For your Chicago Saturday, there a few events going on that you must consider adding into your plans. 

First start the day with a stop by the Green City Market (indoor version until May) in Lincoln Park to load up on seasonal treats for the week.

The Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market.  Seriously, this is not to be missed.  Take a beautiful space, add amazing local pastry chefs' confections (Macaron Chicago, Tinycakes, Nice Cream, Flour Cake and Pastry), fun neighborhood type atmosphere and it is certainly somewhere you want to be.  RSVP here.  (And I will be there bright and early so hi if you see me!)  I am giddy just thinking about all of the goodies!

Once you are all hopped up on sugar... time to head to the West Loop.  The Chicago Independent Radio Project is holding its annual record fair.  While vinyl is clearly what the cool kids will be stocking up, there will also be cds, dvds, and all kinds of vintage music goodness. 

Then head up to Evanston for the Chicago Jazz Ensemble for some smooth, live music.  Finally, stop by Volo for a wine and cheese flight before heading home to crash.

 Enjoy your weekend!

Way back when there was daylight well past 4:30pm and one didn't even think about wearing a coat let alone a scarf, I signed up for the Lovely Package Exchange.  Then burst out laughing to see that my partner was my friend Tina of With This Ring I Thee Obsess; what a funny coincidence that out of hundreds of participates we were paired up... I think that world wide web really wants to make sure that we are friends!  So then we both became buried with the business of life and decided that we would slowly work on our packages and be rebels with the due date.  But it was worth the wait, my friends, Tina sent me the loveliest of packages!

I ripped open the pretty box to dig into a package that included one of my favorite party decoration elements, tissue flowers... 

She included sweet gifts with the packages all set to a theme; Bake, Relax, Make, Give, and Live.

She included such cute things that were just the type of thing that make me do little girly squeals, such as cute little owls, silve cake tester, and pretty handmade cupcake flags...

I am trying to not over-use the word lovely in this post but seriously, it was really such a bunch of lovely to receive in the mail! 

For the package that I sent to Tina, it was an evolution as it kept changing a little bit as time went on and the due date was further away.

For the gifts, I went with two different "themes" that I know Tina enjoys; Tea and Paper.  I got her a tea towel from Elizabeth Bentz and a tea book from Elite Elishi for the tea items.  For the paper I got her pretty labels, letterpress tags, and sweet cards from Postal Press.

The package was then all wrapped up with kraft paper, fall colored flowers, glassine bags, bakers twine, a little tag garland, quotes associated with the item inside, and stitched together with a red zigzag stitch.  A little hint if you do a stitch for a packaging detail, you can use a needle to get the thread to all be on one side and then tie a little knot before cutting so it doesn't unravel.  I captured a few photos of the inprogress state...

Tina has posted some pictures into the flickr group that includes more detail of each of the packages I received (I was way to excited as I ripped into each of them to get proper pictures!) and posted about her package here.

Enjoy a beauty treat {for a steal at $31} and raise money for BrightPink by doing so?  Well that is just too sweet of a deal to pass up!  And I really am over due for a little beauty treat.  Get the details and sign up here.

And a side note, the founder of BrightPink is pretty amazing.  I collaborated with her on a project earlier this year and she really is an inspiring young woman.

I was seriously excited when I saw in my reader that Oh Hello Friend is hosting a package exchange!!!  Of all the cute little exchange ideas this is at the top of the list!  I promptly signed up...

And now of course I am already fretting what prettiness I can find to create a lovely little package...

{image source}

But I do love having a little project to dwell on and frett over. {and as I am feeling very blah today this was just what I needed!}  Head over to Oh Hello Friend to sign up!

 The shops of Lincoln Park are full of sales!  I love to shop Armitage, Halsted, and Webster boutiques/shops (I should say window shop as some of these are lovely but way out of my price range).  I love to shop independent/local shops (not all of the LP shops are such but some are so...). I love to shop sales (the only way to shop in my opinion). So it is a win all around this weekend! 

 A very old photo of Armitage Avenue taken by yours truly

Here are the list of sales... which are of course subject to change by whim of the shop.  Not a Chicagoan?  Not able to face to the cold forecasted for this weekend? I added links for your online shopping pleasure.

1154 Lill Studio- 904 W. Armitage
50%-75% off select ready-made and sample handbags & accessories. Also, party guests enjoy 10% off all purchases through February- see store for details.

All She Wrote- 825 W. Armitage
20% off custom stationary orders

Art Effect- 934 W. Armitage
70% off great selection of winter clothes

Barker & Meowsky- 1003 W. Armitage
10%-75% off select items. Includes select sweaters, coats, boots, holiday items, collars & leads, beds and more!

Bedside Manor- 2056 N. Halsted
60% off Holiday Delights 40% off Clearance Items

Cotelac- 1159 W. Webster
Up to 70% off fall and winter merchandise.

Cynthia Rowley- 808 W. Armitage
Great sale items- see store for details.

Design Shoppe- 2009 N. Fremont
Great sale items- see store for details. 

Dog-a-holics- 904 W. Armitage
20% off entire store and 35% off winter pet attire- coats, shoes, sweaters & more. 

Furla Lincoln Park- 1211 W. Webster
50%-70% off winter bags & accessories. 20% off new Spring 2009 bags this weekend only.

Isabella's Fine Lingerie- 840 W. Armitage
15% off store-wide. Great pre-Valentine's gifts.

Kincade's Bar- 950 W. Armitage
Take a break from shopping and enjoy $6.50 Effen Bloody Mary's or Jumbo Mimosas.

Lush- 859 W. Armitage
Join us for a party on Saturday, January 24th - all day. Purchase any Lush Shaving Cream ($14.95 and over) and get a FREE Lush Sholid Shampoo Bar of your choice, while supplies last.

Mint Julep- 1013 W. Armitage
Additional 50% off sale items.

Paper Source- 919 W. Armitage
50%-75% off clearance items.

Rugby- 1000 W. Armitage
30% off sale items.

Second Child- 954 W. Armitage
20%-50% off children's clothes during our storewide winter clearance sale.

She Boutique- 1024 W. Armitage
50% off all items except Spring Merchandise. See store for details. 

Spex- 2136 N. Halsted
Trunk show featuring Danish eyewear line ProDesign Denmark on Saturday, January 24, 2009 from 12-4pm. Come and register to win a free gift from ProDesign.

Stinky Pants- 844 W. Armitage
70% off all fall and winter clearance merchandise.

Underthings- 804 W. Webster
Final reduction all sale merchandise- 75% off!

Weddings 826- 826 W. Armitage
50% off select bridal gowns and accessories.

The Renegade Craft Fair was a lot of fun and I am glad that we made it this time! There were so many cool things that we had to exercise our restraint. I did grab cards from a few of my favorites to keep on hand for when I need ideas for gifts as I have already finished my holiday shopping... and of course to share the finds in upcoming posts!

This weekend is the Holiday Renegrade Craft Fair in Chicago!

It seems as though every time the Renegade Craft Fair is in town I am not. But I am determined to attend this weekend and plan on dragging dear hubbie along with me (only fair last time we were out of town for one of his hobbies)! I have my fingers crossed that I will find something fantastic for each of the remaining gifts and stocking stuffers that I have left on my list.