nicole tries ballet: October 2006

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Joe and I had a loverly Saturday. We stayed in, as evidenced by my blog post on a Saturday night. In my defense, it is freeeeezing outside! So this morning (or rather 2p.m. otherwise known as 'Joe and Nicole morning' time) we walked down Clark St. to see if the farmer's market was open. It wasn't. Pretty uneventful. But we stopped at Oven Grinder's and got some amazing pizza. They bake it in bowls with the crust on top so when you flip it over it looks like a mushroom cap full of goodness. I just ate my leftovers.

After the pizza, we went to the lovely local grocer's and picked up, among other things, a pumpkin to carve. Yea! I haven't carved a pumpkin in a really long time. Joe's idea was to, "make it a mew mew." I did the ears, a couple whiskers and Joe did the rest. Here is our finished product:

No, it's NOT a mouse!

I think we did an excellent job even with our limited artistic ability. In fact, I guess we did TOO good of a job because Bear is terrified of this thing. TERRIFIED. I was trying to take a lovely Halloween family photo and he was having none of it.

It's gonna EAT ME!!!

His little paws are gripping my arm with a death-like vice. Despite several attempts to warm bear up to Pumpkin, our new cat, not even treats could get him up on the table. The closest he got was me holding him on the edge of the table. He was very upset. Who knew black cats and pumpkins really don't get along??

LIE

Monday, October 09, 2006

Clarktoberfest?

The street I live on (Clark St.) is organizing an event this weekend. It's called... CLARKTOBERFEST!!!! What is it, you ask? I dunno... no seriously, I can't figure it out. I have no clue what exactly will be going on at Clarktoberfest. As far as I can tell, these are the nifty things I have to look forward to that Clark Street is celebrating:

Increased sidewalk area
Snowplowing services on said sidewalks
A clean-up crew has been hired to pick up garbage and debris on Clark Street every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday (does this include the homeless? just askin'...)
Decorations were provided on the street poles for the holidays (oooooo faaaancy!)
Power washing of the sidewalks

So I know what we're supposed to be excited about, but still, wtf is Clarktoberfest?? Maybe the poster will provide clues...

Hmm.... sot here wil be joggers and dogs eh? Interesting...

From the website: "Clarktoberfest will kick off on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. on the patio at Ranalli’s on Clark (2301 N. Clark) with an unveiling ceremony, during which the Clark Street SSA will officially make public the new Clark by the Park logo. The Clarktoberfest festivities also include sidewalk sales, live music, food samples and other giveaways, such as Clark by the Park-branded tee-shirts and dog treats, walking maps, and coupons."

Ooooo! Logos. Snazzy. I hope they're giving away commemoral Clark St. t-shirts. (OMG I was totally joking about the t-shirts, and I just re-read that section and saw them... wow. Clark St. REPRESENT!) And I am all about food samples. Not too crazy bout dog treats though.

Continued: "Clarktoberfest also marks the beginning of a marketing campaign aimed at reducing storefront vacancies and alerting Chicago residents to the variety of shopping and dining opportunities available on Clark Street."

I have to say there is a crazy amount of storefront vacancies on the street. Quizno's didn't even survive! (To its credit, there's another Quizno's four blocks away on Lincoln, so it might not have been the best idea to put a new one there, but whatever.) Just recently, I saw some of my favorite crazy cheap jewelry stores are going out of business. Who knew that closing at 3 during the week would do that? On a more serious note, I found out this morning that Tower Records is liquidizing its stores. There's a Tower Records that occupies the entire second floor of my building. I consider them to be my favorite neighbor. They don't ever make any noise at night and they didn't complain when my toilet overflowed (I thought the water had gone down when I flushed it again, it was an OPTICAL ILLUSION I TELL YOU).

Then there are the stores I think should be out of business. Like my cleaners that used to be next day... and has mysteriously stretched to an unbelievable four days! Or the five or six sushi stores on the same two blocks. I am loyal to my Sushi Para Too and their $16.99 all you can eat special. There are two Indian cuisine restaurants with a Mexican place inbetween them. The wine bar??? I have no idea if anybody ever goes there because the windows are tinted. Finally, the one I really don't get, Rose's Perks. This place recently opened up very close to my home and I can't, for the life of me figure out what it is. There's a picture of coffee, but there is no coffee sold there. The inside is painted a deep purple and a neon green, but there's two seating chairs and a coffee table that look like something out of grandma's house. So what's in there, you ask? A collection of crap that looks like someone pulled it out of their attic and decided to try and sell it. She should rename her shop Garage Sale.

To Clark St.'s credit there really is no reason why these stores should be going out of business. It's a busy street and it's in a great location. And here I'm referring to the stretch of Clark from Armitage to Diversey. There's a high school right there, and DuPaul is directly west, with the Fullerton beach access directly east. Lincoln Park Zoo is blocks away! Maybe the problem is the rent? This is possible seeing as the majority of places that I do see vacant are managed by the same company. They have loads of great places that would make me cry if they went out of business (my staples in order of importance):

1. Sushi Para Too... do NOT take away my sushi, I will die and God knows Brandon will never come to visit me again.
2. The Golden Cup, I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed their pancakes at 2p.m. on Sundays
3. Ranalli's, pizza until 5a.m.!
4. Walgreen's, it's just essential
5. Hema's Kitchen, gotta get me some curry
6. Galway Arms, I really don't go here to get some ecclectic Irish food as much as I should
7. Express, it's practically in my basement. I get to know about their sales before anyone else.
8. Dunlay's, goat cheese pizza and spinach artichoke dip are awesome
9. Weiner Circle, this is many people's favorite, mostly I just like to laugh whenever I see the sign and a line out the door at 12a.m. on Fridays.
10. PAWS, I just like seeing the kitties! mew mew mew

Anybody have any other favorite Clark St. stores/restaurants?

Friday, October 06, 2006

Chi Town & Other Randomness

How much do I love Chi Town?

THIS MUCH!

This morning, while waiting for the bus, I saw a man, aged around 60 in a plaid shirt, overalls riding an adult-sized tricycle down the sidewalk. Yes, a tricycle. It was blue. I believe it had a basket. I looked for cameras, saw none. Now, I'm used to seeing dogs in strollers and all that, but an adult man on a tricycle?? Get a motorized Rascal like everyone else your age you crazy whack-a-doo!

p.s. He definitely had his gray hair tied back in a pony tail too.

Other random thoughts:

Halloween!!! J's par-tah is at the end of the month and I am so damn excited. So excited every time I read her 'Bring your own booooooos' part of the invitation I laugh hysterically. Tee hee.... boooooos, CLASSIC.

Thanksgiving!!! Officially going to Pittsburgh for the holiday. Bringing my new hubby (HUBBY!) with me. I cannot wait to see the fam, especially our new addition, Kelly's new baby Ryan!! And I know he is just dying to see the nasty, horrible blanket I'm making him. It started out as a good idea, but alas, it has died. Will post pics later. Am thinking of keeping it and putting it over the arms of my couch so that the cats rip that apart instead of my apolstery. I think that's much better than bringing it with and saying "Hey look Kel! I can instantaneously make your baby cry! Look at this! Yep, the monkeys face looks like it's been beaten in, tis true."

UPDATE: