april 29th

kellie-kins.

you are as unique as you are beautiful--

and you are VERY beautiful.

the end.

x

thank you for your friendship. HAPPY birthday!

love, miss georgia

away

you can't run from trials. from heartache. from pain. from the tall and heavy things you face. i've been trying to all my life. this is how i know it doesn't work. these things will evenutally follow you. you have to face them. you have to deal with them. i know that. i'm feeling surrounded by them right now.

but what you can do is escape for a little while—retreat to breathe, collect, regroup, think, reflect and pray. all good things to gather up strength for a return to face your giants.

although i am going to florida to see my husband's family, i am also going to use this trip for all these things. every time i go, i'm in that place of wanting to run away from trouble or pain. and every time i go, i sit here in this spot {in the photo}. i stop. i let the water and the waves wash over me. i let the sounds and smells seep in. i wait. it is the best solitude i have ever known—walking for hours along the beach. i am so grateful to be going again. it could not come at a better time.

i know when i return, i will still be out of a job. i will still be without children. i will still have much to accomplish. i will still have the same amount of money in my bank account, the same simple education i've been given, the same piles of bills and laundry sitting in my house. the same cares and the same past. the same resources. the same gifts and talents.

but i am anticipating something on this trip. i really don't know what. i just feel it. i can actually sense that something significant will happen while i'm there. it may be a small change in my heart or a great realization about my life. whatever it is, i await it with eagerness.

i have never been able to go on a trip and bring the bare minimum. i always bring far too many things. this time, i am bringing a few changes of clothing and my new camera. not even music. perhaps a book. i am going to learn the art of simplicity. i am going to let myself be free of things. i'm tired of things. coming from a packrat like me, this is strange.

but i'm ready for a change.

i think a lot of people are. i know there are people all around me going through difficult things. in this fast-paced world we live in, i pray that whether you are able take a trip or not, you may know a simple and recharging escape like this. whether alone or with family or friends, make time for this.

i'm leaving tomorrow for five days. i look forward to my return and catching up with you all, for you all mean very much to me.

trendy milwaukee neighborhood

sunday was the girls' day out for my friend's birthday. we drove an hour and a half to a city i am really beginning to love. it has a small town feel, but still has all the great big city benefits—like the trendy shops and restaurants that you would get in chicago.

just in one intersection, there were so many interesting things to photograph. i plan to go back often this summer to take a lot more pictures. the more "downtown" parts of milwaukee are wonderful, too! there is so much diverse architecture that is calling out to be photographed.

sorry chicago. i still love you very much. but now the competition has come to town.

the upside

i don't even have anything to say. i just wanted to post this picture. i guess there is an upside to being out of a job. i can take and post pictures to my heart's content. i'll have to go through photography rehab when i get a job again. i'll be going through severe withdrawal.

macro monday

rings and things

{actually, just rings—but it sounded better to add "and things"}

haiku

listening

God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks in our conscience,
but shouts in our pains:
it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

~c. s. lewis
from the problem of pain

afternoon tea with mrs. dalloway

• weather: gray, but warm and balmy—perfect for tea and reading
• book: mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf—gifted to me by my best friend, jessi
• tea: harney & sons green tea with coconut, ginger and vanilla—honey and cream added

i can't think of a better way to spend my rainy-day free time {except perhaps taking pictures, blogging or reading blogs}. windows are open. birds are chirping. distant thunder is rolling. am i in heaven?

what are you doing this fine afternoon?

{as you can see, these photos were taken on a much sunnier day—last monday.}

pros•pect

n.

1. something expected; a possibility
2. chances
3. financial expectations, especially of success
4. a potential customer, client, or purchaser
5. a candidate deemed likely to succeed
6. the direction in which an object, such as a building, faces; an outlook
7. something presented to the eye; a scene: a pleasant prospect
8. the act of surveying or examining

i posted this picture in response to today's shutter sisters post. although the post was titled "bizarre" and this picture is not really bizarre, it was the body of the s.s. post that reminded me of this shot. especially the last part that said this:

"i don't know about you, but it's moments like these when i don't care how ridiculous i look - on my knees with my head 3 inches from the ground. as long as i get the shot."

of course, paige was speaking of her wonderfully bizarre cow shot. but she also used the adjective "other-worldly" and that is what got my attention and got me thinking about this shot. i love other-worldliness {or what i like to think of as ethereal} in photographs. so does my sister. it is why we started our ethereal photography blog. i also identified with the "not caring how ridiculous i looked to get it" part.

that was the case when i took this picture. i was on a fast-moving train to chicago. i had just been told by corporate that my company's branch would be shut down in two months and we all would be out of a job. morale at work was low and the future looked murky, as there just are not many jobs in my niche of the industry out there anymore.

the hubby and i were on our way to see his brother and wife. i was to be treated to drinks at a wine bar down the street from where they live—just my sister-in-law and me, while the boys stayed back at their condo. girls night out—sort of a consolation outing.

while in route, there was a beautiful sunset, and i decided to put my camera on the black and white setting. i was taking pictures of the clouds every now and then, with shots of the inside of the rail car in between. i must have been oblivious to what was outside the car due to the fact that i was either looking at my pictures i had taken on the camera monitor or i was people watching inside the car. as the train swiftly passed through the city of mount prospect, i happened to look up and see the grand gate-like entrance to the city's historic shopping center. i almost missed it. i'm so glad i didn't!

the sun was shining through the trees in the most peaceful way, and with the words "prospect place" silhouetted against the dusky sky, i could not get my camera ready fast enough to capture this sight before the train whisked me away from it. i think i even squealed out something like, "oh my goodness! look, look, look!" i'm certain my husband was quite embarrassed.

but i did not care what he or the other passengers thought. i HAD to get that shot. and it was well worth it! it is one of my favorite shots. and when i looked at it on the camera screen after i took it, it was even more meaningful to me. it was almost like a sign to me—a sign that new prospects were on the horizon for me. that something better lies ahead beyond the job i was at.

this picture was definitely other-worldly to me. and strangely, it was a comfort to me as well.

i haven't seen this day before

if i could i would break into flower.
if i could i'd no longer be barren.
this day is filling up my room,
is coming through my door.
oh i have not seen this day before.

oh mourning dove, we'll go up to my roof.
oh mourning dove, we'll go into the sky.
this day is filling up my room,
is coming through my door.
oh i have not seen this day before.

and the cars are a stream running by me,
bend away to a place i don't know,
this day is filling up my room,
is coming through my door,
oh i have not seen this day before.

{by innocence mission}

magnolias

quite possibly my favorite of all of God's creations.

a picture's worth a thousand words

...but i still like to add a few of my own.

okay, since i'm so getting into the whole post labels thing—which i've never done to my posts until recently {macro monday and bird watcher}, i thought i would also start to tag my posts that have photos with words on them.

if you have been visiting this blog for a while now, you will know that i love to add text to my photos—not just because i like to add something to the mood, but because i am fascinated by typography. my favorite course during my graphic design schooling was called typography 1. i absolutely loved learning in that class. typography is the art of using text/fonts as an art form to convey a message not just through words, but also design.

i love the premise that words and text can be art in and of itself and that creative use of type is its own art form—even type that stands alone with no other elements such as photos or patterns/backgrounds.

i am by no means a great typographer. and i am certainly limited now that i am not working as to how many fonts i have at my disposal to be creative with. but i still love to try! it is a challenge to take a photo and add type and not have it come out looking like a cheesy hallmark poster. i know i don't always meet the challenge, but i always try to. and i only want to get better with time.

shutter sisters recently did a post about finding your voice, niche or your style when it comes to photography. i did not feel i have a particular style—yet. i like to shoot so many different kinds of things, and the more i learn about processing, i realize there will not be one particular way that i will always process my images. there are too many neat things that can be done for me to just pick one and stick with it.

but what i did realize as i tried to look over my work and figure out what my niche was, is that i do often add type—and i love it so much, that it's kind of become my thing. looking back, i have done this a lot more than i realized. {encouraged in the shutter sisters post to leave a comment with a link to a photo that sort of defines your style, i left this one.}

so... introducing my newest label—"something to say". i will label any of these kinds of posts as such. and like macro monday and bird watcher, i will have a button for these posts in my side column.

hey, this is fun—this getting organized with labels thing. now i get what the purpose of them is all about. {i'm such a blog nerd!}

i almost didn't do a post for...

...but i figured, so many of my photos lately were taken in nature—outside, at forest preserves or lakes or rivers. even in my yard. it's not like i have an excuse—like i don't have plenty of pictures to choose from to use for this post, right?

i purposefully took this shot so that it would be blurry. it looked so much neater this way through the view finder than it did when i focused on it. i'm glad i did. i REALLY like how it turned out. i like the mood. i notice the color more this way.

anywho... happy earth day. i'm so glad there are those working hard to preserve sights just like the one where this was taken—so that i could go and not only photograph beautiful places, but enjoy the fresh air and know that this place will be around for years to come.

i am a...

i love love love birds. i did even before i got into photography, which is why the hubby gave me this little button a while back that now sits atop my monitor.

now that i have a camera {and will be getting one with a much better zoom distance very soon}, i plan to take a lot more bird pictures. i've tried to with my current camera, and i've even posted a few shots. but i plan to be putting a lot more shots up in the future—once i get the new {used} camera. each time i do, i will label the post "bird watcher" so that it will appear in my bird watcher button/tag in the side column.

in fact, here's one now...

unfortunately, the bird cage was in focus instead of the bird. oops. but i still like the shot.

does anyone know what kind of bird this is? i took it at a nature center in the butterfly/bird green house. i thought the guide said it was a morning dove, but i can not quite remember. i just liked how the bird looked right at the camera for me. not as shy as this little guy.