a band of gypsies and a flash mob walk into an antique fair...

although this title sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, it was my bizarre reality this past weekend.

as i mentioned here, i attended the randolph street antique fair in chicago on saturday. and there was a band of thieving gypsies that was chased away by the police. and a flash mob. i didn't know that the flash mob was actually a flash mob, though, until they were taking their flash mob group photo afterward. always a day late and a dollar short.

anywhoooooooo.

the antique fair was great, but not exactly what i expected. if you do a google image search of the event, you'll find pictures like this:

looks crazy busy and huge, right? in reality, the event is much smaller. unfortunately i did not get to take a lot of pictures of the event because the rains came and i'm still a little paranoid about breaking my camera. but don't worry, i snapped a few with my powershot when the rain stopped:

i wanted to take this little guy home to keep the yellow lamp in my bedroom company.

lots of old jewelry. some pretty. most ugly.

the food stands did not disappoint: crepes and empanadas, come hither.

the cute little planters in this booth caught my eye. this would be so simple to DIY...if you are the green thumb type. mine are a deep shade of onyx.

and, of course, the company was top notch. meghan (on the left) is moving into her first house this weekend so it was fun gathering ideas for her decor. i'm looking oh-so-forward to helping her settle in!

my antique fair purchases:

not an antique, but it was cheap and i liked it.

an antique globe for my growing collection.

this funky palmistry model was too quirky to pass up. i'm not really into palmistry (i didn't know that was a thing until i read the model), but i am into fun conversation starters.

i love this antique marquis letter that did not cost an arm and a leg (like most that i've found). it's currently hanging here:

please take note of the following items in the above picture:
1. the 's' is no longer crooked.
2. my slip cover is almost always coming undone on the bottom right corner of the couch because gerty likes to lay there and rub it off with her hugeness.
3. magazines make the best barricade for protecting a sofa from a pooch. although i have no idea why i'm trying to protect that POS sofa.



we also managed to sneak in a trip to trader joe's. can you believe i had never been before? believe it. i almost wish we didn't go because now i know what i've been missing.

my inner grocery hoarder was screaming out loud that night because who KNOWS when i'll be able to go back again. so i had to buy a lot. you know, to appease the hoarder.

it's okay if i eat the whole pan because they're 'reduced guilt,' right?

i love these tissues. so i bought way more than necessary.

salt is one of my favorite foods, so pink salt must be next to heavenly.

i need to thank meghan for turning me on to this stuff. it tastes like peanut butter mixed with marshmallow fluff and has waaaaaay fewer calories and fat. win win.

because soy sauce = salt and salt = happiness (plus heart disease = conundrum). math is hard.

and some other treasures i managed to cram in my suitcase:

a yellow toggle coat. which was surprisingly difficult to photograph.

a j.crew timex watch. now seems like an appropriate time to tell you that i have really tiny wrists. the adult sizes didn't fit, so i had to buy the child size. and it's on the tightest notch. while slightly embarrassing, it was about $100 cheaper than the adult version, so i can deal.

i almost bought a little ceramic owl from anthropologie for my kitchen, but i found its doppelganger at tj maxx for a fraction of the price.

my 2012 calendar from anthropologie. i am in LOVE with the year 2012 already.

sephora gifted me with new mascara and my free beauty insider reward.

some new stripey sheets from west elm. which make my bed look particularly slammin':

see that crease in the sheets? oh yeah, baby. straight from the package to the bed. screw washing them first. it's not easy being a renegade, but i manage.

if anybody would like to sponsor my shopping habit, i take cash, checks and money orders (ps, what the hell are money orders? can you just order money?).