Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Waukegan: movies, beaches)

[Calidreemer]

Hey Chet I have to ask are you a statistician? Census Administrator? Number savant? Realtor? Retiree with a little too much Ginkoboloba? Compulsive web surfer? Where do you come up with all this stuff?

You know I say it with love Chet...

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Calidreemer

Hey Jay did you see any good houses today or was today a day off from house hunting? You know we need to have the next installment of "Days of Your Lives"

I spent the day driving around Ravinia and then I was going to check out Sunset Park, but we took a 3 hour detour at the park. I picked up DH when he was finished working, we went out for some Indian food and headed to Lake Bluff to try to find some comps. The house we are interested in has NO comps since it is one of a few contemporary style homes in all of Lake Bluff. We feel that the house is overpriced and we're asking the selling agent to justify it and she can't. So we figured our best bet would be to find similar houses if we could and find out if they sold recently. Unfortunately, none of them have so all we have is the Zillow estimate to go by and I have no idea how accurate those are. Sometimes they seem to be pretty close and other times not at all. Supposedly their accurracy in Chicago is as good as it gets.

Unfortunately there is a major lack of homes that match our style so we don't have anything new to look at. Now it is just narrowing down the areas. I met a really nice pregnant Jewish woman at the park who told me that if she weren't Jewish, she wouldn't be comfortable in most parts of South Highland Park. She recommended we focus on areas close to Highwood such as the Highlands. Anyone care to comment on that? Another mom said that she is moving out of the Ravinia area because she isn't Jewish and it is too hard to not be where she is living. This was what I was afraid of and I was hoping I could find a lot of people to negate it, but instead they are adding to my concern. Comments? I have a lot of Jewish friends and they all tell me that if they weren't Jewish, they wouldn't live in a Jewish area. What gives? Is this really a big deal here?

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Calidreemer

I'll testify - they look more like the Lincoln Park crowd.

What does the crowd in Lincoln Park look like? Now I'm curious, lol!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Thank you!!! Yes, we are going to be different that your average north shore resident I suppose. I had a home birth with my 2nd daughter, I breastfed my firstborn until she was 3 and plan to do the same with my 2nd daughter. I nursed my 15 month old in the park today and got some strange looks which was disappointing. We attachment parent (baby wearing, extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping are some of the principals)and in 3 1/2 years have only left our firstborn with a close friend for an emergency doctor visit and when her sister was born since she was uncomfortable with the pain I was in. We do things a little differently. That is exactly why it is so important for us to have some supportive people around us. People don't usually peg us as being the hippie tree huggers we are since we don't look like you typical hippies! Calidreemer can attest to that, she has seen a picture of us.

Well, just don't have any more kids in Illinois. Midwifery is illegal here, with the exception of "nurse midwifes". Home births are legal, but it is illegal for a midwife to attend the birth (so home births are basically illegal). I learned about this when a friend's baby lost her pulse and turned blue during a home birth in Milwaukee. It's a contentious issue.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Well, just don't have any more kids in Illinois. Midwifery is illegal here, with the exception of "nurse midwifes". Home births are legal, but it is illegal for a midwife to attend the birth (so home births are basically illegal). I learned about this when a friend's baby lost her pulse and turned blue during a home birth in Milwaukee. It's a contentious issue.

We're done having babies (we know our limit with the style of parenting we do, outnumbering ourselves would just be too hard to manage and feel like we were doing it right, ya know?), but that is very disappointing to hear. Sounds like the natural birth community has some work to do here. Maybe I'll work on organizing some viewings of the new documentary "The Business of Being Born". My home birth was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life and completely empowering me to as a woman, not to mention the most peaceful way I can imagine coming into the world as a new being. My midwives were amazing. I got better care throughout my entire pregnancy than I could have with any OB. They knew my pregnancy almost as well as I did.

[Calidreemer]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

What does the crowd in Lincoln Park look like? Now I'm curious, lol!

They look like you

I have a friend who lives in LP or maybe it's the DePaul area? Anyway - she has two kids and always looks like she stepped out of a magazine! I don't know how she does it! You'd like her - she was a thrift shop buying, ebay bidding wiz who always sniffs out the best bargins! She's a big minimalist too - I used to marval at her lack of paper - well, actually I still do.

[Nysee53]

The area closer to Highwood, like the Highlands, is not as nice as South Highland Park. The Highlands is newer, more split level type housing, along with much higher end new construction. I would recommend, if you must look at HP, Sherwood Forest. It is in west Highland Park near Deerfield. It is a very nice neighborhood with nice older, newer, and 50's homes mixed together. I can understand why your realtor said what she said, because South Highland Park is very Jewish and it is very close to the North Shore Jewish Congregation as well as another Synagogue. Have you looked at Glencoe? It offers a decent mix of people. It is about 50/50 liberal conservative as well as 50/50 jewish christian. It also has a nice sized African American community, but far less Asians than neighboring towns.

[Calidreemer]

I was going to suggest Sherwood Forest too, but thought it had a lot of new construction -

NYsee - what's that pocket between Clavey, Ridge, Skokie Blvd and Lake Cook? It seems like a nice little pocket with homes that aren't too expensive. I have no idea what the feel of the neighborhood is because I mostly drive through - taking Ridge as a short cut to NBC.

I am not sure I can see Jay in Glencoe even with the nice homes there.

[Nysee53]

That area of Highland Park is called Woodridge. It has alot of nice homes most around $500,000 to $600,000. Many rehabs as to new construction. Really convenient to the edens, botanic gardens, and Northbrook Court.

[Nysee53]

Another thing you might see is that Sherwood Forest is also reffered to as Blodgett so don't get confused!