Ch-ch-ch-changes

Hi! I've missed you. We've gotta catch up.

This past year has been an absolute whirlwind of wedded happiness, growing, love - and changes.

AND MOVING.

Less than a year after moving here to Chicagoland, we're packin' up and truckin' out to the West Coast!

We're like gypsies. Minus the hot mess.

I've always secretly dreamed of being able to ride a bike to the beach, and to breakfast and to get ice cream, as corny as that sounds, and now...it just may come true!

I think Chicago is a fantastic city, and I wish I had more time to really explore and find Chicago's little hidden gems. There was this place we went with friends, called The Violet Hour, and it was a speakeasy-type place in Wicker Park, with no sign out front...so you knock on the painted door, and a doorman comes out, all stealth-like and lets you in, and there's house rules you have to abide by, (like, no cell phone usage, no baseball hats, and "please do not bring anyone to The Violet Hour that you wouldn't bring to your mother's house for Sunday dinner") and it smells so amazing inside - like lavender and sage. And the cocktails. Stellar. I had The Wallflower. If you're ever in Chicago...GO THERE.

What else? Oh, I changed my last name, as you know. I also changed my Twitter handle, which was @AmandaTalar and is now @VandenVogue. @AmandaVandenbergh was too long, per Twitter, and I'm not big on chopping off a portion of a name for the sole purpose of making it fit, so I switched it up and got creative. I totally dig it.

You may have already noticed this, but my URL is now amandavandenbergh.com. Or, vandenvogue.com - whichever you want to remember in order for us to get together here.

I think those are the biggest changes, and of course I'll be taking you along on our California journey as-it-happens. Craziness!

I wish I had a Wallflower right now.