Entries Tagged as 'retro on roscoe'

Retro on Roscoe

August 9th, 2011 · No Comments

After the Cubs game we headed over to Jen and Chad’s for their annual Retro on Roscoe party. After hanging out at the house for a bit, we went to the festival to meet up with more friends and to get something to eat. I always like Retro on Roscoe, but this year the food seemed different. Dallas has a favorite Polish stand that he looks forward to every year and it was no where to be seen. Maybe because of this? I tried to be a bit healthier and got a chicken kebab with a salad and nothing had any sauce on it. It was all very dry, including the pita it was served with. Oh well.

Last year this space in the garage was filled with about 10 strollers and there were many kids running around the party. I thought it was a sign of the times, and I think it still is, but for some reason this year? No strollers. And only a handful of kids.

Like most years there was a ton of beer pong being played. I did not play this year but my brother did. Before I knew it, it was 11 p.m. Not too late, but we had met up for the game at 11:15 a.m., so it was a long, long day. Caroline, who announced that day that she will be our DD for 9 long months, gave us a ride home.

Previous visits to Retro on Roscoe:
- 2010
- 2008
- 2007
- 2004

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Jen & Chad’s Annual Retro on Roscoe Party

August 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Every year Jen and Chad have a party the weekend of Retro on Roscoe. Because they live so close to Roscoe Street, people come and go from the party to the fest and back all day long. Here’s what was different about this year’s party compared to parties of years past:

In years past the party has gotten rowdy at night and Jen’s had to kick people out in the early morning hours. This year there was a huge abundance of babies and most people left when 1) their baby had a meltdown or 2) it was their baby’s bed time. I think I counted 10 or 11 strollers in the garage at one point! I guess everyone is getting older!

Quinn got his face painted at Retro on Roscoe.

Somehow the paint stayed on all day even when he was running around like crazy playing with all the kids.

Lila is Quinn’s buddy. They see each other every day and yet, they were still excited to see each other on a Saturday!

Conor and Liam are Jamie and Fitz’s kids.

Ava and Lila are Eric and Caryn’s kids. Eric was our realtor when we bought our condo.

All the kids loved climbing in the climbing tower.

I felt kind of bad for Halle. A lot of the kids at the party were between 2 and 4 years old (I’m guessing) and were running around everywhere and Halle was left on her mom’s lap to just watch. She seemed like she really wanted to get in on the action.

Dallas had Ava and Grace really thinking he was going to drink all of the juice boxes. All 20 of them. They were really upset (not really in a bad way) and were yelling “NOOOOOO, you can’t!” and, of course, that just made Dallas tease them more. Ava warned Dallas that if he drank all the juice boxes he’d get a tumm yache but he said he was still going to. As soon as Dallas walked away all the kids were drinking juice boxes. I guess they thought they better get them while they could, just in case Dallas did drink them all.

As for the adults, our games stayed mostly the same. We drank a ton of beers, and played a lot of beer pong and urban horseshoes, a.k.a. washers.

It wasn’t just kids making special appearances this year. Ed’s dad was visiting from Detroit and Chad’s aunt and cousin were in from Pennsylvania. It was nice to see so much of everyone’s family. We hung out all afternoon and then later on Dallas and I walked through the fest. We went too late. It was so packed. Usually earlier in the day it’s less busy. But Dallas got his annual Polish plate that he loves and I got a chicken pita. Fun day, fun party. I’m sure we’ll do it again next year!

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Vacant Storefront on Roscoe

October 2nd, 2008 · 1 Comment

I took these photos of a vacant storefront on Roscoe Street back in August. It was right before Retro on Roscoe, as you can see from the big poster in the window. I can’t remember why, at the time, I was so enamored with the building. Was it the old rusted salon sign? Or The Notebook movie poster used as curtains?

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Art Institute, Millennium Park, Retro on Roscoe

August 5th, 2008 · 4 Comments


Art Institute, Chicago


Art Institute, Chicago

After visiting the Sears Tower, Stephanie and I used some free passes I had to check out the Art Institute. I think she liked it, but got her fill fast. Also, a lot of the paintings I wanted to show her were pulled because of the new wing they’re building. We were tired from walking around a lot that day and the day before at Retro on Roscoe, so we decided to take a break.


Wrigley Square, Millennium Park, Chicago


Stephanie, Millennium Park, Chicago

At the Retro on Roscoe the day before we’d gotten two coupons for free smoothies at Starbucks, so we got those, a cookie and a rice krispie treat and rested in Millennium Park. It was a beautiful day and felt really good to sit down. We just sat and chatted for about 45 minutes.


Rachelle & Stephanie, Millennium Park, Chicago

Feeling a bit rested, we headed over to State Street to look at the cheap accessories at H&M. Most of them were pretty ridiculous or not Stephanie’s style, but she did find one pair of earrings she liked that were only like $4.95. Next we headed up to Borders. Apparently there’s this young adult book series called The Twilight Saga that’s all the rage these days. It’s some kind of vampire love story. There are four books out and they’re already making a movie. Anyway, when Steph was visiting with my cousin Kelly she got the first book in the series and was hooked. We were planning on going to the pool later in the week, so I got her the second book to read poolside. Of course, she couldn’t even wait for the train to pull out of the train station before cracking it open! All the talk of Twilight Saga and Jonas Brothers this week has made me feel a bit ancient. FYI, Miley Cyrus is totally not cool.


Steph wearing new earrings, reading a new book.

For dinner we went to Retro on Roscoe. Dallas got polish food (surprise, surprise). Steph and I split a margherita pizza made on a mobile brick oven and another gyro.

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Retro on Roscoe 2008

August 4th, 2008 · 2 Comments


Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Retro on Roscoe was this past weekend and we all attended, of course. It’s hard not to when it’s so close. There’s a stage about 3 houses from ours, so even if we didn’t attend the festival, we’d be listening to the bands anyway.


Stephanie with empty chili samplers, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Steph and I walked around Retro on Roscoe starting at about noon or so. We sampled all of the chilis in the Windy City Chili Cookoff. There were a few unique ones like the pork chili verde, but most of them were red, slightly spicy and very meaty. We tried 9 or 10 different chilis and both agreed that we liked one called “Nikki’s Revenge” the best. We probably could have stopped right there and just had chili samples for lunch, but we decided to go to the polish stand where we ordered one of each flavor of pierogi and a blintze. Steph had never tried either. Funny thing is that neither of us really like sauerkraut, but we both really liked the sauerkraut pierogi. On a side note, Dallas loves the polish stand so much that he had it for dinner two nights in a row and I think he did the same thing last year too.


IRS, Retro on Roscoe, Chicago


IRS + Random Groupie, Retro on Roscoe, Chicago

After lunch Steph and I sat on the grass by the Hamilton stage and watched a cover band called IRS (Independent Rock Society). They played a lot of popular songs and the crowd relaxed and sang along. Jen and Chad hosted their annual Retro on Roscoe party since they also live so close to the festival. After IRS was done playing, Stephanie and I headed over to their house. Dallas and a bunch of friends were already there. Chad and Limey tried to introduce the Pimm’s Cup as the new Summer of Rachelle drink, but it didn’t work because I didn’t like it. We all played ping pong (beer pong for some) in the garage and urban horseshoes (sometimes called washers) in the alley. Trent and I were on fire as an urban horseshoes team. Steph had fun watching the ping pong action, playing with Drake, Cortez, and Quinn and even got in on some urban horseshoes action on a team with Cousin. Inside the house TJ taught Jill and Steph how to make homemade Mexican/Puerto Rican rice like his mom used to make. Oh, and Limey tried many times to convince Steph to be a Cubs fan. He said he would give her tickets for the game the following day and all she had to do was swear off the Brewers, but she refused. When he gave up on baseball and said “well, at least say you’ll like the Bears,” we walked away. Not a chance!


Pimm’s, Rosceo Village, Chicago

For dinner Stephanie was all for trying more new food so we headed back out to the festival and split a gyro, which she was in love with. I wasn’t sure if she’d like the lamb, but she thought it was delicious. It’s fun to have her willing to try anything and even more fun when she likes it! We watched a bit of a band called Dot Dot Dot because Kristin and Cousin’s cousin plays keyboards in the band. At about 10 pm we called it a night and went home. It was about a 3 second walk home. Awesome.

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