My trip to Elkhart…and Naperville…and home etc.

If this post seems scattered, it’s probably because I am still really scattered. My brain still thinks I am somewhere along a highway rather than sitting in a solitary point back at school. This three-day weekend was so productive that I almost feel as if I did an entire week’s worth of activities. Needless to say, I am really tired and really intimidated by my list of things that need to get done between now and Tuesday.

This weekend — where to start? As you’ll likely recall, my purpose for getting out of dodge was to go apply for an apartment in Indiana since I am going to be moving in about a month (whoa). I left Kirksville on Thursday afternoon and drove home in some really nasty weather. Three hours later, I was pulling into my driveway in St. Louis as tornado sirens were going off…yes, really. Besides the horrendous weather, Thursday night was for unpacking and sleeping since my Mom and I had an early wake up the next day to start our trip up north. We left the house around 9:00 a.m., grabbed breakfast and got going:

Coffee and oatmeal every day — even on the road.

Next stop, Naperville, Ill. My sister and my brother-in-law live just outside of Chicago and my sister came along to go to Indiana. My mom and I crossed almost the entire state and went up I-55 talking and listening to music and I napped a little bit. It was nice to be a passenger for once.

Crossed the whole state.

We got to Naperville in good time, picked up my sister, got lunch at Panera which was the weirdest experience I have had at one of those in a really long time and carried on. We crossed over into Indiana before I knew it:

Hello again.

The town where I will be working and living isn’t TOO terribly far from the state line — in fact it is just under two hours away from Chicago. However, you lose an hour somewhere between South Bend and Elkhart. After being in the car for so long and getting up early, I was ready to be out of the car. We checked into our hotel, relaxed a bit and started our quest for dinner. Since I am a vegan and my mom is a vegetarian, we researched a few places nearby and decided on a Greek restaurant in South Bend called Elia’s — I was dying to try the falafel. We got back on the toll road and get to South Bend by 9:00 p.m. As luck would have it, Elia’s closed at that time. Bummer. Found a place in a pinch in Mishawaka called Flat Top. I have been to places like Flat Top (Hu Hot…yum) but this was my first time at Flat Top. Besides being absolutely delicious, the website is extremely helpful and user-friendly with people with food allergies or restrictions. In fact, it even has a list of foods and sauces to avoid if you’re vegan. If that wasn’t already awesome, the waitress told us that if you are vegetarian or vegan, you put a white straw in your bowl so that the cooks will make it in a separate wok rather than on the grill with meat. It meant the world to me. I had quinoa with pineapple, broccoli, mushroom, cilantro, pakora tempeh, tomatoes and sriracha sauce and it was delicious.

Woke up with a requisite need for breakfast (as per) and had the usual. I was rejoicing over Hilton Garden Inn having Silk Soymilk available — even if it was sickly sweet (it seriously doesn’t take long to get used to unsweetened):

Good morning.

So began the hunt for apartments. We looked at four places and I applied at one that I fell in LOVE with. I find out this week if I was approved or not (please keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!) It was exhausting, stressful, exciting and productive. I think we were done by 2 p.m. and we started at 10:30 a.m. It was time for lunch and I was going to take the pair of them to The Moringa Tree — I was so excited for them to try it! As luck would have it AGAIN, Moringa Tree was closed after lunchtime and didn’t open again for a few hours. We did a quick search of vegan-friendly places nearby and went to The Rolling Scones in Goshen — the next town over. I had a pita and it was pretty good:

Lunch at The Rolling Scones.

 

We got back on the road after lunch to go to Naperville but ended up taking a detour (not really that far out of the way, though) to Indiana Dunes State Park — it’s on Lake Michigan. It was cold but absolutely GORGEOUS. Like, gorgeous. Pictures can’t do it justice and I’m sure I’ll be back a lot.

Indiana Dunes — you can actually see the Chicago skyline across the lake!

Back to Naperville and I think we were all exhausted. My mom, sister, brother-in-law and myself all sat around and chatted for awhile before going to my favorite place ever for dinner — On the Border. Vegan eating is SO easy with Mexican food and I got a grilled avocado enchilada. A small tip for you: if you’re vegan and go to On the Border, order Cilantro Lime rice and black beans since Mexican rice and refried beans aren’t vegan. Or even if you’re not vegan, order them anyway because they are delicious. Either way.

On the Border

 

It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip. We went back to their house and I fell asleep on the couch while watching “Day of the Doctor.” Sunday morning meant breakfast and hitting the road one of the last times to begin the journey home and then back to Kirksville — so many legs of this trip! Denise made me oatmeal and coffee, we all said goodbye and my Mom and I were on our way. I stopped over in St. Louis to unpack, gather a few things and then I got back to Kirksville in the evening.

It was a fantastic weekend and I am on pins and needles about the apartment situation. Please send good thoughts my way! Other than that, I was so excited to get some vegan goodies and find a few new places.

Have a lovely week!

Nomad Life // The Quest for an Apartment

I truly cannot and I partially refuse to believe that I only have 36 days left until I walk across the stage, flip my tassel and am handed a diploma. People always ask me: “Are you excited to graduate or nervous or sad?” And really, it totally depends on the day. This week the trend is all over the place — my answer changes hourly. At present, I am feeling ready. My remote work for my job is going great, I am finishing up my last few assignments and am even going back to Elkhart this weekend (tomorrow, actually) with my Mom and sister to visit a handful of apartment complexes and (hopefully) sign on one that I can call home for the foreseeable future.

 

See you soon, Indiana.

 

While all of this is so exciting for me, my stress levels are at an all-time high. Trying to find a place to live while dealing with finishing up my degree is overwhelming, to say the very least. It’s also a really reflective time for me — while I am ready to leave and show the world what this soon to be alumna can do (that’s me, by the way) and make new friends at my awesome job (I am so in love with it, if you can’t tell), I am also really sad to leave behind the people I have gotten close with during my stay at Truman — with special attention to the people I have gotten close with these last two semesters. It’s so bittersweet and I know there will be many, many posts about it to come.

But, it’s also exciting because I get to explore a totally awesome and unfamiliar place and make it my own. That’s why I can’t wait to spend a little bit of time there this weekend and check out life outside of the newsroom. I got a small taste of that during my visit in March, as you will all recall, but most of my time was spent meeting everyone and getting acclimated to our office. Hopefully I can convince my Mom and sister to try The Moringa Tree again — I have been craving it since my visit weeks ago. Mmmmmm.

—

Okay, so ever since Rowen made those awesome fajitas a few weekends ago, I have not been able to get them out of my head! I have been on quite a kick and I 100 percent blame him:

 

Eating the spectrum for fajitas.

 

I raided the store of all of its mushrooms, peppers, avocados, beans, cilantro, limes and salsa to make fajitas for myself and I am so glad I did. As mentioned in my description, I have an irrational, awful fear of onions and I have ever since I can remember. Like, I don’t even want to look at them. Don’t ask why, because I really don’t know the answer to it myself. All I know is something magical happens when you combine four types of peppers, mushrooms and spices in a skillet with olive oil and roll it up in a whole wheat tortilla.

Fajitas by Danielle…and inspired by #FoodByRowen

I am not 100 percent in love with this photo for a few reasons: the first being iPhone photography in my kitchen is the actual worst and also WordPress seems to have changed its CMS a bit and I don’t have time to fiddle with resizing this at the moment — but I intend to figure it out! Anyway, I made my favorite homemade guacamole to spread on the fajita: lime, half of one avocado and cilantro to taste (I like a lot of it).

Coincidentally, a few friends from a class of mine and I went out to dinner at La Fuente, one of the Mexican restaurants here. I had, surprise surprise, a fajita and picked around the onions [shudder]. It was digustingly rainy and cold yesterday and after an especially long class, it was nice to laugh over fajitas and margaritas with some of the people I am going to miss the most after May 10. After dinner, we all went to Rowen’s house to have dessert, provided by my friend Scott. Scott was texting me the night before asking me about different ingredients and whether they were vegan friendly or not. So you can imagine my delight when he shows up with this beauty:

 

Delicious and vegan pie that Scott brought.

 

It was all vegan — key lime with homemade crust and fruit and it was spectacular. It really meant so, very much to me that he was so thoughtful to bring something vegan-friendly and asked me about certain ingredients to be sure. I am so lucky to have such supportive friends and family who can share in something I love so much. Thanks again, Scott!

So, the usual question: what’s next? I am leaving town in like four hours to drive back home, unpack a few things, eat and sleep. Tomorrow morning, my Mom and I are driving up to the Chicago area to pick up my sister and continue on to the beautiful state of Indiana. Saturday begins the apartment hunt and hopefully I will have an address in the 46516 by the end of the day that day. Sunday is back to Illinois for Denise and back to St. Louis for my mom and me  and FINALLY back to Kirksville for me. Let the marathon driving begin.

Stay beautiful and send good vibes for an apartment my way, please! You’re all lovely.