Several months ago, Kyle forwarded the name of a store to me as a place I might enjoy: Lost Eras. He'd never been there, but he'd heard it had good vintage stuff.

That could be the understatement of the century.

One day this week, on a whim, I decided to walk there with my W's. 

It's only about half a mile from the house and it would take me new places, and I am always on the search for various things. At the moment, I'm specifically looking for either a Hoosier cabinet or a buffet/hutch/cabinet for my dining room. 

I'm also looking for something interesting to use as bedside tables and possibly for stained glass to use in my transom windows. I always have "things" I keep an eye out for.

Things like this gorgeous piece which had a little desk with drawers that opened up. 

I loved it!

I walked into this store and felt like I was in heaven. It spoke to me on so many levels that I could have cried with delight! Glassware, ceramics, crocks, china, teacups, sterling silver flatware, silver tea sets....I was fortunate that my stroller JUST fit down the aisle because this was happening. I WAS going to explore every nook and cranny.

Umbrella stand. $24. Love it!

A pair of Midcentury Modern night tables. LOVE THEM!

This piece may, in fact, be exactly what I'm looking for for my dining room. It meets all my color and space requirements, and the price is right. 

Check out the globe stand. Pretty great, huh?

In addition to having an overwhelming selection of vintage and antique things, Lost Eras is known for its costumes. You can rent or buy them.

There was a whole wall of masks, wigs, hats, etc. 

A funny side note: I have been trying to track down a certain Manuel who is working on a porch of a house further down Chase. He's been removing rotten spindles and replacing them on an old Queens Anne house. I walk past this house regularly and even got his phone number once, but apparently entered it in my phone incorrectly. And I want him to come look at my porch and give me a quote to fix its issues. But I keep missing him. 

I walk into Lost Eras, and there is Manuel behind the counter! Apparently the owner of Lost Eras is the owner of the Queen Anne house on my street and uses Manuel for various projects and tasks. Needless to say, I capitalized on his presence and got the right number for him, and he's coming Friday to look at my porch. Yeah! 

Once the W's and I gave the upstairs a once-over, I inquired about a basement. I vaguely recalled someone mentioning their epic basement.

I spotted and made a b-line to these fabulous green chairs. 

I have expensive taste. Apparently, these are the original Wrigley Field bleacher seats that had been removed when the stands were updated. Each chair costs $500.  No discounts applied for rotting wood, either.  Sheesh. I'm not that sentimental. I just thought they looked cool.

Epic was no exaggeration. The square footage of this basement space had to be over 3,000. It was a place you could easily get lost in. It also had a frighteningly low ceiling and I had to regularly duck for pipes. At one point, someone flushed a toilet or something and Wyeth and I screeched in fear - it sounded like a rush of water pouring near us. It was ok, though. Just loud pipes.

Immediately upon entering the basement, this was my view. Row after row of vintage clothing. Not necessarily costumes, just vintage clothing of every imaginable era and genre. 

That was just the beginning.

There were rooms dedicated to antique chairs and stools. 

It was like an antique hoarder's stash.

There were rooms dedicated to certain things like light fixtures, briefcases, steamer trunks, old tools, books, vinyl records, men's suiting, men's dress shoes...

A uni-cycle, metal washbins, vintage butter crocks, school house lighting...

Need an old telephone? Or golf clubs?

I later found out from my neighbor that many of these items are used as props for sets. 

Need a vinyl record? Or something on which to play one?

Wyeth found a stash of really cool walking sticks and some swords.

It was amazing. It made me happy in a way that very few things do. I called Kyle as I walked home, just giddy. It's the kind of place that descriptions don't do justice - you simply have to experience it.I could have spent hours there and not run out of things to explore and inspect.

If you're ever in the Chi-town area, specifically Rogers Park, Lost Eras is located on the corner at the intersection of Howard and Rogers Avenue. It's worth finding and checking out.

The other truly amazing thing is how well my W's hold up to such adventures. I usually bring my carrier and end up wearing Wilder who invariably falls asleep at some point. But Wyeth is just phenomenal. He sticks right by my side, offers up some comments at different objects and never touches anything. He's the perfect child. I kid you not. He never complains, asks for food or drink...just troops along and takes it all in. I'm so proud of him. Makes exploring Chi-town with my W's even more enjoyable. Until next time...

For the past 4 and a half weeks, Wyeth and Wilder have been my daytime companions while their older siblings are at summer camp.  Most days, after the 9am drop off, we walk back home and eat breakfast and I make my morning French Press or espresso.  Immediately afterwards, we head to the gym, which, lovely as it is, has wonky childcare hours. 8am-12pm and 4pm-8pm. It's one of my least favorite aspects of the gym. Super inconvenient.

But it does make me get there early in the day, so there's that!  

After the gym, many days we come home and I tackle my to-do list and the boys play.

They play together so well! 

Some days, we head to explore different things in our city.

One recent place of exploration was a local restaurant I'd heard good things about: Ann Sather.

There was an Ann Sather who ran this place, but died several years ago. She was Swedish and there is a distinctly Swedish vibe to the place.

The day the W's and I went there, we found that one seating area was full, so they opened up a whole section just for us! We were the only people in there and we had our own waiter and it was blissful! 

Our waiter said we were his VIP section.

It felt very VIP.

The thing Ann Sather is famous for is the cinnamon rolls. They were actually not an original menu item, but the man groomed by Ann to take over her restaurant added them to the menu and they have become a "thing." They are baked fresh, are huge and seriously delicious.  Plus, here's the thing: if you order any egg item you get two sides. One side option is 2 cinnamon rolls. And you can order 2 sides of those, giving you 4 yummy cinnamon rolls! A family of four we know regularly goes there and spends $10 for eggs and a cinnamon roll for everyone. 

I ordered 2 eggs over medium with a side of cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns, and shared my cinnamon roll with Wyeth. It was the perfect amount of food. Plus, they give you endless cups of coffee for super cheap and it was good coffee.  

It lived up to the hype for me and my W's. I'm gonna be sad when the explorations get more pricey with my the whole gaggle...

Once again, I'm so grateful for our wonderful neighbors and the family friendships we are fostering. Right now, there is a core of four families on our block who are pretty consistent about organizing get togethers and it is always a fantastic time!

This time, the idea was a backyard movie with a potluck dinner. My friend, Kate, has an amazing backyard for just such a venue which is awesome since the whole movie night was her idea!

She arranged seating throughout and of course, the kids immediately flocked to their play gym.

I was mildly alarmed at the load they were applying to the structure, but thankfully, they weren't up there all at once too long. 

We have had a very mild summer so far, with only a few days hitting the mid-80's, and this particular evening it was downright chilly. 

Here are the Chase boys. Such great men.

From left to right: Mike, Kyle (holding Wilder), Dylan (crouched on the ground by his Dad), Andy and Skip.  These are some wonderful fathers and husbands and we Chase ladies are so proud of them.

They were plotting a Sunday fishing trip on Lake Michigan in this photo. They were pretty giddy. You can't take the boy out of the man. And that's a good thing.

It was such an easy, comfortable time with our friends. The party was the day before August's birthday, so I contributed a chocolate cake and watermelon. The kids (as you can see in the photo), pounced on the watermelon immediately. So while our kids played and munched, we just talked and enjoyed each other.

Kate set up a drinks table and to the right by the pavers is where the movie was to be shown.

Pretty nifty! 

Brooklyn, August and Dorien always find themselves together even amid crowds of other kids. Makes me proud.

Ok, so I was introduced to a seriously delicious drink - brewed by a Wisconsin company. New Glarus Brewing Co. So this Raspberry Tart Ale is something I'd never had before, but it rocked my world. Amazing.

The kids decided to eat like Romans and stretched out on their bellies to dig into their plates. 

Speaking of plates, the other amazing thing about our group is the quality of food. It's gourmet every time. We had a variety of foods, from a roasted gazpacho soup, caprese paninis, pasta salad, arugula salad, a couscous-chickpea salad, a shrimp and vegetable panzanella...it was unbelievably delicious. Not your average potluck, for sure. Two of the four families are vegetarian, so that always makes the food choices even better!

Sorry about the horrible moment I caught Wyeth, but it was too cute to see him eating by himself.

Dorien and Keira used some stumps under the cherry tree as their dining tables.

My handsome son, August, considers his delicious cake (Gone to Glory Chocolate Cake) before blowing out his candles.

Happy Birthday, August!

Almost time for the movie to start! When will that sun set?

At last! Andy set up the projector and they watched the movie, Sing!

Our sweet kiddos. 

Hi mom!

The later it got, the colder it got, and blankets were needed. I had to peek in on the movie, too, as I've only seen bits of it. Pretty cute movie!

Meanwhile, Kate and Andy moved the bigger chairs around a fire pit and had some grown-up time. I love her string of fairy lights!! It was a truly magical evening!

Kyle and I took turns holding Wilder who fell asleep on us. We brought a too-large sweatshirt and put it on him and it served as pretty nice blanket.

Wilder, Kyle and me. 

It was a wonderful night, we stayed up pretty late and I was thankful that none of us had to get up early the next day (Monday) as it was August's birthday.

Summer with my neighbors....it's delightful.