Yard Art: Chic or Tacky?

An Overheardian opposed to yard art asked for reader opinion. I’m torn. I’m not such a fan of cutsey little flags but this circle thing and it’s friend in the background live in the lawn of an elegant Highland Park estate. Chic or tacky? In an effort to get less hate mail this week I lean toward chic.

Mi Cocina Culture, Part Dos

Went to Mi Cocina in the Village tonight, was relegated to upstairs “family room.”  Parklebrity status is so fleeting.

At Least One Person Likes the Fountain

Someone wants a painting of the fountain? Do you think the urn salesman ordered it?

Volamom Rehab

This e-mail made my day:

Dear Merritt,

I’ve said bad things about your column and I’ve urged others not to buy Park Cities People until they refused to run your column. I knew it anyway but my husband finally told me that I am a volamom. I’m a member of the Momafia. Please don’t use my name because I’m trying to figure a way to get out with my reputation somewhat in tact.

I thought if I told you I’d be accountable in some way for recovering and making changes. My husband insisted I start making new friends and becoming a fun person again. I intend to do that.

An almost former volamom

Chase Lot, Get Over Yourself

I met Hutson at Kuby’s for lunch/coffee this afternoon and parked in the Chase lot across the street. You know the one that says “Kuby’s customers first hour free.” I got my little ticket stamped and everything. I knew I’d been there about an hour and a half and expected to pay a buck or two.

The guy calculated my time and said it would be TEN DOLLARS!

I flipped out and he let me go but what if I’d been some little shy senior citizen? Ten bucks? Puhleeeeeease! Jason, for future reference, would you have paid the ten bucks since we were talking about newspaper-ish/ column-ish type stuff?

Whole Foods Employees Steal All the Best Parking Spaces

I’ve been corrected by a member of the Whole Foods marketing team. I only saw HPDPS and their massive trucks as I drove by the cookout this afternoon. But the event was apparently not just for those brave emergency responders:

Jason, what you missed in the parking lot was Team Member Appreciation Day for the Whole Foods Market folks.

Although I understand at People and D that you guys have Appreciation Day every week - at Al’s or Old Monk!

I assume there were so many HP cops around because they work security at the store when they’re off-duty. I still say Whole Foods could have invited us over. About a third of my household income probably ends up in that store’s cash registers. Surely they appreciate that.

As for our own Appreciation Days here, it’s really more those fancypants magazine folks downstairs who spend all their time at Al’s or the Old Monk. People Newspapers staff are more likely to be spotted at Mattito’s or Newport’s.

HP Firemen Take All the Best Parking Spaces

So I was driving over to Whole Foods at lunchtime, only to discover that the Highland Park Department of Public Safety appeared to be having a cookout — including inflatable bounce houses — in the best row of parking at the story (along the backside). Two fire trucks and an ambulance sat along Bowser, blocking other available spaces as well.

Next time invite the press, fellas, we could have taken some photos — not to mention enjoyed what looked to be some tasty food on your plates.

Blog Stats — April

Rock of Love is the gift that keeps on giving. In fact, I predict that by simply mentioning the name Rock of Love several times in this post, as well as everyone’s favorite Rock of Love contestant, Lacey Conner, I’ll ensure that this becomes the most viewed blog-stats post we’ve ever had. Just imagine what will happen if I mention “hot teachers” and Rock of Love in the same post? “Hot teachers” and Lacey Conner of Rock of Love? This could be big.

But even if you remove Rock of Love-related activity from our numbers, we set standards in April:

65,994 pageviews, 22,957 visits, 8,209 unique visitors

All of those are new records for a month.

Our biggest day of the month was April 24, when we had 3,740 pageviews. The most popular post of that day was the strange, tragic tale of leaf blowers, full-blooded Indian policemen, and orange flip-flops.

To see the top keyword searches and individual posts of the month, (more…)

Sweeping Change?

If a petition from 14 UP citizens along Northwest Parkway can result in the spending of a ton of money by the city on a wall, and the attendant traffic mess and questionable aesthetic result we will face, I wonder how many signatures it would take for the city to outlaw leaf blowers?

As opposed to a project that would only benefit a few (and hey, more power to the 14 who got it done), the banishment of leaf blowers would be a boon to anyone with ears, a nose, and any concern for the environment.

HP Arts Sponsors The Wizard of Oz Performance

Thanks to Kari Ward for this cute photo of kids at Bradfield.

HP Arts sponsored the Le Theatre de Marionette performance of The Wizard of Oz on April 25 for kindergarten students at Bradfield Elementary. Students delighted in seeing the puppets come to life in this classic tale. In the photo above, puppeteer Kent Williams shows students Storey Harbison and Alex Clark how to operate the Toto and Flying Monkey puppets.

Fixture Thief Returns to the Scene

Five and a half years ago when we bought our University Park home we left the closing and went straight over to see our new house. But when we arrived, the previous owner was there with a crew of workers removing hardware, light fixtures, vanities and other items (one was even in the process of trying to remove the a/c unit) that were part of our new home. I told her to stop and she shouted that she was an attorney and was within her rights. But she must have questioned her actions on some level because when I called the UPPD right in front of her she bolted in a flash with only the items she and her gang had managed to remove before we busted them. She moved out of state and we dropped it, deciding to just focus on replacing the items instead of chasing her down.

Anyway, last night the same freaking lady rang my doorbell… (more…)