I received a new comment on one of my previous blog entries. It read, “We want the old hilarious Julie Yoon back! You were funnier when you lived in California.” I don’t know if that’s a back-handed compliment, or a real concern. But in any case, I think that this comment in itself is hilarious, and it got me thinking.
I guess when it comes down to it, I just am how I feel in the moment. People who know me “in real life” tell me that I write exactly how I talk, or that they can “hear my voice” whenever they read what I write. I guess the same thing applies to how I am in our videos too. I just don’t know how to be any other way.
So maybe at the time, the California sunshine did me some good. But currently, this “polar vortex” in Chicago is turning me into a gloomy bear. I mean, I thought I knew cold, because I’m originally from the East Coast. Then I realized that I’ve actually never experienced being cold until now. Think Kate Winslet floating on that plank of wood in the middle of the icy sea in Titanic.
On top of the bitter cold, for the past 5 months, we had been living with my in-laws in their house, cooking out of their kitchen, with all our own stuff tucked away in storage. This made me feel less comfortable, because I wasn’t sleeping in my own bed, and didn’t have access to most of my belongings, such as clothing and kitchen supplies. And even though this was probably all in my head, living with my in-laws made me feel like I had to watch myself and be on my best behavior all the time. We were also trying to adjust to a new city in general, start up a new venture, make new friends (which is hard to do as you get older), and find a new church we could call “home.” All these things rolled up together led me to be kind of emotionally exhausted, which probably made me less happy, which in turn, made me “less funny.”
BUT that’s why I’m excited to share with you the start of something new.
We have finally moved into our own place! Today, I’m sharing with you, the “BEFORE” pictures of our humble abode, before the renovation process. To me, this condo represents freedom, and the opportunity to pump out more creative content regularly, without distraction and interruption. It feels like we’re officially settling down, putting a flag down in Chicago and claiming that it’s our new home. I no longer feel like we’re just visiting for a really extended vacation before we head back to California. Now it starts. Now it gets real.
But I’m gonna be honest with you, I wasn’t always feeling so grateful about this condo at first. While we were starting production on our online cooking show, Bits & Pieces, we were simultaneously doing all sorts of contortions to try to get this place, and it took up a lot of valuable time. It was an old government owned property that had tons of problems and was almost deemed “unlivable” by management. We jokingly called it our “condemned building.” Basically, no one had occupied it in about six years and there were papers plastered all over the place warning everyone coming in and out not to turn on the water, electricity, or heat. It needed a lot of repair. Not to mention, let’s face it, it wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world.
Usually I’m all about watching HGTV, and fantasizing about fixing up my own place one day. You know me, I don’t mind rolling up my sleeves and busting out a DIY project now and then. But in this particular time of our lives, amongst everything else I mentioned we were dealing with, fixing this condo seemed like such a daunting and even joyless task to undertake. We were already drained from our cross-country move and Kickstarter project, so I didn’t even want to blog about this condo at all, which is why I didn’t share the process or pictures with you until now. And that made me feel like I was telling you only half of the story of our lives and what was really going on with us. And that’s so unlike me.
Now that we’re over and done with the drama leading up to moving into our own place, I can honestly say at this point in time, I am grateful, thankful, and happy about it. I’m excited about what this fresh start represents and I am excited to get back to work, to make more good stuff for you.
So I will be sharing a series of entries with pictures and stories of our new space where Joe and I will be working and living together 24/7. We’re currently living with no curtains up on our windows and minor electricity and plumbing issues. But we’re both relieved to get back to a normal daily routine.
The next few upcoming episodes of Bits & Pieces will still take place in my mother in law’s kitchen because we actually filmed them before we moved. We knew we needed to buy ourselves some time to settle into our new place before we could start filming out of our own kitchen. But soon enough, you’ll see our new “set,” with all my own stuff again, and maybe you’ll get your “old Julie Yoon” back.
