worlds largest camera

Last weekend I made my way over to see the worlds largest camera - currently sitting in 2 N Riverside Plaza as part of the art installation "Butterflies & Buffalo: Tales of American Culture.  Let me just say it's AMAZING!  The camera is crazy big and beautiful and the photo output incredible!  Really amazing detail for prints of this size.  I cannot wait to see how this project comes together! Want to know a little more?  Check out their video on Vimeo!

Butterflies & Buffalo: Tales of American Culture from Butterflies & Buffalo on Vimeo.

let there be light

This is my home office - where all the photo editing magic happens.  (ha!) It's also my KU shrine, but the newest addition to my desk is the amazing gold lamp!  I have been looking for just the right lamp for some time now.  I don't like traditional "desk lamps" and since I have that shelf above it has to be a very specific size.  Well, it's proven to be a difficult thing to find. I was watching the Today Show one morning during my staycation and they had a style segment that included this lamp.  I have seen similar for hundreds of dollars, but when she said this one was $39 at Homegoods, I had to actually rewind to make sure I heard it right.  I hopped in the car later that day and popped into Homegoods.  There it was!  For $39!  I love it when I find just the right thing for just the right price.

signature necklace

I have been eying the Brevity Jewelry signature necklace for a while now.  I have monogram rings and necklaces, and love them ... but the signature necklace, now that's unique and personal and fabulous! I spotted is on Fab.com one day and decided I'd go for it!  I signed a piece of paper and emailed it to the artist. She sent me a proof full scale so that I cold print and hold up to make sure I liked the size.  And then we wait... I was SO excited when this baby showed up in the mail.  It's hard to know how it's really going to look from a print proof, but I have to say I love it!  Really could not be happier!

chicago clickin walk

(see mobile pics here) Processed the "big camera" photos today so I could get everything posted on the Clickin Mom's forum - my first posts to the forums (eek!).  A few others have posted and I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's take on Chicago's architecture!  The crazy ones to see are the camera phone pics - we all walked the same streets and with all the different apps and filters, very few look the same.  So much fun!  

Here are a few of the ladies in action at Union Station!  

See everyone's work on flickr and instagram.

clickin walk : phoned in

I met up with about 30 other women who are members of Clickin Moms for the 2013 Clickin Moms Walk.  I have only been a member of the group for a few months and, sadly, have not really taken advantage of the resources they offer.  But, I am always up for a photowalk so I met up with the Chicago group in Mary Bartelme Park for a walk to the river, union station and back.  I met some great ladies and am looking forward to their take on the city.  Here is a sneak peek via iPhone 5S!! 

chicago in white : trois

This was my third year attending the Chicago in White dinner - a pop up / flash mob style dinner who's secret location is not revealed until we have all gathered at our harmonization points.  In years past we have dined in Daley Plaza and along the Chicago River in front of the Merchandise Mart, so the bar was set pretty high.  This year our head of table announced we would be dining at the Randolph Street Market there was silence... Yeah, that's because it's not exactly a Chicago landmark ... And, the market is held in a parking lot!  I was completely underwhelmed by the venue this year, but enjoyed dining with my friends regardless.  Hoping they get back on their game next year and move it back to August ... we were a little chilly! 

staycation : seven

stay : seven I probably should have named this "apple week" since I have now spent the better part of another day on another apple adventure.  Oh well, what can I say?  I'm a gadget girl.  :)  My day started about 5:30AM so that I could be at the Apple store to purchase the new iPhone 5s.  I got there about a quarter till 7 and was a good 250 people back from the door.  Yikes!  By the time they got to me (three hours later), they did not have the phone I wanted (64 gig) so I got another 32gb and have decided to offload my million photos to an app called Loom.  More about that in a in another post.

So I get my shiny new phone home, plug it in to get all the data off my old 4s and get a call in the middle of the software update... That stopped the update mid stream and I was stuck in a loop of restoring to factory and restoring from backup for the next three hours or so.  Ugh!

That gave me some time to work on website/blogs and such.  My yvettefevurly.com domain is back up and running - it's my catchall for the many places I upload my life's data. Here's a screen shot of the page - I think it's kind of fun and playful, and great colors! 

Also while setting things up, I discovered my Flickr account FINALLY passed the coveted 100,000 views - only took me nine years, not bad considering I was banned from explore in like 2006!  

That's all of the randomness for a Friday off.  Here's to a fabulous weekend!

staycation : six

stay : six podiatrist history @ the chicago history museum 95 floors above the city @ the john hancock observatory

Let me just start by saying... when I woke up this morning it was POURING rain.  Buckets of rain.  That is not at all what you want when you're on vacation.  Anyway, I had to get out and about and my first stop was the podiatrist.  (kind of goes with the anti-vacation thing to do) A quick analysis, a few x-rays and some ace bandages and I was out the door.  Apparently I have plantar fasciitis, boo.  This is how I walked out of the office ... it's a good look, huh?

A quick stop at home for a shoe change and it was back downtown with me.  First stop was the Chicago History Museum.  This is the one museum in the city that I have never been to before, so it was fabulous to finally pay a visit!  I didn't learn all that much more than what I have learned in my 18 years here, but they do have a very nice display of the "white city" and "chicago fire."  They had two really great exhibits - one of Ebony Magazine and the history of their Fashion Fair - and the other, the real reason for me being there, Vivian Maier's Chicago.  It was a small, but well done exhibit.  I really enjoy her work - she had a great eye for finding interesting subjects from very simple moments.  I even broke down and bought the book of her work!  Maybe someday someone will make a book of my photos - wouldn't that be something!?!

Enough about me... (ha!).. when I emerged from the museum, the sun had come out so I decided to run into the John Hancock Observatory for a few shots from above the city.  I prefer the view from the JH to that of the Wills because you really get the lakefront.  And on a day like today - with a little haze in the sky - it was perfect! Just look at that skyline would ya? 

staycation : five

stay : fiveiOS7 beer tasting @ prairie moon for new local brewery heat lightning

Well, um... Let's just say the staycation was interrupted by a little Apple update called iOS7.  I thought it would go live around 11 local time, but turns out it didn't go till 12.  Then it took me two hours to get the iPhone and iPad updated.  Then I had to play with my new toys for a little bit - discovering all the fun bells and whistles. Most of the changes I really like, but I have found a few little things that bug - that whole thing that comes up from the bottom ... messes with my VSCOCam photo editing.  I am hoping they will redesign a little bit to take care of the overlap of gestures.  I won't get all nerd on ya, but I certainly had my tech side all fired up today!!

I did manage to make it out of the house to dine with some friends and take in a little beer flight for a new local brewery.  'Twas the busiest that bar has ever been!!

On my ride home I was enjoying the lightening show and decided to pay a stop along the lakefront to test the new "burst" shooting on my phone to capture some of the light show.  Well, if I had better patience I probably could have gotten some great stuff.  Well, that, and if the iPhone didn't try to focus for each shot even in burst mode.  

stacation : four

stay : fourcrepes @ the market on the MCA plaza modern art @ the museum of contemporary art shopping @ topshop, west elm and the amazing jayson home and garden

Started the day at the MCA (it's free on Tuesday's for IL residents!) and stumbled on a little farmers market out front.  So I picked up a crepe and took in the scene before heading in to see some modern art.  Still find most modern art confusing - meaning I do not always understand the statement the artist is making.  Even the photography is a stretch sometimes.  That said, they had two full rooms devoted to comic strips - that was fun - and a few works by Paul Sietsma that I enjoyed.  

Then I popped into Topshop for the first time - I see outfits online and TV that often reference Topshop, so I wanted to see if they had anything that would appeal to me.  I'm not very "trendy" with my style - more sport classic, more Ralph Lauren ... know what I mean.  But, I did find a couple of pieces of interest (still in shades of black and white).  Then to West Elm where I picked up a couple of kitchen goods - I could really buy everything in that store!  

And Jayson Home  ... it's a must for any interior design fan!  It's wicked expensive, but beautifully curated and they have even started bringing in Flea market finds.  Today's funny flea - life preservers.  Now... I want to see where those things end up!