Holiday Shopping for Myself

    Taking a break from my bike this past Sunday, I drove with a friend down to the Merchandise Mart for the One of a Kind Show. There were tons of booths housing independent artisans and we managed to hit them all. (We went row by row so we wouldn’t miss a thing.)
    The vast majority of offerings were jewelry and it was a sparkly event. The jewelry highlight for me was a collection of fantastical rings and earrings made in the shape of animals. They were of gold or other precious materials with jewel eyes.

     Here's a mouse eating a pearl. I don’t think mice eat pearls but I suppose it’s meant to represent a kernel of corn? It was adorable, but prohibitively expensive. Sometimes it’s nice to just dream about owning something.
    A fantastic collection of chairs in eclectic colorful upholstery caught my eye, but when I sat in one, that sealed the deal. So this is what a comfortable chair is supposed to feel like! Perfect size for a petite woman like myself, I leaned back into it’s cushy wonderfulness and imagined the smell the hot chocolate and the whisper of the potted palms. Really all one needs to pretend you have a fabulous library is the correct chair.

     I bought a few of these journals made out of old library books. They use books that are no longer in circulation, so the titles were all unknown to me. Swamp Cat is my favorite, mostly because the cover is cool.

     There was soap and fashion and hats. Lots of hats. All fun stuff, though I still managed to spend more on myself than on gifts for others. I think I am not the only one with this problem.

    Treats rounded out the end of our day, with the food booths offering samples of chocolate and toffee and more chocolate. Mmmm. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, but I better get a move on real holiday shopping soon.