Jan 11 2015 : I see... Azure blue waters and frozen caps. Made a quick pitstop by the lake on my way to the airport today. Absolutely beautiful!
jan 8 2015
Jan 8 2015 : landscape : A view of lake Michigan in the winter. It was -3º outside with a windchill -14º so I had to run out, snap snap and run back. Chicago can be just wicked cold, but isn't she pretty?
Bowie at the MCA
What a great exhibit! Loved that it had a soundtrack. Funny how many Bowie songs are woven into the fabric of my life. One observation - he's a tiny man! So many costumes and suits that are smaller than me! Amazing who he collaborated with over the years too. If you're in Chicago its a must see! 
farnsworth house
Ticking items off my "Chicago" bucket list - today I drove out to Plano, IL to see the Farnsworth House - one of Mies Van der Rohe's most famous creations. I purposely wanted to visit in the fall, so I've been saving this one for a while and boy did I luck out today! Sunny, 70º and peak foliage made for the most perfect experience. The only thing that would have made it better is if I had known that they only allow photographs inside the house on the weekends after the 3pm tour - oh well, I managed to snap one with my iPhone anyway. ( rule breaker... oopsie! )
Upon arrival you are in this little gift shop/office building, greeted by our guide and then walked down a half mile path to arrive at the house. The guide talked about the size of the property, how the owner came to choose this location along the Fox River, how she met Mies and the relationship they had during the several years of planning and building. Unfortunately their relationship ended in a lawsuit. The house was projected to cost $45K and ended up around $75K and at that time apparently could have bought you any house in the greater Chicagoland area (wow!). The house took somewhere around 5600 hours of architectural planning time - the fee for that today would build you a skyscraper! And the saddest part of the whole thing to me was that the owner, Edith Farnsworth, didn't like staying in the home she spent so much time and money to build with Mies. The house became so famous that she would find people lurking around the property - looking in on her! I wouldn't love that either, but I would love sitting in a chair watching the leaves or snow fall - kind of like being in a giant snow globe! Dreamy! Simply dreamy! 
Isn't it just amazing? Now you know why I wanted to visit in the Fall... 
WWIM10 : 2014
Went shooting with a bunch of photo enthusiasts and instagramers for the world wide instameet today. Started at Union Station where we got access to a vintage women's lounge space courtesy of the Chicago architecture foundation. Then we took the Chicago water taxi east and ended with coffee at Space. So much fun to see how different people photograph the day ! Here are my photos from the day.
june
"A thin fog hung over the city... and the streets were very cold; for it was summer in Chicago."
Saturday sunrise
Today's prompt for Fat Mum Slim photo challenge is "sunrise." I am never up for sunrise - not a morning person - so I was not sure what to do for a photo. Well, Phoebe decided to wake me with the sun at 5:20AM. I laid there for a couple minutes and decided to hop out of bed, throw on a jacket and head over to the beach. Boy, I've been missing out!! It's warm light over the soft waves with cool breeze and birds soaring high above... Lovely, just lovely.
chicago by light
I just love, love the lights of Chicago from the air! 
Snow globe
The never-ending snow here makes me feel a bit like I'm living inside a snow globe.
I ventured out to this little park that has a great grouping of evergreens to snap a few photos and videos to document our crazy snowy winter. 
Cold morning
