Evanston in the News: Refinery29.com Picks 10 Things to do in Evanston

Photograph by Lauren Schiappa

How fun is this? Refinery29.com, the hip and cool website dedicated to covering all things chic in cities like Chicago and New York is running a feature on Evanston! Writer Rebecca Taras says "this North Shore suburb has a great art scene and to-die-for eats worth plenty of repeat visits" about Evanston and features 10 spots you must visit while in town.

Who made the cut? Bennison's, Found Kitchen, Block Museum of Art, and more. Thanks for the love Rebecca, Evanston is totally worth a visit!

Click here to read Day Pass: 10 Things To Do In Evanston

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Have an awesome 2013.

Roller Skating on Saturday Nights at Chandler Newberger

Pretty much the funnest thing in the world is roller skating in circles to really loud music and you can do that every Saturday night for $2 at Chandler Newberger gym in Evanston.

My son loved it so much he made flyers and passed them out to his class and plans to go roller skating every Saturday night for the rest of his life.

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Have an awesome 2013.

Photo: Naked Trees on Lake Shore Drive

One thing I didn't really think about before moving to Chicago was driving. I assumed I would ride CTA all over town but this winter because of scheduling needs at home, I've been driving to work.

My commute takes me from the north side of Chicago all the way to the south side, along Lake Shore Drive. It's gorgeous and most days my cell is busy taking photos of the sunrise over the lake.

Today I got this amazing photo of naked trees before dawn.

Hope you have a lovely Thursday and a lovely commute!

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and have an awesome 2013.

Community Meetings: evanstARTs Results Presentations

From City of Evanston website:

evanstARTs invites the entire Evanston community to COME HEAR THE RESULTS. The meetings will be held on TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. to 12 Noon at the Music Institute of Chicago (1490 Chicago Ave.) OR 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Parasol Room at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center (2100 Ridge)

evanstARTs is holding two COMMUNITY MEETINGS to announce RESULTS from the Arts Survey and community conversations and to PRESENT Recommendations and a VISION for the ARTS in Evanston.

The meeting will be preceded, 30 minutes prior, by a performance by Evanston artists. Meeting will start promptly at the designated time.

1490 Chicago Ave.
Evanston Il 60201

What is evanstARTs?

The City of Evanston, the Evanston Community Foundation and the Evanston Arts Council are collaborating to gather public input on the arts in Evanston and to generate recommendations for policy, programs and infrastructure. The recommendations will, in turn, foster a more dynamic and coordinated climate for the arts in Evanston for artists, the creative economy and the city’s residents. This cross-community collaboration will suggest a “Roadmap for the Arts” in Evanston.

The first phase of this effort, from September 2012 to January 2013, seeks to identify the diverse perspectives on arts and culture from community members who care about the arts in Evanston, whether they are artists, patrons, business professionals, parents or students. The initiative will include public listening sessions, an online survey, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and more.

The collaboration is spearheaded by a seven-person working group. Members are representatives of the City of Evanston, the Evanston Community Foundation, and the Evanston Arts Council, along with nonprofit consultant Amina Dickerson.

The working group conducted five public listening sessions:
• Thursday, September 20, 10 a.m. to noon at the Music Institute of Chicago (1490 Chicago Ave.)
• Thursday, September 20, 7 to 9 p.m. at Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center (1655 Foster St.)
• Monday, September 24, 7 to 9 p.m. at Oakton Elementary School (436 Ridge Ave.)
• Friday, October 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center (2024 McCormick Blvd)

• Saturday, October 6, 10 a.m. to noon at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art (40 Arts Circle Dr. on the NU Campus)

Whether you attended a meeting or not, please share your thoughts about the arc of arts experiences, current and potential, in Evanston through an online survey.

The vision that is discovered during the first phase will provide the foundation for a more extensive planning effort to be undertaken by the Arts Council in collaboration with the Community Foundation and other local groups. There will be a more comprehensive, multi-year plan to develop and integrate arts into overall city planning efforts. Preliminary findings and recommendations will be shared with the public for comment at two open community meetings in November. The final report will be issued in January 2013.

Evanston is not unique in its search to identify economic opportunities created by a strong arts community. Throughout the U.S., communities are looking closely at the arts experiences they offer to residents and visitors alike. It is clear that the arts provide more to communities than audience experiences and income for artists. The arts inspire, enrich, entertain and enlighten, but also serve as an important economic engine for Evanston.

A 2005 study by the Evanston Community Foundation found that the work accomplished by the Evanston nonprofit creative community contributed $25 million in direct economic benefits to Evanston, while the indirect and associated benefits to the community totaled roughly $89 million. Evanston’s 2012 National Endowment for the Arts grant to explore the possibilities of new arts facilities in the downtown area, together with creative new uses for city-owned buildings, create a unique opportunity for the arts to contribute still more to Evanston's economic development.

These developments have created a tremendous opportunity for Evanston to define the arc of arts experiences that residents throughout our community can enjoy over their lifetime in spaces new and old, downtown and around town. Evanston could increase the bottom line impact for business, the community and the city itself by building on its rich tradition of excellence in the arts, its proximity to Chicago and its lively restaurant scene.

THE EVANSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012, helps Evanston thrive now and forever as a vibrant, inclusive, and just community. It builds, connects, and distributes resources and knowledge through local organizations for the common good. The Foundation builds endowments for current and future opportunities, fosters private philanthropy, focuses the impact of collective giving, finds solutions to community challenges, allocates grants, and provides leadership training.

THE EVANSTON ARTS COUNCIL encourages the involvement of citizens in the arts and helps coordinate private and public cultural activities, in addition to administering and developing the Noyes Cultural Arts Center as a resource for the Evanston community.

Listening session held on 9/20 at Music Institute of Chicago.

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and have an awesome 2013.

1.28.13: Harry Belafonte to keynote Dr. King program at NU

From Evanston Now submitted by Northwestern News.

World-renowned actor, singer, civil rights activist and humanitarian Harry Belafonte will deliver the keynote address commemorating Martin Luther King Jr., at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28, at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

The program will conclude Northwestern’s two-week celebration that includes discussions, lectures, film screenings, music, theater and service projects to inspire reflection on Dr. King’s life and legacy.

Belafonte, the "King of Calypso," who made the songs“Jamaica Farewell” and “Banana Boat (Day-O)” hits on the Billboard charts, met a young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in New York in the 1950s. They developed a long friendship that transformed Belafonte’s life.

Click here to read the full article.

Found Kitchen of Evanston makes Chicago Magazine Hot List

Congratulations to the owners of Evanston's new restaurant Found!

The Hot List: 10 places everyone’s talking about and dining at in January in order of heat

FOUND A 1920s salon? A 1950s beatnik lounge? Amy Morton’s living room? Found is all of these, plus fried oyster tacos with bacon. 1631 Chicago Ave., Evanston, 847-868-8945

Click here to see the list!

Visit Found online at foundkitchen.com.

P.S. Although this was announced on the Found Tumblr page in December, I took a long break from my blog and am just now coming back to life. You'll notice I've yet to event eat at Found, so when I add it to my favorite place to eat in Evanston, you'll know why! Food review coming!

Here's the beginning of a great review by Chicago Reader's Sam Worley;

Even for somebody who lives in Rogers Park, Evanston can seem a bit far afield—away from the city's nexus of nightlife, and particularly remote from the restaurant scenesters who cure their pork belly in the environs of Fulton Market, Randolph Row, and River North. So I don't know what I was expecting on a recent visit to the new Chicago Avenue (that'd be the other Chicago Avenue) restaurant Found Kitchen & Social House, which comes from chef Nicole Pederson, who most recently oversaw the kitchen at C-House, and restaurateur Amy Morton. It may not have been this: a lively, happy crowd; people at every mismatched set of table and chairs; and a 45-minute wait. Or this: a dining room so haphazardly arranged and yet so inviting that you'd be tempted to wait out those 45 minutes no matter how crowded the circumstances—because, also, did you get a look at that menu? Have you seen those bottles of bourbon behind the bar?

Click here to read the full review.

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and have an awesome 2013.

Tail Waggin' Tutors at Evanston Public Library

Photo: Louis reading to Dina

When we got to the library last week a sweet little lady with an ugly Christmas sweater invited my son to come and read a book to a dog. I'm serious. She led us to a table full of entry-level reading books and said "pick one out and go read to Dina, she's right over there waiting. And don't worry, dogs don't care if you make mistakes when you read out loud." My son picked a book and read it to Dina the dog.

We learned that this is part of the training for therapy dogs and that some of them were being sent to visit victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut. It was extremely touching and cute to participate in the program for my son and I. We took photos, hugged the lady in the ugly sweater and gave Dina extra pets on the head.

Below is information about the program and if it's a slow night at the library, you

Tail Waggin' Tutors at Evanston Public Library

Tuesdays, Children's Services, Main Library
Session 1: 1/22 - 2/12, 6:30-7:00pm or 7:00-7:30pm
Session 2: 2/26 - 3/19, 6:30-7:00pm or 7:00-7:30pm

Practice your reading - read to a dog! The Tail Waggin’ Tutors program provides a relaxed and "dog-friendly" atmosphere in which kids can practice and improve their reading skills. Tail Waggin' Tutors are wonderful listeners and provide a great opportunity for kids to build confidence reading as well as learn how to interact with these wonderful therapy dogs. Kids read to their dogs for 20 minutes and then have 10 minutes of cuddle time.

Sign up for one 4-week session from 6:30-7:00pm or 7:00-7:30pm; space is limited to 6 participants per 30 minute period. For kids in grades K-5. Please note: We request that families with multiple children share a dog and a slot. Registration is required and begins on January 2. To register, please call 847-448-8610.

Participation limited to Evanston residents/children in District 65 schools.

Click here to read more info

Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are many Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for the city of Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and have an awesome 2013.

Dispatches from the couch: The pain and pleasure of parenting

I love being a mother and parent as I am beginning to realize it's one of the few ways in life to constantly mingle intense pain and intense pleasure without getting up from the couch.

For instance just now I was sitting on the couch with my laptop open, reading the traffic stats for this blog and bemoaning the fact that in December alone more than 3,000 page views went to my post about the Downy Woodpecker that I saw out my window in November 2011. (Click here: Wildlife Sighting: Female Downy Woodpecker)

I showed my son the long list of search terms people use to find my blog; woodpecker, downy woodpecker, female woodpecker, birding, etc., and none of the search terms used had anything to do with me or Evanston - or at least the top 10 didn't.

"Isn't that pathetic?" I said to my son. "No one is searching for me or Evanston, they are only searching for woodpeckers." To this my son replied, "Mom, there are many pathetic things about your life."

This caught me by no surprise at all considering that just six months after I posted about the Downy Woodpecker I told my son about the traffic my site got for the woodpecker and he felt bad for me, saying I should be embarrassed and of course I wrote about the experience. Click here to read Humbled by a Woodpecker.

In both instances when my son reminded me how much more interesting Downy Woodpeckers were than anything I could possibly write about my "pathetic" life and "Evanston", I felt intense pangs of pain followed by pleasure. The pain centered on the truth he so quickly spoke to me without any editing to make feel better and the pleasure that followed had everything to do with the fact that I was so proud of him for being so critical so fast. What a jerk! I loved it! He's so young and has so much time to sharpen his mean-girls skills. Is it bad I want my son to grow up to me a mean girl? That's for another blog post!

I should probably care what my son thinks of me, but if I did he would have crushed me by his third year. And seeing as I don't care what the general public thinks of me, I'm certainly not going to let some kid hold court over my emotions or ego.

Thank you for letting me share this and yes, I am well aware that the only traffic I will get on this post is users looking for information on Downy Woodpeckers, but it's okay, I don't care what those users think! [Update the morning after: I do care what every user who comes to this blog thinks and that was snarky to say that I don't but I was just trying to keep the theme of the piece going.]

Thank you for reading my blog www.EvanstonNewbie.blogspot.com, a blog devoted to covering my family's move from El Paso, TX, to Evanston, IL, in 2011. We arrived in June 2011 and several people have pointed out that I am no longer a "newbie" and should start some other blog. But I disagree and want to keep the "newbie" status for a while longer, maybe five years and for several reasons. #1 - there are tons of Evanston families who have lived here for generations since the town incorporated in the late 1800s, so in comparison to them, I am very much a "newbie". #2 - I firmly believe this blog is a good branding tool for Evanston and it's the least I can do to thank our new town for being so AWESOME! If you have any questions or need to get in touch with my about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and have an awesome 2013.