The Chicago Traveler

• Check out two local designers and their earth-friendly clothing for women at EcoFashion: Beyond the Basics. Sip on pomegranate martinis with organic vodka at Pivot, while seeing how scarves are made with natural pomegranate dye. (Apr 4)
• The 24th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival features more than 100 short, animated, documentary, and feature films from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Screenings take place in several venues across the city and explore politics, race, sex, and social issues. (Apr 4-16)
• Doug Benson, as seen on VH1’s Best Week Ever, will be appearing at Lakeshore Theater. (Apr 4-5)
• …read more

Comments Off

“Necessity is the mother of Invention.” Well, these two Chicago moms needed a place to get fashionable, comfortable duds for their little ones. When they couldn’t find one, they decided to create their own.
When designer Nicole Rairigh gave birth to her first daughter Ashor, her line of mini-wear, a.k.a. Ashor’s Room, was also born. Rairigh had just graduated from fashion school at Columbia College and started making clothes for little Ashor. She began introducing the clothing to various boutiques, and now these locally-designed duds can be found in stores all across the country. All of the screens and patches are …read more

Comments Off

Maybe you’re not as eco-friendly as you’d like to be. You may not always recycle when you should, and on more than one occasion, you’ve left the kitchen light on. You can start making up for it at Pivot.
Owner Jessa Brinkmeyer proves that earth-smart doesn’t have to mean crunch, grungy, or hippie. Her eco-boutique (just north of Red Kiva) is filled with recycled furniture, bamboo flooring, fluorescent bulbs, and toxin-free paint. And the clothes themselves? They’re as “green” as the recycled-metal racks they’re hung on: organic cotton, bamboo, soy, hemp, recycled leather, silk, linen, etc. These are some of …read more

2 Comments

• Sip on specially-priced $29 bottles of wine from past leap years (2000 and 2004) at the Leap Year Dinner at Café Matou. (Feb 29)
• Shane Salois of Cream Wine Company and sommelier Rashed Islam lead a tasting of more than 12 champagnes with appetizer pairings at the Leap Year Champagne Seminar at Viet Bistro. (Feb 29)
• At the Leap Year Celebration at Zocalo, get a flan dessert for $2.29 (in honor of the day 2/29) plus half-price appetizers and live music in the bar. (Feb 29)
• The Leap Year Celebration at Café Penelope features buffalo frog legs, “frog’s leap” …read more

1 Comment

Some moms save everything. Book reports, baby teeth, art projects… but if your little Picasso’s creations are starting to wallpaper your refrigerator, it may be time to talk to Susan Fleming at Stitch (just south of Hot Chocolate).
Watercolors, crayons, pencil scribbles: Susan has seen it all. She’ll shrink it all down to a manageable size and even make a cute necklace or keychain out of it in two to four weeks. Now you can carry those unique works of art with you wherever you go. They’re set in sterling silver and coated with protective resin, so they’ll last long enough …read more

Comments Off

I know nothing about shoes, except that I can never find them in my size. However, if you ladies know your shoes better than you know your friends, check out the new boutique on Damen Avenue, just north of Hot Chocolate: Grace.
Heels, flats, boots, pumps, wedges: shop owner Kristi Ryan has ditched the stale office work and collected all these and more at her splendid shoe store in Bucktown. Peruse among names like Anya Hindmarch, Missoni, London Sole, Jean-Michel Cazabat, and Luciano Padovan. Ryan has made it a priority to find shoes that are high-quality but little-known, so you may …read more

1 Comment