Sep 17 2007
Renegade and such
I have not been a very good blogger lately! I am behind on responding to comments, I was behind on reading blogs (mostly caught up though), and I haven’t posted much since I have been back from my blogging break. I hope this week will be a bit different though… I am planning on posting every day (!) and hopefully catching up on emails/responding to comments. :) (It really makes me wonder how some of you do it? I don’t have kids, so I can’t imagine how behind I would be if I did! Maybe I need to cut back on the amount of blogs I read - I only have 223 in my feed reader… said with a little grin on my face.)
This weekend, Ben and I took a mini-road trip and went to Chicago on Saturday for the Renegade Craft Fair. It was a nice cool day (felt like fall definitely) and was perfect for walking around looking at lovely handmade items. Oh so much fun!
It was so neat to see all the different booths, how people arrange them and items being sold… It gave me ideas for if I ever participate in a craft fair. (Like, tents/booths that you can walk into are much friendlier feeling than ones where the table is at the front and you stand out from under the tent - too much crowding in the walking area makes you feel like not stopping.) Of course I couldn’t go and not buy anything! Although I did pretty good and only walked away with 2 lovely handmade items…
A letterpress card from paperedtogether (love the colors of this card and so love the letterpress technique!) and a bar of Sweet Mandarin Orange soap from Oliba (this smells so good & I love anything orange-ish smelling!). I also tried on a top at one of the booths, but couldn’t justify the price since I knew I could make it myself and the quality was only okay (is that bad? I just felt like if I made something similar the quality might be a bit better.)
The only frustrating part about the time there was that I emailed the people at Renegade and was told that there was street parking available around the neighborhood that the craft fair was being held in. Um, it would have helped to know that they meant permit street parking and not metered! Oh well, we actually found a parking spot close by that wasn’t permit or metered (free is even better) so it worked out.
The neighborhood was gorgeous though with lots of lovely homes…
After we were done at the craft fair, we also drove to the mall to go the the Lindt chocolate store and H&M. Ben had read that Lindt sold 99% dark chocolate bars and he wanted to try one (he loves dark chocolate, I hate it:). So he got that and I got some new clothes at H&M. A very fun day!
Oh and something I didn’t blog about last week when I got it….
My new crumpler camera bag! I wanted a bag to carry my digital SLR in when I go out on walks, to the park, the craft fair, etc… This bag is absolutely perfect! Crumpler actually makes tons of different sizes of bags and I actually ordered too small a bag first (I have a battery grip on my camera and so my camera didn’t fit in that bag), but returned it and got this one. It fits my camera and a few odds and ends (like my cellphone, keys, wallet). Great for walking around!
Now I am off to get a few things done before my ballet class this evening! Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend!
You’re so lucky you got to go to Renegade!
My amazing darkroom/photography skills were once again featured in the background of your photoblog!!!
Renegade looks great! 233 feeds is nothing!
oh, wow! what a great weekend.
i’ve been wanting to get up to chicago *forever*. so i’m double-y jealous.
oh, fun! I almost went, but then plans fell though. It would have been so funny to see you there!
the craft fair looks like a fun event to go to!
I only have 45 feeds (and from what I read that isn’t many) but have to (really) limit myself otherwise it feels like a job. if I get caught up I go check out some of my other ones that I like, but I don’t subscribe to.
I love Chicago. I am hoping to move there soon. I share your blog addication but I think I’m a worse than you I’m up around 500 blogs at this point. If people would make and cook such great stuff I could walk away but until then…
that sounds like so much fun! my SIL is a printmaker and just got a letterpress of her own. so jealous and excited to see what she does with it! i think she’ll open a little etsy shop, too.
That sounds like a fun day. As for blogging, I try to do it first thing in the morning. Reading blogs, however, is something I find hard to do now that I have so many feeds, but I love them so!
oh, i’m so jealous of your trip to renegade! it looks like such a lot of fun- inspiring too.
i wish i could’ve gone to renegade too! and i have the “quality” issue quite often when i see handmade stuff. there are some great designs out there but sometime sthe skkilss just aren’t quiet up to scratch.
i have a red crumpler bag the same as yours! and also bought up from a small one, although i kept my small for quick trip where i only need the basics.