Ashley’s own record — the errands, the doctrines, the sightings, the cafés, gyms and boutiques. People on the street, Trixies and TrixieMales enjoying the high life in the Village. Catch up on what’s happening in Lincoln Park.
I stopped to admire an older black Cadillac on a side street this week. It was very long, with wire wheels and the sort of upholstery you don't see much anymore. There was some wear in the paint, but under the parkway tree it looked rather grand.
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Someone sent me a photograph of the WGN news team reunited in a beer garden. Anchors, reporters, producers and meteorologists, several rows of them, under string lights. I spent quite a while looking at it.
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I have become very particular about nugget ice. It is the small, chewable kind, and I like a glass filled right to the top before anything goes in. Sparkling water is perfectly good on it.
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A Burling Street Member writes in: her husband suspects a small data center in their building’s basement and the board will not confirm. Ashley responds on board behavior, water-pressure logs, and the situations in which one is obliged to credit one’s husband…
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Brian came by Tuesday to go over the cameras. We're adding four more: the gangway, garage, back corner of the garden and one facing the parkway, which he says is for context. That puts us at fifteen.
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Everyone is asking about Mexico. This February I would like to stay home and have a few people for soup.
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Someone at the CAPS planning session asked where I get the bagels. Usually, when I have time, I drive up to New York Bagel and Bialy on Touhy. They have actual bialys, and the bags are still warm when I bring them into the house.
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Fourteen hours to Terminal 3. Jonathan warmed the car, Brian reported on the fox, and the weather forecast was familiar.
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A proposal on the snorkel boat, turtles and a question at the villa gates. I answered as far as residences.
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Coffee on the lanai, wedding parties on the beach path and a possible sighting near the chapel.
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The packing list is on the pantry door. The yellow dress is already in its bag, and Leilani has confirmed the villa.
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We stayed home with the good champagne and finally settled the lake house question.
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The AI gave the house projects four pages. I would have spent more time on Deb, the ornaments and the motorcycle.
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Three returns, one exchange and a green sweater Jonathan would like to keep. Dana has already had the last word about receipts.
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He brought the printer home and ran it for three days. Tonight we saw the ornaments.
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Fourteen boxes to buy and wrap. Marina’s card will simply say “for the sleeve.”
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The Peninsula, our old building and Bitsy’s casual open house, all in one evening. The coat had its first outing.
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Marcus checked the garland and proposed six minutes of winter lights for whoever is at the kitchen window.
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I gave the AI our family news. It made Jonathan a visionary and the cornucopia an installation.
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Deb had never had lunch under the Great Tree. We met at the State Street clock and stayed for two hours.
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Glühwein at Daley Plaza and a snowman for the pantry shelf. I kept the one with the imperfect scarf.
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The coat I was advised against is forty percent off. The advice has changed.
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The schedule protected my shower and got dinner ready on time. It did not account for what Grandmother took home.
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The man in the Burgundy aisle remembered me. He asked whether I had opened the bottles, and what I was waiting for.
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Sixteen for Thanksgiving, and my son is printing the centerpiece. His grandmother would like to inspect it before I do.
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The chairs are waiting in the gangways. I have views, although I will be leaving from a heated garage.
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Deb took me from the Daley Center to Millennium Station without going outside. I have arranged our next lunch.
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Gerald called at 8:02. The color really is different in person, and my niece has collected the old car.
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Three hours, four transfers and a very persuasive man named Dennis. Jonathan has printed the confirmation.
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Brian brought the Halloween footage: 511 visitors, a lingering sea captain and a man who took two bars.
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Jonathan wants to keep cable until the World Series is over. Apparently there will also be a period of processing.
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Friends came for one game in September. Now they have assigned dip responsibilities and we appear to be hosting every Sunday.
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The full-size bars are counted. Our neighbor has hired a seasonal narrative consultant; we are doing pumpkins.
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The cedar house passed its rain inspection. At four, we found out what the outbuilding next door was for.
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The fixed bar worked. Margot brought the guest survey, and Erin had another explanation for why everyone gathered there.
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Jonathan was delighted with the Triumph. We opened the garage, took off the sheet and let him look at it properly. I am keeping the rest of the birthday morning to myself.
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During jury duty at the Daley Center I had lunch with three other jurors. One of them said she needed to go to the County Building, the one by City Hall. I said they were two halves of the same building. I may have said it rather promptly.
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We've booked Maui for after New Year's. Jonathan checked his calendar, I checked mine, and the AI helped with the flights. Naples in February is still a possibility, although there is some support in the family for staying home afterward.
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My son wants an eight-hundred-dollar 3-D printer for his apartment. He says it pays for itself. I asked what he planned to make, and he turned his laptop around to show me a very well-organized folder.
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The kitchen television is usually on the news. Someone asked which station I prefer, and I realized I had quite a long answer. I grew up in a Floyd Kalber household, so I am accustomed to having an opinion about the local anchors.
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I tried to compare cable with streaming and discovered that most advice assumes you have one or two televisions. We have ten. I didn't choose ten at once; I counted them while making the list.
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After the yellow dress went so well, I asked the AI to help me shop. I expected it to find sizes and compare prices. I had a particular charcoal coat in mind, from a Milanese house, in a 42.
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I let the AI choose my clothes for a week. Photographing the closet took forty minutes, but it was useful to have the pictures afterward. Each morning I gave it my schedule and asked for an outfit.
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My son showed me how to use the AI when he was home. He said to talk to it like a person. I sit at the kitchen island with my reading glasses and ask it things I have meant to look up.
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I went to Binny's on Marcey for the soirée wine. I still think of it as Sam's when I'm driving there. I had the case count, a budget and the relevant pages from Margot's beverage presentation.
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With the soirée coming up, I finally had lights put in the garden. The boxwood and bluestone looked lovely during the day, but after dinner I could barely see them from the house.
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Jonathan used to keep a photograph of a British racing green Triumph in his law-school locker. He still mentions the bike occasionally, usually as if he is commenting on the design. I found the photograph among his saved programs, between a Lyric Opera insert and our son's kindergarten graduation.
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We're having sixty people for the September soirée, using the parlor and the garden, with a jazz trio. I mentioned to Margot Pemberton that I hadn't settled the bar arrangement. She came over Thursday with a presentation in her tote.
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I went to State Street for lunch at the Walnut Room. There was no particular errand. Sometimes I want to see the clock and the Tiffany dome and have the chicken pot pie, and that is enough of a plan.
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I met Meredith for lunch downtown Tuesday. Her firm's cafeteria is on the forty-fourth floor and has been redone as an amenity space. Meredith had to come down to security for me. I had thought giving her name would be enough. Four of us sat together once a robot arm had finished making my twenty-four-dollar salad. It took longer than I expected. Meredith says they are piloting it, and there was a small audience, so perhaps the timing improves when everyone stops watching.
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I spent an hour on Facebook Sunday with a glass of iced tea. I don't look very often, and there was quite a lot to catch up on.
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Dana and I went to a permitted march downtown for a cause I care about. I'm keeping the politics out of this entry. Dana had printed our signs on very heavy cardstock, which looked excellent and became less convenient as the morning went on.
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Since Jonathan has raised the possibility of selling the lake house, I wanted to see what was available in Southwest Michigan. I spent three days in Harbor Country with a realtor named Sandee. She had a spotless Escalade and knew a great deal about the school districts, although I told her schools weren't part of our search.
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Jonathan and I went to Alinea for our anniversary. It is close enough that we really ought to go more often, although I like having a reason to make an evening of it.
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When the church basement flooded, I offered our house for the CAPS meeting. I thought they might already have another room lined up. They didn't, so Beat 1814 now meets in our parlor on the second Tuesday.
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I received the 41st Ward newsletter and couldn't follow the cost-sharing arrangement for its sidewalk program. I wrote back with some questions. Jonathan pointed out that we live in the 43rd, which I do know. It didn't make the figures any clearer.
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I asked Brian O'Halloran whether we needed a camera or two. The house has four stories, and I can't see the garden gate from the kitchen. Our neighbors have cameras, and the CAPS officer had mentioned them. I was thinking of a doorbell.
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All I originally wanted was to hear music in the kitchen. We now have fourteen audio zones. There are four people in the family, and one of them is away at college.
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There is nothing wrong with my car. It starts every morning, the seats are comfortable and the massage still works. I am a little tired of the interior. That is the whole problem, although it took me most of an afternoon at the dealership to say so.
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Dana had a spin-class credit expiring, so I used it. Whitney did not come. Someone asked afterward, but Whitney does her mornings at East Bank and had no part in this.
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We went to Ravinia Thursday to hear the CSO. Jonathan kept the program, so I can ask him what the Russian piece was. I thought it was Prokofiev, but I would check before telling anyone.
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I do Pilates on Webster on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The studio is quiet, and my instructor can correct my position with two fingers without interrupting what she is saying. I like knowing exactly where I am supposed to be.
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Whitney had our towels arranged when Caroline and I joined her on the East Bank sundeck Friday. She likes the same corner every time. So do I, particularly when she gets there first.
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I got to Green City Market at 7:40 on Wednesday, which I thought was quite good until I saw the women already leaving with full bags. Several were in walking clothes. I really should combine the two.
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A new barista at the Armitage Starbucks asked me to repeat my order. She was very sweet about it, but by the time I got to the ice I could see why she hadn't caught everything. I counted seventeen specifications. I had been thinking of it as a fairly simple coffee.
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We spent the Fourth at the lake house. The drive took two hours and ten minutes. Carol Hendrickson says she can do it in ninety, but she also has three camera tickets outstanding in Fontana, so I am comfortable with our time.
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Last week, I double-parked my brand new Jetta near Webster and Halsted, and ran up to my friend Julie’s apartment to get some movies to drop off at Blockbuster on my way to work. In the brief time I was in Julie’s apartment, someone vandali…
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July 15, 3:30 pm–Kelsey Novotny and a group of friend received poor service at the Salt & Pepper Grill located at Lincoln and Wrightwood. “We-me and Hilly and Des–all came in Sunday afternoon for a late lunch. And right away this…
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January 1 Today I was driving my Jetta south down Sheffield on the way to Smith & Hawken, and I ran into the most horrific parking altercation. Rear-view of TrixieMale’s Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 sitting on the hood of an old 60’s junker…
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July 15–Society Member Rianne O’Rourke was riding through the neighborhood on her silver and candy blue Trek 8000 WSD–a gift from her husband Rob–when she became thirsty. Locking up her bike on the racks in front of Webster…
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“BUCKTOWN BOX IN” September 29 – 4:00 P.M. Last week, my boyfriend Mark and I went condo shopping in the “hip” Bucktown area, just west of our wonderful Village. After an hour’s debate, we decided that we were willing to stray slightl…
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JULY 5, 3:34 P.M. The way I see it, I was innocent, and the guy in the pathfinder was negligent. Very negligent. The damage that he caused was beyond belief, and caused me so much trouble, that he should have to pay. They should not le…
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Friday, June 29. 6:45 P.M. – Armitage/Halsted Society Member Kristin Harris reported that she was stared down by a strange-looking man after exiting the Citibank ATM Kiosk on the corner of Armitage & Halsted. Jenny Mack, who was acros…
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“THE MAN WHO DIDN’T BELONG.. ….IN A YELLOW PORSCHE” JUNE 22, 11:34 A.M. Today I was heading over to my favorite Starbucks at North and Sheffield in my Black year Jetta, which I just purchased at Loeber motors (with the Loeber plates, n…
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Wednesday, June 27, 9:01 A.M. – Sheffield & North Avenue Society member Jenny Wilson was happily perched in a large, purple overstuffed chair drinking an extra-shot chai half-decaf skim soy latte at the Starbucks store at this locatio…
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"hi.. i came upon your webpage a few days ago.. While i come from an extremly upper class family, I live in Paradise Valley Arizona (the Malibu, Beverly Hills of…" Answered as originally published.
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"Dear Ashley, Is it possible to join the Society if I came from humble beginnings? My dad was a mechanic and my mother was a housekeeper, but I managed to…"
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"At one time I read in a magazine that there was a place in Lincoln Park for the best total makeover. Do you know where it is?…" Answered as originally published.
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"When does this site get updated? I absolutely love keeping "informed" and abreast of all the exciting happenings and going on's in Lincoln Park since I had to move to…" Answered as originally published.
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"Ashley, Does your group support alternative lifestyles amongst residents of Lincoln Park? My boyfriend and I live at Belden and Sheffield because we love the neighborhood and the people ---…"
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MAY 22, 10:00 A.M. Today I was driving down Sheffield near Webster on my way to get some coffee and then zoom to my spa appointment at Marios downtown. As I approached the intersection, I noticed that my best friend Melissa was going the op…
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Tuesday June 26, 6:20 P.M. – block of North Halsted Street Society Member Kendra O’Reilly was out for cocktails with her friends Cheryl, Maralat, Jay and Tiffany at Tilli’s. While the group was guzzling Guinness and people watchi…
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An Open Letter from Ashley Munroe. Dear Members and Friends, Jonathan and I were married on December 16th. I am pleased to report that the plan we announced for our wedding night was executed successfully and on schedule. I'm pregnant…
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MAY 12, 4:00 P.M. On my way back from the athletic club this afternoon, I was driving down Fullerton going south. I was in search of some food to pick up on the way to my spa appointment. I only like to eat healthy food after a vigorous wor…
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