…Otherwise known as the One of a Kind Show and Sale at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart.

The Czar and Czarina go to One of A Kind every year! If you go, you will definitely find something new and different for everyone on your holiday list. Approximately 400 artists attend from around the country, working in such mediums as wood, glass, metal, canvas and paper. The fiber arts section has increased in size with every passing show, and we’ve gone five times in a row. So if you like your clothing funky, make sure to check out the “Fashion District,” which has fashion shows throughout the four days. Buy yourself a unique, artist-made purse instead of springing for a $1500 designer monstrosity.

There is also a “Gourmet Gallery,” with purveyors of fine foods and hand crafted edible items. Last year we bought bottles and bottles of exotic hot pepper sauces from Peppermaster, which went with everything from ice cream to red meat. You want the chilis? You can’t handle the chilis!

Sunday is a day that looks especially interesting in the realm of demonstrations:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9

Noon Hot Picks from the Show
Center Stage

12:30 p.m. Artist Talk/Demonstration
Lisa Walsh: Flame Worked Glass Beaded Jewelry, The Studio

1 p.m. One of a Kind Fashion Show
Center Stage

2 p.m. Trend Show
Fashion District Stage

2:30 p.m. Artist Talk/Demonstration
Kate Jacobson: Knitting, The Studio

3:30 p.m. Artist Talk/Demonstration
Marla Duran: Wearable Fiber & Life on Project Runway, The Studio

I highly recommend you buy your tickets online. Don’t wait in line; it gets insane and people start getting grumpy. If you can, leave the stroller at home because it gets very crowded and awkward for parents pushing prams.

Support upcoming starving artists as well as the more established ones this year and give the aesthetically gifted a good holiday season too. The big retailers are increasingly undeserving – and that’s the Czarina’s editorial comment for today.

ONE OF A KIND SHOW AND SALE
Chicago Merchandise Mart
Thursday, December 6th through Sunday, December 9th

Hours
Thursday, December 6, noon-9 p.m.
Shop Opening Day and Benefit Children’s Memorial Hospital
Friday, December 7, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday, December 8, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday, December 9, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

OOOOH, nothing makes the Czarina happier than designer labels at discount prices. For this reason, she simply could not resist joining Billion Dollar Babes, a sample sale held in San Francisco, LA, Chicago, and New York, along with London and Dublin. A gold or platinum membership buys you a first look (which is all important if you wish to have the largest selection) as well as admission to sales in any city. During this past fall sale here in Chicago, there was a great rack of Dolce and Gabbana – and because the Czarina only has a gold membership, she probably missed out on D&G items that had a realistic chance of fitting.

More importantly, membership buys you something priceless:

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How are the three ‘R’s of Windows technical support relevant to a blog entry about Beta Boutique’s awesome Stacked Racks sale?

Well, it’s relevant only because the Czarina suffers mightily from a Geek Complex. She doesn’t want to admit to herself that she does, indeed, have a geek streak, because there’s just as powerful of a fashion slave inside. These two entities do not live well together in the same body. When they interface there is the very real danger of a matter/antimatter explosion that opens an alternate universe.

So after many attempts at finding some kind of understandable, funny, and ironic spin on “Beta” – both the name of this very excellent place and the testing phase before a software program is released – let’s just consider this headline witty, shall we? Help a gal out? I’d like to go back to ignoring the facts. Thanks.

Read on for the Czarina’s take on Beta Boutique’s Stacked Racks sale on August 11th and 12th.

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You know you slept through The Crucible in high school, just like you did with The Scarlet Letter and The Grapes of Wrath. Now you have the chance to make right with your long-suffering English teacher. She might just forgive you, now that she’s had the memory-erasing shock therapy she needed after your boorish interpretation of the symbolism of Jack’s hair color in Lord of the Flies.

This year the Steppenwolf is offering a great package. Their “No Frills” Saver Series makes you a subscriber for all five 2007-2008 plays for only $125. The catch? You have to go Tuesday or Wednesday night, and they pick the night for you.

While going out on a Wednesday may sound strange, the Czarina went to see Betrayal on a weeknight and she really enjoyed it. The theater wasn’t as chaotic and parking wasn’t as much of a problem. The audience seemed friendlier and chattier than they might otherwise be on the weekends, with perfect strangers adding their two cents into other attendees’ conversations.

If weeknights out are not your style, The Steppenwolf also offers the “Preview” series for about $200. These showings cost less because they are pre-release viewings. What makes these shows fun is that the production isn’t set in stone yet, and you may be called upon to give feedback so the director can change the production and the designers can change the set.

Regular run tickets range from $225 to $300 for the weekends. This season’s theme is “What Does it Mean to be American?” You can buy seats for any one play, but your options will be more limited. The Czarina is very much looking forward to Superior Donuts.

By the way, Sleepyhead, the title from this post is a derivation of a quote from the play. I know you knew that, because you were sooooo paying attention that day.

The Crucible
By Arthur Miller

Steppenwolf Theater
Thursday, September 13, 2007 — Sunday, November 11, 2007
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro

Featuring: Alana Arenas, Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Ora Jones, Tracy Letts, James Vincent Meredith, Sally Murphy and Alan Wilder with Lucy Carapetyan, Maury Cooper, Justin James Farley, Chike Johnson, Leonard Kraft, Mildred Marie Langford, John Lister, Ginger Lee McDermott, Kelly O’Sullivan, Tim Edward Rhoze, Mary Seibel and Lee Stark.

Dean Schlabowske wants to save you from Big Wine.

And “California fruit bombs.”

Cellar Rat recently opened on North Avenue in the Wicker Park neighborhood. The Czar and Czarina have visited several times, and each time we needed guidance as we attempted to expand our knowledge base to include France, Spain, and Italy. We know a good bit about US wines, but Dean, the owner and sole employee, prefers to stock boutique wines from Europe. The first time we ate at Chaise Lounge, he was there with a large group. When our table learned that the restaurant was currently BYOB and we were SOL, Dean graciously offered to reopen his shop a few blocks away so that we could bring a bottle of wine to dinner.

Due to Dean’s fabulous attention to service and his passion for decoupling Chicagoans from corporate wine, he’s the subject of Stylefool’s first interview.

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