Jessica’s Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend Jessica came to Chicago for a visit. I took Friday off and drove to Milwaukee after Makai went to bed and Dallas got back from a business trip to Indiana. Pouring rain at night = no bueno. But I wanted to get there Thursday so that we could drive back to Chicago Friday morning and still have the day to do stuff!

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Everyone in this whole theater was taking 3D glasses selfies!

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On Friday morning we got up and ate breakfast and drove straight from Oak Creek to the Adler Planetarium. I’d been to the Adler before (2006 – by myself, 2008 – work event, 2009 – with Stephanie), but the last time was 6 years ago, so I was happy to go back. When we got there it was cold and raining and we had to wait in a line outside the building! But not for long.. and a great surprise was that it was Illinois Resident Discount Day, so we got upgraded tickets (unlimited shows) because the general admission was free. I think we paid $17/ticket instead of $29!

I think Jess thought the exhibits were a little dry. They are. It seems like they tried to make things more interactive with tablets, but I only saw one tablet that was actually working. We still had fun looking at everything and spending the day together. And we saw two movies in the dome and one in the 3D theater. The weird thing was that I thought I remembered the movies being more…. movie like. Like with great theatrical value and Harrison Ford narrating. These shows were narrated by people standing there with a microphone and were not as crazy produced. Oh. Actually. That was in New York. There was a natural history museum I used to go to there that had a Planetarium where I saw that specific Harrison Ford-narrated show many times! 🙂

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After our day at the Adler, we picked up Makai from daycare and headed home. We had Jessica’s very belated birthday gift and Makai was very interested in helping her open it! For dinner we ordered Jessica’s favorite: Pizza. From Dante’s!

On Friday morning we woke up bright and early and bought our tickets to the Field Museum online so we wouldn’t have to stand in line. Makai was coming with us because Dallas was golfing. I was a little nervous, to tell the truth. He had never been to a museum (aside from the Children’s Museum) and I didn’t know how he would tolerate it.

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Off Color Brewing teamed up with the Field Museum to make Tooth & Claw beer!

Turns out: Fine! Makai was happy to be in the stroller as Jess and I walked around taking in the exhibits. There were a few that we let him out to explore and he was good with that too. We had tickets to a 3D movie about the T-Rex (they wouldn’t give him glasses) and he was fine with that too. We had lunch in the museum cafe and he sat nicely and ate his hotdog and then fell asleep in his stroller as we walked around for another hour. We were at the museum for multiple hours … and put in about 5 miles of walking! I think we saw every permanent exhibit.

I guess I had only been to the Field Museum once before. I thought I’d gone one time before that, but there’s no record of it here, and you KNOW if I had been there I’d have noted it here. haha. I guess I really like that boat in the Pacific Island exhibit. I took the same photo both times I visited the museum!

I really like the Field Museum. It’s beautiful and informative and old and historic and modern with a lot of interactive technology. It is good for 12 year olds and it is good for 1 year olds and it is good for (almost) 40 year olds.

P.S. If you go early in the morning at like 9 am when the museum opens you can get the first parking spot in the east parking lot and walk 50 steps right into the East entrance with no line. This is the disabled / stroller entrance, so bring your stroller. Our tickets were purchased online so we just had to show an ID and go in. When we walked in the doors Makai said “WOW! WOW! PRETTY!!!” before we’d even seen one exhibit!

P.S.S. In the basement, near the east entrance, there’s a special play area just for little kids. Makai loved the music room with all the drums.

P.S.S.S. I went to the Children’s Museum on a Friday and the Adler on a Friday and the crowds were horrible. The Field Museum on a Saturday was very tame in comparison. It was busy but not jammed. Maybe because there were no school/summer camps there? Maybe I shouldn’t try to keep avoiding the weekend crowd.

P.S.S.S.S. Get the soft serve or an Icee across from the east entrance. You deserve it! It was a long day and you walked 5 freaking miles inside of the museum!

After the museum we went home to rest for a while. Then I took Makai and Jessica to Buona Terra for dinner. Makai had never been there. He didn’t like what we ordered (butternut squash and gnocchi) and let us know by spitting his food out and blowing raspberries like we put poison on his tongue! I think he was just very distracted. The waiters were so nice to him (and us) and one guy even gave him two little plastic dinosaurs, which was awesome. I wanted to get him one at the museum for a souvenir, but refused to pay $4.95 for ten cents worth of cheap plastic. If you ask him now, “What did you see at the museum?” he says “Dinosaur!” and then says “ROARRRRR!”

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On Sunday Richard and Amanda came down to visit and to collect Jessica. We had brunch at The Radler, got frozen yogurt at Yogurt Daze, ran around between rain showers at Palmer Square and ran into a coworker of mine on the street. An unspeakable amount of time had gone by since Makai had seen his Aunty Amanda, who works many weekends, so it was great to hang out with everyone.

Later on, Richard and Amanda left for home (with a stop at Uncle Mike’s!) and we dropped by JP and Rita’s barbecue. The weather actually got really hot and sunny.

Nice weekend with Jessica and the family!

Showboat at the Lyric Opera


It was St. Patricks Day! @Daley Plaza


Civic Opera House


Inside Civic Opera House


Inside Civic Opera House

This year my mom and I decided to do something different for our annual dinner-and-a-show night. We went to the opera! Fancy! I had been to the opera only one time before but it was not put on by Lyric Opera, which is one of the leading opera companies in the United States, and it wasn’t at the Civic Opera House, the second-largest opera auditorium in North America. And this was my mom’s first opera experience.

To make things a little more accessible, we decided to see Showboat, a show that originally debuted in 1927 as a musical on Broadway. I thought this was good for a few reasons: 1. it is an all American story in English, 2. it originated as a musical, which are the shows my mom and I have enjoyed the most in the past, and 3. it’s such an old show that we both recognized songs, so it would make things familiar. They did still have the words displayed above stage, even though it was in English and this was good because when things got really opera-y you could still read what they were saying, even if you couldn’t understand it by hearing.

We both enjoyed the show a lot. Before the show we had dinner with Dallas and dad at Buona Terra, an Italian restaurant nearby where we live. The next morning we had brunch at Revolution Brewing. Fun weekend again!

Here are all of the dinner-and-a-show days we’ve done over the years:

2011: Gosu & Beauty and the Beast
2010: El Nandu & Hubbard Street Dance
2009: Rhapsody & Jersey Boys
2008: Landmark & Dead Man’s Cell Phone at the Steppenwolf Theater
2007: Costello’s & Blue Man Group
2005/6: Hillary’s Urban Eatery (HUE) & Wicked
2004: Petterino’s & Mamma Mia
Ze Olde Days (1999?): Riverdance in Milwaukee
Ancient Times (1997?): Lorie Line

Logan Square Neighborhood Walk: California Avenue

One day a few months ago, I was wanting to go for a walk, but wanting to go somewhere new. I used to do these “neighborhood walks” and post photos on this site, but haven’t done it forever. So, I decided that maybe over the course of this summer I will try to walk Logan Square. When you look up Logan Square boundaries, people have varying opinions. For this exercise, I’m going to go with these boundaries for the neighborhood: Diversey to the north, Western to the east, Armitage to the south and Pulaski to the West. However you classify it, the neighborhood is HUGE. So, I think if I do this I’ll have to break it up into a bunch of chunks. As the summer has progressed I haven’t done a great job keeping up on this project, but I’ll keep trying. Here are my photos from my walk on California Avenue from Armitage to Diversey.


Los Arista Food & Liquors


A strip mall in Logan Square. The Papa John’s is new this year.


Zen Salon for Men


Condo building.


Salem Evangelical Free Church


Ronny’s


More Condos


Mandy’s Cleaners


For Sale


14th District Police Department


Cafeteria de Pancho


Little Mel’s


This place is going to be Masada’s (Middle Eastern). It’s been under construction since we moved to Logan Square, but seems to actually be making progress now. I like the look.


Boiler Room. Been here for many slices.


California Blue Line Station


Cozy Corner and Emilio’s Produce Stand


Taqueria Moran, Logan Bar & Grill


It was Mothers Day, so there were vendors out trying to sell flowers and stuffed animals and stuff.


Currency Exchange


Logan Square Pantry


Sierra Tire Shop


California Furniture


More Mothers Day stuff for sale.


And they say all the new condos look the same…


Letizia’s Fiore


Mops Beauty Shop (Dallas and I, along with several other friends, have been going here for years!)


Used to be a drive-thru, now someone’s home?


Digame Language Instruction, A Touch of Vintage


Gosu, Korean/Japanese restaurant we’ve been meaning to try


Hachi’s Kitchen


Provenance Food & Wine, Anong Thai


Buona Terra


This Starbucks has an awesome outdoor patio.


Logan Boulevard


Flowering trees on Logan Boulevard


Fellowship House Assisted Living


Color Me Salon


Again with the older houses that are all exactly the same.


Walgreen’s


Need a mattress or futon?


I’ve never been to or any Popeye’s. I may have been to an IHOP once or twice, but not this one.

Logan Square Comfort Station Puppet Show

Last Saturday we were pretty tired after our trapeze class. We came home, washed up a bit, got Dallas and headed to dinner at Buona Terra. This is a great restaurant in Logan Square that we overlook all the time. I’ve only been there once and this was Dallas’s first visit. It was so delicious. Dallas had a osso bucco special of the day, Steph had a squash ravioli with browned butter and sage sauce, and I had pasta with prosciutto, mushrooms, green peas and parmesan. So delicious. If we’re not back here soon, I’ll be disappointed. Oh, we also split mozzarella wrapped with prosciutto and grilled. ZOMG! Go here. You won’t be disappointed.

After dinner, Dallas went home and Steph and I headed to Summer Sessions on the Square. I was still pretty tired, especially after eating a bowl of pasta, but Summer Sessions is relaxing, so I was all for it. On the square we met up with Sara, Jessica, and Alden. We all sat on some sheets, enjoyed some wine (not Steph!) and listened to the bands. I love doing this in my neighborhood in the summer and hope to do it more this summer than I did last summer. Actually, last year when Steph was visiting we went to Summer Sessions too. I’m glad she likes it.

Here’s what was different this year. This year as the bands wrapped up and the sun set and it was dark, everyone on the lawn swiveled around. Behind us, across 4 lanes of traffic we could see the Logan Square Comfort Station. And in the window of that building, Manual Cinema performed a unique puppet show called “The Ballad of Lula del Ray.” This was no ordinary puppet show, though. It was performed with light and shadow and paper cut outs and an overhead projector. And music. It was so neat! Here is a trailer for the show, if you want to get a feeling for how it went.

Can’t wait to see what is planned for the next Summer Sessions on the Square show!

Buona Terra


Bruschetta Toscana: Marinated tomatoes and olives with olive oil and fresh herbs served on toasted garlic bread


Gnocchi Verde al Quattro Formaggi: Potato spinach dumplings in a four cheese sauce


Rotini di la Nona: Cork screw pasta with prosciutto, mushrooms, green peas and parmesan cream


Cappuccino

Jess and I decided to go out for dinner on Friday night. I’d never been to Buona Terra, our neighborhood Italian spot, even though I’ve lived only a few blocks away for over a year. The space is small so I called ahead to make a reservation. When I arrived at 6:30, the restaurant was empty and I wondered if I’d even needed to call ahead. Within a half hour the place was packed.

For an appetizer we split the bruschetta. Tasty, but pretty much your standard bruschetta. Jess and I both decided to get pasta for our entrees. I got the gnocchi and Jess got the rotini. We skipped dessert and got coffee instead.

I liked everything we ordered at Buona Terra. The interior is cute and the service was good. I mean, it wasn’t like this place was the best meal I ate in my life, but I think it’s a solid bet. Kind of like Piazza Bella in our old Roscoe Village neighborhood, but, like Logan Square, Buona Terra was a bit less expensive.