The last two weekends and the next four weekends are super busy for Mike and I. That's why I haven't been around much as of late. Hopefully now that I have my swaps out of the way, my week nights may be free to do other things than mad dashes of frantic crafting. It's a relief…actually it will be once my packages are received and the swap I'm organizing has finished up. I'm so in awe of all the great bloggers I read daily, that update daily or almost every day. These women have jobs, are mothers, are extraordinary crafters…and they have to time to entertain me every day!
Two weekends ago, Mike and I spent the two days roaming around Chicago. Now I've lived approximately 2 hours away from Chicago my whole life (with good traffic, 1 1/2 hours by train), but I haven't ventured much out of the Loop. Or actually, away from Michigan Ave, State St and Madison. I may have gone a few blocks off of any of those streets, but pretty much that was it. I had only taken the El one time, and that was a year ago when Mike's friend took us to Chinatown for dinner. It's kinda weird actually to have gone to Chicago so many times and not really experience it.
Two weekends ago, Mike and I spent the two days roaming around Chicago. Now I've lived approximately 2 hours away from Chicago my whole life (with good traffic, 1 1/2 hours by train), but I haven't ventured much out of the Loop. Or actually, away from Michigan Ave, State St and Madison. I may have gone a few blocks off of any of those streets, but pretty much that was it. I had only taken the El one time, and that was a year ago when Mike's friend took us to Chinatown for dinner. It's kinda weird actually to have gone to Chicago so many times and not really experience it.
We took the train to a Cubs game on Saturday. The previous 2 times we went this year, we drove to Mike's friend's neighborhood, parked and walked the couple miles to Wrigley. So I finally convinced Mike that we should take the train. It's actually really easy, get off two stops before downtown, walk across the streets (with the flock of other people) and get on a bus. Get off the bus at Clark and walk about a half mile to Wrigley. Simple, huh? Coming home was another adventure. Weekend trains only go to our area every hour (and then every two hours). For an afternoon game, the game needs to end perfectly to make it home before 10pm. Luckily our first attempt at this trek worked great. Cubs won, game was quick because the other team didn't score. Our seats were great. The very top row, but we could see everything (no beams in the way)! The only negative was chasing the bus back to the train station. We actually ran after it with another couple. The bus driver would NOT let us on, until we ran like 6 blocks. Yes… I ran after a bus.
Sunday we went back into the city (Thank you $5 weekend train pass!), it was the Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park. Thanks to a helpful tip on which train to take from a Craftster, I talked Mike into going with me, even though there was a Bears game on and it was supposed to storm pretty bad. And then we decided to use our Gift Voucher for the House of Blues restaurant before it expired. Getting to Wicker Park was unbelievably easy. Get off at the same stop as for the Cubs, walk into the El station instead of wait on the street for the bus, and take the El, like 6 stops. Wicker Park was so hippie. It was awesome (Mike hated it). I'd love to explore a bit more. Walking out of the El station was a totally different vibe.
Renegade was really neat. Just to see all these vendors that I'm familiar with online. There was so much going on. I wish I had had more money. I decided early that I wanted to leave with some art, intially I thought something for our living room, but nothing really jump out for it. I did stumble across this great artist from Toronto, Katie Muth. Cute little lino-cuts. I couldn't decide on which print to get, so I took the cheapskate way out and picked 3 of my favorites in card form. Yes, they lack artist signature and numbering, but capture the simplicity and beauty all the same. I can't wait to frame them and hang them in my studio with a few lithographs from a class exchange in college. A bit whimsy, but very much suiting my style.
Sunday we went back into the city (Thank you $5 weekend train pass!), it was the Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park. Thanks to a helpful tip on which train to take from a Craftster, I talked Mike into going with me, even though there was a Bears game on and it was supposed to storm pretty bad. And then we decided to use our Gift Voucher for the House of Blues restaurant before it expired. Getting to Wicker Park was unbelievably easy. Get off at the same stop as for the Cubs, walk into the El station instead of wait on the street for the bus, and take the El, like 6 stops. Wicker Park was so hippie. It was awesome (Mike hated it). I'd love to explore a bit more. Walking out of the El station was a totally different vibe.
Renegade was really neat. Just to see all these vendors that I'm familiar with online. There was so much going on. I wish I had had more money. I decided early that I wanted to leave with some art, intially I thought something for our living room, but nothing really jump out for it. I did stumble across this great artist from Toronto, Katie Muth. Cute little lino-cuts. I couldn't decide on which print to get, so I took the cheapskate way out and picked 3 of my favorites in card form. Yes, they lack artist signature and numbering, but capture the simplicity and beauty all the same. I can't wait to frame them and hang them in my studio with a few lithographs from a class exchange in college. A bit whimsy, but very much suiting my style.
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I've had a lot of swap crafting going on the past few weeks, and a lot of ideas floating in my head. Stay tuned, as now I have more free time (must not give in to surfing the net), I hope to be updating a on more frequent basis. I can't wait to show some of the Swap things I've been doing, but I must resist temptation…I know some of my partners lurk around here (which I love, please continue to stop by!).
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