Home – Rebecca Floren Photography

Breezy

Phew! Work was busy this week and I feel totally depleted. I didn’t have time for the things that recharge me – reading, writing, photography, long walks.

This photograph is a a good reminder for me to slow down and enjoy the little things. I made this picture on a Friday afternoon. It was beautiful day. Sunny, warm, breezy. I opened my window to get some fresh air and watched the curtain flutter in the breeze. I watched that curtain flutter all afternoon before I decided to take photo. I easily took 50 photos from different angles, with different props, different flutters, different cats. In the end, I decided that simplest was best (it usually is, isn’t it?).

What I wouldn’t give to sit in front of that open window right now and feel the gentle breeze on my skin. To daydream for a bit. Maybe with a glass of wine and a cat purring in my lap.

Happy Easter!

I had such a good time making this photograph despite the fact that it did not turn out the way I had pictured it in my head (I’m learning that it rarely ever does – my imagination far exceeds my execution skills right now, and I’m perfectly fine with that.)

I hadn’t dyed Easter eggs since I was kid. I don’t remember the colors being so saturated. It’s likely that my memory has faded over time making the colors watery in my minds eye. Or maybe I’m more patient as an adult, letting the eggs sit in their colored baths for the full five minutes. Or maybe the dye is just better. What ever the reason, the Gladys and I marveled a the be beautiful saturated colors as I fished the eggs out of the water. Well, I marveled at them. Glady tried to lick them, which got her kicked off the kitchen table a few times.

That sneaky little paw just kills me.

My egg dyeing supervisor. She doesn’t miss a thing!

Covid Couch

Happy Quarannviersary! One year ago today, the managing partner of my office gathered everyone in a conference room and told us that we would be working from home for the next two weeks while we ride out the pandemic. ha ha ha ha TWO WEEKS! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Two weeks turned into two months and two months has dragged on to a year. Over the past year people have been singing the praises of our doctors and nurses working tirelessly to save lives and the essential workers like the grocery store employees who risk their lives everyday so that idiots without masks can grocery shop. They ARE America’s heroes. They deserve all the praise and hazard pay.

But on this anniversary that I never want to celebrate again, I’d like to honor the true hero in my life – my couch. I’ve spent a year on my couch. It has been my office, a restaurant, a movie theatre, my best friend. I drink my morning coffee on it while I read all of the emails I will eventually fail to respond to. I’m on the couch when I reluctantly log on to work and I’ll stay there until my laptop threatens to shut down because the battery’s drained. I eat my lunch and take my lunch time nap on it every day. In the evenings, I sit on the left side to eat dinner and watch TV. I sit on the right side to drink wine and scroll through social media and text with friends or read a book.

I’m especially attached to it on the weekends. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, I like cry from frustration/boredom/loneliness and then take a long afternoon nap just to pass the time. Which side I cry/sleep on depends on where the cats are. I do my best to contort my body around them so they can sleep in peace.

My abused and suffering couch is wine-stained, coffee-stained, tear-stained, chocolate stained (and yes, it’s chocolate – I sat on a rogue chocolate chip), shredded by a kitten who doesn’t give two fluffs that I don’t want her to scratch it, and sagging from having to support my ever increasing pandemic weight gain.

I haven’t decided what I’ll do with it after the panny ends. I probably should put it out of its misery and send it off to couch heaven, but I’m not sure I’m that selfless. Do I really want to have to get to know another couch while I reacquaint myself with my friends, family and co-workers?

Merry Christmas

35 mm prime lens, 20 seconds, ISO 800, f/8.0

I discovered these cool shadows cast by the ornaments hanging in my kitchen window by accident. I had a gnarly case of insomnia and wandered out to the living room to watch tv when these shadow caught my eye.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I thought it would be a good time to drag out the ‘ol tripod and experiment with long exposures.

I’m really loving the shadows and starting to think of other things to hang in my window after the Christmas decorations come down.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday!

xoxo,
Bec

WFH

I’ve started and abandoned several posts about what’s going on in the world right now, but I’m struggling with making sense of everything. Sometimes things seem normal and at other times things seem so completely surreal.

Right now the biggest change for me is that I have to work from home so I have a new coworker. She’s super chatty and doesn’t take the hint that I don’t have time to socialize.

I apologize to my coworkers and clients for my delayed response. As you can see, I was indisposed.

I can’t really reach my computer, but as long as she’s comfortable…..

She wants to be held, but I need to work.

If my hand isn’t being used to pet her, its being used as pillow.

Tell me about your most annoying co-worker.

Dimitri Aleksander Romanov (aka Solomon Ferguson Firestone aka Oscar)

I read a lot of interior design blogs/websites to get inspiration for my own home. I have been visiting one of my favorite websites, Apartment Therapy, for close to 20 years. The site features pictures of people’s homes and interviews the individuals about the inspiration behind their design choices and as well as lists their sources for furniture, textiles and décor. Inevitably, these homes have some quirky (i.e., ugly) piece of art that the owner picked up at a thrift store or flea market. I was always curious as to why someone would spend money on something that seemingly isn’t very beautiful and then display such an oddity in their home. I was finally enlightened this past weekend.

Meet Dimitri Aleksander Romanov. I bought him at the Randolph Street Market on Sunday. A few friends and I went to brunch and then wandered over to the market for some vintage shopping.

To Randy’s dismay, I fell in love with this piece immediately and he couldn’t talk me out of buying it. The nicest thing he could bring himself to say about it was that he loves that I love it. For some reason that grudging statement that makes me laugh.

In the end, Randy was a great sport about my newest acquisition. He even carried it from the market to the pub where we ate dinner. On our walk there, he made up stories about the artwork which had all of us in fits of laughter. At first we just called the cat Oscar because he looks so grumpy, but then we decided that if someone had their cat’s likeness etched in marble, he was probably a very important cat from a very important family and would definitely have more than one name – so we called him Solomon Ferguson Firestone. Then for some reason that I can’t remember, we thought he was Russian so we finally settled on Dimitri Aleksander Romanov.

We of course had to set the picture up at the end of table during dinner. I’m happy to report that Dimitri garnered quite a bit of attention. We had several women (presumably fellow cat ladies) come over to our table to admire him. One even tried to buy it from me for considerably more than I paid for it, but no way was I going to let go of my prized artwork.

So now, like those featured on Apartment Therapy, I am the proud owner of ugly art, and I adore it. He hangs in my entryway where I can say good bye to him along with Rose and Elliot when I leave for work and greet him as I do the others when I get home. This ugly piece of art will forever remind me of a wonderfully gloomy Sunday when my friends and I drank a little too much at brunch, wandered around an outdoor market looking at old stuff and laughing all afternoon. And that is what makes this ugly art beautiful to me.

New Condo

I officially closed on the condo last Friday. To celebrate, I had some friends over that same night to drink champagne from plastic cups and eat pizza on the floor of my empty condo. It was so much fun to share the milestone with them.

Maria, Rhiannon and their dog, Hazel. They live at the end of the block so I’m super excited that I’ll be close to friends.

Randy and Hazel. While I’m sad that I’ll be moving further away from Randy, the upside is there is always plenty of parking in my new neighborhood and when we go out to dinner, it’s usually in Andersonville anyway so it’s not like I won’t see him just as often.

Teresa – always hamming it up for the camera.

The only items in my new fridge – left over pizza and champagne.

Here’s a link to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times about Andersonville. I’m so excited to explore my new neighborhood in depth. It has a lot of character which translates to some great photo opportunities!