Everything Evanston in July

So... the saying that "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" was definitely reinforced during our month in Evanston from July 3-August 2. And for the last few days, it was also the smoky air coming down from the wildfires in Canada. Yikes! 

We returned on July 3rd and rented a car at the airport for the weekend, making it easier to deal with transportation with the kitties as well as other weekend plans. On July 4th, we enjoyed the day off to get settled back in and hosted Evanston friend M for dinner at our apartment (the rooftop deck and grills were too busy). Then we strolled down to Frio Gelato on our way to the beach for the awesome fireworks display over the Lake. 

On the way, we saw "mini fireworks" among the plants (e.g fireflies), which is the first time I've seen those amazing little creatures since we lived in Madison. So cool! Once we got back to our apartment, we just sat at the kitchen table with the lights out to watch all of the other ongoing fireworks displays in downtown Chicago and the surrounding suburbs south and west of us. A great vantage point!

The next day, we drove to Mr. E's mom's condo in downtown Chicago to drop off her birthday card and gift (hibiscus plant) before going to the Art Institute for a couple of hours to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition, which was closing the next weekend. It was interesting to learn about her brief but impactful time in Paris and her friendship with Mary Reynolds and other key figures of the art world. I particularly liked one sketch of Mary and her cats (note: not done by Frida).

We also had enough time for the Caillebotte exhibition, which both Mr. E and I really loved. I didn't know much about this painter, and it was fascinating to see how prolific and influential he was during his short (45 years) lifespan. I also didn't realize that it was his collection of works that formed the basis for the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Incredible! We purchased a poster of the exhibit to add to our gradually growing assortment of art in Evanston. 

To celebrate his mom's birthday, we got takeout at Minghin Cuisine and hung out at her condo for a bit before driving home (with leftovers!). The original plan for the birthday celebration was for Mr. E's sister L and brother-in-law M to host a family gathering at their home in Oak Park, but L was sick so we had a relatively last-minute change of plans. It all worked out for the best, though, since the new schedule allowed for our museum visit. Oh, and also some views and sounds of the Nascar Chicago Street Race outside the windows of the Caillebotte galleries!

The following weekend, Mr. E took a Lyft to downtown Chicago on Saturday morning for the annual Big 10K race (he did the 5K) while I stayed home with the kitties and participated in an ATA webinar. He got home in time for us to check out an open house at noon, and then I met up with my friend R at 1pm for coffee and tea at The Understudy Cafe. It was great to have a chance to catch up with her since we hadn't had our usual virtual monthly check-in in June. Then I took the train to the Alliance Francaise to meet up with Mr. E and his mom for the afternoon Bastille Day festivities, including a quite impressive waiter's race (I got some fun videos but they don't cooperate well with uploading here).

We had dinner again with Mr. E's mom, this time at Avli on the Park, a Greek restaurant just around the corner from her condo. 

On Sunday morning, we had an appointment at Blick to order some custom mats for several of our posters from France, which are all non-standard sizes so need some additional care prior to framing. Then I headed to the airport in the early afternoon for my trip to Portland to help A for a few days with the ongoing process of sorting through and organizing stuff from her mom and other items in storage at the house. I'm glad I was able to help out with this process, as it's still so challenging and emotional for A (and her dad), and it gave us some good quality time together, including for pedicures on Tuesday afternoon once we were done for the day. I also had some lovely conversations with M, and the three of us had a couple of strong Scrabble matches as well. 

I was back in Evanston by the end of the week, so Mr. E and I went to check out one of the events for the multi-day Plein Air Festival. The block party was on a section of Main Street, so we got to peruse many of the works and enjoy some live music as well. We followed this up by stopping by the finale on Sunday at the Rotary HQ just a few blocks from us. We also fit in another open house on Saturday morning and wrapped up the weekend with our First Aid / CPR course at the Y on Sunday afternoon. Both of us had done this type of course in the past, but quite a few techniques have changed, and neither of us had ever learned about AEDs before, so this was a very helpful course to take. We had to complete several hours of online homework in advance and then finished off with the 2.5 hours in-person skills practice session. We're now certified for two years!

In the middle of the next week, I was fortunate enough to have an in-person GALA event at the Rotary HQ, which was a fabulous way to get a better understanding of this language services association and make some local contacts. I've already had a virtual meet-up with one of the presenters and will be connecting in person with another attendee when we're back in Evanston in the fall. All small steps towards my encore career transition! The event ended with a reception on the third floor, and I got to spend some time on the outdoor terrace that offers a partial view of our apartment building (in the middle of the photo, tucked behind the tall dark grey building).

During the week, I also attended a Land Use Committee (LUC) meeting related to the proposed high rise building that is anticipated to be constructed on a lot to the south of our building (yes, it will eventually block much of our view). The proceedings definitely reminded me of my time on the Planning Commission here in Sacramento! I left after about an hour and watched the rest of the public commentary with Mr. E through the live streaming services.

On Friday, my old friend and ex K came to meet me for lunch at Le Peep. I think it's been about eight years or so since we've seen each other! He and his spouse, C, and their twins live in Geneva, IL. We had a lovely time catching up, and I'm hoping we can continue to stay connected more often as Mr. E and I spend more of our time in Evanston. That evening, our apartment building hosted a resident's BBQ on the rooftop pool deck, so after doing some bike shopping in the afternoon, Mr. E and I stopped by to check out the offerings. Not too much for me except a bag of Fritos, but Mr. E was able to grab enough for his dinner later that night.

Saturday afternoon, we practiced our pickleball skills during the open gym time at the Y dedicated to beginners and families. Oof! I definitely need more practice! I'm glad we'll be taking another beginners skills workshop series in the fall. Mr. E met up with M in the afternoon to hang out with him as he got his UW Madison Terrace chair tatto, and that evening, we all went to the Out of Space open air concert festival in nearby Skokie to see Gabriela y Rodrigo, a favorite duo of M & L. Mr. E and I got to test out our new beach chairs (excellent!), and luckily the sun was mostly down by the time we arrived, so the weather was actually quite pleasant despite the warm and humid temperatures from earlier in the day.

On Sunday, we went to two open houses (not impressed) and finally made it to the beach in the late afternoon. Of course, our timing was just perfect to arrive at Clark Street Beach as the clouds rolled in for a couple of hours in what was otherwise a sunny and clear day. Too funny! We still enjoyed wading in the [surprisingly warm] Lake and reading on the beach. Next year, we'll need to do this more often, especially now that we have our comfy and easily-portable chairs.

The following Friday was Mr. E's birthday, and we met up with his family for an early dinner at the Oyster Bar at Shaw's Crab House. We had spent most of that day preparing and getting organized for our return to Sac. So on Saturday, after brunch at Le Peep, we packed up the kitties and did our final cleaning chores before M picked us up for the trip to O'Hare. The nice thing about the return trip is that we arrive at a much more reasonable time thanks to having the time difference work in our favor (and thanks to being so much closer to SMF than to ORD)! We were able to unpack and pick up takeout dinner in a reasonable time and start to get settled in for our month-ish here in Sac.

Other items of note for July included visiting two "new" restaurants, attending two Book Club meetings (for me) and several more amazing sunsets, including a very weird almost-fake looking red ball o' sun due to the wildfire smoke (photos below). 

The first restaurant was Tapas Barcelona just across the street from us (which we realized we'd actually been to years ago with M & L... oops), and the second was Kuni's Japanese Restaurant (which only Mr. E had been to once with M & L). Tapas had some wonderful seafood offerings and were unhesitatingly helpful in accommodating my allium allergy, so we'll definitely be making that part of our regular rotation. Kuni's was only meh, and considering how many other Japanese options we have even closer to us, we've pretty much taken that off the list for a repeat visit. 

We returned to Sac Aug 2nd and will be here until the 26th. So nice to be out of that nasty humidity!!! The triple digits here really aren't bad at all when the air stays clear and the temps drop nearly 40 degrees at night to the mid-60s.