Chicago, IL

After all of the stress that comes with the holidays, like shopping, decorating, and baking, you should treat yourself. While some people may think it is a treat to get a massage or pedicure, when I want to treat myself, I think chocolate. Here are some great ways that you can treat yourself in Chicago this year, with a chocolate theme.

Fannie May Chocolate Ferry
Take the Chicago Water taxi on the weekends between now and December 23rd and not only will you get a free ride, you will also get free Fannie May Chocolate samples. This is a good way to get from downtown to Michigan Avenue shopping. You will also get a coupon for a free cup of hot chocolate at the Fannie May flagship store at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive.

Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge
Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds. There are several locations, hopefully one near you. I have been to the one at Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, where my husband and I shared chocolate fondue. It was “research” because we planned to have a chocolate fountain at our wedding and we needed to know what tasted good dipped in chocolate. Of course the answer was “everything” and we ended up not using the fountain, but it was well worth the trip.

I have also stopped by the location at the 900 N Michigan building for a hot chocolate. Also recommended. They have comfortable chairs, so you can just stop in, get a delicious chocolate treat and rest your tired feet for awhile.

Ghiradelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop
830 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
Walk into this chocolate heaven and you will get a free sample of one of their signature chocolate squares. My favorite is the one with caramel, but they are all pretty great. In addition to chocolate treats, they also have a wide variety of ice cream products, like shakes and sundaes. My favorite is the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae. I highly recommend it.

This is the last post in my 12 Days of Chicago series. I hope that I have given you some ideas of fun things that you can do in Chicago this Christmas season. The deadline for the accompanying contest is today at 12:00 p.m. Chicago time. If you have not yet entered, click here for more information.

Chicago, Ethel’s Chocolate Shop, Ghiradelli, chocolate, Fannie Mae

On day one of this 12 days of Chicago project, I wrote about the opportunities for shopping within the city limits of Chicago. However, if you are feeling adventurous, or are looking for some bargains, there are plenty of great shopping areas in the suburbs of Chicago. Here are two such places which I would recommend to someone looking to get out of the city and do some shopping this holiday season.

Gurnee Mills shopping plaza
6170 W. Grand Avenue, Gurnee IL (near Great America)
What’s makes it special: giant indoor outlet mall where you can get some great deals
Department Stores: Kohl’s, JcPenney, Sears Grand, Value City, Saks Fifth Avenue outlet
Places to eat after a long day of shopping: Two different food courts, Ruby Tuesday, The Rainforest Cafe
How to get there from the city: I-94 W to Gurnee Mills Circle East

I highly recommend Gurnee Mills as it is the kind of place that, after going once, was sad that I had not been before. Some tips, though: go early in the day because it gets incredibly crowded; wear comfortable walking shoes because it is a huge mall and your feet will get surprisingly tired. There is also a movie theater if you get bored with shopping and need to rest a while.

They have some unique stores that you cannot find in the city like Bass Pro Shops, Borders Outlet, and wide variety of others. For a full list of the store directory check out this listing here. They have varying hours over the next couple of weeks for the holidays, so be sure to check this link for hours before you head up there.
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If you spend anytime at all in Chicago during the holiday season, you know that this town goes all out when decorating for Christmas. Throughout the city, from Michigan Avenue, to the loop, to downtown buildings; everywhere you look has the Christmas spirit.

Therefore, one of the best things you can do to get in the holiday spirit in Chicago is just go for a walk. It is difficult not to get excited about decorating your own tree or wrapping some gifts after seeing how beautifully decorated the city is each year. The best part is that looking at decorations is free.

Michigan Avenue is decorated with millions of lights starting with the lights festival, and the rest of the city is not lacking in the lights department either. The outside of hotels throughout the city are also covered in lights, as are the majority of trees in the medians throughout downtown. Even the statues outside of the Board of the Trade get into the act, each lady holding a Christmas wreath.

Macy’s department store, in addition to its window display, also decorates the outside of its store for Christmas (see below).

Another time-honored tradition in the city of Chicago for the holidays is to visit the decorative window displays at the Marshall Field’s department store. Although Field’s is no more, the window displays have continued at Macy’s, which is located on State street between Randolph and Washington.

The display this year has a Nutcracker theme and includes moving exhibits and beautiful exhibits. As seen in the photo above, the displays are enjoyed by young and old alike and have become a holiday tradition for many families in Chicago and surrounding communities.

If you plan to visit the Macy’s windows display, I have a couple of recommendations for you. First, go early. By this I mean go early in the season (they are up already) and also go early in the day. If you go to Macy’s at the height of the shopping day, it can be crowded and difficult to see the displays. That leads me to my second recommendation: have patience. If the windows are crowded, be patient and people will move along. Nothing dampens a festive holiday mood more than pushy, rude people.

The best thing about the window displays is that you can see them for free. Plus, if you are downtown shopping, you don’t even have to go out of your way to see them, as they are right on the main shopping strip on State Street.

Below is a video of one of the windows from this year. It shows the details and creativity that goes into each window and also shows why people young and old become memorized by the views and are slow to move it along.

This post is part of the 12 days of Chicago series, which brings you 12 fun and interesting things that you can do for the holidays in Chicago. In conjunction with the series, this blog is sponsoring a holiday contest, which you can read about here.

Chicago, Macys, Marshall Field

Many people flock to the city of Chicago from neighboring towns, suburbs, and even other states for one reason and one reason alone: The shopping! Like other major cities, Chicago has a wide variety of shops available, depending on your shopping needs. There are department stores, discount shops and boutiques. Although every neighborhood in Chicago has shops that may be of interest, today I will just focus on two key shopping areas in Chicago, both of which are great for your holiday gift giving.

The Magnificent Mile: This is the name given to the stretch of Avenue from Oak Street to Wacker. It consists of mostly high-end department stores and trendy boutiques. Examples include Lord & Taylor, Coach, and Burberry. It is also home to the Apple Store, Borders, Filene’s Basement and the Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop.

State Street: The State street shopping area, which extends roughly from Lake Street to Monroe, has its fair share of department stores, but also has some cheaper options. The most famous is Macy’s, which was, of course formerly Marshall Field’s, but there is also an Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, and the newest kid on the block: Loehmann’s.

I headed into Loehmann’s to check it out this week and I found it to be somewhere between Marshall’s and Nordstrom Rack in terms of clothing. They are mostly a clothing store, but also have handbags and some gifts. Both photos are from Loehmann’s.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas of how to start your Chicago shopping!

It was revealed today that malls in Chicago are at risk of a potential terrorist attack this holiday season. According to Police Superintendent Dana Starks, “Chicago is as safe and secure as any big city can be.” The Governor’s office said that they have “not confirmed the legitimacy of the reported threat, we are working closely with them and will keep the public advised of any developments. We encourage people to go about their holiday shopping and preparations as they always would.”

Upon hearing the news, I did not express alarm, concern, or rethink my holiday shopping plans. Rather, I said, “What malls?” The actual city of Chicago proper does not really have any malls. There is Water Tower Place and that Nordstrom building with shops, but neither of these are “malls.” To me a mall has to be sprawling and have a large contingent of mall walkers. Maybe that is just my rural background coming in to play. I am sure plenty of people in Chicago consider those places to be malls and that has confused the terrorists.

I think that perhaps the terrorists need to get their ducks in a row before making such an elaborate plan. They obviously are not past the first steps of planning if they are thinking of blowing up “Chicago malls.”

Of course, if you are worried, you can visit Shopping Tips online and get some tips about online buying so that you can take care of your holiday purchases without going near any malls.
Source

Chicago, terrorists, malls

Photo from a protest on the opening day of Macy’s.

Although the downtown Marshall Field’s store has been known as Macy’s since last September, there is still a group of Marshall Field’s supporters hoping to return the store to it original name and identity. There is a website called Field Fans Chicago which is “working to bring back Marshall Field’s not only in name, but also in quality, service, culture, history, tourism, and more.”

The group has a protest planned for 1:00 p.m. on September 9th, 2007, on the one year anniversary of the change in the store’s name. The protesters will meet up underneath the clock at Washington and State Streets. They also are encouraging people to boycott Macy’s stores to show support for Marshall Field’s.

At their website, you can order free lapel stickers to show your support and learn more about the cause. They also have t-shirts available for purchase.

Angelina Jolie, in town to film Wanted, visited the Borders on Michigan Avenue over the weekend. The photos below are her leaving the store with her son Maddox.

Angelina Jolie, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, Chicago, Borders

This Friday and Saturday, Halsted Street will be host to the annual Northalsted Market Days. The event purports to be the “largest two-day street fair in the Midwest.”

From the Market Days officials:

The event spans six city blocks, has 17 entrance gates and features three music stages with more than 40 musical acts performing. Many of these artists will be top-name, national headliners, giving Market Days a reputation for some of the best live music in Chicago.

Market Days is also famous for its vast array of unique food, and arts and crafts vendors. Vendors from across the country apply for the privilege of showing and selling their unique wares to this huge, upscale crowd. On average, Northalsted Market Days® features 400 food, arts and crafts vendors.

Details:
Date: August 11th and 12th
Time: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Location: N. Halsted street, between Belmont and Addison in Chicago

For the full schedule, including all of the musical events check out think link.

Chicago, Halsted Market Days, Market Days, Northalsted Market Days

The annual bridal gown event at the State Street branch of Filene’s Basement will take place tomorrow, July 27th. The event, which has been made famous on sitcoms, involves a mad rush to find a great designer dress at a significant discount. Women pull wedding dresses off the racks and try them on right in the aisleways, trying to find “the one.” It is a chaotic and exciting time which has been called “The Running of the Brides.”

When I went to the event two years ago, I decided to miss all of the crazy hoopla. I waited until about 11:00 a.m. to go to the store. While there were not as many people there, they still had hundreds and hundreds of dresses, which had all been nicely put back on the racks by the employees. There were still women changing in the aisles, something I certainly was not going to do. I went to the dressing room and tried on several dresses there. I am not sure why the women were changing in the aisles when the dressing room was empty. Maybe for the experience?

Here are the details of this year’s event:

Friday July 27, 2007
Filene’s Basement
1 N. State St., Chicago
Doors open at 8:00 a.m. (lines will form long before that)
Kiss FM will be there staring at 7:00 a.m.
The event runs until store closing
Dresses are $249, $499 or $699

For more on the event, go to Filene’s Basement’s official site here.

If you are looking for some new books to read, you may want to check out the annual book fair at the Newberry Library. Here is what the Library has to say about the event:

Feed your bibliomania at the Newberry’s annual Book Fair! More than 100,000 donated books have been sorted into 60 categories for your browsing convenience. With many books priced under $2, it’s easy to replenish your home library’s holdings on subjects ranging from antiques to zoology.

Here are the details:
Thursday, July 26, 2007, from 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Friday, July 27, 2007, from 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Saturday, July 28, 2007, from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday, July 29, 2007, from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Admission is free. For more information, check out the Newberry Library website here. The Library is located at 60 W. Walton in Chicago.

Chicago, Newberry Library, Newberry Library Book Fair, book fair

Despite living in the city, Chicagoans still have the opportunity to get fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and baked goods, without shelling out a lot of money at a specialty grocery store. The Farmers’ Market season in Chicago is here! Probably the most well-known market to people working in downtown is the market in Daley Plaza. It takes place every Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and is a great place to pick up some berries for a pie or some fresh onions for cooking. This is not the only opportunity in town, however. Here is some more popular Farmers’ Markets in the city (please note the specific dates and times of each):

Chicago’s Green City Market
At the South end of Lincoln Park, North of the
Historical Society parking lot between 1750 N. Clark St. & Stockton Dr.
Wednesdays and Saturdays
May 16-Oct. 31, 2007
7 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Garfield Park Conservatory Farmers Market
(European Style Market)
300 N. Central Park
Saturdays and Sundays, May 26-Oct. 29, 2007
9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Daley Plaza Farmers Markets
Washington & Dearborn (100 N. - 50 W.)
Thursdays, May 17-Oct 4, 2007
7 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Federal Plaza Farmers Markets
On Federal Plaza - East of the Post Office
Adams & Dearborn (230 S. - 50 W.)
Tuesdays
May 15-Oct. 30, 2007
7 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Prudential Plaza Farmers Markets
Lake & Beaubien Court (200 N. - 150 E.)
Prudential Building Plaza
Tuesdays June 5-Oct. 23, 2007
7 a.m.-3 p.m.

The Park at Jackson & Wacker
311 S. Wacker (311 S. - 350 W.)
On the Park at Jackson & Wacker
Thursdays June 14-Oct. 18, 2007
7 a.m.-3 p.m.

For even more farmers’ markets, check out this list by the Illinois Green Party. 0

Chicago, farmers market, Chicago farmers market, daley plaza, garfield park, vegetables, fruit, gardening

The Chicago Antique Market, called an “urban treasure hunt,” opens business for this season starting this weekend. The market, located in the 1300 block of West Randolph will be held the last Saturday of the every month, through October 27. In honor of its season opener, the market will be open both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

The event is part open-air market, part indoor antique shop, which makes it a great stop no matter the weather. According to the official website:

An indoor and outdoor European-style urban antique market located in the historic and distinctive Randolph Street Market District at the beautiful Beaux Arts Plumbers Hall complex on West Randolph Street.

Collectors, dealers, retail buyers, designers, domestic and international visitors, families and friends come together to celebrate, preserve, swap and shop treasures from the past.

Fun and fabulous food and drink specialties abound! Come and dine al fresco against the backdrop of the beautiful Chicago skyline.

Also at the same location is the Indie Designer Fashion Market, where you can buy clothing and jewelry right from the designers who created them.

New this year is a special event for children, called the “Junior’s Collectors Club,” which teaches kids about how to start collections and how to find treasures.

A visit to the Chicago Antique Market is $8, with children under 12 getting in for free. Early admission, to get a jump on all the great finds, will run you $20. A season pass is also available for $75. For more information on the Chicago Antique Market, visit their official website.