back to school celebration with gap

I'm absolutely LOVING all the back to school pictures that have overtaken my feed.  All the little ones are absolutely adorable and it's making me reminisce back to when I was a youngster prepping for the new school year.  I remember the excitement around buying new clothes and making sure that my first day of school outfit was absolutely killer.  That's why I'm so excited that Gap on Michigan Avenue asked me to put together some of my favorite fall looks that will be featured at their back to school celebration event this weekend.  Details on the event after the jump.

rules for outlet shopping

Mini was in need of some new kicks (can't these kids stop growing so fast?) and since I'm super adament about not paying full-price for any kids clothes it was a good time to venture out to the Chicago Premium Outlet in Aurora!  Now going to the outlets can be amazing because of all the gear you can collect at a fraction of what you would normally pay at the mall, but it is easy to go a little overboard.  So I've put together a few trusty rules that will help you stay on track when outlet shopping.

life (lahyf) | supporting the locals

With Christmas around the corner, I've been trying to support a lot of local businesses for most of my stocking stuffers, holiday exchanges and goodies for myself. Growing up with a dad that owned a small business, I understand the importance of supporting local businesses and what it does for the economy. Although I get blind sided (maybe too often) by un-beatable prices at large retail stores, the items that can be found in small boutiques are much more unique and sometimes more meaningful.

I live down the street from Columbia College, which is an amazing art school and well known in the Midwest for their great fashion, as well as design programs.  A few months ago I stumbled upon Shop Columbia, which is the school's art store that sells many of the students' one of a kind masterpieces such as prints, cards, jewelry, clothing, accessories and much more.  Last week when I was on a mission to find a good white elephant gift, I headed to the Shop Columbia and the store didn't disappoint.

Walking through the store, there were so many great pieces I wanted to take home and at decent prices.   I was on a mission to find a fun gift for an upcoming gift exchange, but alas I was distracted and of course ended up grabbing something for myself instead.  I'm a true believer of that rule, "One for you, one for me" and in this case, I just started with myself before buying a gift for someone else. 

I love that I discovered this store.  It's like a group of Etsy sellers all combined in one roof that are much more accessible.  I'll definitely be back when I have more gift giving to do, or when I need to frost myself with some unique jewels.  Even though it's a Chicago based store, you can check out their amazing artists by shopping online at Shop Columbia.

|Are there any local stores in your neighborhood that you recently discovered or like to support?|

life (lahyf) | chicago blogger crawl

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the very first Chicago Blogger Crawl (#chibloggercrawl) hosted by Nikia of Chitown Fashionista.  Much like a bar crawl, we went from one Marshalls and TJ Maxx stores to another scoping out the variety of goods that each was carrying. 

The day started off at 9am, where we all re-grouped before our first store to catch up and get the layout of the day.  Nikia is so super organized that she put together this fabulous agenda full of attendee names, our blog sites, details for a fun scavenger hunt activity at each store and info on how we can share our adventures with our Twitter followers through a giveaway that was taking place while we went from store to store.

With all that fun information, a great playlist (c/o of Melvin) and eager shoppers - we were all prepared for our day to find some great items.  As you can tell from this group shot - we obviously were a fun bunch to be around the entire day.

attendees (l to r) | andrea | gabriel | nikia | rai-jean | dee dee | hallie | patrice | yours truly | jen | elise | mariposa | lisa

From store to store we wandered with intentions of finding the best deals and that we did.  Everything from Elise's Rebecca Minkoff bag and Hallie's Cynthia Rowley purse to Mariposa's throw pillows for her daughter's room- everyone walked away happy with their purchases, but more importantly their great deals and money saved.

By the end of the day, we not only picked out some of the best things from all three store locations, but knew so much more about each other.  We spent our time in the van talking about life, blogging, shopping and food, that by the end of our trip I almost didn't want it to end.  Thanks to our wonderful hostess and her hubby (also driver of the day) Melvin, I spent a good portion of my Saturday bonding with some other fabulous bloggers who I can proudly say are real life friends.

*A HUGE thank you goes out to Nikia and Melvin for planning the day.  In addition, thanks to all the folks at each TJ Maxx and Marshalls for letting us take over the stores, and last, but not least, Kellogg's Special K for providing us with gift bags full of food to fuel us throughout our trip.

life (lahyf) | cram for kids

It seems like these days more and more of my friends are having babies.  If you're in the same life stage as I am, you know that feeling where some aren't just on their first baby anymore...they're onto their second (gulp!).  Needless to say it seems like I've been shopping for babies just as much as I've been shopping for adults.  Since I sometimes don't fully understand the need for a mobile or what a Bumbo really  is, I choose to come in like the cool aunt that would feed you candy before dinner and buy a gift that may not be a necessity, but is pretty dang cool.

This weekend I visited my friend Richard's amazing kids store in Lakeview called Cram For Kids.  He helped me find the perfect gift for a friend of mine back home who recently had her baby shower.  His store is so inviting and welcoming, that it isn't intimidating to the baby dummies (present company included) that need to learn a thing or two about kids stuff.  With a collection of adorable organic toys and clothes cute enough an adult would want to wear them, I spent my time in the store with a difficult task of picking just a few perfect somethings for my friend.  Luckily with Richard's suggestions I was able to find some great organic items that I think my friend will love.

I don't spend a ton of time in baby stores, but I do know boutique shops like Cram For Kids, is a great way to get hand-picked, quality items that are great for a child's development.  Like I said, I have a lot to learn about kids - heck I just learned what swaddling was earlier this year thanks to my friend Abby, but I do know shopping and this place has got the goods...well baby goods at least.  If you're ever in the neighborhood or need to cover off on some baby shopping, definitely stop by his store.  If anything peek your head in and play with the cute animal faced mittens like I did, it made me feel like a kid again, but also made me realize that shopping for kids can be just as much fun as shopping for myself.

|Are you going through a phase where your shopping for kids as much I am? What are some of your go to stores?|