Gus turned 12 a few weeks ago and his dad threw him a birthday party. There was cake and booze for the humans and a dog cake and lots of dog treats for the dogs.
Cake for the hoomins.
Cake for the doggos.
We lit the candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday while Gus howled along. I wish I had a video of it – it was hilarious!
Gus and his dad.
This is Gus and his best friend Zach. Zach comes over everyday to hang out with Gus while Zach’s dad goes to work. Aren’t they adorable in their pawty hats?
Zach and his dad.
Gus is such a sweet boy. He let Zach play with some (okay, all) of his new toys.
I missed the first half of the week. I was busy wrapping up a couple of projects before some family came in town for the weekend.
I managed to get a few projects done around the condo this weekend. I finally put up some temporary blinds. Not only do they look better than my bedsheets, but now I can put clean bedsheets on my bed since they are no longer hanging on my windows. Win-win!
I’m most excited about the deck furniture I bought. I’m so ready for warmer weather so I can sit outside. I’ve never had outdoor space before and now I have space large enough for a sectional and some plants. I’m looking forward to putting this space together over the next few weeks.
Thursday, April 25, 2019 (day 115/365). Laundry day with Rose.
Friday, April 26, 2019 (day 116/365). I’ve been seeing butterflies everywhere the past couple of weeks.
Saturday, April 27, 2019 (day 117/365).
Sunday, April 28, 2019 (day 118/365). Sneak peak of the color scheme for my deck. How great is that flamingo pillow??!
I finally had some free time to do some research this week on post-production techniques. I haven’t perfected my process yet, but I found a few tips to make it a more organized and efficient process.
Monday, April 15, 2019 (day 105/365). I was trying to do dishes, but Elliot decided he’d park his butt on my drying mat.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 (day 106/365).
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 (day 107/365). This is my favorite picture this week. Her face is so cute it makes my heart hurt. Thursday, April 18, 2019 (day 108/365). Rose likes to make it as difficult as possible for me to leave in mornings. This particular morning, she made herself comfortable on my bag.
Friday, April 19, 2019 (day 109/365). View from the 66th floor of the Sears Tower.
Saturday, April 20, 2019 (day 110/360). I still haven’t gotten around to getting window treatments, so I hung a bed sheet over my bedroom window. I feel like I’m in my college apartment. Sunday, April 21 (day 111/365). It was so warm out today that the ice cream vendors were out in full force.
I’m keeping it short and sweet this week since I have quite a few photos to weed through and edit from a birthday party I attended last week.
Monday, April 1, 2019 (day 91/365).Tuesday, April 2, 2019 (day 92/365). I don’t know what it is about Elliot, but every picture I take of him is out of focus.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 (day 93/365).
Thursday, April 4, 2019 (day 94/365).
Friday, April 5, 2019 (day 95/365). This is my home office and my office assistant.
Saturday, April 6, 2019 (day 96/365). I was reading up on how to photograph interiors and one of the tips was to shoot on your knees. I’m not sure if I like the angle or not.
Sunday, April 7, 2019 (day 97/365). I felt like a total stalker taking this picture. It was a rainy day so rather go out in the rain, I sat on my couch and took pictures of people as they walked by. I wonder if anyone noticed….
“Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years.” -Ausonius
About a month ago, a group of us got together for a Sunday Funday to celebrate Randy’s birthday. It took me ages to get this post together. For a time I thought that Randy would have another birthday before I finished editing the photos from this year’s birthday celebration. I took way more photos than I thought I did and since I don’t have a great work flow process yet, I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
It was fun looking through the pictures to pick a few to share. It was a boozy day, but a great reminder that despite all of us being in our 40’s we can still have a proper Sunday Funday.
The crew with out bottomless cocktails at The Kit Kat Lounge.
I love this picture of Randy. It’s just so him! He wore that crown allllll day.
This queen wanted all of Boystown to know that he travels with an entourage.
Randy made Rachel (on the end) change jackets with him. He’s wearing her sequins and she’s wearing his leather. The change works for both of them!
I was saddled with a head cold last week. How can a person simultaneously have a stuffy and runny nose? The sinus pressure had my eyes watering like I had just watched a Nicholas Sparks’ movie and my nose was so raw that I took to just shoving tissues up there rather than suffer the agony of having rub it.
Just as I was finally starting to feel better, I woke up on Saturday morning to Rose stumbling around. She had either gotten into the wine or had another ear infection. I spent the afternoon at the vet, who assured me that Rose was not drunk and probably had an ear infection. She sent us home with ear drops and anti-nausea pills. Both are super fun to give a cat who does not want either medicine.
Monday, March 25, 2019 (day 84/365): Green tea with lemon. The only thing I drank all day in an effort to stay hydrated and ward off the shivers.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 (day 86/365): Grocery store sushi. I figured now would be as good as time as any to try sushi from the grocery store. I already feel like crap, so how much worse could this make me feel?
Thursday, March 28, 2019 (day 87/365): I love a moody interior. I’ve had to sleep practically sitting up this week, so the moodiness of this picture matches my general mood this week.
I’m looking forward to some spring like weather in Chicago this week and hopefully, a healthy household!
I’m doing my best to get back on track, hence the two weekly wrap-up posts in a week. This wrap-up post is for the week of March 18-24.
I ran out of space on my memory card last week, which thew me for a loop. I haven’t figured out a decent workflow yet, which means that I don’t have a clue which pictures I’ve downloaded and I certainly haven’t figured out a good way to organize them either. All of that is to say, I missed a couple of days last week because I hesitant to delete anything to make room for more pictures. Live and learn.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 (day 78/365): My sad sack lunch. I recently read an article about people who eat the same lunch everyday and thought that that sounded like a great idea. I used to get so stressed out trying to plan out a variety of lunches that I would often just end up going out for lunch instead. Now my grocery shopping is easier and my meal prep time is negligible. A big win in my book!
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 (day 79/365): My little shadow loves to get ready with me in the mornings. I must not have been wearing my glasses when I took this because it’s pretty blurry.
Thursday, March 21, 2019 (day 80/365): Rose drinks water from the faucet while I brush my teeth. This usually means that I have to finish brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink since she occupies the bathroom sink.
Saturday, March 23, 2019 (day 82/365): I had friends over on Saturday for dinner. I didn’t remember to take any pictures since I was cooking and playing hostess. I remembered only after I finished cleaning up the kitchen so I snapped a picture of the recipe for the chicken I made. Ina’s chicken recipes never disappoint!
I woke up on Sunday morning with a gnarly cold so I decided knock myself out with some cold meds and stay in bed.
If you have a workflow or organizational system that works for your photography, please share! I need to get myself organized.
Time is flying by – I can’t figure out how I’m a week behind. These photos are from the week of March 11th.
Day 70/365: My bedroom is quite a bit smaller than my previous bedrooms so my old bedside tables don’t fit. Until I can find new tables, my kitchen chairs will have to do.
Day 71/365: The start button to my dryer. It was pretty exciting to do my first load of laundry, until I realized that it took about 2-1/2 hours to dry a load. I guess I need to get the dryer vent cleaned!
Day 72/365: I’m loving having a thermostat. I haven’t had one before. My choices were sweating it out or freezing. Now I can find my perfect temp!
Day 73/365: It’s always challenging to figure out what new traffic patterns will emerge when you move into a new home. Clearly I need an entryway table. I’ve been using a box for the past few weeks, but I’m sure there’s a more attractive option.
Day 74/365: I’m not the only one obsessed with the washer and dryer. Rose can’t stay away from it. She’ll sit in front of the closet and meow until I open the door and she can hop up on the washer.
Day 75/365: I finally got a coffee table for the living room and before I could style it, Rose made herself at home in the tray. I guess I’ll wait to set out my candles.
Day 76/365: Miss Curious always has to involve herself in whatever I’m doing. She’s checking out the clean clothes before I transfer them to the dryer. I guess I’ll wait to do that too.
I’m back! I had to take a couple of weeks off to get packed and moved into the condo, but I’m more or less settled in and trying to get back into the groove of things.
Day 63/365: Jade plant and Apple TV. Pray for this plant. I’ve killed every plant I’ve ever owned.
Day 64/365: Lemon halves.
Day 65/365: Trying out a new color palette in the condo.
Day 66/365: I’ve had this poster since high school. The Phantom of the Opera has always been and will always be my favorite musical.
Day 67/365: Rose is a weird one. Right after she chewed on the bowl of fruit, I caught her hugging a bag of baby carrots.
Day 68/365: Another photo of Rose. It rained all day on Saturday so I was stuck indoors. I’m looking forward to warmer weather so I can get out and start exploring my new neighborhood with my camera.
Day 69/365: The birthday boy! We celebrated Randy’s birthday with a brunch and bunch of drag queens.
I got the idea for this post while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Hurry Slowly. The episode was exploring the ways in which smart phones have changed our lives, including the things we carry with us on a day to day basis. It mentioned that years ago there was a trend on Flickr where people posted pictures of the things they carried in their bags.
Naturally, I hightailed it over to Flickr to check it out and indeed, there are a lot of pictures of peoples stuff. These photos got me thinking about the beginning of one of my favorite books, The Things They Carried, and how the author detailed the important items his fellow soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam War. I liked looking at what books these strangers were reading. I wondered what kinds of things they were writing in their notebooks, what pictures were on their cameras and why did they own so much Hello Kitty stuff?! And then I wondered what would be in their bag now? Would they still carry a camera or day planner or a book? Or would their phone now carry these items?
A few years back (2014 to be exact), in a fit of pique, I dumped the contents of my bag on my bed, took a picture of it and posted it to Instagram. I was annoyed with the fashion bloggers who would post ridiculous pictures of macaroons and a billion lipsticks (that just happened to match the macaroons) spilling out of their bags.
Here’s the picture and original caption:
Fashion bloggers would have you believe that they nothing but macaroons and pretty lipsticks in their bags. This is closer to the truth. Two weeks worth of mail, shoes, multiple sets of ear phones……and a cat. #thisiswhyicantfindmykeys #ormycoatcheckclaimticket #wtfisinmybag #chicagogirl #ineedabiggerbag #orasmallerone
What that picture really says about my life at the time:
Two weeks worth of mail – I worked a lot and spent next to no time at home. I would remember to pick up my mail on my way to work in the mornings, but never took it out of my bag at night.
The heels were in my bag because I wore trainers to work and then put my heels on when I got to the office. Walking to and from public transportation added up to about 2 miles each day so the trainers were far more practical. Also, it was rare that I would get a seat on the bus or train so add in another 30 minutes of just standing.
The Blackberry was how I stayed in contact with work outside the office. I carried it in addition to my phone.
The earphones were so I could listen to music during my commute.
The two bags of makeup were in my bag because I would shower quickly in the mornings and run out the door with wet hair and sans makeup. I took my makeup with me to do either at work or before I would go to whatever event I had in the evening (like the ballet, hence the Swan Lake playbill).
This is what I carry with me now:
Journal
Writer’s Notebook
Planner
Keys to my condo
Makeup remover
Earphones
iPhone
Wallet
My life has clearly slowed down considerably since 2014. I spend a lot more time writing. I put my makeup on BEFORE I go to work, which requires the makeup remover since it’s usually smeared under my eyes by 10:00 AM. I still take public transportation to work and walk several miles a day, but I’ve learned to leave the heels at the office instead of carting them with me each day.
What do you carry with you and why? Post a picture of what’s in your bag in the comments.
