sixty-one.

last day in michigan.  so what better to do than shop!

we got some deals and steals.  but it was kinda rainy and icky so we were inside a lot.  the best place we went was this great little art gallery.  we were looking around and I just loved a lot of the prints.  I went raving about one and the girl working there started talking about it and doing so in the first person.  it was her mom's gallery and her artwork I was admiring!  it was so cool, she was super young and fresh out of art school.  her work was soooo interesting and visually popped.  I loved this one she did about fishtown but she didn't have any prints left so I'll have to pursue that.  anyways, she had painted something outside on an easel and it was such pretty colors and her materials were still out there in the rain.  it was gorgeous.

so, of course...

work in progress.

amazing, right?  she just really knows how to work it.  check her out, her name is kindra: http://artofkin.blogspot.com

sixty.

this was my favorite day.

we went vineyard hopping and I had the best wine of my life.  plus, gorgeous.

but the best part was stopping in leland, michigan aka historic fishtown.  oh. my. word.  totally reminded me of mallaig, scotland.  but it was different.  because it was in michigan.  there was a great view of the marina and they had the BEST shops.  so cute.  there was a great one called 'tack and jibe' that I fell in love with.  we were lucky enough to walk by some fisherman just putting up their fresh catch.  they put them on a post so that, I'm guessing, the "stuff" drips off.  but who knows, maybe someone can inform me.  but I was enthralled.  it was gross and bloody and fishy but MAN oh man did it catch me visually.  ha!  "catch".

it was so pretty, in a twisted way.  this one turned out so great.  I love how the details were all caught.  look at that drip!  thanks slr!

just reeled in.

fishies!  dead ones!  I might have to frame this.  man, I'm running out nonexistent wall space.

fifty-nine.

I was so glad for this day.

nothing can capture the splendor of michigan.  it is the most amazing place to be and I feel at peace when I'm there.  we spent the day at crystal lake.  it has to be the most beautiful lake on earth.  it seriously looks like crystal and definitely lives up to its name.  though this picture doesn't show the calm side of the lake.  it shows the adventure side.  with hundreds of boats, canoes, and windsurfers.

we stopped off at one of these beaches after our day of sun and took a million pictures.  the color and depth of this picture is phenomenal to me.  it shows what I love about michigan.  the water.  and everything that entails.  and as grammy said "I love the textures"...although, that seemed to be her ONLY comment about my pictures.  how cute.

hoist your sails.

I think nickers will like this one:)

58.

first day in michigan!

what an escape.  best place on the planet, seriously.

so the first day we made a lot of stops once we got by the lake.  including a stop where I was left on the side of the road by my own mother.  thanks.  anyways, I took tons of pictures by the lake where there was a lot of flowers and boats and such.  I really like this, the outline and the backdrop is so pretty to me.

wildwood.

we had a great day that day.  revisiting the beauty of michigan.  and seeing family I haven't seen since the tiny age of six.  love it.

day 57.

traveling to michigan.

lots of rest stops.  lots of gas stations.  so super exciting pictures, no doubt!

well, we went across this bridge towards the end of illinois.  it had really cool beams on it and barged ships on the water.  took a LOT of pictures but I liked the color and position of this one the best.

no holds barred.

continuing on to post my michigan picks!

day 56.

today was about celebrating life.  celebrating the movement, the love, the small moments.

today was about not taking any of your days for granted and for loving the ones that you have.

every picture I took today reflected those thoughts.  all the pictures featured as runner-ups show life to the full.  the one I chose for today is special.  its a reflection of how all I could think about today was how much I love my family and appreciate every relationship in my life.  there's something about how God carefully places people in our lives that is so special.  I have two friends who dig each other immensly, they are wonderful shiny beams of light and they asked me to take pictures of them today.

gladly!

they turned out so well.  only a few were in focus and steady and as beautiful as I wanted them to be.  its really hard not to use flash by moonlight!  but I'm proud of this one.  it has a brophy-esque (www.onenineimages.com) quality and it makes me think I could really do this on the side if I wanted to.

shed a little light.

thanks for the caption, foy.  thanks for modeling, toni and tim.  and no, they aren't engaged.

this blog is for you uncle mark.  I love you, thanks for being a hilarious uncle and thanks for showing me how precious life is.  go rest with God.

I won't be posting for a while, I'll be in michigan til sunday and I don't plan on bringing my laptop.  michigan is my safe haven and my happy place...I need to escape there and just be.

see you later!

day fifty5.

five-five!

I was indoors a lot today, organizing and sorting my life.  but this morning I went to church, great job jeff, and spent the morning on the river.  I love that we meet over there, its one of the few interesting places to be in peoria, let's face it.

so today I was proactive, like I said I would be.

I walked around by the river and took pictures.  the fountain caught my eye for sure, but I had to take my time getting there because there were two more people taking pictures over there!  sometimes, I get a little shy about stuff like that, so I waited for them to leave.

I think this picture turned out great, I've been taking lots of moving water pictures lately, trying to get a feel for using my camera for that kind of action.

cool down town.

soooo fun.  I love the bridge, I love that spout of water, and I love how summery it feels to look at this.  you just feel like a kid and you wanna run through that.

just so you know, captioning these pictures is the hardest part of this challenge.  sometimes I sit and stare at the picture for ten minutes.  I google things, songs, poems, anything to get my brain cells moving in a creative fashion at the end of the day.  I was going for something like "cool down" and "downtown" with this one.  play on words.  hopefully its not too lame.

54.

today I spent most of the day inside, backing up my computer.

mom and I went out to a movie.  I'll admit, I was lazy.  I didn't take the camera out of my purse til I got home.  when we got out of the movie it was raining and I didn't want to go out in the rain.  I took some pictures on the porch and messed around but none of them were all that great.

so then I came inside.  again.  I wish I wasn't so tired and trying to get household tasks done all the time.  otherwise I might have something interesting for you to look at.  I realize that this blog is supposed to reflect my everyday life, but I don't wanna be boring!

but when I got home I was messing around in the closet, taking pictures of my clothes on the rack.  thrilling, I know.  but while I was in there I noticed something.  my old dolls and stuffed animals.  I'll admit, one is usually in my bed.  I like the feeling of hugging something when I'm sleeping.  I'm not the only person I know that does this *cough*.  anyways, it was interesting because mom and I had just gotten back from my second viewing of toy story 3.

by the way if you haven't seen that movie, WHAT are you waiting for????

I thought about the message of the movie and how precious childhood is.  I looked at those dolls and remembered how much they meant to me, no, mean to me.  they are a part of who I was as a child and they made it a more special time.  so I chose my favorite, sara.  she's not blessed with looks, let's put it that way.  she has dark black fuzz hair that's practically shaved off her cloth head.  she has a white, chubby, dirty body and a painted face.  but a sweet little old lady made her for me.  and she's in a little outfit that used to be my sister's.  and I love that doll.

so she was my model.  her chubby dirty self.  please don't mock.

friend in me.

my sister will most likely rip on me for this one, but that's ok.

I realize I need to be more proactive, or at least I'm telling myself that.  but this heat seriously makes me not want to do ANYTHING.  its disgusting out there.  so please, please, PLEASE comment, cause its encouraging and it keeps me going.  there are some days I just wanna NOT take a picture.  I know it seems like a simple thing to do every day, but its not.

day fifty-three.

sorry that I missed posting last night.  I had to trade in my camera because the autofocus stopped working when we were in england.  so I traded the camera and went on my way.  but after I had taken my pictures I tried to upload them to my computer and iphoto didn't even recognize that they were there!  I guess there was some hardware/software discorrolation, its common sometimes.  super annoying.

anyways, I downloaded the software that came with the camera and was able to get them on my computer. geez.  talk about a headache.

so another hot day made it challenging for me to even be interested in taking pictures.  I just wanna sit in air-conditioning all day and not move a muscle.  stupid summer heat.  so I took a lot of inside pictures.  I got to hang out with my little mexican, julia ghoulia!  we went over to chevy's and then hung out at barnes.  I had a great meal, steak tacos, and I really love the way the picture turned out.  it looks delicious and I love the, to use my top chef lingo, "presentation" of the dish.  yum.  I love food pictures!

fiesta fare.

looks delicious, huh?

52.

continuing on...

today I really really made an effort.  I walked around the block barefoot outside and took a picture of anything that was interesting to me.  I didn't really think I was going to get anything good or anything different.

but then I shot this one and the colors and the pieces in the picture were so visually stimulating to me.  I think its so pretty and I love the different textures.

pretty gritty.

oh my gosh, I just wanna kiss it or something!  it would be so cute if a bride's feet were just standing right up in the corner.  I'm pretty proud of this one.

fifty-one?

seriously?

getting high numbers now.

nothing particularly exciting about this day except for a glorious sunset sky and inspiration.  I was driving back from working out and running errands and I thought that the wires and towers were looking particularly cool.  the sky was stunning that day and it was silhouetting the electrical lines quite nicely.

I wanted to get underneath the tower for a cool perspective, but I chose to keep my life instead.  those things buzz like crazy.  I'm super in love with this picture.

under the wire.

I just love the contrast of industrial and nature.  in any situation, that's a cool-looking thing to me.  even if the meaning behind it is kinda morbid and ungreen.

day 50.

sorry that I'm behind!  it has been a stressful couple of days and I've just been too exhausted when I get home to do any posts.  but don't worry, I'm taking pictures.  sometimes I have to force myself!  it really feels endless sometimes.  so encouragement is NEEDED, aka comments, people!

thanks to good friends who love me and want to make my life fantastic, I had a great picture day.

we had a girl day and it was sweet, and shocking, and hilarious, and wonderful.  I love those girls.  and I love going to toni's house.  she has the best backyard known to man.  and that is the highlight of my photo. it just looks like everything that is simple and pure about summer.  the good stuff.  forget the unforgiving heat and horrid humidity, this is bliss.

peaceful easy feeling.

don't you just feel like you're in a hammock?  my goodness.  perfect.

I'm glad I could capture summer in a pleasant way, given the fact that I hate summer right now.  we broke up, I need autumn now.  especially for pictures, hello!

49er.

I need something cool to take pictures of, this one's a stretch.

I decided to challenge myself a little more and confined myself to my living area.  I actually got some good ones but hopefully its interesting enough to all of you.  my life isn't too exciting at home.  and I'm really really trying to keep this whole challenge diverse, I don't want my pictures to all look alike or to be of the same things.  so hopefully I'm doing that.

but I think this picture turned out very pretty, it could go on the wall in a teenager's room.  like a classy teen, like a blair waldorf.  the idea popped into my head so I took some pictures and messed with the focus a couple of times, I like it.

my eau my.

a girl's gotta have her options.  I just love smelling pretty.

48.

last one and then I am CAUGHT UP.

what a freakin' relief!

I'm quite tired of doing four of these a night.

today I had the great pleasure of going to church after like five weeks of absence.  I love my church.  its community, its love, and its God.  all those things in one building can only be good.  today charlie talked about our future plans and where we are as a church.  it was great.  I guess it must have rained a little because there were some puddles outside.  all the cute little girls in their church dresses were dancing and running through the puddles.  it made me happy.  set the camera to action mode and snapped away.  I am in LOVE with this picture.  I love it so much.  definitely printing it for my wall.  whenever I get a bigger place, with more walls.

puddle prance.

I love her precious little polka dots and ballet flats.  and I just noticed that she's in midair!  that is freaking sweet.  go me!

day forty-seven.

wow, this day went actually much better than I thought it would.  thanks to my lovely friend ali and her suggestion to go down to the car show.

good weather+cool old cars+oldies music=great time for pictures.

so I had a blast looking at all the cars, running into some people (nuggets!) and people watching.  the winner, of course, featured a car.  one of my favorites, with some great little details.  it just looks straight outta the fifties.  brilliant.  it actually reminded me of movies about the fifties and sixties, including one of my favorites "now and then".  man, I was obsessed with that movie, especially the soundtrack...speaking of...

hitchin' a ride.

such a great night.  thank you, friend.  it got me super excited for pumpkin fest pictures.  like, omg, so excited.  a 365 might just have to feature the pumpkin donut sundae, like why am I not eating that right now???  patience is a virtue.

day 46.

really had to make an effort this day as well.  coming back home is rough!

I've been waiting to get a picture of my sweet little maci.  she is such a good dog and she deserves a little spotlight.  I've taken many pictures of her since the project started but none that I really liked enough to win the 365 spot.  poor maci.  but at last, the slumbering puppy provided me with a winner.  this is maci at her best, cuddly and lazy, curled on the back of the couch.

soft spot.

I think her ear is up cause I just said her name.  she sure is cute, even when you can't see her little face.

forty-5.

ahhh the joys of being home.

my pictures this day were in the glorious place that is my backyard.  super exciting.  but I did have a nice model.  the moon.  it was really small and cute.  I ended up taking an out-of-focus picture and an in-focus picture.  I bet you can guess which one I picked, even if you can see it right under this text.

paper moon.

I think it looks like a book cover.  I'd so read that book.  such a nugget little moon.

day 44.

wow.

back to the challenging side of things, hey illinois!

luckily my first day back included my coworker wanting to get one world to celebrate my return!  due to the heat it was incredibly frustrating to do anything that required energy.  including removing my camera from my purse to take a picture.

but I suffered through and took a couple cool ones, like back at day one.

I really like this just because it was kind of unexpected for me...but I love the way it looks.  I might even print it out for myself.

the caption.  I mean, I just had to.  especially since katie and I just watched that in...where was it...oh yeah, dublin.  at least somewhere over there, ha, I don't particularly remember which fabulous international city it was.

wax on.

striking.  I love the scratches.  I didn't even look back once I passed it to see what the other side looks like.  this side is way cooler.

40.three.

last day of the trip:(

nothing but traveling, so, super fun.

we were rushed in the airports to get through customs and what not so I didn't get many pictures there.  luckily I did catch some interesting things on my way home.  mom and I stopped at dairy queen and there were some nice fields there welcoming me home.

but the best return gift was a sunset.  I don't know if you know this, but illinois has the best sunsets in the world.  seriously.  they're better than anywhere I've seen and toni happens to agree with me.

so here's the one I saw.  the sun kept peeking from behind the clouds and then going back.  created quite the silhouette.

hide and seek.

pretty pretty, huh?  it was begging me to take its picture.

day forty-two.

last day of our trip - if you don't count the travel day - which I don't, cause it sucked.

it was a great day to explore dublin.  it was a really cool city and we were able to see a lot!  we went to trinity college, saw the book of kells, the christ church cathedral, dublin castle (maybe?), and ended our day at the guinness storehouse!  it was so. cool.  we got to see the ingredients of guinness and how they make it, and of course...a taste at the end.

the first thing they do is roast the barley.  and it looks lovely.  almost like tiny coffee beans.  anyways, I just love how this picture turned out.  it looks pro if you ask me.

rant and roast.

that caption's for you, weinstein.
and the picture, for you, uphoff.
*cough*hire me as your coffee photographer*cough*

day 41.

gettin' up there in the days.

we had to leave galway and make our way to dublin.

nothing exciting happened that day.  we traveled the majority of the day and then stayed in our hotel.  so for the first time on the trip I had to make an effort.  so I walked around the hotel and took some pictures.  this little winner was obviously at the bar.  I just thought it was so cool how they had their booze displayed.  it looked like art.  actually, I'm not even sure if it was functional.

headstand.

I like the editing I did, so yay me!

this blogging all-in-a-row stuff is super tiring.

day forty!

woah!  forty!

our last day in galway:(  super depressing.  we did NOT want to leave.

but what a great last day it was!  we started out going to our favorite lunch spot, the skeff.  then we spent the day shopping and went to the market!  and what a market it was!  it was amazing - delicious food, amazing art, and soaking up the culture.  literally.  it was raining.

well walking around brought me to this photo.  I saw this guy standing there with his umbrella, and the backdrop behind him was just too good to pass up.

splash of color.

how very bob-ross-does-graffiti of me.

day thirty-9.

not only is this a new entry...

its a new blog!

I worked VERY hard to find a template and format that would enable me to make my pictures as big as they can be for my readers (since making them large before either cost me my protection or made the blog page look janky) and I am VERY happy with it.

I think its beautiful and more professional-looking.

next up - coming up with prices for prints and jpegs!

hopefully having the pictures this big and also being able to keep them protected from being stolen is a happy medium for everybody.

moving on!

day 39 was relatively low-key.  we had breakfast, afternoon tea (super legit) and then we went out to tig coili, yet again!

seriously, if you'd been there, you'd know its irresistible quality.

our night ended with a walk in the rain out to the taxi cue...and I got the first still light blur shot of my life.  I happen to think its tremendous.  I took a second one where only the big lights are blurred and the city is in focus, I like that one too...but this one is magical.  I'm going to print it for my wall.

galway glimmer.

miss it already.  phenomenal.

day 38.

I"m getting carpel tunnel from all this picture taking and blogging.  no lie.

here we go!

this was a spectacular, life-changing day.  we went to the aran islands.

its actually huge, it felt huge.  a very low population because its mostly farm land...oh, and cliffs.  splendiforous, humungous, gorgeous cliffs.  it felt like the ends of the earth.  it felt like God stretching out his arms thiiiiissss wide.  we had a great day.

we were dropped off by probably the third driver we had named patrick.  we had a couple hours to eat and climb up a twenty minute hike to a fortress and the cliffs.  I had the best tomato soup of my life before we finally headed out.

it was nothing but limestone (reminded me of climbing to the acropolis) and I was wearing flip flops.  so that was awesome.  I limped the rest of my trip, I jacked up my right foot.  it was worth. it.  once we got past the hike, there was a long stretch of flat rock and grass that led to the fortress and just beyond that, the cliffs.

this shot captures that first viewpoint, right before we got to the edge it stretched out long and green.  it was so pretty.

end in sight.

I love that that girl is standing there looking so small compared the vastness of the landscape.  its not capture-able but I did my best.

day thirty-seven.

oh my galway.

this is one of the greatest cities on earth.  but I can't even call it a city.  its an experience.  its a feeling.  its beyond awesome.  its what you want when you think of irish culture.  geez, louise.

we discovered a little pub called "tig coili".  and by pub, I mean, a real pub.  no food.  nothing but bacon bites, right kate?

we met some charming, wonderful, hilarious bartenders.  keith and shane.  shane was a smartass.  keith was a wooer.  they were a great team.  it was particularly cute when katie and I would sit down at the bar and shane would point to katie and say "guinness?" and then he'd point to me and say "water?"  wow, thanks.  no, I'll have a cider.

this picture captures the smooth performance of their bartender work, it was like second nature and they were really studly.  this picture features keith and a blur of shane...please notice keith's luscious biceps.  we're getting married.

in a flash.

isn't he pretty?  keith and kristi: october 2012, save the date.  too bad you can't see his blue eyes in this picture.

36th!

ahhhhh...ireland.

today we headed to the otha side!

got on a ferry to ireland and had a long long day of travel but it was worth it.  we had such an interesting turn of events on that ferry: cereal craving fulfilled, white trash welsh, ferry buffet?

and we also made it to the luxurious g hotel in galway...

o.m.G.

luscious.

but today's picture features the ferry.  I love when the window gets all splashed with the spray of the water, that thing goes FAST and its SO incredibly windy out there.  this is what I saw.

sea spray.

I think it looks sad but also kind of bright.  the sea was so glorious that day, I would have stayed out on the deck if it weren't for the tornado winds.

thirty-five!

so I've been doing this for over a month now, I don't know if you guys noticed that.

and in that month I've come to realize that I want to protect my images.  so if you notice you won't be able to right click or expand the photos anymore, there's a reason.  and any 365 runner-ups or artistic photos I take aren't going to be posted to facebook anymore.  I've had my photos stolen from me before and I don't want it to happen now.  especially now that I've been asked for jpeg files for people to print my pictures.

speaking of that...I'm going to talk with some friends and figure out prices.  I'm also going to find a good printing company so that if you want anything printed to look more professional, I can do that for you.  thanks for all the interest!

anyways, moving on to this entry!

this was another grand day in london and I experienced something new for me!  last time I went to london I didn't get to see the tower of london...well, I saw it in the dark.  but this time we took a tour and learned lots or interesting and sometimes creepy things.  torture devices!  weaponry!

the treat that day was that a buckingham guard was there!  he did his schpeel and it was the first time I saw it up close.  I love this picture of him.  it screams london and he just pops out of the picture.  not one smirk.

take a stand.

thanks for posin', man.

almost caught up!

34.

historical monuments give me the chills.  they are splendid.

this day we went to stonehenge.  it was fabulous and old and like our bus driver said, "you're going all this way to see a pile of rocks".  sure am!

it was so great, and so cool.  we got to listen to audio guides and walk around and learn about the significance and purpose of the stones.  oh yes, they have purpose!  they can even tell us when the solstices are!  like clockwork, literally.  usually, I hate the other tourists.  they're annoying and pushy and rude.  but this day they were all standing there and staring.  marveling.  and I loved it.  it looked like art today.

so voila!

on the rocks.

don't you love how touristy that tourist man is?  the epitome.  I have to go now, ali wants to watch "better off ted".

thirty-third.

off to london!

what a brilliantly awesome city.  I love it there.  its an adventure.  and there is SO much to do...so you get pretty tired.

the first day we went to the parliament, big ben, buckingham palace, and the london eye.

I've seen all these things before but they continue to be amazing and beautiful.  its an exciting place to be.  today's picture comes from the eye.  I love the eye.  its a great idea and a great way to see the city.  as we were waiting in line there was a plaque with a poem on it and when you looked up you could see the eye.  the thing I like about this picture is that I was looking through a window to see the eye and it was a dirty window, so the eye looks like a drawing.

eye spy.

 love it love it love it.

day thirty-two.

this was such a cool day.

we went to gloucester cathedral.  insert geekiness here: where they filmed harry potter 1, 2 and 6.  like seriously, scenes with the troll, the bathroom, the courtyard, the blood on the walls.  chills.

this picture features the courtyard they used for several scenes...and it was beautiful.  the cathedral was the home to monks and has a fascinating history.  and there's just a lot about this picture that I love.  I mulled over this day for a while to choose a picture, and this one is special.

hidden magic.

 



that bird is so cute.  omg.  here we go.

thirty-one.

off to a new country!

cheltenham, england awaited us and we came.  hot hotel room, and all, we explored a great little quaint town FULL of shopping.  surprisingly, we didn't purchase much.  but it was such a cute little town and we had one of the best meals of the trip.

anyways, we got our first glimpse of those adorable red phone booths that you see all over london...yeah, they're in other places too.

I love them.  and I love this shot cause it was done blindly, holding the camera over my head.  so, there!

close call.

fun!  I like the detail.  this is taking a long time to post these all at once!