 cents.

Somehow, Chicago makes me feel as though I am living in another time, a classier time. I followed the example of the girl who sublet me a room while I was apartment hunting, and I’m keeping my butter in a dish on the counter at room temperature. It tastes so much better that way. I’ve got to get one of those old-timey butter dishes. I bet my mom has one. My apartment, the gleaming hardwood floors, the dish towels, the radiators in every room — all these things give me a sense of timeless richness and life that I am very much enjoying.

People ask what brought me to Chicago, given that I had no friends or family here. The reason I came to Chicago exudes from the people, the streets, the homes, and all the fine details that make up my days. It all says yes, and it all feels right.

I am not without my moments of fear and doubt, but I know that great things are going to happen for me here. I know I’m going to find them and they are going to find me. It has already begun.