Just like Steph made a trip to Boston this past weekend, I made a trip back to Chicago to visit friends, ride a bike through tree-lined neighborhoods, and sit at the lakefront, contemplating life and stuff. I actually turned my "weekend" trip into a five-day adventure from Thursday until Tuesday, during which time I did a lot of eating and drinking, as well as the aforementioned activities. I also shopped, though not as much as past visits and certainly not as much as the shopping I did in the seven years that I lived there. Still, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite places to shop while I'm in Chicago, from antique stores to home decor, antiques, and places to find cheap jewelry:

1. The Dressing Room: great fashion, jeans, accessories. I could easily blow an entire paycheck here in one shopping trip.
2. Brownstone Antiques: You have to search through a bit of junk, but there's always some sort of fun and beautiful treasure here (i once found the best vintage bike for 40 bucks!) and the prices are SO MUCH BETTER that the pretentious antique store across the street called Scout.
3. Presence: Unless you are a size 4, you'llprobably have trouble finding clothes that fit well, but go for the cheap jewelry. The average price of earrings is about 6 bucks...and they're cute!!
4. A Secret Closet: A second hand store, this place asgently used clothes for cheap, but if that doesn't appeal to you, go for the unqiue jewelry, all made from local indie designers. They also have some great antique finds (I once bought a gorgeous mission style coffee table for under $100).
5. Strange Cargo: Get your Chuck Taylors, cute summer sandals, messenger bags, custom-made graphic t-shirts, and tube socks here. Just be sure to avoid the place on game day — it's right across the street from Wrigley Field.
6. Uncle Fun: Remember that junk drawer you had as a kid where you kept all your Cracker Jack prizes and anything that once sat in a plastic ball inside a vending machine? Well, Uncle Fun is that junk drawer on steroids.
7. Hangar 18: cute jewelry, paper goods, purses and wallets, home goods, and baby crap