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!

I *heart* Chicago

Chicago. How can I even begin to describe what an incredible city it is? How it made me almost cry to have to leave yesterday. How my wonderful husband pampered me to the nine's. How I took 758 pictures in a two and a half day time frame!

Our trip to Chicago to celebrate our one year anniversary was the absolute best! We stayed at the historic Drake Hotel ("call me, 3:30 in the morning, we've gotta talk, I'm at the Drake Hotel in Chicago"), got picked up from the airport by a white stretch limo, were driven back to the airport in a BMW (since our limo got in a car accident on the way to pick us up!), were wined and dined on a dinner cruise and on the 95th floor of the Hancock Center, were led around the city by a professional photographer, fell in love with the Bean, ate deep dish pizza, walked a gazillion miles and spent a lot of time looking up.

I'm still sorting through the previously mentioned hundreds of pictures, but here are some from our point and shoot to hold you over.

mini golf on the Navy Pier



ready for the architecture boat tour

One Year

(A few days early since we're jetting off to Chicago! And yes, I took the pumpkin picture above especially for an anniversary blog post!)

As I was digging the top of our wedding cake out of the freezer this morning, I was filled with disbelief that this day is finally here. I can't believe we have been married for a year already! The year has gone by so quickly. There have been many ups and downs (but the ups far outweigh the downs) and many, many changes. We both have new jobs now, a new apartment, a few extra pounds around our middles and more than a few amazing memories. I had no idea what married life had in store for me; however, it has been the greatest time of discovery in my entire life. To have someone there every day to prop me up when I'm feeling down, to love me unconditionally, to be my biggest cheerleader and to be my most constructive critic (in a good way!).

Brad - I love you more now than on that beautiful fall day when we said "I do" - something I didn't think was possible! I am so excited to be spending a great weekend with you in Chicago to celebrate! Happy Anniversary P :)

Walking for a great cause

On Sunday, Brad and I walked in our third Hydrocephalus Association walk. For those of you unfamiliar with hydrocephalus, it's why I have a tube in my head. It's actually a faily common condition in babies, where basically the fluid that your brain sits in doesn't drain from your head properly. So you get a tube put in that drians the fluid down to your chest, heart or abdomon.

This walk always inspires me and makes me feel so lucky. I've had my shunt since I was six months old and have only had one major revision surgery. There were ten year olds at the walks who have had 20 or 30 surgeries and people who are really debilitated by it. At this walk a met a girl who is two years younger than me who just had her very infected shunt actually removed. She basically now has to wait and see if the symptoms of hydrocephalus return and if they do, she has to have a whole new one put in. Oh yeah, the removal surgery was her 25th surgery.

You can find lots more information on the National Hydrocephalus Association website: http://www.hydroassoc.org/

Anyway, wanted to share some pictures from the walk, as I was the official "walk photographer." Next year Brad and I are organizing the Washington, D.C. area walk, so get your checkbooks ready - just kidding... sort of ;)

just finished the 5.3 mile walk

This fantastic kids book they had about hydrocephalus and shunts - I wish they had stuff like this when I was young! The amount the young people know about their condition is amazing
group shot (that's Brad's head sticking up in the middle of the back row)
our sponsors
inspiring young people

Photography Class Assignment #2

First a follow up on last week. Sharing pictures was interesting. There are basically three of us in the class of 16 that are shooting something other than snapshots (I consider these people my competition!). There were literally pictures of people who took pictures of their dog laying in the backyard. Now WHY would you pay for a class to learn about photography and do that? Boggles my mind. There were also people who totally cheated and instead of shooting on manual (admittedly a difficult thing to do), they put their $600 camera on auto and used it as a point and shoot. Again, boggles my mind...

Last class, we learned about depth of field - basically the distance between the back of your camera and the focal point of your subject. I am interested to see everyone's pictures today because much of the class was super confused on the concept and the assignment (while I wanted to bang my head on the desk).

Our assignment was to demonstrate depth of field using both aperture (like blurring the background), zooming in with our camera while remaining in place and walking closer to the subject while having the same focal length on our camera. We'll see if I succeeded. It was kind of a pain in the butt assignment ;)

zooming in while staying in the same place

walking closer

changing aperture

Who has the BEST husband EVER?

ME :) I got my first year wedding anniversary present early yesterday. And what was it? A new lens for my camera!! A Sigma 10-20mm. That's REALLY wide. Will be awesome for our anniversary trip to Chicago this weekend! More pictures to come, hopefully this evening (of the lens and the pretty box, of course!) Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!. Here's a sneak peak picture I found online:
It's so BIG and HEAVY and WIDE :)

***As promised, some photos of the unveiling. I shall narrate:

reading the card and thinking it might be a lens and saying "You went over the gift price limit!" (secretly getting very excited though!)

my first glimpse of the box
SOOOOO pretty!
my possessive side taking over... cuddling with my new baby (yes, I kind of look like a crazy person, but you would too if you had this lens!)

Photography Class - Assignment #1

Well, I have finally completed my first photography class assignment (and just in time - a mere five hours before the class starts!). I will say that shooting in manual mode is a heck of a lot harder than it seems. Manual means you have to do everything yourself - set the white balance, figure out the correct exposure and do in camera adjustments, figure out your aperature, everything! That is why I usually shoot in aperature priority mode :)

I guess it's good practice though because Brad let me know that he has set me up with a professional photographer to take me around Chicago to shoot when we're there in two weeks (!) and that he shoots all in manual (and Cannon, but we'll forgive him for that!).

So, I thought I'd share the images I'm going to share in class tonight... I'll try to write tomorrow to report the feedback I get!

** I should have included a note with my photos about my procrastination! The top two pictures were taken on my way from the Metro station to my office this morning. Thank goodness I live in an amazing city :)

Things I love about fall

(Wohoo! My 100th post!)

Sweaters
Cool breezes with crisp blue skies
Changing leaves
College football
Blue Moon Pumpkin Harvest Ale
Pumpkin scented candles
Brad's excitment over Halloween
And, most of all...
PUMPKIN SOUP!

I am enjoying a bowl of pumpkin soup from au bon pain for lunch today. It is also enough to make me just melt right in my chair from the goodness!