America the Beautiful

Brad and I went and played tourist Saturday night. I thought some of the shots I got would be prefect as America goes to the polls to elect our next president. As you head to vote on Tuesday, take a moment to remember all those who have given their all to defend our freedom and our privilege of voting in a great democracy.

Grand Opening!

Saturday night, Brad and I had dinner at the fabulous new Pizzaiolo Cafe and Bar, right up the street from our house. This is a new location of our favorite pizza place in the D.C. area. Since we've been eating healthy lately, it has been quite a while since we've been there, but it was worth the wait. Congratulations to Larry and Christine on a great opening night!

PS You see those empty walls in the restaurant? Larry and I have something up our sleeves to take care of that - keep watching this blog for more details ;)

Saturday morning's are the best!

Saturday morning, my good friend Laura and I met at the Old Town Alexandria Farmer's Market for a little morning produce shopping and breakfast. It was great to see all the fresh fall fruits and veggies out! We each picked up some peppers, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, apples and apple cider. Afterward, we went to La Pain Quotidien for breakfast. We split a pesto and parmesan omelet and each had a yogurt and fruit parfait. It was very European and very yummy and a very good morning with a very good friend!

WOOT! Chicago pictures are done!

Check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/54672484@N00/2u940m

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Beautiful cathedral

Is this not the most breathtaking church you have ever seen in your entire life?! When we were in Chicago, we hauled ourselves to church Sunday morning. Boy, oh boy, am I glad we did. This amazing Gothic cathedral + my fantastic Sigma 10-20 = love (but not more love than I have for The Bean, of course). The thing that struck me the most was the amazing woodwork that covered the entire ceiling of the church. It was like nothing I've ever seen before.

And the Archbishop of the Diocese of Chicago celebrated Mass, which was pretty cool too. But how AWESOME is this church?

"Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezeborger!!"

Of course, when we were in Chicago, we went to the world famous Billy Goat Tavern. Actually, I shouldn't say "of course," because we actually hadn't planned to go there. But we were hungry after church on Sunday and that was the first place we stumbled across. And I shouldn't say "stumbled across" because if we hadn't walked past it the day before, there is no way we would have found it. It is in a sketchy looking area, basically under Michigan Ave. in what looks like a dark parking garage. While the Billy Goat was definitely not on our diet, we just had to have a cheezborger, chips - no fries! and a Coke - no Pepsi! (and actually I had water and Brad had lemonade, so how boring are we?) It was fun and, while the burgers were more bun than burger, it's an American experience.

PS The lighting was super funky, which made my camera go bizerk, hence the funny colors and horrible white balance in the photos (and why it looks like my shirt is brown, not black!)

PPS I'm assuming they normally have a great crowd. When we were there at 11:00am on a Sunday morning, we had the place almost to ourselves.

my new most favorite thing ever

THE BEAN!!!

(aka Cloud Gate in Millennium Park in Chicago)

To say that I am obsessed with this fantastic piece of public art is probably the understatement of the century. I first met the Bean on Saturday morning, during our morning tooling around Chicago with a professional photographer who showed me all the best angles and shots in the city (see, told you Brad did this trip up right!). The Bean had a lot of fellow tourists around it, but we instantly connected. I got a few shots, but was generally displeased with the crowds. So I made Brad get up with me at the crack of dawn (literally) Monday morning, so we could share a sunrise with the Bean on our last day in Chicago. The combination of very few people around, my amazing Sigma 10-20mm awesome anniversary gift lens and the yummy morning light made me fall even deeper in love... The result? A LOT of pictures for your enjoyment!

Let them eat cake!

In celebration of our one year wedding anniversary this past Monday, we got out the top tier of our cake which has been hogging up space in our freezer for the past 366 days! It was pretty good, for year old cake. Ok, I take that back. The fondant on the outside was disgusting - really sugary and slimy and stretchy. Yuck. The fruit inside was completely dehydrated. But the filling and cake part was actually ok. Of course, I set up my tripod and got some completely cheese-ball shots of us cutting the cake and feeding it to each other, wedding reception style :)

Just as yummy as on our wedding day (almost)... and sorry about the lousy picture quality!

After cake, it was time for Brad to open his presents! Since the first year traditional wedding anniversary gift is paper, I put together our wedding album for him and also got him personalized stationary. As you previously saw, he got me my lens and our trip to Chicago, which, while not paper related, were pretty awesome.

Traditional one year wedding anniversary gift = paper = our wedding albumTraditional one year wedding anniversary gift = paper = personalized stationary

Thanks to everyone who sent us a card! We got lots of nice ones

Photography Class Assignment #3

This week's assignment was to do things with shutter speed. I was able to get some great slow shutter speed shots in Chicago and on the Metro on my way home last night. The part of the assignment about stopping action with a fast shutter speed? Guess I'll be doing that one on my lunch hour today ;)

slow shutter speed = motion blur

"Pan-Action" - focusing on a subject, while the area around them is blurred. Thank goodness for all the cyclists out on Lake Michigan Saturday morning!