Why I Oughta...

I was at Mariano's in Naperville over the weekend when I came across a huge Hi-C display on one of the end caps.   And...it took me a moment to figure out what was going on here.  The whole juicebox world has been shaken up and now Natalie brings home organic, healthy, what-have-you juice boxes for the kids that are mostly from Trader Joe's and she usually turns her nose up at things like Capri Sun and the like. But...Hi-C?  I think she'd call it sugar water.  But...but...but...she's a HUGE Ghostbusters fan.  In fact, her whole family is bonkers for Ghostbusters.  I'm talking DIY Halloween costumes in the 80's and 90's and holding on to vintage Ghostbusters toys for future grandkids-kinda bonkers.  Good bonkers, btw.  But...Ghostbusters bonkers. So, I put them in the cart and brought them hope.  Guess what?!?  She loved them!  Fired off a few photos to her brothers scattered around the country.  The kids drank them up.  Had no idea that nostalgia ruled

Neil Steinberg from the Chicago Sun-Times always does the best obituaries .

Yesterday, I posted about this sweet, vintage Fighting Illini sweater that I scored at a swanky Estate Sale in Elmhurst , and today comes another item that came out of that very same sale:  this moose creamer. I spotted this moose and did the same thing that I did with the sweater:  texted a photo to Nat and asked her if we should pick it up for her Mom - who is into the wilderness and other mountain-related-what-have-yous.  Just like the sweater, Nat said 'yes' to this one. I gleefully brought it home and we gave it to Nat's mom the following weekend.   Only to discover that she already has one of these!  Well...not *exactly* one of these, but something pretty similar.  So, now she has a pair. Check the thing out below:  the cream (or perhaps gravy?!?!?!)  comes pouring right out of the moose's mouth: One different between the one I bought and the one already on hand:  this one is stamped "Austria", so it has some international provenance - which

A few weeks back, there was a pretty awesome Estate Sale at a house in Elmhurst on Cottage Hill (the swankiest street in town, maybe????) and after taking my number and waiting to get in (yes, they had you take a number and limited the number of shoppers in the loaded house), I came out with a few items including this sweater that I just *had* to take a selfie of that morning. I snapped this pic and texted it to Nat with a 'What do you think?' and instead of her usual 'pass' on the garage sale junk I come across, she said 'of course!  Buy it!'  So...this sweet, kinda tight beauty came home with me and I can't wait to break it out on a college football Saturday this fall when I support Lovie Smith and the boys in orange fight against their Big Ten brethren. Last month, I posted 3 other Estate Sale sweaters , so I'm starting to wonder to myself is *this* becoming a thing now for me?

That's pretty swoon-worthy, isn't it?  We found these doors at the Reuse Depot in Maywood.  If you're in the market for doors, go there.  You won't be disappointed.  It is the same place that has the stairs that I posted earlier this year and called 'the stairs of my dreams' .

With the calendar turning to July, it is natural to start thinking about Christmas, right?  Wait...what's that you say?  It's not time to start thinking about Christmas? Well...July is the 7th month of the year, so that means we're officially more than half-way to Christmas.  So...it was time to do a little maintenance on my little Christmas project site that I launched last year. I went ahead and upgraded the countdown clock over on the "Can I Listen to Christmas Music?" project site .  It is now a separate object that I grabbed from this T ickCounter site .  It is a responsive embedded object, so it flows big and small depending on the device you're on. I've pasted it below in this post, but if you want to stay up-to-date on all things Christmas Music and when the time is right to listen, you can go over there and subscribe for email updates.  Seriously...go do that.  This way, you won't be caught with a Bing Crosby-related faux pas come Octob

I came across this print from Shag ( Josh Agle ) at Boutiki and it caught my attention because it reminds me of this Tiki Room one by Joey Chou that we picked up last year .  This one (above) doesn't have the Dole Whip reference, but is still pretty cute. The back reads: "On hot summer days, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room offers a magical, cooling, and calming oasis for the Disneyland guest.  Unchanged since 1963, the Tiki Room still gets kids to squeal in delight and adults to relive their childhood."

Found a set of four of these Coors chalice glasses at a garage sale.  They wanted $1 for the pair.  But...since we have neither a bar in our basement nor...a house...I had to pass.  Seems like they'd be a welcome addition to Uncle Peter's collection?  Maybe we should have sprung for them after all? They read: Brewed With Pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water.

This interesting piece is hung up in the little nook by the elevators in the Grand Ceremonial House at the Polynesian.  Standing there, waiting for the elevator (so we can take the stroller up to the Monorail entrance), I saw this for the first time. After walking by it dozens of times, I'm sure.

Low, sporadic clouds like these make for an interesting view from my office.  Some of my favorite days are ones like this that give me the whole 'up in the clouds' feels.