Thursday, September 30, 2010

You Capture- Togetherness

As much as I can't stand the thought of winter coming around the corner, I am excited for all the togetherness that happens during the holidays. Although it can be quite hectic running around to here and there, it's still such a special time. I didn't get to capture any big group togetherness this week , but we did get to spend time with a special little lady.
This is my month old great niece. I'm a Great Aunt! It's so weird- and makes me feel kind of old- but it's wonderful and she's the cutest little girl. And look at all the hair!!!! Plus, I'm not old! Right?! Right.


Apparently my husband can't go anywhere without Bears paraphernalia.

Who doesn't like togetherness with a cute baby?!?! And with Dunkin Donuts and french bread on the table no less!!!

Let's go hang out together here for more You Capture!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

One Year

One of my favorite pictures

Today, my husband and I have been married one year. I can't believe it! How does time fly so quickly?! It feels like yesterday we were spending an amazing day of love and fun with our family and friends. Almost everything went perfectly, and what didn't was quickly forgotten because of the rest of the joy surrounding us (and a quick trip to Jewel by my matron of honor to buy flowers to fix the bouquets). The day was just wonderful- I still remember every detail and I hope that never fades away. The weather was nice, even though it drizzled a little bit in the morning, but when it was time to take our pictures outdoors after the ceremony, it was absolutely beautiful. The mood was a mixture of nervousness, joy and a little touch of sadness- mostly because I couldn't believe I was old enough to be someones wife. I spent the morning with my mom, aunts, bridesmaids and hair dresser and there were some tears, but mostly from laughter.

I can't even find the right words to express our first year of marriage. I'm not going to lie, the first few months were rough. Everyone warned me of it, especially since I did not live with him before we got married, but I never believed people. At least I knew to try not to feel bad if there was a rough patch because everyone of my married friends went through it too. But the love, laughs and joy we've had so far? Nothing can compare to that. I feel very lucky to have found him and that he chose me. And to think this is just the beginning. I can't wait to see whats in store for the next 50 years! My matron of honor said it best in her speech- I hope we look back on our wedding day as the day we loved each other least and that our love just continues to grow. And so far, it's true.

And now, I will bombard you with pictures of our special day.

I was so nervous!
Officially man and wife!

In case you're wondering, yes, the vests are navy blue and ties are orange for the Chicago Bears. (I can't believe I agreed to it)

I'm a Cubs fan, he's a Sox fan. Baseball season is rough on a marriage.

I wish I had more cake than I did- YUM.

The gem of the evening (and can you believe that ridiculous sweater vest?? A Mike Ditka replica- ugh.)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

You Capture- Flowers

I LOVE flowers. I don't know many people who don't, but I go crazy for them. They are just so beautiful. My favorite are gerber daisies. I had them in bright colors for my wedding. I wish they would last forever- they are such happy flowers! Other than the "popular" flowers though, I don't know anything about them. It's really something I want to involve myself in more. I can't wait to have a garden or some kind of landscape to plant as many as I possibly can. Cause really, who doesn't smile when they see this:


 Or these:


And I can just imagine running through these:


Silly I know, but how fun!

You can see more beautiful here. Enjoy!

(All these pictures were taken on a walk through Grant Park and down Lake Shore Drive)




Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Movin' On Up

Well, down rather. This past weekend we moved out of our 3rd floor condo. Oy. To be truthful, it went MUCH smoother than I anticipated, thanks to my take charge brother in law. After spending the week packing numerous bins and boxes (where did all this stuff fit?!?!) I was sure I was in for a horrible moving experience. To say I was freaking out was a small understatement. I never moved a full house before- only moved some stuff to my husbands from my moms so I had no idea what to expect. My husband threw out his back a few weeks ago and has been sick for the last couple weeks as well- perfect timing. We didn't have as much help as we imagined because of changes in work schedules and the fact that I didn't want to use all my resources this time as hopefully we'll be moving again soon when everything for "our" house goes through. And of course, the weather was calling for rain Saturday morning after days of nothing. But, everything worked out great and after starting at 10am the majority of our things were out by 1:30! So for now we have stuff everywhere-my moms, his moms and a storage facility. Sunday we went back to finish taking everything, clean and fill a few nail holes in the walls. That part of the process took longer than the move, but at 8:30 that night, we opened a bottle of champagne and made a toast to the memories we had there and to looking forward to the future. I'm not going to lie, I cried. I may have only lived there a year, but we started dating 2007 so I spent plenty of time there over the years. It's so nice to be out of there, but it's still a little hard. And now, we close on the sale of the place tomorrow!! I'm going to be so excited to have that done with. What a huge weight lifted! Here's hoping everything goes just fine!

Goodbye condo!! Thanks for the memories!!!


Thursday, September 9, 2010

You Capture!!!

This is my first ever You Capture - (though I've been a reader and admirer for some time, I've just started my own blog and now I can participate)- and I'm so excited about it!!!

This weeks assignment was signs. I had a lot of fun, but didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to. I'm still figuring out my new camera and editing and all that. Plus, we've been packing as we're moving this weekend, so it's been a little busy. I'm hoping to get better as I go along and will be able to include more pictures. So without further delay...

This first sign is the one I see every morning and where I spend Monday-Friday.


What a beautiful blue sky!!! Nothing is much better than the entire Chicago skyline on a gorgeous day!!! I'm very thankful to have spent my post college working years down here. There is such an energy that just gets you going.

Next, the sign of new life to come!!! Who doesn't love an adorable baby belly!?!?!
This is my good friends baby belly! We had lunch yesterday to catch up. Pregnancy suits her so well and she's loving every minute of it. I'm so excited to meet her baby girl at the end of October! She keeps growing and growing and as we all know, that's a good sign!

So there you have it! I'm so excited to get more into this- I look forward to Thursdays every week!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

On the Hunt

One of the biggest things going on in our lives right now is house hunting. My husband and I will be married for a year on the 26th, and to be truthful I never thought we'd still be without our first home. After marriage I moved into his condo that he's had for five years. It's perfectly nice and I'm grateful we had a place to call home- but we both knew we wanted to get out soon. And- it's full of boy stuff. Because I didn't think we'd be there forever, I never really added much of my own taste to the place. Don't get me wrong, I've introduced Yankee Candles, vases full of flowers and picture frames to the home, but nothing extreme. We have plain white walls as we repainted right before I moved in. It went from this:

See boy stuff. To this:
(Please excuse the mess and the fact that I forgot to cut my head out!)

To say I married a sports fan is an understatement. Now, many will think that I made him remove these things since I was moving in- this is not true. The decision was made solely to make sure all the holes (and there were a ton) were covered so we can paint before putting the place on the market. The condo went on the market in November and after a very slow few months, we're hopefully closing on the sale very soon. In fact we're moving out this weekend to go home. That was a whole other life lesson- buying a house is not easy. We're on house #3 since March, but we're confident this one will go through. The first house we put an offer on in March was a short sale and fell through after 5 months of waiting. Not something I ever want to deal with again if I can help it. House #2 we found and put an offer on the weekend after the first house fell through. After 2 weeks of back and forth with a previous contract they promised would be terminated, they chose to cancel our contract instead and try to move forward with the other buyer even after a host of problems. House #3 we found the next day (apparently we are good at finding houses and agreeing) and we're in the midst of waiting for the appraisal. So we're hoping the third times a charm! Fingers crossed!!! Even though it's been a rough road, we're excited to have our first home on or around our first anniversary!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Here I Am

Well, here I am! I've decided to join the blog world! It's a good way to keep friends and family in the know, meet new people and learn new things. I've already learned so much from the blogs I've been reading and I'm excited to have this "journal" and look forward to everything that comes along with it.

Why the blog name? Ever since the days of 110 film, I've always loved taking pictures. I have tons of pictures in albums from grade school through now, and countless pictures without albums or not even printed thanks to digital cameras and the ability to store. And- I recently became the proud owner of a Nikon DSLR! I'm so excited. Since I work in downtown Chicago, I've decided to try to make it a point to walk around on lunch and take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Especially while I can before winter comes. Ugh. So I tried to get a little creative with the name and BAM. Here we are.

So, I'll be writing often about things going on, things coming up and just life in general. I'm excited for this blog journey and thanks for coming along for the ride!