Sunsets & Cheeseburgers

Nothing overly exciting today... just little details seen on the way to work & while walking around on my lunch break.

The stack of sunset postcards were found at Beans & Bagels in Lincoln Square-- they were advertising an art show and they reminded me of Penelope Umbrico's Suns from Flickr project.

I've also found myself drawn to representations of food lately-- whether on billboards, painted on restaurant signs & windows or graphics on menus.

The quaint window display is of a vintage home decor store in the Gold Coast area named P.O.S.H., unfortunately they're always closed when I go by-- including when I took this picture, even though the lights were on and customers were inside the front door was locked! grr.. Oh well, better for my pocketbook I suppose!

In & Around the Office

Quick set of photos taken in & around my office today... I'm going to take photos at the Yelp Fantasea event at the Shedd Aquarium tonight but probably won't be home in time to blog them (so they'll be up tomorrow). For some reason this set kind of reminds me of the movie Office Space...

Skate Sharpening & Pie

Since I moved to Chicago 2 1/2 years ago I've been wanting to go ice skating on one of the outdoor rinks... unfortunately the first winter here I injured my ankle, the year after that we tried to go twice but the lines for skate rental were over an hour and now, this year is THE year.

To get around the $10 rental fee & the lines I decided to seek out my own pair of skates, at the thrift store of course! I thought this was a fool's errand until I stumbled across a black pair of figure skates waiting for me at The Attic Thrift store in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas for only $4!

Of course since they are decades old (I suspect the '50s though skate designs haven't changed much over the years so who knows) they needed to be sharpened. I could find only one place in the city (that wasn't a sports store) that does it-- Johnny's Ice House in the West Loop. So after work today I ventured over there on the Pink Line and wandered past the hoards of little boys suiting up for league practice to the little supply shop on the 2nd floor.

Behind the counter was a slightly surly man who sharpened my skates in about 5 minutes, he looked like he'd been behind the same counter for the past three decades. My skates were so sharp afterwards that they nearly cut through the bag I brought them in (oops).

I wanted to take pictures of the rink but felt awkward with all the families around so instead snuck some shots in the store (sorry for the bad quality, was trying to work quickly).

Also, as per my Tuesday custom, I stopped off at Hoosier Mama pie company on the way home for a big slice of chocolate cream pie... took a photo of the fruit pie instead as it was more photogenic in the case.

Later this week look for photos of my skates & ice skating extravaganza!

Monday Holiday

Another meandering journey today so again lots of photos to share. I was off from work today for MLK Day so my old roommate and I met up at our old brunch/lunch haunt, Milk & Honey cafe on Division. The photo of the flowers was taken there as well as the 2 men... we were amused by the 'old timers' who looked like they were more used to eating at greasy spoon diners rather than Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park cafes.

Feeling a bit aimless after lunch I decided to hop on the blue line and go to Logan Square, hoping to grab a doughnut & coffee at New Wave cafe. Unfortunately it was packed wall-to-wall with people (someone definitely needs to open up another independent coffee shop in that neighborhood!) so I decided to walk along the boulevards for a bit and take some more pictures. My favorite is what I call the 'sidewalk to nowhere' a bit of pavement that no longer serves a purpose.

After my walk I managed to snag a seat at New Wave but alas they no longer sell doughnuts! Got a vegan chocolate chip cookie instead to satiate my sweet tooth.

On the way back to the El stop I ferreted out the Hemingway book from the free book box on the corner, it's a 1956 edition. We never read it in high school and I think it's time for me to read more of the literary classics.

Sunshine & Coffee

Lots of photos today as it was sunny again (after two days of gloom) and I decided to do my favorite thing-- walk the mile up Damen to Wicker Park, have lunch, do a bit of thrift shopping & then read at a cafe/coffee shop.

There's still snow on the ground but it's slowing melting away as the temperatures have been in the mid 30s this week.

Five of the images were taken at Lovely, a bake shop on Milwaukee just off the blue line El stop. It serves the best cookies (my favorite is the peanut butter & chocolate chip) and has a really cozy atmosphere that incorporates a lot of vintage elements (like the blue egg beater, typewriter and electric fans!).

Hodge Podge

Bit of a hodge podge today... went a lot of places but the battery was low on my phone so not many photos were taken. That's the bottom of my leather satchel resting on an old tile floor of the Bourgeois Pig coffee shop in Lincoln Park (it's located in a 2-story Victorian) and the last picture is a little painted image on the front of a taqueria near the Addison red line stop.

All photos taken with my iphone (as per usual).

Hyde Park Adventure

Despite living in Chicago for 2 1/2 years I hadn't made it to the Museum of Science & Industry down in Hyde Park... so on Friday I played the role of 'local tourist' and took advantage of their free admission days (all week days in January!).

Definitely the best non-art museum I've ever been to... trains! airplanes! fuzzy baby chicks! They had it all. We spent four hours in there and still made it to The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago (and also poked around their campus), an art exhibit at the Renaissance Society (also at UC) and went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House... just looked at the outside and gift shop as we didn't feel like spending $$ on the tour. Overall a great day and a fun 'field trip.'

The Death of Colour

Okay so I'm already feeling a little bogged down by this project... maybe if there was more sun here and/or the days were longer I'd feel a little better. As it is I'm in an office from 9-5 so there are precious few moments to take photos so I'll be taking more inside photos from now on.

This set of images was taken on my way home yesterday... the little notebook has "Love" on the cover which I found unusual (it also seemed abandoned as it was on an empty bench with no one around). I also stopped by the Pearl art supply store yesterday as the Chicago outpost is closing. Everything in the store is 50 percent off which was pretty much a 2nd Christmas for me & all the other art lovers out there... it's been a while since I've painted/sketched but I picked up 2 sketchbooks, premium Prismacolor pencils (sadly the sets were already sold out, just got individual colours) and something I've been lusting for my entire life... a T-square!! Yes, I am a nerd. Don't hate-- when perusing the store I saw at least five other people clutching T-squares to their chests too, so clearly others have nursed this dream as well.

As usual photos taken with my iphone... sorry for the especially bad quality this time around, it doesn't seem to like florescent lighting. A 'Holga' filter and 'Lomo' filter were used for the last three photos.