K’s Day Off

At the beginning of June, I took the train downtown to spend K’s day off with her.    I miss her & doing girly things together!

Since she has her car there, we haven’t done the train much, either riding or picking her up, and she was able to pick me up!   But the road we take from here to there is UNDER CONSTRUCTION and I just wasn’t going to deal with that.  Taking the train is a bit longer than driving it all but I probably would have sat in backed up traffic longer.

She made a second trip around the block as I called so that was an easy pick-up!  First we headed out of town to Vogue Fabrics.   What a cute town it is in, Evanston.

I finally chose fabric for a coat for me after loving lots & lots of quite expensive choices.  I think the one I ended up buying will still be a beautiful coat!  We both chose some silk pieces and I got a few $1 remnants for art quilts/play.  Sometime.

We found some super-fantastic buttons…. for super-fantastic prices… so left them there.  $8 each!!  Yikes!!

As we were heading out, I wondered about K taking my picture midst the fabric.  I got out my camera…. and the battery was DEAD!  😦  I suppose when I put it in my purse the night before, it bumped on and stayed on all night.  Bummer!!

We went to lunch in the downtown of Evanston and they still use parking meters there.  I haven’t been in a town with parking meters in eons!  For our hour… $0.75.

After lunch, we stopped at a grocery and I bought a disposable camera.  So embarrassing to use, but I wanted to have something!  Then we drove to her workplace.  Her bosses were excited she’d bring me and I was anxious to see where she spends her workdays.

They were so happy to finally meet me and gave lavish compliments on K and how impressed they are with her work… AND that she was homeschooled!  Gasp!!  🙂  Imagine turning out quality!   🙂   After quite a bit of visiting, the boss wanted to give me a tour.  At every work area, she’d introduce me as K’s Mom, Joyce, and the workers BEAMED with pride in meeting me.  It was wonderful!  Everyone knew K in the whole plant but she said she is in the back areas with them throughout the day checking on the status of various gowns.

One of their smaller delivery vans

It was quite fascinating to see all the behind the scenes and hear the boss’ requirements for the business.  I was impressed and pleased that even in the back with all the garments & machines, there was not one iota of smell that the rest of us think goes hand-in-hand with a dry cleaning establishment.   Later I read in the literature that if your dry cleaning has any chemical scent on it, you need to find a new dry cleaner!  I have one to suggest.  🙂

{I had previously asked K if the place smelled and she didn’t know why I’d ask that.  I don’t have things professionally cleaned so she had probably never gone to a place with me.  🙂  }

After our tour, the boss asked the receptionist to help her pack a bag for me.   I got this HUGE bag with goodies to bring home.

Inside was a large cloth tote bag,

a notepad with clothing care tips,

and a boatload of sweater storage “bags”.

She had showed me these bags on the tour and I loved them!  They are clear on the top so you can see what is there but a sort of fabric type bottom & sides that keep the bugs out and let the sweater breathe.  When one takes a sweater there to be cleaned, it is first measured, then cleaned, then blocked back to the original size as it came in.   The sweaters are then so nicely packed in these storage bags.  Impressive!  Too bad I don’t have any cashmere sweaters that need cleaned.

I snagged a quick picture of K at her desk —

On the way out, the boss offered to take our picture outside by the sign and we happily agreed!

The banner is from Chicago Style magazine — Best in the City.

K is in charge of all the wedding gowns and formal wear that comes in for cleaning, alterations, and preservation.  It is quite an impressive business.  The owners now are the second generation in the family to own it and their son works there now as well.  Such a darling part of town, too!

After the longer-than-we-planned visit there, we went downtown and after seeing the parking fee, went to K’s already paid for parking garage.  Then we took a bus to the Chicago History Museum.

It is across the street from Moody Church (back side here) —

I think it is so pretty!

We purposely went to the museum, even tho she & I had gone before, to see their special exhibit on wedding gowns.  Imagine that!  🙂   K’s bosses had already bought the guide book for her so she already knew the stories behind the gowns.

Photos aren’t allowed in the display area so all you get to see here is this photo transfered to the wall outside the display area (behind those glass doors).

It really was fun to see the older gowns but we both were perplexed that the museum hadn’t had them cleaned and pressed before the display.  I just thought it odd they’d display them with such dirt along the bottoms and various & obvious stains.   {I guess they tried but the curator didn’t want the gowns to leave the premises.   }

After a full-bus ride back to K’s place, we just sat and relaxed a bit.  Then headed out to Five Guys for a quick supper.  Back at her car, we repacked my stuff so it would be easier to get on the train and she drove me back downtown.  It was 5 o’clock rush hour but really we did fine.  OK, fine AFTER we settled from  the dude that ran a red light in front of us but we found she has really good brakes.  I thought my toes were coming out of the front of my shoes, but inches of missing the guy were fine with us!  Argh!!

I found a seat on the train heading home and she drove back to her place.  It was such a fun day and I really needed girl time!