Probably one of my favorite communities on the North Shore. At least 3-4 times a week my hubby and…read moreI take a drive up the lakeshore and end up in Lake Bluff as our northern most destination point. The town is quaint and small, and when passing through the neighborhoods, everyone waves. Some of the homes have a lovely farmhouse vibe, and I especially adore the pink-ish one on the main road heading in and out of town. At the eastern most point of the community you'll end up at the top of the hill overlooking Lake Michigan. It's sooooo pretty. There is a super cute downtown, and my favorite apple fritter in the whole world (ginormous and sugary) can be purchased at Hansa Coffee Roasters. I might add that the coffee is outstanding! They serve a fantastic smooth brew mixed with friendly and excellent service. (Link to Hansa Coffee review: https://bit.ly/ASHansaCoffee) You'll see in the attached photos that the village has done a great job offering outdoor patio dining by the town square for those who want to safely gather with friends and family. Town secret: There is a house that has an outdoor model train in their yard that runs year-round around a mini elevated track. We stop by every single time to watch it loop around. I'd love to know the story behind it. *Worth the trip up north.

Lake Bluff is a pleasant little town. It's too far to really be a suburb; maybe "exurb" is proper…read more On the one hand, Lake Bluff has some aspects of a typical Illinois farm town, where everyone pretty much knows everyone else. On the other hand, it's a haven for the super-rich, a Lake Forest without the ostentatious pretension. There's a very pretty town square with a good summertime farmer's market, an interesting mix of good restaurants, small shops and a lot of banking services (no surprise there). I've never felt uneasy walking through town after dark, as crime appears to be very low.

I have passed this house a couple of times and was amazed by how cute the house was. I wondered who…read morelived there and what the importance of the house was. The presence of the house seemed intriguing. It had a welcoming presence it. A few months later, my mother was researching Underground Railroad sites in Illinois and we found out that the Mother Rudd House in Gurnee, Illinois was one of the sites. We decided to go to this historical site, which was amazing and full of history in the Lake County Illinois area. The Mother Rudd house was a place that housed travelers in the 19th century, was a place where community events were held, and was a safe haven for slaves who were seeking freedom. Mother Rudd was a mother of 13 children, yet still was able to care for others, including people in her community. The house was amazing with great artifacts and memories that go back two centuries. The hosts were friendly and gave a lot of information about what the Mother Rudd house was used for, and what the Gurnee community was like long ago.Several families donated artifacts from their family history to help one understand legacies of Lake County history. It was great to see others interested in history and restoring historical landmarks. I would encourage young and and old to visit this house and take a stroll down memory lane. It's best to call and schedule an appointment ahead of time.

Waukegan Harbor Lighthouse is about a couple of hours away from Downtown Chicago and is located out…read moreon the lake with a small concrete walkway that connects it to the mainland. To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, feel free to check out the couple of pictures I shot & uploaded to this page. Because this is located out on the lake, it is pretty windy out towards the end. I got about just under three quarters of the way out and it just got too windy and slippery to feel safe going any further. If you look at the pix I took, the further you go out, the more the waves crash over the wall and then ices over the walkway during this time of year. This may all sound a little dangerous, and if you don't exercise some common sense, it probably is, but it was beautiful out there with the waves crashing over the wall, the birds circling above, and the sun out providing just that hint of warmth as you take in the view. Lighthouses are generally in remote locations, so the draw for me is the solitary calm amongst the sounds of the distant birds and the crashing waves. As lighthouses go, this is a smaller one than say Grosse Point Lighthouse, but I was digging the serene vibe that this place gives off. It allowed for an impromptu moment of meditation that you sometimes don't get in these hectic times. When all's said and done, this is not your grandma's lighthouse, and I doubt most people will come all the way out to this particular place for this little landmark, but for those lighthouse aficionados out there, and I know there are a few, this is one to check off if you happen to find yourself in Waukegan Harbor, Illinois... Whatever you do, be a traveler and not a tourist and get out there and explore your world people! :-)

After I was directed to the US Postal Carrier Annex and I realized that it was not open to the…read morepublic, I booked over to this Post Office in Lake Forest. This is a neat building, I'd like to find out more about it. I dropped my letters inside, took one look at the long line, and left. I'm only now seeing the horrible reviews for this Post Office. I didn't have any interactions with the staff so I'm leaving a neutral rating.

gave me great mailing advice and was courteous. The building is so historic and beautiful.read more

Such a great vibe! Went for the happy hour and discovered the music along with great relaxing…read moreatmosphere. They have a line up for every night of the week. We will be returning soon when the weather warms up for all entertainment and great beers they have to offer at the beer garden. Would def recommend For more fun places to explore follow me on IG at TalkSheBusiness.

Today, my boyfriend and I rented a paddleboat for an hour. The weather forecast indicated rain…read morewouldn't start until 1:00 PM, so we thought we had plenty of time. However, around 12:20 PM, the sky turned black. We immediately turned around and began pedaling back to the dock as fast as we could. While we were heading back, a safety staff member on a speedboat approached us. He told us we had to return to shore but added that he couldn't tow us in--we had to pedal all the way back ourselves. While we were already doing that, the storm was rolling in incredibly fast, and it was a genuinely scary experience. As we finally approached the dock in the storm, we saw two teenage employees who had been assisting people earlier. One of them looked right at us, but instead of helping us secure the boat, both boys ran back into the covered checkout area and completely ignored us. As we struggled to park and tie up the boat in the pouring rain, not a single staff member stepped out to help us dock safely. Meanwhile, at least 10 employees were crowded inside the checkout area. As a person of color, I am unfortunately always hyper-aware of how I might be treated in certain environments. I have visited this forest preserve many times, always thought it was beautiful, and was so excited to show my boyfriend around. To be treated with such a lack of care was incredibly disappointing. When we spoke to the male manager, he explained that they are required to clear the water during storms. My boyfriend clarified that we had no issue with leaving the water; our issue was the complete lack of staff assistance to help us dock safely in a dangerous situation. The manager offered us a "rain check" for a free rental, but missing out on time wasn't the issue--our safety was. No one seemed to care that we were the last ones out on the water. I hope this forest preserve implements a better emergency protocol, because storms on the water can quickly become life-threatening. I guess my question is if the staff are closely checking the weather , why even let people still go out on the water ? Instead of saying "hey there's a storm that is going to be rolling through , we are holding back on rentals at this time for safety reasons " .

I wasn't aware this place existed, as it's a bit out of my usual distance for going to events. But…read moreI saw an instagram ad for Michael Cavanaugh and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him (Movin' Out is one of my favorite Broadway shows). The location is very convenient to the Metra, and there's free parking in the lot for the building, which is always appreciated. The venue itself is nice -- intimate and a community-based feeling (there was a community band of some sort rehearsing in a room outside the theater when I left, which is charming). The theater itself isn't elaborate, but it's a nice space. It's great for this type of event. The show itself was great -- he's a fantastic performer, and I loved the set list and how interactive he tried to be with the audience (more on that later). I also loved that I was able to get a discounted seat because I bought a single seat in between seats that had already sold, so it was half price. (I don't know if they always do this, or if it was just because there were still quite a few seats left at the time I bought my ticket 2 weeks beforehand. Regardless, my frugal self appreciated it. I wish more places did that.). There were a few times during the show that the house lights randomly came on during a song, and it didn't seem like it was intentional. Maybe it was the light board operator hitting the wrong thing, or maybe a house manager bumped a switch. It was a little odd though and it happened a few times, which kind of took me out of the performance and made me think something was going on. But oh man, the crowd itself was an interesting experience from a people-watching perspective. It must be a Lake Forest thing? 96% of the audience seemed to think they were in the waiting room of a dentist office waiting for a root canal, and about 1% of the audience thought they were at Coachella (including the three 55-65 year old women next to me, who I'm pretty sure were drinking vodka out of a water bottle because they were getting progressively more wasted during the show despite only drinking from a clear water bottle lol. No judgement. We've all been there...I just haven't been there since I was 21 and trying to sneak my own alcohol into a street festival because I was cheap and not going to pay for overpriced drinks. But hey, you do you. YOLO!). The other 3% were like myself and wanted to get into it, but because everyone else seemed like they were afraid to move, we were holding back (because we didn't want to be "those people", like the ladies next to me...although honestly they seemed like they had a GREAT time, by the way they were grooving and had their hands up in the air even though not another soul in the theater did lol. I can only hope I'm that carefree when I grow up. I'm certainly not at this stage in my life). I almost feel bad for Michael, because I assume he wanted the audience to be a bit more into it than they were. He asked people to clap along a few times and he would start it and then as soon as he put his hands back on the piano to play, people stopped clapping (then he would start clapping again to try to get people going, and they would until he went back to playing. My dudes....he wanted you to clap along to the beat during the song. That's literally how that song works). I tried to keep it going but it was awkward (and bless the people next to me...they tried to clap but the alcohol was definitely impacting their ability to find and stay on the beat. I was fighting a losing battle trying to guide them haha). Also, the crowd here could stand to learn a few things about technology to avoid annoying everyone around them. Obviously people are going to take videos and photos, which is fine. I did too. But it seems like no one knew to turn down their screen brightness in a dark theater so you don't blind the people around you. It was super distracting and headache-inducing to see super bright phone screens out of the corner of my eye every few minutes (maybe it was just the section where I was seated). It would be nice if the ushers or house manager could've said something to folks or reminded people at the beginning not to let their phones be distractions. I was a house manager out in the western suburbs for a similarly sized theater while I was in grad school, and I worked at a theater that held concerts like this in high school, so I've worked at (and attended) hundreds of concerts just like this. This was definitely the strangest experience of an audience I've ever encountered. Apparently this is par for the course, though, because I made an IG story post describing my people observations during intermission and my friend asked me if I was at Gorton Center...I asked her how she knew and she said it was because of the audience description I gave lol. I'd go back and I'm glad I went. I'd just need to prepare myself so I'm not so jarred by the bizarre audience vibes.

Great community center! I had an office here for about 10 years and ran a non profit and watched…read morethe center grow from well appointed but not fully utilized community center into a bustling hub of classes, shows, private events, parties for the town. Rents are reasonable for private events. Shows are very reasonably priced. Classes are well attended.

Kapsa Monument Co did a beautiful monument for me and my late husband a few years ago and placed it…read morein a Hillside cemetery. The monument has a vase on each side. Recently one of the vases has become loose. I've tried to reach out to Kapsa a few times. No one ever answers the phone. I've left 3 messages in over a week and half stating my issue and asked for the favor of a reply. I've yet to hear back from Kapsa. This monument wasn't cheap. I've reached out to two other monument companies in the area in the meantime and they are willing to help but say Kapsa should stand behind their business and take care of this. If they can or can't, either way the courtesy of a reply is expected for such an expensive monument. I can't rate them good in the service area as they are non responsive.

Buyer beware. This place is absolutely awful. They will screw you on the contract and they are very…read moredisrespectful. They will intentionally and purposely omit IMPORTANT and KEY things from the contract, and this can screw you in the end. When I caught these items, owner refused to correct them. Here they are: 1.) They verbally said that ALL inscriptions and design are included in the price, but when you get the contract it does not say this, and when you ask the owner to add, he refuses. Don't ever sign the contract unless they clearly write in text that ALL inscriptions and design are included in the headstone price, just like they verbally say. 2.) Draft of the drawing, design, and inscriptions was not attached. How else will you know what the heck you are getting?!?!? Don't accept without this! 3.) Full names of the deceased were omitted. This contract is also combined into the application for the cemetery. Are we just trying to get the cemetery office to guess? 4.) Memorialist didn't sign the cemetery contract on the back, which is required before you can even place any headstone in the cemetery. The cemetery has its own rules which we all have to agree to. We don't own the cemetery. These are all normal procedures for all cemeteries. 5.) Approximate date of delivery was missing. You can't just put a season like spring or summer. The owner was very disrespectful. When trying to resolve this in a calm manner, he talked over me. I tried talking to the owner nicely on the phone, but all he did was hang up on me. Avoid this business, and go to others in the area that will: actually put in writing what they say verbally, are willing to actually fill out a contract completely, and treat you with respect. After all, if you are paying them thousands of dollars for a headstone, I would think that you would at least have the above taken care of. This place is absolutely awful. STAY AWAY.

The GLMV Chamber of Commerce is a great organization to help small businesses work together and…read moregrow. From a business standpoint, they offer educational programs on marketing, management, social media, finance, heath care and many more throughout the year. There is aways a networking event to attend to meet other chamber members and discover either someone who is looking for your business product/service or know someone who is. As a member of the community, this is the place to start if you're looking for any product or service in Green Oaks, Libertyville, Mundelein or Vernon Hills, IL

The GLMV and all of it's members have always treated my with outstanding service! I have used over…read moreten of the businesses listed here and I have never been disappointed. I have used a car repair service, a lender a Realtor, Financial advisors, exercise coaching, I have visited some of the restaurants listed and always received outstanding service if I mentioned the GLMV chamber.

\\ HALLOWEEN SPINSANITY \\…read more Six Flags' resident DJ has taken over the relatively tame Chubasco and turned it into something truly.....sinister. For one month out of the operating season, SFGAm's teacups ride transforms into one of Skrillex's nightmares. The windows get boarded up, lights go off, music goes on, and the mayhem begins. If you thought spinning teacups in a fully-lit environment was disorienting, well amigos you ain't seen nothin' yet! Back in 2009, Six Flags revamped the former 'Terror Twister' to the state it's in now, which is a HUGE jump from its prior version. This included putting together a deeper soundtrack, creating heavier fog, adding hi-beam laser lights, and replacing the scanner-type lighting to all LEDs. Also, they synchronized the lights & fog to the music and increased the overall ride's duration. There are allegedly 8 unique ride experiences, all with different songs and lighting arrangements. Take note though, the line moves *very* slowly. Capacity is not this ride's strong point, and coupled with the lengthened ride cycles, prepare to wait upwards of 35-45 minutes. It's well worth the wait, mind you. TT2: AT4TW is, in this reviewer's opinion, the keystone attraction at Great America's Halloween event. No other ride undergoes as drastic a remodeling as the teacups do--although the 'Rue Le Morgue' bumper cars (normally Rue Le Dodge) are fitted with similar environmental effects like heavy metal, black lights, strobes, etc. An absolutely mandatory ride on your visit to SFGAm's Fright Fest.