renegade @ chicago & etc.

we almost didn't make it there!? due to some last minute conflict in schedules and changing flight times..... bahhhh.... but luckily we managed to, and never did i expect it to be SO. FREAKING. HUGE. oh my gawd. i wasn't prepared, and was quite confident that i could walk the entire thing through in about 2 hours. wrong. i was literally pulling b along because i wanted to try my best to see every stall and all the the great stuff that was there. not possible since we were already in a rush for the fucking plane. i could have spent the entire day there because other than renegade, there were lots of other stuff going on. dear gawd.

i was totally impressed with not just renegade itself, size, quality and variety of stalls and artists (it was so colorful!) , but the crowd! woow! waydago chicagoans! the fair was very vibrant and not pretentious at all (am i saying that some are? :p), and very well managed and organized. i bet a gazillion sales were made that day, like seriously a gazillion, plus it was a 2-day thingie, i could only imagine the crowd on sunday... i think the artists went home rich. ha! happy shoppers, happy crafters, happy big heavy pockets. and the weather, even the infamous chicago weather was cooperatively nice! unbelievable. it was like freezing on and off when we first arrived in chicago, and then the weather got warmer, and warmer, and warmer until it was like singapore, without the stickiness, and i was telling b that nyc was going to be warmer than chicago, and he said it was preparing us for our leg to new york... and then in new york, it was o-kay on our first day there, and then it became slightly warm-humid-icky, and su-jin said it was preparing us for home... okay, i kinda went off-track here.... so on our way there, the train was packed, and you could already guess where they were going to.... especially when their loud conversations were peppered with excitement about going to the do-division street fest and renegade... didn't mean to eavesdrop.. :pp

we saw a gazillion nice stuff and a ton of fun ones, familiar ones too (like the little friends of printmaking -- it's weird because melissa, the mistress of the lfop, actually asked her husband if lof was going to be there, and he said "isn't she in singapore?" ha!!!, and india romeo, smitten kitten, etsy booth!, boygirlparty, sew darn cute, pink loves brown... too many!!) .... there were also lots of food and desserts but all we had time for was a delicious chocolate ice-cream (we had to right??? i was there with a sweet-tooth fella :p i can't believe that we were in a mad rush, and yet had time to queue up for ice-cream!!!) and not forgetting the new renegade store!!! i so love the cute owl... i would not do it any justice with my brief descriptions.... you know what? we might have to get our asses down there the next time again! next year! i don't know.... maybe you should too if you didn't get to go! b was in awe throughout, but was slightly irritated with our rush... :S our favorite, and i think almost everyone's favorite was the super fun postcard machine! It's a fake-o robot, totally man-labored machine that spits out handmade postcards and change!

we didn't get to cover the entire thing of course.... sadly :(( there were 200 over stalls and the area was just too huge, each stall occupied a pretty big area as well, i guess it's a standard size for the fairs there? don't know... it is huge for singapore standards... so yeah... the next one...??? i really really hope so.....

i'm typing this in a rush... so if it's not making much sense.... well, please forgive moi... i had no idea that being away for a while longer than usual has resulted in so many things gatecrashing... elsie was really good at helping me reply customer/urgent emails, but many things she couldn't decide on, and even though we had b's laptop -- i insisted on not bringing my powerbook or using his lappy because it was a holiday dammit! i didn't wanna check emails and worky worky on a vacation????? boooo..... but i did. checked. just a couple. and replied. i've sold my soul. sad.

suddenly, all i can think of now is the word "auto-pilot". hmmm...

to not end it off with such a sad note (i know! my post is of such manic levels of feelings! happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, neutral..... i can be happy and sad so many times a day, it's really pointless to "update my mood" in facebook. LOL! no, i'm not cuckoo. tsk.)

you totally made me smile -- (it was from awhile ago but i just came across it again while frantically clearing emails)

"why do you have to torture me with your little shindig being at singapore!!

i have nothing to look forward here in the states...maybe just convincing someone to buy me all your cute collection for school...

if only.

keep on making the cutest things on earth!!"

and i love love love this uber cool tree coat hanger so i just have to share it with you while i still remember to... so many forest-ty goodies around... can't imagine when i have my own pad... all to meself... all me... muahahaha :p