Why I Oughta...

I'm clearly a day late here, but have to tell you that I was so excited to watch the euphoria that the Womens' team wore all over their faces and play on Sunday night.  I was texting Nat and the girls all throughout the game.  #PlayLikeaGirl But, yesterday I found out little nugget - via Oskee Wow Wow Today - that makes me like the outcome even more:  Head Coach Jill Ellis is a former member of the Fighting Illini family.  She coached the womens' team in their inaugural season back in 1997. Go Illini.  Congrats to Coach Ellis and whole team.

Hey....Nat can't complain about me cracking into this delicious bag of Bugles when we're up in Michigan, right?  I mean, it just *flat out* says that being a blogger grants me the right to devour these things. There are certain things that 'remind' me of being in Michigan.  They're usually foodstuffs Bugles lead the pack.

At one of the garage sales up in Coloma, I came across a tub of old Christmas stuff and as I usually do and dug out this tree topper angel.  She has a cardboard cone body and a porcelain head and is about 12" tall.  I picked her up and set her aside and kept looking to see if there was anything else in the tub worth picking. When I set her to the side, the lady who was running the garage sale remarked "oh...I remember that angel!  My mom used to put that on top of our tree.  That brings me right back to my childhood.  We would put it up on our tree every year!". I immediately thought...'ut oh.  She's sentimental about this thing, so she's going to either say that she didn't know it was in there and she doesn't want to sell it or tell a higher price like $10.' So...I replied to her:  "Oh yeah.  That's neat.  So...how much do you want for her?" Her answer?  "How about ten cents?" A dime?!?  Seriously?  I ran to m

Found this $2 coffee cup tree with an owl on at at a Garage Sale up in Michigan and was surprised when I turned the mugs over and found this: There were four mugs and a little pitcher on the tree.  For two bucks! But...alas....I passed.

This whole crate of horseshoes was five bucks.  I've never come across a set of shoes like this with the leather on them and the spikes attached.  But....I passed.

Spotted this "moving sale" sign hanging in the window of Salt Creek Pottery on North York Street in Elmhurst.  Salt Creek Pottery is (currently) located on York Street just north of where the Palmer underpass re-joins York by the Starbucks in the City Centre.  It is one of the very few businesses on the east side of the street between City Hall and the newish Yoga place on the northeast corner of Palmer and York.  The white-brick building is full of vacant store fronts and likely suffers from a lack of street-parking access that would encourage a lot more drive-up/walk-ins. Anyone know where they're moving?  Another location in the City Centre?

These sets of blue and pink babies and storks were in a set of cake toppers that I came across at a garage sale  this week.  Two bucks for the whole set of them.  But...I passed.

I wrote about how we attended Solemn Oath's "Oath Day Three" earlier this month here on the blog , but I had another 'encounter' with the brand this weekend when Nat and I went to the new Whole Foods out on Route 83.  Nat has been there a few times, but it was my first time.  (More on that later) While she was poking around the bakery section, I was drawn to the "Ales and Lagers" section of the beer cooler - as one is naturally - and spotted this sign for Solemn Oath Brewing Company above the cooler.  Have to give Whole Foods credit:  they're really into promoting hyperlocal offerings and they go above and beyond to call some vendors out.  One of those is the guys at Solemn Oath - where they note the brewery is a mere 20 miles away.  Pretty neat to see them get some promotion. If you haven't checked it out already, go back and read the post about Oath Day Three .

Over the weekend, I found myself in the little parking lot behind the businesses on York and Addison Streets in the Elmhurst City Centre.  What is (obviously) most striking about the space now is the towering garage that is being built right in the center of town. I posted about the beginnings of the deck going up in early May here .  There's been some discussion about the impact the garage is having on the 'skyline' but I for one, am just fine with it.  The long-term gain we'll get out of adding the much-needed parking in this huge deck will be a win for the Elmhurst City Centre and hopefully fuel some new additional commercial growth in our downtown.

For Father's Day this year, the girls gave me a few pairs of Bombas socks.  They have adopted the Tom's 'model' where for every pair purchased, they donate a pair of socks.  Turns out that socks are the #1 most requested item in homeless shelters. You can find out more or buy your own pair of Bombas here on their site . I asked for the calf-height version, but Nat veto'd that and gave me these ankle-height ones.  She, did, however, go with the right color:  orange. I've been wearing them for a few days and I do, indeed, think they're 'better' socks.  Just like getting a nice pair of Thorlos, these Bombas have some nice little advancements that make your life a little bit better.  From the blister tab on the back where your heel meets your leg to the honeycomb support on the arches, these socks feel pretty nice. We haven't put them through the wash yet, so I don't know how they'll do hold up, but so far, I'm impressed.