Chicago Ideas - Visit Candyality

It has been a while since I have did an official "Chicago ideas" post, so that says quite a lot about the place I'm featuring.

If you love candy or nostalgia, you will love Chicago's Candyality. At Candyality you can find every kind of candy you can imagine, even candy you thought was no longer made. They also have candy themed apparel and gifts.

Candyality currently has three locations in Chicago:

• 520 North Michigan Avenue (in The Shops at North Bridge)
• 3425 North Southport Avenue
• 835 North Michigan Avenue (at Water Tower Place)

The photos in this post were taken at the Water Tower place location which is my favorite because it is home to the "Life is Sweet" Museum. You can find Candyality here on Facebook.


Terese, the owner of Candyality, also owns the pop-up store Cur8ed (which is also at Water Tower Place). If you are a regular and attentive reader of my blog, you may remember that Cur8ed is where I got my amazing rhinestone bow bracelet. You can follow Cur8ed on Facebook as well.


On with the photos! (P.S. they added a Skittle machine the day after I took these photos!)













***Click here to view more Chicago ideas.***

Shopping and failed aquarium trip

Saturday Timmy, myself, and two of our friends went to the Shedd Aquarium, or rather tried to go. It was a cold day with a four degree Fahrenheit windchill (-15 Celsius). When Timmy and I got there at 11:00 am the line was already extremely long:


To clarify, we were already in line when I took this photo; the line not only stretched all the way from the center right of the photo to the center left of the photo, but also from the center left side of the photo to where I was standing. Furthermore, the Shedd has a lot of room inside their building for standing in line, so, the line is quite a bit longer than you can see in the photo.

After waiting in line for about half an hour, someone from the aquarium came along and told us that it would be about an hour and half wait from where we were in line. Since our friends had never been to the aquarium before, and I could get in free with three other people just for this month, we continued to wait in line. An hour later, people started coming out of the building saying the aquarium was at capacity and that they wouldn't be letting in any more people for a while. Since we were still a long ways from the front of the line, it was pointless to wait (the aquarium would be closed before we got to the front of the line). It was quite disappointing, especially since we had already been waiting in the cold for an hour and a half and were only about six feet from the tented area of the line on the stairs.

Upon leaving the aquarium and going out to eat, we went shopping to kill some time before our friend Kristen had to go to work. When we went to H&M, we were amused to discover that the mannequin in the children's section was taller than Kristen.


The line at H&M was incredibly long so I didn't bother to try on anything. When we went to Forever 21, I almost did the same thing but decided to suck it up and wait for the fitting room. I am glad I did because this dress (which I bought one size larger than pictured) was adorable and only $20. The straps of the dress are semi-sheer.


I also bought this fairly plain top from Forever 21 and an awesome chunky, multi-chain necklace from Aldo (that is apparently too new to be on their web-site).

What I Wore - High low Hello Kitty

I love Hello Kitty, however, as an adult, it is difficult to pull off a Hello Kitty shirt. In this outfit I tried to balance out Hello Kitty's cuteness by pairing the shirt with bright red skinny corduroys, combat boots, and a chainmail necklace; however, I think I went overboard on the "edge" and ended up looking a bit like a Hot Topic kid.

The shirt is part of Forever 21's Hello Kitty Forever capsule collection. I also got the Hello Kitty Cluster Tee which I feel is a bit easier for me to pull off at my age (I've wore it under a cardigan at work). The red skinny corduroys are from Old Navy; they fit so much better than their skinny jeans (which I find fit terribly).

P.S. While it may not be immediately obvious in these photos, the shirt has a high-low hem which is why the post is called "High low Hello Kitty."

Doors of Dublin

I am the kind of person who tends to get lots of big ideas, and usually, those ideas stay just that: ideas. So, when a year or so ago Timmy and I started talking about a possible trip to Ireland at some undetermined time, I didn't let myself get fully wrapped up in the idea. Eventually though, we (mainly, Timmy) had mentioned the "idea" to so many people that I felt that we needed to go through with it. Not out of any sort of obligation, but more so that every time we talked about it we got more and more excited, to the point where not going would have been incredibly disappointing. In December we made it official by purchasing a Dublin airfare and hotel travel package for this summer. So, for the next several months I am going to bask in all the excitement over our first major trip together by sharing some of the things I am looking forward to about Dublin; first up, doors!

Source: irishfireside.com via Antonia on Pinterest

I have an odd love and appreciation for special doors; in fact, I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to doors. So, when I found out that Dublin has neighborhoods like Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square which are full of wonderful doors, you can bet that I want to check them out. Below are a few of my favorite Dublin doors.

Source: declanod.wordpress.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: declanod.wordpress.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: pinerly.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: builtdublin.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: declanod.wordpress.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: declanod.wordpress.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: indulgy.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: declanod.wordpress.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Source: indulgy.com via FlyingPurpleHippos.com on Pinterest

Chicago Coheed and Cambria concert tonight

Timmy and I are going to the Coheed and Cambria concert tonight in Chicago. I am looking forward to another moment as awesome as this one from the last time we saw them (at the House of Blues in April 2011):




I especially love Coheed when they are playing acoustic, so, I hope they play as many acoustic songs this time around as they did at the House of Blues. I'll leave you with another acoustic version of one of their songs:

Rhinestone bow bracelet by Cur8ed

I got this lovely rhinestone bow bracelet from Cur8ed. Cur8ed is owned by the same people as Candyality. Candyality is an awesome candy store in Chicago with three locations. If you live near Chicago or come to visit, I definitely recommend you check out Candyality and Cur8ed. You can find their official web-site here.






Last month I shared a cellphone photo of the bracelet. Unfortunately when I got the bracelet home, I realized that it was no longer soldered in two of the four places (most likely from heavy handling by customers in the store). Fortunately, Cur8ed has amazing customer service, and I now have a new bow bracelet. Truly, I cannot say enough good things about their customer service.

I still have the old bracelet, so, I am going to try gluing it back together and if it holds up, I may do a drawing for it in April here on my blog in honor of my birthday. I have always wanted to do a blog giveaway, but I don't have many repeat commenters, therefore, I don't think any company-sponsored giveaways are in the cards, so, this seems like the perfect opportunity.

My NYE pin-up dress currently on sale

For anyone who liked my NYE dress below enough to want it for themselves, it is currently on sale for $41. It would be a perfect Valentine's Day dress. You can find the dress for sale here.

Adorable reception after work trip

Wednesday morning I left for a work trip and I arrived back home late last night. I was supposed to leave for a repeat trip tomorrow morning and return Wednesday night, but that is not happening. To make a long story short, our company booked us all to share hotel rooms with strangers which I was not comfortable with.

When I arrived home, I was greeted by all of my/our stuffed animals (yes, there is a lot) that Timmy had arranged on the edge of our couch (which is right inside the door) to greet me in anticipation.

10 More Pin-up dresses by ModCloth

Two weeks ago I shared 10 Pin-up dresses by ModCloth, and today I am back with 10 more. You can also view previous posts where I shared my favorite ModCloth heels here and here.

I love ModCloth, and I especially like that ModCloth allows me to give $15 off a $50 order to new users; if you are not already a member of ModCloth, click here to get $15 off a $50 order.




"With Only a Wink" dress



"Lady Love Song" dress



"Enchanted Afternoon" dress



"The Evening Unfolds" dress



"First Stop, Style!" dress



"American Glamstand" dress



"Amour and More" dress



"I'm All Cheers" dress



"Good Ol' Daisy" dress


Okay, so, this isn't a dress, but I had to include it:

"Viola Senorita" skirt