Craft Social time again

It's that time again. Another Chicago Craft Social! This time, we'll focus on making gifts and ornaments for the holidays. Head over to the Craft Social blog to get the full scoop and to rsvp. Remember, space is limited!
If you happen to be interested in leading a project at this social, send me an e-mail and we'll talk.

We had some press last time, Beth Engelman from Mommy on a Shoestring, and have an article complete with demonstration videos to prove it. If you'd like to get instructions for a few of our past Craft Social projects or make fun of how I look or act on camera, here's the place. Thanks, Beth, for supporting us!

Social lactivist for a day

Last Friday I took my kids, met up with a friend and hung around Lincoln Square as part of a "nurse-in," held in reaction to an incident where a woman was publicly hassled for breastfeeding outdoors.
In my years of nursing in public, I was never hassled by a stranger, but I do know the difficulty in wanting to modestly feed your baby while carrying on with your life outside of home. It is not easy. So we donned the International Breastfeeding Symbol stickers and played and visited and watched as nursing moms were interviewed by television reporters.
You can find multiple versions of the story online. Here is the Chicago Sun-Times version.

Recent happenings

I'm back! I know, I never said I was going anywhere. It was an unplanned hiatus.
I'm going to do a little catch up here before getting back into some kind of routine.

In the time I've been away from the computer, we've:
Camped near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. (We managed to get a few hours of beautiful clear sky in between all the rain. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it.)
Celebrated my birthday. (Remember last year's?)
Celebrated my baby's birthday with homemade malted milk ice cream from The Perfect Scoop.
Visited the Shedd Aquarium downtown. (Look at that cloudy, cool summer day in Chicago. Good grief!)
Made butterfly contact and witnessed a sheep-shearing at the zoo. (We got lucky and caught one of the 2 yearly shearings.)
Toured Wagner Farm.
Filmed a craft demo for the Pioneer Press Mommy on a Shoestring column. (Should appear in about 3 weeks.)
Enjoyed a week long visit from my mom and started our homeschool History co-op classes.
Whew! And those are just the highlights.

I'll try to be back here soon.

A day in Lincoln Park

Chicago really is wonderful in the summer. We've been enjoying the strangely comfortable, though on the verge of cool, weather with multiple trips to Lincoln Park. My kids are loving it. Admittedly, we're spending so much time there because we happen to have a free parking pass through the end of the month, so I can't say if our visits will be as frequent come August. But I have to put in a little plug for this area in case you live near here or plan to visit.
Here are some excellent things to do in Lincoln Park that all happen to be FREE and within walking distance of each other.

Green City Market-Wonderful farmers' market with a wide variety of delicious foods to sample, purchase raw to carry home or cooked for lunch on the spot; live music; chef demonstrations and more. Open every Wednesday and Saturday year round. Check out the chefs' recipes section on their website. Yum!

Lincoln Park Zoo-Some very nice exhibits (especially the newest African animal habitats), but we tend to be most attracted to the landscape and the children's climbing structure.

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool-I can't believe we just found this lovely little urban oasis. Where have we been? Prairie-style architecture (nice shaded pavilion for resting, snacking, drawing, etc.) and landscape design, water lily-covered pond, waterfall, and plant and tree lined stone paths with nooks for pond and wildlife gazing. Also seems to be a popular spot for wedding portraits.

Lincoln Park Conservatory-An especially nice escape when the weather turns cool, but beautiful any time of year. Unusual and beautiful varieties of trees, plants, and flowers housed in an 1800s Victorian glass house.

My advice: Head out pretty early in the morning and hit the market first. Snack on some of their offerings (the lamb-mushroom and strawberry-rhubarb hand pies and blueberry mint sorbet were amazing, as were the million varieties of cheese), make your way through the zoo and conservatory, stopping to picnic on the zoo grounds or gardens outside, then take a relaxing stroll through the lily pool, making sure to dip your feet in the cool water at the fall. Be sure to bring your shopping bag and camera!

Chicago Craft Social, August 14

Yay! Craft Social is back! We had such a good time hosting this gigantic night of crafty fun in May that we've brought it back for a summer session and added an hour of fun. That's not the only thing we've added. Now, you may bring your men friends. That's right, they're crafty, too! And we're glad to have them join us. Now, if we could get some enthusiastic ones to help lead a project, that would be even better. Let us know if have a friend that fits the bill.
Also, we will now have a lovely little publicity/freebie table set up for you to spread the word about your own creative business or for you to peruse and find out what everyone else is up to. Feel free to bring some business cards, postcards, buttons or the like to share. We're excited to learn more about you.
If you're in the Chicago area, or plan to be on August 14, head on over to the Craft Social blog and rsvp. Remember, we do have a limit of 150 guests, so move quickly! Oh, and if you saw a project that interested you last time, but you weren't able to try it, or if you have something you've been dying to learn, let me know and we'll consider that as we plan our dozen plus activities.
Hope to see you there!