5 Free Things to Do in Lincoln Park

August 7, 2019

My husband and I have moved around quite a bit in our 12 years of marriage. We both grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and lived a few years in the city before having children and moving back to the suburbs. However, like many, we moved back to the city five years ago in search for a shorter commute to work for my husband. We now live in the Lincoln Park and absolutely love it’s neighborhood feel and access to fun free things to do. Here is how I am keeping things fun and budget friendly for my family.

Benjamin Franklin Park

Just south of Lincoln Park Zoo, near the Benjamin Franklin statue at 72 West LaSalle Drive is a large grassy area where the most robust Lincoln Park events take place. During the summer months, the Green City Market is the BEST farmers market in the city. We also had a great time at the Women’s World Cup viewing party this summer. Keep up with events in the area by joining these Facebook groups:

Lincoln Park Moms

Lincoln Park Cultural Center

The Lincoln Park Patch

Lincoln Park Zoo

Just off the lakefront is Lincoln Park Zoo. With no entry fee the Zoo is the perfect family outing and has amazing city views! They also have fun things to do in the winter, Follow them on Facebook for events and animal births! Also, be sure to visit during the holidays, they have an amazing Christmas lights display.

OZ Park

The Wizard of Oz themed park is nestled in the heart of Lincoln Park on the corner of Lincoln and Webster. It has dog free picnic areas, baseball diamonds, basketball courts and of course a playground. This has fun for people of all ages and best of all, it doesn’t cost a dime!

Bike The Beach – Fullerton Beach

A quick walk or bike ride will take you to Fullerton beach. With sweeping views of the Chicago skyline this is a beautiful way to play in the sand, swim in the lake and create wonderful family memories to last a lifetime!

Adams Park

With a small splash pad for children under the ages of 12, Adams park makes for the perfect family day! Located near Armitage Avenue and Seminary Street, this park has a splash pad, sandbox, play set and plenty of swings! All free!

PAWS Chicago

As a dog owner and lover, I enjoy taking the kids to play at PAWS Chicago. At no cost you can go visit animals at the shelter who need homes at PAWS Chicago. There is no obligation to adopt and the dogs and cats could surely use the love!

I hope you discovered something new on this list!

Your Chick,

Sonia

Lifestyle

Parallel Lives : A Story of Two Moms

February 14, 2019

Sonia and I, not surprisingly, talk every day. That is EVERY SINGLE DAY for the last 36 years — minus those few times in college where all sisters fight, of course.

She is my lifeline and through her, I have learned so much about life. When you have someone to bounce ideas, feelings, and circumstances off of, it can be a humbling experience. Exchanging notes with my sister and all of our Chicks over the years has taught us one thing:

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. “
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Realizing that we all have common human experiences like relationships, work, family, and responsibilities, is the secret to happiness. Sonia lives in downtown Chicago and I live in a small town in middle Georgia. It is easy for me to sometimes think that the grass is greener on the other side, but let me make my case otherwise. I often joke that ‪Monday through Friday‬, my rural Georgia life and Sonia’s city life look exactly the same. The main difference is that she has better restaurant options on the weekends. Through my frequent talks with her, I see how the details of our lives are actually so similarly aligned. But the similarity of our human experience has been muddled in the recent years… thanks to the internet.

Social media can spread truth, but it can also be misleading. It makes you think that you’re supposed to be leading a certain lifestyle and meeting certain measures. But l let me tell you that behind all the photos, there is a lot of sacrifice. As Mothers we all have to wake our kids up, hope that they are in a good mood, get them ready and shipped off to school, go to work or to the gym, pick up the kids, bus them around to after school activities, get dinner ready, and then wind down at night just to do it all over again the next day. On top of the daily activities, we are trying to put our best foot forward to be our best and most beautiful selves, and think of creative ways to truthfully and meaningfully connect on social media platforms, arrange the meetings, attend the conferences, and organize the photo shoots. I could go on forever.

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Chicks And Salsa has a network of almost 15,000 women strong and we all agree that the struggle is real. If you are lucky, you can carve out a few minutes to catch your breath, throw on a face mask and put your best foot forward every day. And remember, the emphasis on the ‘few minutes’.

This post has been a long time coming, a reminder that you are living your best life and that finding the silver lining in everything you do is a matter of perspective. In my experience, Mother’s are the glue that holds everything together. It is our responsibility to also share what we are going through with each other and keep it real — because we are all going through it. We also need to be there for each other because if we truly are the same, then the thoughts and feelings we experience in this journey through marriage, maturing, and parenthood is also the same.

Over the years we have tackled all kinds of issues with our friends and families, everything from divorce, counseling, death, illness, and bullying. But sometimes the ‘sisterhood’ and support is lacking when you see women criticize others or amplify each other’s shortcomings. This is our chance to unite and lift each other up. We each have good days and we each have bad days. Especially as Mother’s, Sonia and I can both attest to the strength it requires to remain a stable force in a constant moving stream that is family. I just wanted to remind you that before you wish you had someone else’s life, learn to love what you have and where you live — your every day is amazing, I promise. I recently wrote a reflective piece about a local place that means a lot to me and my family. Find your special corner in this world and make it yours!

Cheers,
Rina

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Beauty, Lifestyle

How to Use Purple Shampoo With Highlights

January 22, 2019

Listen up brunettes! I love to dye my hair, and have been highlighting and dying it for several years. In college I was always on a mission to find the cheapest hairdresser. This usually meant that I wasn’t going to spend any extra money on specialized shampoos. Of course, as the saying goes….”as you get older you also get wiser.” I’ve often heard my hairdressers of yesteryear and today talk about using specialized shampoos to neutralize yellows, but I have blissfully ignored them. Shame on me!

Feeling great with fresh looking highlights!

Let me explain, I am of Indian decent, I have naturally dark brown to almost black hair. I have always loved playing with the color of my hair to change up my look. I have gone from partially blonde, to just highlighted, back to my original color, to completely blonde. In all of those transitions I have never bought a specialized shampoo to neutralize the yellows that appear when you bleach and then dye your hair.

The last treatment I did, I went from a blonde balayage back to almost my original color by transitioning to darker low lights. My hairdresser had suggested that I use a purple shampoo. My original thought in my head was “are you crazy!” I was afraid that putting purple on a lighter color on dark hair would turn the light parts purple, but boy was I wrong! Truly, it depends on what kind of look you’re going for. Transitioning back to my original hair color from blonde, I wanted to keep my darker color looking semi-natural. The purple shampoo made my hair less bronze and kept a very subtle light highlight on my dark hair. I absolutely love my results, and cannot stress more the importance of using a purple shampoo if this is the look you’re trying to achieve. I’m just trying to save you the time and energy, get the purple shampoo if your hairdresser recommends that, you won’t regret it!

Your Chick,
Sonia

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Lifestyle

I Spent 4 Hours and 49 Minutes on My Phone Today!! Should I be worried?

October 24, 2018

Ok, don’t judge me- but I really wanted to know exactly how much time I was spending on my phone so I measured it using the Moments App (ioS 12 also has a built in feature to help you keep track as well). I was introduced to the app a while ago and I have been documenting my usage and time for the past few weeks. I thought I was going to feel bad about the amount of time I spent, but I found something even more interesting and awesome instead!

If you have an iPhone here is how your can check your usage now!

Launch Settings from your Home screen. > Tap on Battery. > Wait a moment for Battery Usage to populate. > Tap on the Show Detailed Usage button to get a breakdown of foreground and background power usage. > Tap on Last 7 Days to get a broader look at power consumption over time.

**First pic is from one day, second pic is from seven day summary**

Screenshots from Moments App:

My Results

It turns out I get plenty of sleep – averaging 7-8 hours a night – awesome right!?! It also turns out that I spend almost 5 hours a day on my phone…I thought I would have negative feelings about this, but it turns out I don’t. Let me explain. I work at home and with my time divided between Digital Chicks Media and our blog, it makes sense to me that I would be spending the equivalent of a day’s work on my phone, aka my computer on the go. With social media and engagement at the core of what I do, I guess it is not surprising, but there is a silver lining to all this information.

Black and White Sweater Dress for $35 (available in every color) another one I love is linked here | Loafers are Chanel, shop similar here | My go to red lipstick is linked here

The Silver Lining

I am living day-to-day moments for most of my day – that is time that I am spending with my family, at the gym, cooking, driving, etc. That is a nice find that somehow I can’t ignore. I actually felt good about that, is that weird? My kids get home from school around 3:30PM and go to bed around 8PM. The main thing I try hard to work on is the amount of time I spend on my phone while they are home. I want to make sure that those 8 hours of living are happening sans my phone while my family is together.

Something my husband and I try to do walk away from our devices to resist the temptation to not be present in the moment while the kids are home. While work can sometimes creep in trying to move to another room to finish out an email or call is a helpful way to recenter and be present in the time you are away from your phone.

The Takeaway

In life we have to strike a balance between the things that we do and find a place in our day to day lives for all of it. Smartphones are a necessary evil that really are not that bad, they have enhanced our lives by so much. So, next time you resent the amount of time you may be spending on your phone, find out how much time you are actually spending and let that knowledge either empower you or help you create changes you wish to see to make being in the moment more meaningful.