Day 350
Today it was, again, Springtime in Chicagoland. I think we reached 51 degrees before the winds started blowing the warmth towards the lake. We are awaiting the “Siberian Express” to deliver the coldest air Chicago has seen in over 2 years.
Man, when it comes to weather … I sure pick the places! Record heat, record cold, record winds. Fabulous!
And as much as I think it feels 12 degrees out when it’s actually 40 … I can’t wait to see how I fare when the temps dip to below zero! Yep – looking forward to it!
Um, sarcasm people! All I can say is … I guess it’s due. It’s been a reasonably mild winter and no snow … so, whatever. Bundle up and shut up, Les!
Today, as it was so nice out, I decided to go meet some of my local shop owners and deliver calendars to them – the ones in downtown Park Ridge. Yes, my timing wasn’t the greatest because I should have done this in December … or November. But, whatever. I stopped in to a few of them and met the owners … shook some hands, exchanged casual hellos, commented on their stores, bought something if I felt it was warranted.
I stopped off at Hay Carámba first … the cute Mexican place that has a 10 for ambience and a 4 for food and margaritas. I wanted to tell the owner … but didn’t. Imagine how well they would do with GOOD food and drinks?! It’s mind-boggling! I didn’t think walking the streets with a watery margarita or a bowl of chips would be wise – so I passed on a purchase there. Darn it anyways! They received mostly Spanish calendars. Go figure.
A few stops at the jewelers and the real estate office (no, didn’t buy anything at those places, either) and I found myself in front of Gumbo Joe’s …
I thought it was new but on the door it said something about being around since 1955! Well, not in this location! But I did find out that they ‘d been there for 5 or so years. The place is darling … exposed brick wall, can lighting, clean and upscale seating area … lots of black and tan. And great prices on pizza, sausages, salads and sandwiches. I’ll have to try it out sometime. It was really cute and clean and it smelled SO good!
I then stopped at Nancy’s Sells Flowers. They delivered the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers to my mom on her birthday (from my brother) … all pink and white roses, carnations, lilies … it was stunningly beautiful. I thanked her for her always beautiful flowers and talked with her for a bit, offered my services if she ever needed help, and gave her a handful of calendars as well. It was a well stocked place and tiny but I couldn’t help think, as I left, how much cuter it would be if I could get my hands on it for a weekend!
My next stop was at the new Farmer’s Market … a darling little shop that sells primarily produce. It’s like walking through a time warp to the 50’s as soon as you walk through the door. I felt like Barney Fife might walk out from behind the back curtain talking about Thelma Lou while I was buying my Honey Crisp apples at 99 cents a pound (they’re $3.99 at Jewel this week!). This is the place I got the pomegranate that was as big as a cantaloupe and a cantaloupe that was as big as my head. I’ll be eating that thing ALL week!
And my next to last shop was the All on the Road Bakery and Catering establishment. This space is combined from two as one can figure out by the two doors out front – kind of confusing. I chatted with the owner and was told they’d been there now for 16 years! All I can say is their food must be outstanding because the place looked like it was a small shop that you’d find on a lake after the season was over and everyone had gone home. I wanted to grab a broom and sweep whatever was under the front tables and put some cute table cloths on them and rearrange her seating area and hang hearts and snowflakes in her two big beautiful windows. I took a to-go menu home with me and found 7 typos in the first half of the page. Yep … their food must be fabulous because the other areas needed some attention. I bought a pecan ball (those ones that are coated with powder sugar and proceeded to breathe it in and gagged myself silly) … however, if their cookies are any indication of the rest of their food … they are GOOOOOD. Yum!
In any case … I chatted with the gal in the Toy Emporium … a cute little toy shop down the street, bought a trinket and then headed home. My day was a success … I met some new people, I helped the local economy, my calendar bag was empty and my soul was full.