ninety-two.

so I went to the park to take pictures and ended up with something I didn't expect to see.  I started taking pictures of this one tree and once I got started, I couldn't stop.  it was looking beautiful at dusk.  I got way into this great perspective of the branches.  they're cute.

out on a limb.

this would look pretty stellar on a canvas.

niner-1.

did I catch a "niner" in there?

this past monday I was pretty bored.  pretty unmotivated.  but I really like the picture I got.  I stopped at the jfl field to see if I could get any cool pics.  I did.  but the one I ended up liking was in the parking lot when I got back to my car.

I love pictures of asphalt!

cozy pavement.

I didn't position those cones.  they were just being bffs fo real.

ninety.

continuing on for this post and another.  and then I have some editing to do and a football game to attend. briefly attend.  I cannot breathe.

day ninety was our kickoff day for imago youth.  so we made pizza and hung out with the kids and I got a lot of neat pictures.  but this one was my favorite.  my friend ty has this great backyard that's all lit up and summery looking.  it was my fave.

those summer nights.

consider this my farewell/good riddance to summer.  "farewell" cause its a nice picture, "good riddance" because I am DONE with summer.  get rid of this heat and ragweed and give me cold, crisp nights.

89.

I've been busy.

something every night.  super tired.  super allergic to the world.  I've been doing a million things at once and posting these is just not at the top of my to do list right now.

but, day 89 was good.  I finally got a chance to go see my friend Jani's store, twigs.  cutest. place. ever.  just off of allentown road.  super amazing and I wanted to buy everything in there.

well, I know she might be mad, but I happened to take a picture of her.  and its beautiful.  so she wins.

nature's own.

happiness.  so many interesting things to look at.

day eighty-eight.

ohmyholycrap.

I haven't been so excited to upload since scotland.  this is a whole new day.

today, I got something in the mail.  and by something I mean four new lens attachments.  macro, wide angle, telephoto, and FISHEYE.

ever since I knew fisheye existed, I wanted it.

someday I'll upgrade for an actual fisheye lens.  but wow.  so excited.

I went crazy, went downtown and just took a ton of pictures.  I walked through this shady alleyway by the sacred heart church, and I'm glad I did.  cause this is a beauty.

I love doors.  I think they're pretty.  this is one of the coolest doors ever.  and the lens just made it dandy.

sliding doors.

legit, right?  I can't wait to show you the rest, on my website, soon:)

eighty-seven.

so I'm pretty proud of this one because I took a picture of something simple and something I really didn't think would amount to a good picture.

but it did.

I love the focus and I love the texture.  I feel redundant and cliche when I say that, but its true.

pining for you.

ugh!  I love the spottiness of the background!  man oh man.

day 86.

back on track.  I'm slowly yet surely backing up my pictures and computer in general.  this puppy is filling up fast thanks to the 365.  so sometimes it takes a while cause I'm trying to make room for incoming pictures.

anyways!

I was anticipating this day quite a bit.  I went house shopping.  I'm planning on moving out soon, as most of you may know, and I'm considering buying.

its scary but exciting!  afterwards I went over to al's to hang out.  before I headed over I had to take a picture of that big ol' fat moon.  not to mention the sunset!  it was like neopolitlin style.  so why not both?

back and forth.

I think its soft and pretty.  usually my colors are a little more profound, but this one is more sutle and warm.

85!

first off all, happy birthday alyssa!  not that she reads this.  psh.

today it was SO nice out so I did what I call a "picture drive" and ventured out in my pajamas behind the concealment of my car.  my goal was to find this barn that I saw years ago but I never found it.  but when I was driving home I saw some luscious nature.

so I pulled over on the road cause I was the only one on that dang road.

fuzzy halo.

cute little nuggets.

ok, off to bed!

eighty-four.

so yesterday I had to push for a picture.  I took a lot but it may be a bit of a stretch.  but I chose this picture for the texture and color.  it looks really filthy too.  I kinda like it.

take a number.

I know these last couple blogs have been short but I'm really really tired.  one more and I'm caught up!

eighty3.

a good and lovely day for a bike ride with friends.

well, actually, we took a bike ride then we walked to dq.  so this picture results from the walking part of the night.

it was so so so pretty out.  the dusk lighting just screams for me to take pictures of it.  I love all the colors and things going on in this picture.

go for it.

oh morton.  so much to offer.  ha, sometimes that's true.  it sure will be on september 15!

82.

I wanna go to bed.

but I freaking love this picture.

another fun day with my friends.  shopping and movie time.  when we were getting in the car, there was a grasshopper sitting there.  I love grasshoppers.  ever since "james and the giant peach" I just picture them in top hats with monocles.  they are so cute.  anyways, his name is dr. howard bannister, after one of the great movie characters of our time.  I might have to watch that now.

class act.

I didn't like this until I edited it more, now I think it looks sweet.  look at his tiny shadow!

81.

so I know its been awhile.  not only have I been busy and exhausted, but my poor computer ran out of space.  so I've spent the last couple days backing up files so that I could make some room.

so day 81 was a t-m-s extravaganza.  if you don't know what t-m-s is then you're not cool enough for me to tell you.  anyways, I was enjoying time with my friends which meant, duh, mexican food.  it was such a cute little restaurant with lots of little quirky things.  things featured here today in this blog.  it should be noted that shortly after this picture was taken, the power went out.  while we were eating.  quite hilarious, actually.  it was raining and storming like crazy.  we looked like drowned rats.  anyways, here's the picture!

si caballeros.

I'm explaining the caption.  when I was little, me and Karen used to watch this disney sing-a-long vhs.  it was amazing and we still have it in the storage room.  anyways, there's a song on there called "three caballeros" and it rocks hard core.  and t-m-s is three caballeros.  there are more than three little nuggets in this picture, so I just changed the "three" to "si".  I think it looks like they're singing, like this is an action shot.

yay!

eighty!

I didn't even have to try today.

so easy.

we had our riverwest backpack party at imago.  went out to riverwest for the first time.  prepped the backpacks and lined 'em up and got a little hot.  then we set up for the food to be served.

then the people slowly poured in.

and the kids were everywhere.  and they are CRAZY.

they were running, four-squaring, playing with bubbles, drawing with chalk, everything under the sun.  they are the sweetest kids, too.  I received the following compliments from two different kids, "you look really pretty", "your name looks really pretty".  sweetest.

I met these two little peanuts and they straight-up wanted a photoshoot.  so, without any prompting, this little sweetheart posed for me.  feast your eyes on this beauty...

sunny side up.

summery love and bliss.  love her.  I'm officially "into" riverwest, diving right in.

day 79.

today, God gave me a picture.

it was really easy, actually.  I just went out at sunset, took a couple pictures, and went home.

this one was a winner automatically.  I know I've presented "sky" pictures many a time, but I couldn't pass this up to win...even if the runner-ups were great too.

thank you for autumn and for sunsets, Lord.

cloud nine.

he-yo!

makes me feel all warm inside just looking at this picture.  those clouds are luscious.

seventy-8.

this is something I could have never mentally prepared for.

I headed out with ryan to bloomington to a visitation.  my friend lost his sweet little sister and we were going out to show our support for him.  so we went out and talked with him and met up with some other friends as well.

we went out to eat afterwards and ended up having a really nice meal together.  actually, it should be noted at this point that I was the only girl with five guys.  five.  conversations carried on in "guyland" as if I weren't there.  very interesting.  very hilarious.  very inappropriate.

afterwards when we were outside the restaurant, I whipped out the camera to get in "365" mode.  one thing led to another and we had an all out boy band photoshoot extravaganza.  it was madness.  angles, perspective, hotness, and glory.  basically.

behold...

bandstand.

run and tell THAT, homeboy.

needless to say, it was amazing night, and we were able to give our lovely friend a good time and some good laughs.  that's friendship, dogg.  straight up.

day 77.

well, happiness has come.

aka fall.

it was gorgeous weather on this seventy-seventh day.  beyond perfection.  I decided to just go downtown and go for a walk to see what I could find.  I needed to go into 'lulu's' for a business question so I took a ton of pictures in there.  including the winner.

meet my new lamp.  or it will be once I pay my bills this month.

you're a gem.

sooooo beautiful.  can't wait for it to be mine.  in my new apartment.  whenever the crap that actually happens.

day seventy-six.

sorry that I'm super behind, I haven't had one evening to sit down and take the time to do this.

anyhoo.

a lovely day for church.  nice out.  a very emotional and important service.

well I spent the morning with my church family and the evening with my crazy family.  we went to go hear my friend paul give his presentation of the gospel of mark...good job, buddy:)  then we decided to go eat some dinner and go to a movie.

of course we went to one world.  duh.

deeeeelicious.  and the site of the day's picture.  I like it, it captures one world and the happiness it brings to the world.

dine and dash.

note:  I did not walk out on the bill.  which I very well could've, cause we were desperately trying to make it to a movie.  which we did.  which was 'inception'.  which was BEYOND awesome!  go see it.

75.

today was one of those days where I had a TON of pictures to choose from and way too much going on.  its not fair to the other days!

today I wore a toga.

my lovely friends heather and lance are engaged, they got engaged in front of the colosseum, hence the togas.  fabulous party.  delicious mediterranean food and they went ALL out on the decorations.  so much fun.  plus they are beautiful and it was exciting to celebrate with them.

thus today's picture.  I love the angle.  I love that it doesn't look like its in someone's yard.  it looks like freaking rome, and that's always a good thing.

when in rome.

the sky looks so cool.  long, hot, great day.  but now I'm freaking tired.  arrivederci!

day 74.

another typical no-thrills illinois day.

but that's ok cause I still like this pictures.

it was another scorcher and it was gross but then we had a magnificent storm!  I love storms.  the sky looks cool.  the temp goes down.  and its awesome to watch.  so I went to olive garden with some friends and when we walked out my friend spotted something in the parking lot.  you know how when there's a storm, things seem to "wash up" and you start spotting little creatures everywhere?  let's face it, they're mainly gonna be worms, but this little nugget showed up and I love this picture.  looks so cool.

all washed up.

isn't he so cute??  I love that he's on the leaf, shows how small he is!  on to the next day!

73.

today had a WHOLE lot of inspiration!

my lovely friend alyssa let me tour her work, which was the news studio!  I was such a geek, I got pictures with lots of the anchors!   it was ridiculous and provided me with a lot of pictures.  and THEN we went to arts in the park.  although it wasn't in the park, it was at the old grace building, because of the heat.  but it was awesome and it produced the greatest picture.

those banjo guys are my favorite.  its the best float at the pfest.  and its the best instrument.  its beyond greatness.  so here you go...happiness and talent all rolled into one.

little strummer boys.

hope you like it.  p.s. that guy is wearing a wig/hat.  he's fully bald.

day seventy-two.

sometimes when I'm driving, I pull over, simply for the glorification of this blog.

washington, illinois is so darn cute.  its amazing and as I was driving through it, I just had to stop.  I just walked around downtown and shot and shot and shot.  not guns.

but I was under this cool sign that had a really neat canopy next to it.  it was beyond cool with the colors of the building and the bright colors of the sign and canopy.  so lovely.  and plus I really like the angle and perspective.

show me your sign.

pretty good, huh?  I like that dirtyness under the sign.  its nice.

moving on!

day seventy-1.

sometimes I'm not prepared for the awesomeness of pictures.  but quite frankly, I think I get lucky.  but today's is one of my favorites.  its summer and childhood and happiness all rolled into one.  I was driving by a house and saw a little girl with a hose washing the car, like she was three, but I couldn't stop and take pictures, that's pervy!  so I was bummed.  but then I went around my neighborhood and saw my two favorite boys playing in the sprinkler!  inspiration received!

so since I was their nanny and our families are really close, I snapped away.  I also took some pictures of the storm tonight, and they turned out ok, but I wanna wait until I get better with those kind of settings.  this winner, however, is something I know I'm good at now.  taking pictures of cute nuggets.

boyish charm.

isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I love that boy.  sweet jakey.

hope you enjoy his happy little face!

seventy.

if this heat doesn't go away soon, my pictures are going to be all indoor.

I actually made myself leave the luxurious air-conditioned bliss of my car to step out into the heat to take these pictures.  I made a pretty spontaneous decision to go over to the high school.  so I took a ton of pictures.  I guess I'm just really excited for football to start...thus the winning picture.

fan base.

I just like the colors and the scratches on the bleachers.  bring on the hogs!

day sixty-nine.

it was beyond hot out there today.  gross.

but I ventured out to the park and other places and got some good ones today.  I actually took some of the pumpkin trucks as well but I liked this one better...as weird as that may seem.  after all, the pumpkins are epic.  but I took the winner out at northwoods park, I saw this awesome totem pole and I love the way this one turned out.

rack em stack em.

I love how they are looking at me.  I wish I could take that thing home with me, it has an owl on the top.  but in the end, even with that owl, this one was better.

day 68.

last post before I get started on my pictures for TODAY, yeah, better get on that.

yesterday was a great day because I did something I've always wanted to do in peoria, I went to the farmers market at the metro centre.  I was so excited.  I was just in the area and I really wanted to check it out.  it was beautiful.  all the fruit was lovely.  vegetables pouring out of crates.  and pretty flowers everywhere.

I took so many pictures, and I really love this one.  I know I had a vegetable picture like two days ago, but I don't care, this picture depicts the greatness of the day and the greatness of summer.

summer blues.

yeah.  needless to say, I bought them.  I also got two peaches and five ears of sweet corn.  cost me four freaking dollars, love it.  I will be frequenting this often.

sixty-7.

so I did something today that I've wanted to do for months, I went to cyd's gourmet cafe in junction city and ate some FOOD.  oh..m.g.  SO good and so cute.  I had a delicious sandwich, a scrumptious b.l.t.e. with some kind of magic sauce on it.  and I got a chai cupcake, simply luscious, go get one NOW.  but cyd's offer's more, they have homemade baked goods, dips, crackers, salads, and just everything that you could ever dream of eating.  they had kitchen supplies, adorable rugs, aprons, and decor.  I could have gone nuts but I'm waiting for the right time.  seriously, go there.

anyways, I went nuts with the camera.  everything was beautiful.  but this was my favorite.

bells and whistles. 

I want that table with all my heart.  and the bells, and the cup.  this was actually my first picture of the day, so there you go.

66!

I'm resuming posting because megan hall is an awesome person and deserves it.  so maybe you other people should follow her lead.

I had a good day with a lot to see.  saw my lovely friend cali and her pretty baby girl and at lunch together. drove past all the windmills.  but when I was walking out of work I saw a leaf on the blacktop of the parking lot and decided to take a picture of it.  because that's what my life has come to...taking pictures of leaves.

love it or leaf it.

this is the prettiest little green leaf ever, I freaking love this picture.

65.

oh mercy.  this is just one more thing on my list of things to do.  stress stress stress.

I'm still begging for comments, I'm up to a whole ONE from the past week.  thanks bf mike.

today I went over to hyvee to get my lunch.  the produce was beautiful.  the colors in this are great and I love the part that's the most in focus, it seems odd that its focused there but I like it.

fresh squish.

probably boring, but this is the extent of my creativity for the day.

day 64.

I've been having some long days lately so I have night pictures again.  but hopefully you'll like it.  but how would I know, I've been commentless for seven days!  but who's counting?

anyways, I went around town again, got some cool pictures at eli's, but on my way back home I went down a back road to turn around and when I pulled up with my car, I saw my headlights on the construction site and thought it looked totally cool.

so, being poor, I used my car as my photography equipment, kept it running, and got another brophy-esque shot that I'm pretty crazy about.

it's in the bag.

I love the shadows and the texture of the bag.  and there's some symbolism here for me too, I guess I'll keep it a secret.

thanks for the caption, "clueless".

sixty3.

so today I was busy, I had work and then registration for dance.  so by the time I got home it was dark.  so I had to venture out.

I went downtown again to try and find something different than I had done before.  so I ended up sitting on the curb across from one of my favorite downtown spots.  the barber shop.  I never seen anyone in there.  I feel like its ghost town in there.  but the neon signs are always on and they are cool-looking.  so I sat there and waited for cars to come by.  no flash.  continuous shooting.

voila...

drive by.

it took me a while to pick which one I wanted.  I did a lot of different angles and each one turned out neat.  but I like that the andy's barber shop is somehow reflected in the street and the stripes in the lights and the blur on the edges.  its a little grimey but it turned out pretty good.

bedtime, I'm done with thinking today.

sixty-two!

so, today was hard for me.  reflective.  I've got a lot weighing on me right now, a lot of things at once.  the stress is kind of getting to me.  beyond that, really.  so I needed to cope.  I needed to get out and get my picture that reflected my emotions.  it really did help.  it was a way for me to relieve some of the weight on my shoulders.  and it perfectly captured my emotions.

I drove out to the country, blasted andrew bird, and cried.  as soon as I saw the spot, I knew that was it.  so I pulled over on a side road and got out of the car.

the sign says 'dead end'.  kind of right on the money.  not knowing where your life will be in a month has a way of making you feel like that.

all roads lead.

where the roads lead, I don't know, but I wish someone would freaking tell me.  sorry, this blog was bound to get personal.  kind of the idea, right?