Spring Snizzles in Chi-town

It's the 2nd day of spring, and Chicago celebrated in usual fashion with totally inappropriate weather. It's been dubbed "snizzle" (snow+drizzle), and it's pretty nasty.

It wasn't so bad this morning when we made a rare family trip to Metropolis, our favorite coffeehouse. By the afternoon, however, things started piling up. Luckily, the weather didn't stop the UPS truck from delivering my eagerly and long-awaited Singer Genie 353 sewing machine.

Here she is in all her lovely vintage glory. I have to admit it was the flower power pattern that totally sold me. It also got really good reviews on some sewing sites.

Ain't she a beauty? Now if I can only figure out how to raise the bobbin thread. I think I might have to take the Genie to Easter dinner for a lesson from Ted's mom...

Hope y'all are having more seasonably springy weather in your part of the world.

Best Shot(s) Monday--Peas and Carrots

I know I post photos of Cadence and Rudden a lot, but I just loved this shot of them sharing a Snoopy book together. It actually started out with them both grabbing the book at the same time and could've gotten ugly. But I happened to be there and suggested that Cadence hold one side and Rudden the other so they could read to each other. Redirection doesn't always work, but lucky for me, this time it did, and I had time to shoot a few photos of them.

And today happens to be Rudden's mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday, Amy! I took this shot of Rudden just for you. Oh, and he was totally posing, too. Cadence had already run off and was yelling for him to follow, but he lingered, waiting for me to take the shot.

Go see more folk's Best Shot's on Tracey' Mother May I.

Over on Shutter Sisters Today

Hi, y'all. I'm posting the 3rd Sunday of the month in addition to the 1st Sunday over on Shutter Sisters. My latest post called Just Shoot It is up now.

Uptown Girl (For an Hour)

I know I've complained and complained about the brutal winter we've had in Chicago before, so for once I am happy to report that the temperatures actually SOARED into the 50's yesterday. And thank goodness, as I've been itching to hit the streets for a photoshoot.

The winter's been extra hard on me, as it's left me uninspired to take photos of anything or anyone. Except for the occasional shots of Cadence and friends, it's been a dry spell for me shutterbug-wise. And I've especially missed one of my favorite activities--street photography.

Thanks to the time change this week, I had about an hour-and-a-half of natural light left after I got home from work last night, and I immediately rushed out with my camera. I kept things simple with just my 30mm lens since I HATE changing lenses. I didn't know where I was going to go shoot when I got in my car. I wanted to visit my favorite haunts in Wicker Park, but traffic on Clark Street was a bear, and the light wasn't getting any brighter, so I headed on over to New Chinatown in Uptown, by Argyle and Broadway.

If you live on the Northside of Chicago and get a hankering for pho or dim sum or a Chinese bakery, this is the place to go. The neighborhood is also called Little Vietnam or Little Cambodia, as many of the shops and restaurants and residents have connections to Southeast Asia, as opposed to mainland China.

While I was shooting some photos, I happened to hear someone calling my name. It was one of my best friends, John, who was riding his bike down Argyle on his way to a bar called Big Chicks on Sheridan. Funny thing was, I had left a message on John's answering machine that morning telling him I'd be doing a photoshoot that evening. I didn't say where, and he never even got the message as he hadn't been home all day, so it was quite a pleasant surprise to run into him.

I feel a bit rusty when it comes to shooting, so I'm going to have to do a bunch more of these photoshoots. Back when I was a single gal living alone on the Wicker Park/Bucktown border, I did a photoshoot wherever I went. I think that was a little extreme, and now (especially with a kid) I recognize the need to put away the camera sometimes and just let things BE. But still, I can't help feeling a bit nostalgic about those days...

I'll post some other photos from last night in a slideshow below so you don't have to keep scrolling forever. Just click on the photo to go to the next one, or click on a thumbnail to see that photo.

Is it a Photo? Is it a Painting?

Cadenza, originally uploaded by t i m o (a.k.a. Tim Lowly).

So my friend Tim Lowly, husband of our church's wonderful pastor Sherrie Lowly and instigator for the Tim Lowly Ensemble which Ted drums for, also happens to be a talented and well-respected painter. He is a teacher/artist-in-residence at North Park University, where he also directs the gallery. I have been a fan of Tim's paintings for as long as I've known him. His images often resonate with the deepest places of my heart, and someday I'm going to scrape together enough money to buy me one of his works.

Lately, however, he's been making more and more art in Photoshop with photos he's taken. The stuff is pretty amazing. He posted the "photo" above of Cadence on his Flickr stream, and I absolutely love it. I'm not a big fan of drastic Photoshop alterations (I can't even get simple textures down), but the stuff that Tim does just makes my jaw drop. I highly recommend mosing on over there and having a looksy. He also posts his paintings and drawings, which are also amazing.