The rest of the Chicago thrifting

Hi guys!  Can you believe this?  Three days in a row I'm posting!  Aren't you proud?  So Wednesday I told you all about this past Saturday's tourist-thrifting in a few nifty neighborhoods around Chicago.  Last night I gave you a cheapskate's review of an adorably decorated but decidedly cheap hotel.  

Now it's time to show off Sunday's haul, for yes, the thrifting did continue!

We started our day from the cheap hotel far, far from the city, and, as breakfast was not included in our thrifty accommodations, we found this fabulous establishment:

That's right, we had Spunky Dunkers Donuts for breakfast!

We took our sugary bounty to go, found the Starbucks at the local train station, and ate at a picnic table in the little park nearby while wondering whether very small aliens created the lawn-circles there, or whether perhaps someone spilled weed killer.

After downing two donuts and an iced chai I was ready for some more exploring.  We had hoped to visit some vintage shops we had scoped out online in the Wicker Park/Bucktown/Humbolt Park neighborhoods, but every place we found was either closed on Sunday or closed this particular Sunday because of the holiday weekend.  Todd and I did press our noses longingly to the glass at An Orange Moon, but nobody materialized from the back to let us in for an exclusive peek and huge discounts like in my daydreams.  Still, so much to covet there!  And a wander around that nifty area was by no means a bust.  There were fabulous old businesses and lovely residential streets to wander:

And lo and behold, the lovely residential street depicted above sported an "estate sale" sign - bonus!  In a converted carriage house, I apparently learned the importance of coasters, for here is what I purchased:

A set of 6 vintage coasters with Parisian street scenes. 

My very own Stonesters!  Sorry about the lousy pic quality - I guess I was excited.

I posted here about a set of cut stone coasters I got my Dad for his birthday at a craft fair this summer.  These are by the same guy - they have the same sticker underneath, and are just as awesomely Andy Goldsworthy-esque as those, but I got these for about 1/5 the price - yay!

After the estate sale we felt the need to appease the youngster in the group who had very patiently wandered neighborhoods and waded through junk with us for so long, so we headed for Michigan Avenue so he could do some coveting of his own at the Apple Store.  As sleek technology is nice but not necessarily covet-worthy to me, I took that time to stop and smell the... well, not roses:

Flower beds on Michigan Ave.

I'm sure this is a famous building.  I just call it cool                                                     

More from the flower beds 

I so want to go to the Tip Top Tap!

After Michigan Avenue we went looking for the Randolph Street Market, but again struck out, either because we were thrown off by the North Coast Music Festival that kept getting in our way, or because it was closed that day, I'm not sure which.  We did, however, find a real live nitty gritty old-tools-and-cheap-sunglasses flea market:

And look - the sky was clearing up!

I didn't find any vintage treasures there, but, as the clouds all blew away and the sun came out full force, I did buy a pair of the above-mentioned cheap sunglasses, and this most excellent concoction:

Mango con chile - sooooo yum!

Later, without realizing we were doing it, we found our way to another amazing comfort food spot that's apparantly been there for over 70 years, never closes, has been featured on the Food Network, and (this part's just my own personal opinion based on the super nice people who waited on us) appears to be a really great workplace.  The White Palace Grill boasted really, really good food, even if you weren't impressed by all that other stuff.  The soup was amazing (they really like to feed you soup in Chicago, I think).

So after a relative bust in terms of thrifty finds up to that point in the day, we managed to find one of the many Unique Thrift stores in the area, where they were having an awesome sale, and where I found quite a few treasures:

A green vintage lampshade (stitchery bit needs redone, and
I should've turned the seam side around, but oh well!).

A really nice mid-century magazine rack.

An adorable matched pair of crewelwork kite-flying kids.

A cheaply made but awesomely printed vintage bedspread
that doesn't appear to have ever been used.

A small blue and red monogrammed overnight bag.

An old TOMY owl clock-toy.

A beautiful vintage tablecloth in bright autumn tones.

I think I picked up more at this one medium sized strip-mall thrift store than I bought anywhere else all weekend!  We went back to the big amazing warehouse I mentioned in Wednesday's post after that, so Todd could do some wheelie-dealing (he totally scored a Lane Acclaim coffee table for $40!), but what I picked up there I included in what I showed you from there yesterday.  So this concludes the thrift haulage from the weekend, and my energy for continued typing.  I suppose that means I'll spare you my thoughts on Ikea as an analogy for the road to hell.  You don't have to thank me!

If you haven't had enough of thrifted treasures yet, check out these link-ups full of folks who are lucky in thrift:  

Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday and The Thrifty Groove's Thrifty Things Friday. 

And what about you?  Thrift anything good lately?

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