Well actually I've been back since early Thursday morning. LOL! I've just been too tired to blog. I spent the entire Thursday in bed (well almost the entire day). Guess what time I woke up? 4.30pm. Yep! Think my body clock is suffering some major jetlag here. I'm wide awake at 3am and can't sleep till 4 or 5am then somewhere during the afternoon.... I'm yawning and getting really tired and zonked. LOL! Let's hope this jetlag passes soon. I need to be able to function normally! Coffee DOES NOT help, apparently.
So here's the low down on what happened in Chicago. It was a busy couple of days during CHA...trying to complete our rounds and orders. The days whizz by so quickly it ain't funny. It was a good thing that we managed to squeeze in some time during the last day in Chicago to go visit Chicago town itself coz next year's CHA Summer will be held in Florida.... do I hear Disney world????
So.. CHA... hmmm I met ALI EDWARDS again!
It was nice to meet her, grab a photo with her and watch her do an interesting demo at the Ranger booth. She was doing an 'anti blending' or 'anti Tim Holtz' (LOL!) technique using Ranger's Alcohol Inks. You can see her samples on her blog. Somehow Ali makes everything look so easy and fun.
I got her to sign one for me! *happy dance*
I really love some of the cool releases for this Summer show. Here are my hot favourites.
1. Basic Grey - omg!!!! I love everything they released but I must say "OffBeat" was my favourite.
2. October Afternoon - total yummmmness.
3. Sassafrass Lass - again.... total yummness.
4. Hambly Screen Prints - birdcages, moustaches, bicycles, typewriters.. ohhh i can't wait!!!!
5. American Crafts - can't get enough of thickers... love the new epoxy ones and chipboard too!
There were loads more that I went GAGA over but these are the ones that I can recall off hand.
On to the last day in Chicago - EL, SC, SO and I took the train from Rosemont all the way down Town. I have never taken those 'American Trains' that we see so often on TV so it was quite an experience. The train ride was pretty comfortable (we appreciated the aircon in that HOT weather) but rather 'noisy' LOL. Our MRT rides are sooooooo quiet in comparison.
We stopped by a local scrapbook store .. walked arnd a little, did some damage to my pocket and then took the train to the town itself.
Here are some sights of Chicago town.. I'll let the photos do the talking. These were taken while we were enjoying the Chicago view from their FREE Trolley rides around town.
That's us! On board the FREE Trolley... *wonder what EL was so shocked about?" LOL.
here are some funny chinese restaurant names:
"LAI LAI" (i almost missed it - see the right of the photo)
"Wow Bao" - Hot Asian Buns. LOL!!! ROFL!
and this is what frustrated me... I went past 2 Jamba Juice stores but could not get to it! UGGGGGHHHHH.. once was when we were in a taxi and the other time on the free trolley ride. I missed it on this trip.. so sad!!! :(
In the evening, we went to NAVY PIER (and by then we had bags and bags of shopping.. LOL) to chill and have dinner. Navy Pier was pretty okay... though the shopping could have been better. I thought Darling Harbour in Sydney was much better. However, I did like the ferries wheel! Made nice backdrop for photos .. HAHA.
and just before we left the Pier......
FIREWORKS!!!! Sorry for the lousy photos... was too excited about the fireworks and I only had my Point and Shoot with me... LOL!
Okay so there we go hehehe......I didn't buy much on this trip for myself (Eugene got 3 Old Navy shirts and a polo T) but I must say my favourite score was this suuuper nice Tote bag (the bigger of the 2 in the pic) we found in a quaint 'book store' somewhere in Chicago town itself.
LOVE it so much.. it's nice ya?
Glad you're bacK sis!! see you this sunday muacks!
Posted by: Jaclyn | July 26, 2008 at 03:23 AM
Love your photos from CHA! How cool you met Ali Edwards! Sounds like you had FUN. Hope you are over jet lag soon.
Posted by: Donna. | July 26, 2008 at 04:28 AM