Yesterday was my husband's birthday and instead of presents and a party,
we had a relaxing and fun day out and about. Brian and I are both introverted
(yep, two introverts can indeed make a good match!) and prefer quiet times
and not a lot of hoopla and fanfare. Might have a little something to do
with getting older, too. ;-)
I've talked before about the town of Evanston - me, my mom and aunt were
there on a day trip recently and I blogged about it
here. Brian wanted to spend
the day in Evanston for his birthday since he grew up there. And we saw
that there was a soul-rock band playing in a park that evening and that there'd
be some top food trucks from Chicago at the park as well, so we thought
that sounded like a fun thing to check out.
We first had lunch at one of those small, greasy corner pizza places that turns
out the best pizza. And you can get it by the slice. I'm telling you, this place -
Gigios - should be on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Anyway, Brian and I used
to frequent this place all the time when we were dating way back in the early 80's
and the employees were so thrilled when we got married! Those employees aren't
there anymore, but the restaurant still turns out the same pizza.
We then went to our favorite resale antique store - Secret Treasures. Like I've
said, I think it's a good thing we don't live close to this store because it's too
much temptation for me. So many cool, vintage things...dishes, glassware,
suitcases, jewelry, silverware, linens, art, small pieces of furniture, kitchen tools,
dice, buttons, toys, postcards, greeting cards, on and on. And the prices can't
be beat. I never walk out of that store empty-handed. My favorite thing I
found yesterday was this vintage brownie camera. I knew it'd look perfect
on top of my old books. The two vintage chess pieces are from the
barn sale we
went to at the beginning of June.
Someone had brought in a cool collection of watercolors. There were a few pieces
I really liked but we are on a budget, so I had to draw the line somewhere. This one
was Brian's favorite piece since it's of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco ~
where we spent our 25th anniversary. When Tim moves out (only three weeks!), we'll
be transforming his room into a guest room and we already have some special art
pieces that we know we'll be hanging in that room. This will be one of them.
Who remembers sharpening their pencils in school with one of these hand-cranked
sharpeners? I sure do. This still works, too. By the way, that's phlox you can see out
the window. Isn't it lovely?
I have never collected thimbles. I've never even been interested in thimbles.
But I saw a bowl of these for 25 cents each and decided to pick through them
to see if there were any that caught my eye. There were four that I really liked
and I knew they'd fit perfectly in my shadow box. Not sure if the one on the left
is a Holly Hobbie, but I thought the little boy and girl were endearing. The one on
the right is a hand-painted thimble from Israel (marked inside).
I simply thought the pewter thimble was pretty (the other side says "mother") and
love the detail of the kangaroos and grass on the other.
The entire shadowbox...
Was excited to find a large Goebel owl since I had the baby owl at home.
I acted silly with the two owls at home, having the baby one "kiss" the mama
and saying in a high-pitched voice, "Oh, mama, there you are! I've been looking
for you!" Brian just rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, brother." Hey, you have to
lighten up sometimes and act silly, right?
Not sure why this tiny metal garden tool has a rake on one hand and a shovel on
the other, but I thought it'd be great for a fairy garden. I placed it in a pot of
geraniums for now.
Last, but not least is this pretty blue vase. Not sure if it's old or not, but it
sure is pretty. I'm a sucker for blue and red glass.
A trip to Evanston wouldn't be complete without some time at our favorite park
by the lake (Lake Michigan - or the Michigan Ocean, as Brian calls it). I had made
a homemade banana cake for Brian's birthday and brought along a couple of pieces
for us to enjoy. Here is Brian shoving the cake in his mouth while talking to his sister
on the phone. Who says men can't multi-task?
I took some pictures at the lake with my phone camera and loved how this
one turned out. Had no idea the sun's rays were shining on us like this.
It was finally time to head to the park to listen to the band and try some
food from one of the food trucks. I had read about The Tamale Spaceship online
and it had great reviews. Check out the masked guy at the window! One of the
guys behind this business is a mask collector, so I'm assuming they thought wearing
masks would be a positive attention-getter for the business.
The tamales did not disappoint. I had the adobo roasted chicken tamale with poblano
mole sauce. I'll let you in on a little secret about me: I adore mole sauce. I know there's
many different kinds of mole and different ways of making it depending on the particular
region of Mexico, but I'm willing to try just about any kind unless it's super spicy.
The band was fantastic. The female singer has a strong, sultry voice
and I loved the trio of the trombone, sax, and trumpet.
I hope your weekend is full of treasures and little celebrations, too.
