Election Day is finally here!

Please go out and vote Tuesday! Because we do have one day and our votes can make a difference!!!

It is the night before the election, and I can hardly sleep! -It’s as if I know after tomorrow the world-or at least America will Change. I have tried not to express my political views on here, for after all this is a “photo blog.” But this election means so much to me, and I am so proud to be a part of it, I wish that I could have done more to help spread the word, but my schedule just didn’t allow it. –But I wouldn’t change any of it. I love every minute of these past few months. They have been so busy, but I have been very blessed to have been along side many amazing couples and share in one of their most important days of their lifes-their weddings. I have traveled a lot and while I loved it, I am glad to finally put the suitcase away and just be at home-while at my office.

(I have not blogged any of the recent weddings because of my travels and I have been just trying to edit them and get the full weddings available. But I will share the weddings with you all soon, so you can see the ones that you may not have been involved in.)

However, for one day I want to think about the bigger picture, the future of America. For the first time I will be a part of the process, I will vote in a presidential election! I voted for the first time in any election this year when I voted in the primaries.

Why haven’t I voted before? I have been registered for years, but when it came down to it, I never got out and voted. I guess I always felt it didn’t matter much, I am a Democrat and I live in Illinois and well everyone knows that is ALWAYS a blue state without a doubt, its called years in advance. Which always makes me feel that my vote here, no matter which way I voted wouldn’t really matter. And I often wished I lived in Iowa or some other swing state–like Florida 🙂 that just may happen.

However, this year something is different, I want to be a part of it, I want to be part of the process, and though it may not change the outcome of the state, I want the world to know that one more person believes! I heard a story today on NPR in Chicago during Talk of the Nation program, that gave me more hope that others are believing too. A 95-year-old woman, Florence Washington, from Virginia is also voting for the first time! Can you believe it? She said Obama inspired her to vote. My dad, who is in his fifties, also is supposed to vote for the first time. Although I do not talk politics too much with family, when the subject came up briefly he said it was important to him to vote so that it was one more vote and that was one more to help to historic numbers to show that more people voted for Obama than any other in history. He wanted to help write the history books.

I guess that’s really why we all vote, to have a voice, to be a part of history, to change the world, one vote at a time. As one of my mentors John H. White, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist, told us in photojournalism class, “as photographers we have the greatest job in the world, we have a front row seat to history.” Tomorrow I may not be in the front row in the Grant Park Election Night Rally for Obama, but I will be part of history as I walk into that voter booth and cast my ballot, and I have never been more proud and honored to do my part for my country.

Even as I write this blog I am moved to tears. Four years ago I was in the room, amongst the crowd of people, in Chicago as Barack Obama won the Senate election. As I photographed him and the crowd, and I listened to his heartfelt words and looked around the room at the faces of the American people, a diverse crowd, I knew that something in politics was going to change. I could just feel that there was something about him that was different, I knew that America had hope. And someday he would become president; I had no idea it would only be a few years for him to have the chance, and I am excited for the outcome. I hope that on Tuesday you all go out and cast your ballot for whatever your choice is, I hope it is informed and truthful.

Below is my choice and belief, may you each find your own and may you too find passion in the issues one way or the other, stand up for what you believe in.

I cannot believe that someone in politics could move me to tears. Barack Obama has done so many times. I am inspired in so may ways. I have included a couple videos that embody the spirit of Obama and the sense of the movement for change, the hope that he has given to all of us.

For more information on Barack Obama including the truth behind rumors, detailed information about the issues, more videos, and where to vote. Go to www.BarackObama.com

In Between Time…

I love photographing weddings and engagements! And I love the excitement and the little butterflies I get just like the bride in the moments leading up to the big day. I love the reaction from the couple and their loved ones when they seen the moments captured and they can relive them again through the images. However, I am never a fan of the in between time, the wait to get through all the photos and show them to you. I am exploring ways to bring those photos to you faster. And currently I am working on a few blogs and wedding previews. It has been a busy few weeks and it seems I am only home half the time–oh that’s cause I am 🙂 I have been back and forth to Des Moines, Iowa three times in three weeks! And this weekend I will be in Galena, which is basically Iowa. I have one more engagement session today, which I am hoping the sun comes out in the next few hours. That is the third engagement this week. Man I love being surrounded by so much love!!! Well I had so much fun in Iowa, thank you so much to everyone for sharing your special day with me! I can’t wait to share them with all of you and I hope to bring you some blogs in the next couple days.

In the between time… please read up on the issues for the next election 🙂 I am never one to preach politics-after all we all know the rule about not talking politics or religion with our family and friends. But I am excited for this historical election and I hope you all are too. And I will just say a few words briefly. Those of you that know me a lot or a little, probably have caught on to that fact that I am an environmentalist, in my business and my life. I may have even yelled at you about forgetting to recycle that plastic bottle or piece of paper 🙂 Most of the stuff in my house and office is eco-friendly, including all recycled paper and an eco-friendly hard drive–I will write a post sometime about being green and the easy things you can do too, and the things that I do in my business.

But for now I just wanted to mention how much I love Obama’s energy plan and his beliefs for the environment. Also I love his higher education plan and wished that it was in place for me and all of you that went to college recently and still feel the pain of the high costs and student loans. And while his health care plan may still not be perfect, it is much better than the alternative $5,000 health care credit which would lead to all sorts of problems. –Now I could go on and on about the debates and the issues and who I think will run the country best-OBAMA! 🙂 But I don’t want to ever push political views on anyone so enough about that but I will say that this election is very important, and as many of you reading this are around my age (late 20’s), the policies written now will be writing our futures, we really should all get involved. So learn about the issues and where your candidate stands, while I hope that you all vote democrat, I respect everyone’s opinion. A lot of you live in Iowa or Colorado, both states which mean a lot in this election, so please go out and vote on November 4. And here’s some reading for you to help you decide 😉 http://www.barackobama.com/

Well I will have some more photo blogs with some love stories for you soon. I hope you are all enjoying Fall. Best Wishes and Congratulations to all the newly married and engaged couples!

Learn Something New Every Day

Today I had fun going around Chicago with Kelley and Dan for their engagement session. I have known Dan since high school, although we went to different schools, we lived in neighboring towns, about an hour outside the city.

After going to school at Columbia College in the loop and living in Chicago for more than three years I have learned a lot about the city and I love showing people around Chicago’s famous landmarks and hidden places. We wondered through Millennium Park and of course saw Cloud Gate also known as The Bean, we walked through Grant Park and saw the Rose Garden and Buckingham Fountain. I showed them the hidden colorful mural in the parking garage, that I had just a little trouble finding without Melissa (We stumbled upon it together about a year ago and have photographed it together twice now, its our little secret, including during our joint engagement session). I also showed them a hidden courtyard by Michigan Avenue. But my favorite part of the day was when they showed me something new. So while I am still editing the photos of today’s session, I wanted to share with you an interesting fact I learned today about a city I thought I knew a lot about. Every day you can learn something new.

Here’s a photo of Dan and Kelley in a doorway of the Tribune Tower. If you look closely at the stones on the right hand side of the frame you will notice something unique about them. There are a few stones that are actually from different buildings. The Tribune Tower contains over 120 stones or fragments from historical sites around the world. In this photo, taken in the Pioneer Court section of the Tribune Tower, is a rock from the Mt. Pentelicus Quarry, which is where the marble used in the Parthenon in 447 BC was found, and a rock from the Fortess Walls of Cartagena in Colombia. There are also rocks from the Alamo, For more information about the rocks, go see them for yourself or check out the report written about the rocks by Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about these rocks and the history behind the pieces of the Tribune Tower. My fiance, Jon was excited about the stones too and we can’t wait to go explore them some more. Thank you Dan and Kelley for teaching me something amazing today and for so much fun in the city. I will post more photos from today soon. I look forward to your wedding in October!

“Just Another Day in Paradise”

I have been in a whirlwind lately, I don’t even know where to begin. My fiance, Jon, and I were talking today about the work I needed to do and I mentioned that I needed to blog more. Then he laughed and asked when the date of my last blog was, I didn’t really know I guessed a little while before we left around June 22 or so. He said that I didn’t need to blog more, I needed to blog period. So here I am beginning to blog (again) [period]

I almost don’t know where to begin, so much has happened. However, I will start with a song, a trip, an experience and a wedding rolled into one.

“Just Another Day in Paradise,” a song by Phil Vassar, was in my head the last two days in Jamaica. (July 6 and 7) It’s kind of an odd song to have in your head when you are actually in Paradise, as in the tropical form, because it really doesn’t have to do with that kind of paradise. But somehow throughout the day I said “another day in paradise” and it came out in the form of the melody. Although for two days I couldn’t remember any other the words other than:

“Well, it’s ok. It’s so nice
It’s just another day in paradise
Well, there’s no place that
I’d rather be”

And so in Jamaica that made sense. I was there for an amazing wedding-more of that in a moment, but running around barefoot in the sand taking photos of two wonderful people exchange their personal vows and sharing the love with their family and friends, there truly was no place I’d rather be. There are moments in your life when you stop and just thank the heavens that you are so blessed to live your life, and although I feel that way every time I photograph a wedding, this wedding was one of those moments and then some. It was one of those times you almost have to pinch yourself to know its real. Even Jon sensed it as he got to watch me work a wedding for the first time as he said, “You officially have the coolest job in the whole world.”

Well I returned home I found the song online and giggled at the funny video along with the other lyrics, as they now had another meaning. To me it was like that feeling that comes rushing back to you when you return from “vacation” or a “business trip” and realize its back to every day life and problems you have to deal with, along with extra ones that always seem to magically happen while you are away.

The song begins like this…
“The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills – overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower…”

Despite all the things that go wrong and all the day to day problems and daily life that you have to deal with, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After photographing two more weddings in Chicagoland this past weekend and get back to my day to day life, I realize how lucky I am, to live every day in Paradise.

So the reason I was in the tropical paradise was because two amazing people, Amanda and Nick got married! I think the deserve their own blog-and maybe a couple since we had a few days of photographs, but here is a preview of their ceremony on the beautiful beach of Negril, Jamaica. Here they are Just Married.

(click on image for larger view)

Coffee after midnight?

What was I thinking?! Well I made it before midnight, but some how was still sipping it after midnight. Why did I do it? I can hardly remember.

Well today was the start of Summer in Chicago, maybe not officially, but it was the day the air conditioner finally got installed and turned on; the day were I actually wore shorts-didn’t even think I owned any that fit. (Makes me laugh cause I just realized these are the ones I almost destroyed in Hawaii. I bought them there since I was lacking in the shorts department, and I wore them the day we decided to hike in the rain, and not just trail hiking, but the kind where you just start wondering and seeing where barely there paths take you. Did I mention we hiked up a mountainous area and although we were covered with a thick canopy of trees, it indeed was raining hard. So the path we climbed up was no longer there when we climbed back. At one point I just decided it was much easier-and more fun to slide down the mountain instead of walk, it was like a fun mud slide. I barely had the shorts a day when I thought they were trashed, but looking at them today you would never know).

So anyway with Summer beginning also means the real beginning of the busy wedding season. I have had a few weddings already this season with other studios, but Saturday really marks the beginning for my studio’s season. I am so excited I can hardly sleep-oh wait that’s the coffee, but I am very excited! Well before the wedding I wanted to finish a few other things, some last minute portrait sessions that came up-I can’t wait to share them with you, but they are a gift so I have to keep it a surprise for now, and a long list of paperwork I keep putting off. So at some point in the night I thought it was a good idea to drink more coffee. Well its “coffee drink mix” really, the powdery stuff that comes in a tin with the red top, in flavors like Swiss White Chocolate and French Vanilla 🙂 Anyone that meets me quickly learns I like my drinks sweet-ridiculously sweet, its always a joke how many sugars I put in an iced tea!….

Ironically “If She Couldn’t Sleep” on Blessid Union of Souls’ “Walking Off the Buzz” album just came on the party shuffle on iTunes. How funny!
–Okay I can’t make this stuff up now! Next song on party shuffle started like this…
“late night, long day, somehow it’s never quite enough……so now i’m staying up all night
cause i’m trying to understand” Yep that’s Allister’s “Stuck”

Now I am beginning to think iTunes secretly reads your mind and plays music according to your mood or something. This is not the first time the songs just started to randomly go with my mood or what I was thinking.
So the third song was Jack Johnson’s “Dreams be Dreams.”

I wonder were these kind of songs playing all night or did I just start listening? I have had my headphones on all night-well except for about tens minutes when I first turned the music on about 1am. I put the headphones in my ears and was jamming out for a while, until I looked down and noticed they weren’t plugged in all the way, sorry neighbors, hope I didn’t wake the new baby. Okay that is one reason not to drink coffee after midnight! Another is because when its 4am and your work is done, your mind is mush, but you still can’t sleep, what do you do? blog of course! 🙂
So finally I catch up on my blog. No photos tonight, just thoughts, random, babbling thoughts.

Here’s some things that either happened too fast to blog about or I just didn’t get around to it yet…

Today (still Thursday June 5 to me I haven’t gone to bed yet) my fiance, Jon, and I were walking our dog Bailey. It was hot and sticky and we had gone on a very long walk we were one house away from home and Jon gets this really weird look on his face and starts shaking his hand and holding it in the air oddly. I ask what he is doing, his response still makes me giggle, “I think a bird just pooped on me!” Sure enough I looked up and there was a big white spot in his hair. I couldn’t stop laughing. He handed me the leash to the dog and ran upstairs. I would have loved to take a photo of it, but I had never seen anyone jump in the shower so quickly! It was so funny.

Maybe the birds pooping on his head had something to do what happened on Monday…

We have a large covered porch (we are on the second story of a two flat) and Bailey loves to sit out there, we put a futon out there. So we often leave the door open so she can come inside when she wants. There isn’t much out there, some old potted plants that died over the winter and some leaves that had blown onto there. But there wasn’t too much she could get into so we usually pay no attention to what she is doing, usually she just sits there and looks out and people on the street or chews on her nylabone. Every once in a while she’ll grab a stick or leaf, but we usually can tell and catch her. So Jon was playing video games and I was on my laptop working in the living room. Bailey waltzes inside right past Jon, who hardly gives her a second look, and she jumps up onto the couch three cushions away from me. As she walks by Jon laughs and says, “what does she have now, I think its a whole branch!” I look over and there she is happily chewing a dead bird on our couch! Gross! Jon and I just laugh, as I make Jon take it away from her and dispose of it. I cleaned the area and brushed Bailey’s teeth. Bailey was so cute, even causing trouble. I thought about taking her photo, but we also wanted to get the thing away from her and out of the house as fast as we could! (today I took away all her fun and swept the porch and disposed of the plants-don’t worry it’s all going to my mom’s for compost.) Jon has been repeating the line from Family Guy, when the family talks about the time Brian (the family dog) brought them a dead bird. Brian responds (yes the dog talks) with, “that was a present for the family!” Some how if Bailey could talk I think that’s how she would look at it too. She has the cute and innocent act down pretty good.

Okay birds are chirping, always a sign that if you still haven’t gone to bed from the night before you are in trouble!

Congratulations!

It has been a long weekend, and I was hoping to write tomorrow about Kira’s graduation from Elmhurst College and post photos. However, it may be a day or so now, as I happened upon some spot news (I freelance for Pioneer Press, so if it happens in a town we cover, I feel its my job to stop and photograph it.) as Jon and I arrived in our neighborhood after the graduation and a lovely dinner. -I know its like the spot news finds me! That’s another story all together. Well as a result of the news it has got be thinking. Right now I have to finish editing the photos for publication. But some time tomorrow I will post about it.

So before time escapes me, as it often seems to, and I don’t get around to the personal stuff, I wanted to send a big congratulations to Kira Chard who graduated from Elmhurst College today with a Bachelors in Sociology! I wish her the best of luck in the future. May she be become a rich social worker (as she likes to joke). It was really great to spend time with her and her family [oh by the way she is my fiance’s (Jon) cousin].

Also last weekend Jon’s brother Ben graduated from Dowling High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Congratulations Ben! Good luck at Kansas City Art Institute. You may remember my post “Art and Fear” about what to get him. We attended his party two weeks ago and had so much fun!

As I spend more time with Jon’s family, lately I see them once a month or more it seems, I realize how they are becoming my family as well. And not because they will be-in 2011 officially, but because they all make me feel like family. It’s that kind of comfort level that no matter what you know they’ll still love you. I am blessed to have great future “in-laws” -what a silly term in-law how did they come up with that one? And why is it always seem that term has some negative feeling with it? And you have to say that little phase when describing the “other” side of the family. When really they are just family. Once you get married-and often long before, it seems you don’t really need the in-law added they are simply your family too.

And so to my future “in-laws” thank you for being you and welcoming me into your family. Its great to have another sister, a brother, another mother, another father, more cousins, more crazy aunts-you three sisters remind me of my mom and her sisters and me and my sisters. Aren’t three girls fun?

I look forward to many years of milestones and celebrations together!

Coming to a town near you

Wow I just looked at my calendar! I have a busy summer and fall coming up. I will be traveling A LOT. So please be patient with me when it comes to responding to email and phone calls. Please note if you call or email between Friday and Monday, there is a good chance I may be out of town. And I will return your message as soon as I can, but it may be more than the usual 24 hours. Best time to reach me will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Since many of you live in different cities I am posted a list of my travel dates so you know when the next time I will be in a town near you. This will help with scheduling meetings, engagement sessions and portrait sessions-I am now offering all kinds of portrait sessions, baby, family, high school seniors, couples, children and more! Please contact me for further details.

All Dates 2008

I will be in Des Moines, Iowa (and also available to meet at cities along the way from Chicago to Des Moines or nearby) on the following weekends (most weekends I have a wedding scheduled on Saturday, but I am usually free the other days)…
June 27-June 29
Sept. 19-21
Sept. 26-28
Oct. 2-5
Oct 16-19
Nov 26-30 (Thanksgiving)

And possibly July 12 in Lone Tree, Iowa outside of Iowa City (for Camp Euforia check it out! 2 Day Music festival click on link)

I will be in Galena, IL (next to Dubuque, Iowa)
Oct 10-12 (wedding on Saturday)

I will be in Jamaica (Negril area mostly)
July 2-7

And I will be in Florida (Orlando area mostly)
Sept. 5-Sept 10

Wow it may have been easier to say when I will be home. 🙂

Well if you are interested in a portrait or engagement session or would like to meet to discuss your upcoming wedding or event and I will be in your area please let me know.

I may also make a trip to Colorado again for some Ever After sessions (4 of my 2008 couples will be living there after August 1). I will keep you all posted on upcoming plans.

I am planning also to travel to the following in 2009… San Diego, California; Melbourne, Florida (winter possibly); Kansas City, Kansas; Tennessee (March); Iowa; Colorado; Hawaii (late 2009/early 2010 to plan our wedding)

I am always willing to travel to more places! So if I have not listed your location and you are interested in me photographing your wedding or having a portrait session please let me know. I have a current passport and I am excited to visit anywhere in the world.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

No not the song from Family Guy although that makes me laugh and makes me also think of a co-worker, we used to work with at Cheesecake Factory, and how he’d walk around singing that over and over for months. (Here is the original story of “peanut butter jelly time” I found when I tried to look up the family guy clip)

But really I am talking about “peanut butter jelly time”, as a time when you were young and ate the classics like peanut butter and jelly and the time I am eating it now. I wanted to write a short entry so I remember this time and how I feel. The time when my business is really starting -this is the first full year I have relied solely on photography full time, no temp jobs or waitressing jobs or all the many other jobs I had while I was in college and the few years after when the business was starting out. I finally took the plunge and took the chance that my career as a photographer would support me. And thanks to my amazing clients I have been doing well.

But sometimes its still tough. I am still learning every day how to run a business. There is a lot of trial and error and learning from mistakes. -one of my favorite lines in my recent favorite song, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz is “you win some you LEARN some.” Artists sometimes have a hard time with the “business” side of the business. And I am no exception. Accounting is probably my best weakness. It’s tough to decide where to put the money (in equipment, marketing, new products, etc) and manage it as it comes in along with make sure it comes in correctly. Currently I do everything myself, accounting, bookkeeping, taking photos, editing photos, making appointments, customer service, etc, etc. And most of the time I actually love doing it! It’s great to be your own boss, and in charge of all aspects of the business. But it has its downsides to as I said I am not an expert in all the areas of running a business. -I hope to hire experts for the tasks in the near future. But until then I will continue to perfect what I can do and continue to learn.

Okay so I am babbling -those of you that know me, know this is just a “Tina story” as my friends and family call them-stories that babble on and go off on tangents. 🙂 Well what does this have to do with peanut butter and jelly?!

For the last couple weeks I have been eating A LOT of PB & J. I mean like every day for lunch-or snacks. Can I really love it that much? Well I do love it-in fact I realized that today which inspired me to write this post. But in the beginning I starting eating a lot of it because it was inexpensive, you could buy a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly-or jam as I prefer, and a loaf of bread for about $10-or less if you shop smart and it could last you awhile-like two weeks 🙂 or so. Before I had gotten used to eating out for lunch almost every day, it was my time in the day to get out of the house and office for a little while and read or write, just relax. I’d go to Panera Bread, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, or a little restaurant nearby. All of which added up for lunch rather quickly, spending $6 to sometimes close to $18 a day for lunch! But I was used to eating out, for more than eight years I worked in restaurants. I lived the life of a server, eating out, having cash all the time, and if you were ever short on cash, you simply worked another shift and almost like magic that night you had money again. I guess after so long living like that and being surrounded by others who lived like that, always dining out like it was no big deal, I just got used to it and didn’t remember any other way to live (my fiance and I met at a restaurant and worked together for a couple years, he still worked there part time for several months after I left). We ate at the restaurant almost once a shift and between the two of us that was six days a week. Time was short with us-we both worked a lot, so cooking a meal was just too much of a pain. I guess its hard to break habits. But now as we settle down and both of us really begin our careers we find more time to cook. And I love it! I find other things to spend my money on, like costs of running a business, better equipment, better products for my clients. And the way I receive income is very different. Sometimes I feel like its a roller coaster. There are ups and downs. Sometimes it feels you are on top of the world and you want to dine out and treat yourself. And other times you know its peanut butter and jelly time.

Today I realized though I LOVE peanut butter and jelly time! As I ate my pb & j on whole wheat toast it reminded me of a simpler time, a time when I didn’t even know what money was. (-And gas was below ONE dollar!) My mom was already teaching us lessons on stretching a dollar back when I was a kid even though I couldn’t see that until today. Back then I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (sometimes toast) on white bread with the crust cut off-my mom was so nice! (still is!) Or she would make these cool “Banana Boats” I think she got it from Sesame Street or something. Its one piece of bread covered with peanut butter then half a banana in the center, fold the bread around the banana. -Oh don’t forget the fruit roll-up sail, use a straw or other material to attach it to the boat. Yummy!! Man I wish I had some bananas.

Well no matter what the situation, peanut butter and jelly can bring a smile to your face, make you feel like a kid, and make you feel on top of the world. I think I will always make time for good old PB and J!

Sorry there are no photos of the peanut butter and jelly I ate it too fast 🙂

Spring Wedding

I think I fell in love with Spring and with weddings all over again this weekend. I have been looking forward to May for many months now. I couldn’t wait for the start of wedding season and for Spring. This weekend I was reminded just why I love photographing weddings. Every love story is different, and every couple is unique. I love to let their personalities show.

This weekend it was a cold and rainy Spring day, but that didn’t stop Julie and Mark from having the fairy tale wedding of their dreams. They braved the elements and still rode in their Cinderella like pumpkin coach. And later we took photos and one of my new favorite photos spots, Lake Katherine in Palos Heights! Where the sun came out for a few moments to shine upon the Prince and Princess. I am editing through all the photos now and will post them shortly. I wanted to post one photo. It was one of the first photos I took of the day, before even stepping into the church or before meeting the bride and groom. There was something about the small detail that I knew we were going to have a magical day full of love and happiness, despite the rain clouds.

This image still makes me smile. It makes me think of my childhood home, we used to have two Apple trees in our backyard. (One was an apple with white blossoms and the other was a crabapple with pink blossoms) I was lucky to have my bedroom window nearest the trees, and in the Spring my bedroom would fill with the sweet smell of Apple Blossoms carried in by the cool Spring breeze.

Stop to smell…Everything

[Post written on 4/25/08, photos added 4/28/08]

I am so happy spring is finally here! In Chicago we have been blessed with perfect weather for the last week or two. Its been mostly sunny (only a few partial days of cloudy or rain) and right around 70-78 degrees every day! I feel like we are in Hawaii or something, where the temperature is always 70-85 degrees and sunny almost every day, with rain showers many days but only last an hour or two. I feel truly blessed to leave here in Chicago and have such great weather lately! My little puppy, Bailey, she’s about 10 months now (born 6-11-07, wow look another 11), a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is loving life too. She gets so many walks and gets to play in the yard all day. One of the first nice days of Spring, last week, we went out for a long walk, not only in distance but in time. At first I found myself always having to tug a little on her leash, because she was taking forever on this walk. She not only took “time to smell the roses,” she wanted to smell everything! Grass, trees, every flower, just about anything she came across. Now we have walked the same roads and same paths many times before, and she knows the smells, she knows the path we walk. Once she got loose from her leash and my fiance, Jon, just followed the path Bailey walks everyday and sure enough that’s where she ran to. But this day was different, on one of the first days that felt like Spring she stopped so many times. Realizing we could be on this walk all day and I had piles of work waiting for me, I just kept tugging and saying, “C’mon Bailey.” I didn’t understand her until we past a small garden filled with Hyacinth, a sweet smelling Spring flower. This was her first Spring! She had never smelled the flowers, the fresh green grass, or how the air smells after a Spring rain. So I slowed down and stopped to take it all in.

I am such a visual person that sometimes I may forget to stop and smell it all. Its hard to capture smells in words, or pictures, and there isn’t a way to truly capture a smell. But we all remember what a Spring day smells like. A dog knows the world through smells, they take it all in, the good and the bad.

…I started writing this post sitting on my covered porch with Bailey beside me. Since then the sun has set, Jon has come home-and now left again to get dinner, and it has started raining, pouring and storming really. But its the Spring kind of storm warm and a cool breeze, windy, comes in quickly with force and then fades away cooler than it started. Bailey is asleep on a chair by the only open windows in the house, the ones that wouldn’t soak the house. She is tired after our long walk today with Jon and I. We had a few minutes of rain followed by clearing of the clouds and the last bit of sunshine for the day, Jon and I took advantage of the break in the storm by taking the puppy on one of the longest walks yet. We also stopped off in the tennis courts to play, here are a few photos from today, taken with my little point and shoot, Canon PowerShot SD1000

Bailey smells the Tulips

Bailey likes to run around on the tennis courts, even after a rain shower

I love it when she struts her stuff! And the water on the tennis courts gave me lots to play with.