The 606 on 6/06 (and 6/07)

The things you see on/from The Bloomingdale Trail/606 on Opening Weekend:

• Babies in strollers
• Bikes in abundance
• Rollerbladers of varying skill sets
• Babies in baby carriers
• Scooters of every imaginable type
• Groups of kids getting lost in groups of adults
• Singers
• Sunshine
• Maps
• Skateboards
• Billboards
• Sunsets
• Teenagers
• Income disparity
• Elaborate rooftop gardens
• Big screen TVs
• A potentially naked dude in his kitchen
• Well-lit paths
• New parks
• An easy way to get to Aldi
• Kissing couples
• Weird bench arrangements
• Old graffiti
• New donors
• The highway
• Playgrounds
• Continuing construction

Summer Weekend in the City

Despite missing the Bluesfest this year, I still managed to make the most of this weekend's festivals and activities. There's always something going on somewhere in Chicago, and this is never more true than in the summer!

Fiestas Puertorriqueñas (Puerto Rican Festival)

This festival is known for its debauchery and passionate displays of Puerto Rican pride, but for this white girl, it's a chance to pig out on deep fried food in the name of culture. It also takes place in Humboldt Park, which is less than a mile from my apartment. Jesus and I went on Friday night for dinner and marveled at the amount of people between bites of alcapurrias, papas rellenas, and pastelillos.

Movies in the Park

Jesus and I didn't stay super long at PR Fest because we had another activity planned for the evening: watching The Goonies at Revere Park for our first Movies in the Park of the summer. I've never been to Revere before, so I'm glad I got to expand my Chicago Parks horizon while enjoying a classic movie under the stars. (We could actually see a few!...among planes, Mars, and--according to Jesus--a UFO.)

Disclaimer: This is actually from Holstein Park...I caught the beginning of another MITP (Groundhog's Day) on Sunday during a walk and decided to document it since my phone died before I could snap a pic on Friday at Revere.

Father's Day

I got to chat with my own dad Sunday morning (and thank him again for building my bed--after a week of solid sleeping I could give him solid reviews) before making tarts and heading west to spend the day with Jesus's dad (and the rest of his family). I consider myself pretty lucky to have places to spend holidays when I can't make it back to Wisconsin. Whether with roommates and their families or Jesus and his family, having a solid community here is a big reason why I can call Chicago home.

homeward bound: belly full, mind relaxed

Humboldt Sunday

Sometimes it's such a nice day, you gotta get out there and walk. Yesterday was one of those days, and Jesus and I spent some time wandering around Humboldt Park. Construction continues on the 606/Bloomingdale Trail, and of course we found some cute graffiti.

Saturday in the Parks

I went for my yearly run today, so now I'm done with that nonsense until 2015. I circled around Humboldt Park along with all the other families, runners, and dogs out in abundance.

Later, I took a walk in the other direction, towards Bucktown/Wicker Park. I didn't make it to Wicker Park proper, but I did make a loop in Park 567. What it lacks in a name, it makes up for in quaintness. This picture is pretty much it: an oval of grass surrounded by rocks and a paved path. Traffic on Milwaukee Ave speeds by while construction continues on The 606 and the Blue Line, but in the park things slow down. Shoes optional.

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Rachel & The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

Yesterday started out with so much promise. I was up early to work at Mercy, and my shift passed by quickly and smoothly--the kids were in good moods, they kept busy, and I had enough free time on the train and during down time to finish an entire book (a free verse fiction, it went fast).

I went home and made lunch, read some more, watered my thriving plants, and awaited the arrival of Jesus (boyfriend variety, not the Second Coming). We walked down to Humboldt Park and caught the last night of Puerto Rican Fest, with its crowds of people, street vendors selling anything you could want with the Puerto Rican flag on it, flashing carnival rides and games, and FOOD.

We ate arepas, tostones, arroz con gandules, alcapurrias, and pastelillos. It was pretty typical fare, though to be honest, writing about it makes me hungry for a jibarito. We walked around the carnival area, people-watching and listening to music. For those of you from Colby, imagine Cheese Days in a giant grassy/tree-lined park with reggaeton playing and Puerto Rican flags adorning everything.

The rest of the night is where things fell apart. We returned home to change and go to the gym. (Okay, Jesus changed and I gathered books to read in the gym's lounge area while Jesus worked out.) As I got in the car, I stepped in a puddle of something nasty in the gutter, so we endured the smell of sewage on the way there. When we got to the gym, we saw that all the lights were off and no cars were in the parking lot: the gym was closed. That one was on us for forgetting Planet Fitness is only 24/5, not 24/7.

After that failure, we decided to continue on with the night's plans: rent a Redbox movie. I had reserved Oz: The Great and Powerful earlier that day, but I forgot my wallet at home, so back to the Naw we went. I grabbed my credit card and we went in search of the only Redbox in my neighborhood to still have a copy of the movie. Here's where my morale really hit a low. The Redbox was located at a Walgreens. Inside a Walgreens. Inside a Walgreens THAT HAD ALREADY CLOSED FOR THE NIGHT. First, I couldn't believe it. Walgreens doesn't close, does it? And even if it does, they don't keep their 24-hour, no-human-supervision-needed, movie rental kiosk BEHIND LOCKED DOORS, do they? They do.

I can get over the $1.30, and even having a fun movie to watch--we'll try again another night--but the principal of the matter really got me. Who made that inane decision? There are thousands of outdoor Redboxes. THOUSANDS. Why, why, why put this one indoors, where it is unavailable for several hours each day?

We were defeated. We stopped trying to get plans back on track and just went home...but of course, there was no parking to be found. Jesus drove loops around my surrounding blocks for about 15 minutes before reversing down a one-way to grab a parking spot. We were done. No more trying to do anything except cheer on the Spurs in Game Four (they did win).

Last night wasn't our night. I should say, though, we got through it together. I think I made Jesus sad when I kept over-dramatizing how awful I thought the night was going. It was less awful with him around. :)

PR Fest/Stanley Cup Finals

I'm halfway through a month of 6-day work weeks. I didn't plan on starting my summer taking extra shifts, but c'est la vie. When you have one day off each week, you savor it--sleep in, lounge around, have brunch, take a nap. I also checked out a stack of books from the library and I have limitless Sudoku puzzles on my iPod. Still, we have lots left to do on our Naw Summer O' Fun list. Weather permitting, this weekend's non-lounging activities will fall under one of two categories: neighborhood festivals and hockey.

Puerto Rican Festival

None of us in the Naw can claim Puerto Rican pride (except Jesus, an honorary Naw-ian), but we live so close to Humboldt Park it seems silly not to check out the festival. The parade was earlier today, but the food/music/vendors will be out all weekend.

Stanley Cup Finals

Tonight is Game Two! I will be the first to admit to being a bandwagon/fair-weather fan (of the Blackhawks and hockey in general), but I have been following the games during the playoffs and I attentively watched Game One (instead of just having it on in the background). Growing up in a non-hockey town, I don't know enough about the game to fully appreciate it, but I'm learning!

Humboldt Park Round Two

Humboldt Park: actually quite nice

If anyone knows what this is, please inform me! I didn't want to be a super creeper and linger around.

Humboldt Park

Today I ran with Brooke to Humboldt Park, a sprawling area with baseball fields, playgrounds, a pond, and plenty of grass to lay out on. Also, police lines.

Summer Sounds Like...

The neighborhood ice cream truck playing The Entertainer
Police sirens circling Humboldt Park
My neighbor's sprinkler on her new lawn
The Blue Line making its stop at Western
Passenger planes returning to the city
Fireworks every night

SoLoNoHumming

The best part about living in SoLoNoHum so far: walking distance to so many things. Like my friends, mostly. But also the Blue Line...I hope to rarely, if ever, ride the 49 all the way up and down Western again. Back to living in a neighborhood where my friends also live: it is one of the most awesome things to walk a few blocks to see people.

Yesterday I was feeling sad and lonely and codependent because Brit was at work and Brooke is still gone, then I remembered my coworker was having a party. Suddenly I had so many friends! All I had to do was cross Western and bam! Not so lonely anymore.

And today, even though I'm mostly just trying to clean up my life and organize things and be an adult, I also found time to one-on-one with Becca and Kate. It doesn't hurt that they have wireless at their place. (I tried to hack into my neighbors for a while the other day, to no avail.) It's really a win-win, because I get to use them for their Internet AND be friends with them...and they get to do the same to me when they want to do laundry. (Did I mention I have an in-unit front-load washer/dryer? Spoiled.)

The apartment is really coming together quite nicely - we have things in our hutch, we found some actual silverware, we bought toilet paper - so hopefully we can have a housewarming before too long. I've really enjoyed rearranging my room several times. Yes, even though my room is an 8x8 square, I somehow have had a couple different arrangements. I'm a master.

We haven't had a chance to do any real grocery shopping yet, which means we've had bisonburgers for breakfast the past few days. And Aldi is closed today for Labor Day, so it'll probably be chips and salsa tomorrow. We do have a fresh basil plant, so once we get food it will be mighty flavorful.

Another thing we acquired: a shopping cart. A baby one at that. It was sitting on the sidewalk the other night and we decided to rescue it. Well, I convinced my friends we should. Not everyone understands the inner workings of shopping carts or why I have such a deep connection to them. I'm sure we looked strange dragging a shopping cart onto the train, but sometimes you need to do these things. It now sits on our front porch holding our firewood and basil plant. That was the final touch in the apartment, when I knew this was home.