Archive for August, 2009
August 27th, 2009
First, let’s get the racing stuff out of the way:
Roscoe native Danica Patrick, IndyCar Series most popular driver who will enter the Indy 300 on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet fifth in IndyCar standings, likely won’t go to NASCAR.
Well, that’s at least not now anyway, according to this story in the Los Angeles Times and this story in motorsports.fanhouse.com.
Now on to the pretty-girl stuff: Patrick appears in a four-page advertorial spread in the September issue of GQ magazine in stores now showing Tissot watches. She’s been an ambassador since 2005 for the official timekeeper and partner of NASCAR and other motorsports and sports.
The ads feature her wearing watches up to $895Â in a pool; in strappy, cut-out high heels; in a motorcyle jacket over an evening dress, and in a close-up embrace. See them all here.
This story in National Jeweler quotes a press release saying that Patrick dreams of becoming a fashion designer with her own line of clothing, shoes and accessories.
Vote for the answers below to this statement: Danica Patrick has what it takes to ...
August 26th, 2009
The Last Vegas, the Chicago-based hard rock band with Rockford connections, has just been added to the On the Waterfront band list. The group will play from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, at the Oasis Stage in downtown Rockford.
The band opened for Motley Crue in Rockford and nationwide this year after winning a competition. Two band members, Adam and Nate Arling, went to high school in Rockford.
PHOTO BY MIKE DONZE
Rockford’s own Adam Arling shows off his guitar moves as The Last Vegas performs Saturday, May 9, 2009, at Bar 3 in Rockford. Arling’s brother, Nate, is also in the band and plays drums
There is no cost to see The Last Vegas, other than the festival admission pass.
For more information: onthewaterfront.com, thelastvegas.com.
August 26th, 2009
I know you’re probably eating out less than you did before the recession.
Just wondering if your tipping pattern has changed?
Since the recession started, have you been tipping at restaurants more/less/the same?
August 26th, 2009
With school starting, seems an appropriate time to refresh ourselves on some rules about how we can help our kids, our teachers and ourselves all get along. Here’s some sage advice from Real Simple about when parents should butt in to kids battles.
If you have other situations and ideas on how to handle them appropriately, please share here.
August 24th, 2009
So, a good time was had by many on Saturday and Sunday at Chicago Rockford International Airport, according to accounts of Rockford AirFest 2009 goers, me and my family members included.
We went Sunday but didn’t stay for the headlining F-22 Raptors performance. Even with all the kids’ activities — Lego-building tents and inflatable slides among them — it was hard for us to keep an antsy 6-year-old entertained for more than four hours.
But we liked what we saw in the air. The wingwalker, plane after plane twirling and diving nose-first, a fighter zooming by seconds ahead of its sound. The lines to get in to a jet on the ground to check it out were too long for us about 2:30 p.m. So we ditched doing that.
(SCOTT MORGAN | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Vapor trails form as an F/A-18C Hornet performs a tight turn Saturday during AirFest 2009 at the Chicago Rockford International Airport in Rockford.)
We got onto the airport grounds fairly quickly about 11 a.m. , and only spent maybe 10 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic. We came as directed from from South Main Street. I heard stories of traffic troubles from other routes.
With 160,000 people attending the two-day air show, there are bound to be things that those who attended would like to be changed for next year. Please share those thoughts here in the comments section.
But I do have one question I’d like you to answer:
Did you get your money's worth at AirFest 2009?
August 21st, 2009
Lots of us are thinking twice when we get to the check-out line at the store, according to this story by the Associated Press:
“Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but Burt P. Flickinger III, a retail consultant, estimates that in 25 percent of shoppers’ trips to the store, they’re ditching at least one item. In the recession of the early 1990s, it was 15 to 20 percent. In good times, it’s more like 10 percent.”
Personally, I’ve been more likely to not put an “extra” item in my cart in the first place.
Have you been ditching more items the past year at the store?
August 19th, 2009
I shop at Wal-Mart, so I must wear no makeup. Not.
But that’s what this writer at 24/7wallstreet.com says in so many words in his story about Wal-Mart trying again to lure more affluent, younger shoppers by rolling out a new cosmetics line by Hard Candy. For “those who can afford to spend $10 on lipstick and foundation.”
I’m curious if you buy makeup (no matter what your age) at Wal-Mart or if you prefer to buy your makeup elsewhere.
By the way, I do buy lipstick, foundation, eyeliner, eye shadow and blush at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the store closest to my home, and the lines I buy are typically cheaper there than Walgreens. And yes, I have purchased cosmetics at Bergner’s, but I’m trying to save money. Plus, I’ve never really noticed much difference between the higher-line cosmetics compared with the Maybellines and Cover Girls.
(Hard Candy lip gloss)
Where do you mostly buy your makeup?
August 18th, 2009
One casualty of the Main Street Mall being returned to a street: a place for downtown Rockford workers to eat their lunch outside.
That’s not a problem anymore since Judy Barnard and others earlier this month turned a vacant, grassy area owned by the city at West State and Church streets into a lunch spot. It features tents, picnic tables and plants and a place for The Hot Dog Man to sell hot dogs and burgers.
The city set up electricity for The Hot Dog Man, a downtown summer staple for decades. Winnebago County, Rockford Park District, Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, as well as individuals, are among those who chipped in to pay for the tents. The park district loaned some picnic tables; other tables came from the old county jail. Tyler’s Landscaping Services Inc. provided plants.
Barnard said some 50 people typically eat their lunches there weekdays since what she calls The Gathering Place opened Aug. 6. That first day, a young woman sat down with her violin and played. “It’s been great,” said Barnard, a former Winnebago County Board member who is self-employed and does work for the county’s economic development group.
Barnard said she expects the picnic area to be open through October, and hopefully longer. “Until the city develops the lot and puts a shovel in the ground,” she said.
August 17th, 2009
Emily Bear has played piano as the youngest solo performer at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, a venue known for hosting classy on-the-lawn entertainment for adults.
On Thursday (Aug. 20), the 7-year-old from Rockford will be more at home in terms of her age group when she performs at a Ravinia-presented outdoor concert at a kids’ museum in Glenview: Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago. She’ll play a 45-minute solo.
By the way, Emily turns 8 later this month.
Emily was 6 years old when this photo was taken of her at King Gifted School in Rockford in 2007 reacting to the gym teacher becoming a human sundae. Alan Leon photo for the Register Star.
August 17th, 2009
Anyone else surprised by virtually no national media coverage of the arrest Aug. 5 of Katie Stockton of Rockton for allegedly leaving her newborn daughter to die on the side of the road in the middle of winter? And of the discovery of two more dead infants found last week in the trunk of a car that Stockton owned?
I thought for sure that CNN’s Nancy Grace would have had something to say about it.
You can comment here on the lack of national coverage and go to a Register Star comments site here to post or read posts of general interest in the case.
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