Just a quick reminder… tomorrow night at Lillstreet Art Center is EMPTY BOWLS… our first one since the pandemic!!! A wonderful event to help a great “food pantry” cause. Basically, the potters at Lillstreet have been donating a bunch of handmade bowls… literally hundreds!!!… and they will all be available tomorrow night for a small donation to “Common Pantry.” A small donation and you get a great bowl… and to sweeten the deal?… the bowls will be filled with artisanal ice cream from JENI’S SPLENDID ICE CREAMS!!!

So here’s a quick peek at just a few of the bowls I’ve donated to the party… stamped, spiraled, glazed… even including everyone’s favorite “bubble glazed” bowl!!! Swing by for some bowls & ice cream!!!

The weather was perfect today for a great bike ride along the lakefront. With a fun opportunity to see the SAIL GP boats pretty close-up as they were being craned back into the water for Day Two of the SAIL GRAND PRIX races at Navy Pier! Amazing racing boats… picture sailboats racing at Nascar speeds on Lake Michigan at the very end of Navy Pier inside the breakwater!

Tonight after my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, a couple of us went over to the new Jeni’s Ice Creams now open in Andersonville!

Tonight was their Grand Opening… with free ice cream from 7:00pm-11:00pm! Perfect timing for those of us who had class until 10:00pm! And we were all pleased that they were giving away a fill TRIO of ice creams in a waffle bowl to everyone! I went for my three favorite flavors… Goat Cheese & Red Cherries, Brambleberry Crisp and Blackout Chocolate Cake!!!

As we were towards the end of the event, we never expected people to still be waiting outside in line… nor that they would have served FREE ice cream to 790 customers during their four-hour event! Congrats Jeni’s & welcome to the neighborhood!!!

One way to make your special day even more special is FREE ICE CREAM!!! Sure, it might be a lot… but no one ever said you couldn’t go to more than one location, right?! I called this “dinner” on my way to the studio to teach class tonight… I feel sorry for my students when all this sugar kicks in… this might be a bumpy ride!!!

Jeni’s #1… on Wells in Old Town!

Jeni’s #2… on Southport

Jeni’s #3… on Clark at Wrigley

Fun with friends along the lakefront… swimming, biking & running! We all ran our own race while dealing with the heat, humidity & freak rainstorm! It was the first time that Tracy & I got to run together as we signed up for the “Clydesdale & Athena” division for we “larger” normal-sized people!

Fun to have Chris, Nancy & Don racing with us. Seeing Nancy in our favorite “Rapid Reboots” after the race… and Chris winning second place in her age group!

Despite the challenging weather today, we all had a great time playing down along the lakefront for the 2021 CHICAGO TRIATHLON.

Today was sunny, hot & steamy… with a side of gusty winds & stormy clouds with a quick deluge of a raining downpour!!! Not quite ideal… but another fun day at the 2021 CHICAGO TRIATHLON!!! Sure my finish time might not have been my best, but we had a great time swimming, biking & running with friends!!! It felt so good to get back to a little slice of “normal” during these crazy times! Luckily, we were all outside with plenty of fresh… err, make that thick & humid air!!!

Today’s bike ride with Chris started out in the west suburbs… and headed out even further west into the farmfields & rural small towns. Kinda far away, but very little traffic on the endless roads – so it’s easier to get the longer mileage in! For our turn-around spot, we decided to stop off at a farmer’s estate sale where they were auctioning off so many cool things!!! LOTS OF RUSTY METAL!!!

We really stood out of the crowd… in our brightly colored spandex jerseys & bike shoes!!! So many cool things… that we could never buy and bring home on our bikes!!! As it was, we had just a little rain for the last five miles as we were pedaling into the wind!!!

Looks like the happy couple received their stamped & soda-fired mugs as part of their wedding gifts. A special order from some of my special customers who wanted to “spread their love” of my pottery by surprising Stephanie & Andre with “tea for two”!!!

While in Omaha, it was a great surprise to stop in to see the swimming pool for the Olympic Swim Team Trials. The smell of chlorine was a great hint… but seeing the actual pool was amazing! Especially because it is built inside the Convention Center!!! For just one week!!! Nine-feet deep & built on top of the concrete show floor… that’s one really large “above-ground” pool, right?! So cool.

With corona numbers going down & vaccinations going up, it finally felt like it might be time to do a little traveling. Staying safe & staying masked… I tackled the airport again and made it to Omaha last week for another quick business trip. It felt great to finally get back on an airplane again… cautious, hopeful & vaccinated.