SO.

We were moving from London back to the Chicago area.

Rich was to start his new role in Chicago in February, but he still needed to work in London for the first two weeks in January. We didn’t think it was “worth it” to put the kids back in their London school for one month. So – the day after Christmas we moved them to Illinois and they stayed with family for the entire month of January. It was really special for them to have concentrated family time after three and a half years of living abroad. And we were lucky that our amazing family was able to take all four of them on.

They had a wonderful time.

This also worked really well because we were able to spare the children from the mess of packing up the house and moving out. After taking the kids to my parent’s house in Illinois, I flew back to London to tie up all the loose ends. Since Rich was still going to be working, he and I “moved” into a studio apartment. I went back and forth between the apartment and our house to finish selling the things we weren’t moving, packing up and shipping all the things we were moving, hiring cleaners, touch up painters, etc. It was frantic and exhausting. Everything was done by January 4th and we turned our keys in and said good-bye to the house.

Our home for two and a half weeks in London was this precious little studio apartment. We found it on AirBnb and it was so cute and fun and perfect. The bed lowered down over the couch. Although that’s not something I would want to do everyday, it was fun during our short stay. A very small, but full functioning kitchen area and a cute little bathroom were all we needed.

Adding to the fun-ness of this apartment was it’s location. We went from family-central Wimbledon to hip-and-cool Camden. We knew we would want something super close to Rich’s work. I cross referenced that with the Fierce Grace yoga studio I was going to be attending during this time. We hoped we would end up near Camden, because we had visited the neighborhood a few times and fell in love. So this worked out just right.

Everyday Rich went to work, and I went to hot yoga.

We ate out almost every night – trying all of the restaurants we wanted – not worrying about kid meals or space for six.

And we have never felt more cool.

We went to the theater TWICE.

Living near the theater district, footloose and fancy-free, I was able to check the last minute ticket stall in the morning and score cheap tickets to Aladdin for myself for a matinee.

And together we saw Lion King from the Orchestra pit.

Since our studio didn’t have laundry, I walked around the corner a couple times to do laundry, and walked by a beautiful pastry shop in the process.

A short walk in the other direction was the always fun and trendy Camden Market, where I spent several afternoons.

This man hand-makes leather goods from his shop inside Camden Market. You can customize anything you want and I ordered this purse for my mom.

We also explored the Tate modern, since we hadn’t ever made it there.

Rich wanted to leave as soon as we arrived, but I really enjoyed being confused by the things we saw there.

We rode the water taxi for the first time, took in an outdoor light exhibit, and a rooftop botanical garden.

AND THEN – we took our final ride on the tube.

During this time in London, we also spent the weekend in Paris…. but that’s another story.

When I think about this time we had together in London, I think about how fun and extraordinary it was to make decisions for only ourselves. I think about the time I spent by myself during the days, doing as I pleased.

But mostly, I remember the quiet.

This time was gloriously quiet.

The perfect antidote to the chaos of our move.