Dog Days Of Summer?

The dog days of summer officially ended on Wednesday. Coincidentally, Vivi spent the day with us on Wednesday while Mother's home was being cleaned. Agnes came early, I was still getting Mother's laundry squared away (the last two times Agnes put all of Mother's delicate clothing in the dryer and it all shrunk up) and surprisingly Vivi just barked at her a little at first, then calmly let her do her thing. I took Vivi with me because I was already there but next time we will try leaving her at home. Margot and Vivi have a sisterly rivalry, each gets a little territorial when the other comes over. After a while, they coexist. The moment above did not last long, I asked Vivi to get in the bed with Margot and it is pretty apparent Margot is not thrilled with the idea!

But I digress, the reason I mention the dog days of summer is usually this marks the time when we have our summer slow-down with estate sales. However we are motoring on with a full schedule and some of the sales are going to require multiple weekends because of the great quantity of items to be sold. We already have three sales scheduled for Labor Day weekend, two in Bloomingdale and the other in Lake Villa which will be a two-part sale. We broke our upcoming Barrington sale up into two sales and a Gurnee sale is on the horizon which will potentially need three or four!

Melinda and I took a trip down to Burr Ridge Thursday evening to meet with a potential client. It just so happens that the client is the brother of a woman Melinda worked with years ago and was very close to. She even attended family events with the client in attendance. Because of the connection, Melinda wanted us to handle the meeting. The home is so beautiful and filled with gorgeous items and we hope to have the opportunity to host this sale once the home sells.

Kuochun has been hopping around town taking estate sale photos, more so than ever this week because Mark is on vacation. He went to Barrington yesterday and offered to bring lunch back on his way home. At first I suggested Dario's in downtown Palatine, I have dined in a couple of times and their sandwiches are delicious. A good sandwich is one of my very favorite foods! I looked at their website, decided on an order and then decided to click on their Facebook page. Good thing I did because they are currently closed for their summer vacation.

I thought then it would be a good opportunity to try Mother Cluckers Kitchen in Palatine. They are right on Northwest Hwy so Kuochun would not have to go out of his way. Kuochun is a big fan of soul food and this place is a combination of American with some southern soul food dishes. I knew right away that I wanted the Shrimp Po Boy - I have never had a lobster roll before because I do not eat lobster but their po boy is done on a lobster roll. I ordered mac and cheese as my side and an order of onion straws to share. This certainly is not health food! When Kuochun brought everything home, I thought he decided to get some broasted chicken but the box was loaded with the onion straws, reminiscent of Hackney's onion loaf but the pieces are larger. Unfortunately I hated the shrimp on the po boy. It was a chalky white color, tasted fishy, was tough and the breading did not stay on. The rest of the parts of the sandwich were good. The shrimp has a lot of great online reviews, maybe I received a bad batch. The onion straws were very greasy but good and a great value for $5.95. I really enjoyed the mac and cheese as well, I could taste a little zip of sharp cheddar. Kuochun really liked his catfish po boy and made two meals out of it. I tried a couple of his fries and thought they were very good. I would try Mother Cluckers again but avoid the shrimp.

Due to the summer pop-up sale last week, I was not able to post a jewelry purge online but will get back to it this week. I have some new Native American jewelry arrivals to share which should make an attractive purge. We have a beautiful sale coming up in Highland Park next weekend so I plan to put together some of the best pieces from the Tucson Gem Show finds and other new arrivals to show there. Above is an example of an amazing Judith Ripka bracelet I will plan to send to Highland Park. I started to introduce the vintage Mexican silver jewelry back into the caravan this weekend and it has been well received so I plan to fill in with more "new" pieces. The modernist jewelry case I put together for La Grange Park will be filled in and go to Northbrook. We have a nice sale lineup next weekend with estate sales in Barrington and Northbrook as well as moving sales in Carpentersville and Highland Park.

In addition to our events, Kuochun's best friend Roy is having a store closing sale at his 95th Street store in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood starting next Thursday. Oriental Arts Center has been in business since 1989 and in various locations over the years such as North Pier Mall, Navy Pier, Old Orchard Shopping Center, Evergreen Plaza and North Riverside Park Mall which will be the last remaining location. He has many beautiful decorative items and furniture pieces for sale and they are all 50%-80% off original prices. There are quite a few pieces that I really like that would look stunning with modern decor. This tiger is beautiful and there are some great ceramics and foo dogs as well. Kuochun took the photos and I posted the ads Saturday evening. CLICK HERE for more information!

That is it for now, see you next time!