Accidental Zoo Encounter...

On this day we went to the Wrigleyville area for lunch and checked out the ball park. Then we took the train to Fullerton and walked down Halsted to Armitage to check out the shopping when we ended up at the zoo. We decided to take a look around (Stephen for the kangaroos and myself for the tigers) and found ourselves mesmerized by the primates and how similar some of their expressions and movements are. 

We almost expected them to say something to us because they were looking right at us. It was like they wanted to tell us something--or better yet, a secret. And probably also because Disney gave us false hopes that animals might break into song and dance at any given moment. Unfortunately, the bear didn't tech me about the bear necessities or the ways of the prickly pear either. Oh, how reality disappoints.

 

Stephen decided to compare his hand to that of an orangutan. I wouldn't touch it. Germs.

Happy Friday! I hope you have a nice long weekend! I know I'm excited about it.

A Boat, a Pizza and a Bean

Here are photos from our second day. We went on an architecture boat tour, which was much better than I expected.

Then we went to get pizza. Stephen insisted we try something called "jardiniere" which is different vegetables marinated in olive oil and cooked into the pizza. He tried a jardiniere style pizza with meatballs the night before when he met up with some people to shoot photos and he really liked it. I was definitely interesting but I'm not sold on it. Ours did not have have meatballs and it had jalapenos, which I had mixed feelings about. To his credit, the one he had the night before sounded better than the one we had.

And the crust was really good, like, buttery, flaky pizza pie good. Actually, as I ate the crust I thought, this must be why people say pizza pie. It was like the savory sister of regular pie crust. As far as pizza goes, I still prefer to keep it simple. While I did like deep dish, my favorite pizza is still a nice, fresh margherita pizza. Can't beat it.

Take a look at that crust! I can almost taste it.

Then we found the bean. And we played with our cameras for a bit before walking around the rest of the park and eventually back to our hotel.

First Impressions of Chicago

Here are some photos from my first day in Chicago starting with these really cool pedal buildings. I took this after we got off the train from the airport, you, know, when we completely misunderestimated (thanks for the word, Bush) the distance from the train station to our hotel. This would be at 5am Pacific time, just so you get the whole picture. I was a hot mess, and that's a compliment to 5am-after-a-redeye Nicole.

 This was the lunch dessert I enjoyed during a break from shopping after my well-deserved nap.

And these were taken after my second nap when I ventured out to find dinner while Stephen was shooting photos with some skateboarders across town. I couldn't find anything for takeout that was reasonable price or time-wise. I walked to Due but they said the wait for a takeout pizza would be an hour and fifteen minutes. Uh, no. I'm already ordering a pizza by myself I don't need to hang out for an hour by myself waiting for it. So I ended up stumbling into another place called Giordano's which was a twenty-five minute wait and much close to our hotel. Win.

 I liked this quote carved into the old Tribune building.

I See London!

Hello, Tuesday. Tell me, why can't you be Friday? I am tired again today because I had a soccer game last night (we won! and I assisted a goal!) and then I stayed up going through pictures from my trip and picking which ones I like and want to share with you. There are lots! We also did a family portrait shoot while we were there with the sweetest people so I will share some of my favorites from that too. And I did a little food session with some asparagus in my kitchen last week. Looks like it's time to sit down and to get through some pictures.

It's been kind of hard to get back into the swing of things, but I am forcing myself to get something done photography wise every night, sleep be damned. And I am making a few investments in photography gear (including a practical/geeky style backpack I have always tried to avoid) to get ready for the wedding I will be shooting in October. I'm super excited and nervous. And anxious. And nervous. I think you get the point.

Oh, by the way, the photo was taken in Chicago on Michigan Avenue. Marilyn is a traveling art piece so I'm not sure if it's still there but it was covered in people all day striking ridiculous poses and standing under her skirt. Did I make that sound creepy? Good. It's funny to me how people always want a picture of themselves standing in front everything they see. How many pictures can you possibly have of yourself standing in front of everything? When did that start anyway? And isn't anyone as paranoid as I am about handing over valuables to strangers? And germs?!

It's Friday!

cake., a photo by nicole cross on Flickr.

I am having a crazy sweet tooth the last three days and if something like this landed on my desk today I would be very appreciative. Hint, hint. I hope you have a good Friday and a fun weekend!

Day Thirty-Self Portrait

Since two very large mosquito bites are currently residing on the better half of my forehead I decided to think of some small part of myself that might express how I feel. I have been exhausted since our first attempt at returning home and I have not been able to catch up, let alone unpack.

One thing I do when I'm tired is I pull my hair down from whatever "style" I am sporting and mess it around with my fingers before tossing it up into a messy bun on top of my head. I usually repeat steps two and three until I go to bed. I tend to do the same thing when I'm writing regardless of whether I have caffeinated myself into oblivion.

Hey, whadda-ya know! I do concur it's day thirty! That's all folks!


Day thirty of what?

Day One: Selfie
Day Two: What I Wore
Day Three: Clouds
Day Four: Something Green 

Day Five: From a High Angle

Day Six: From a Low Angle

Day Seven: Fruit 

Day Eight: A Bad Habit
Day Nine: Someone You Love
Day Ten: Childhood Memory 
Day Eleven: Something Blue 
Day Twelve: Sunset  
Day Thirteen: Myself with 13 Things
Day Fourteen: Eyes
Day Fifteen: Silouette
Day Sixteen: Long Exposure
Day Seventeen: Technology 
Day Eighteen: My Shoes 
Day Nineteen: Something Orange
Day Twenty: Bokeh
Day Twenty-One: Faceless Portrait
Day Twenty-Two: Hands
Day Twenty-Three: Sun Flare
Day Twenty-Four: Animal
Day Twenty-Five: Something Pink
Day Twenty-Six: Close Up
Day Twenty-Seven: From a Distance
Day Twenty-Eight: Flowers
Day Twenty-Nine: Black & White

Day Twenty-Nine-Black & White

Good morning. Here is a photo I shoot yesterday. I don't shoot much black & white, but I do have some black & white film in my mom's old Pentax that I carry around when I don't feel like lugging my slr but don't want to miss out on having a camera. The things you see when you don't have a camera, I tell ya. Anyways, I decided I wanted to find something with texture for this assignment and I when I was walking with a friend at work I noticed the way the trees were casting shadows on the rough black cement below and decided to play around with that. I like the way it kind of looks like a fossil.

One. More. Daaayyy!!

Day twenty-eight of what?

Day One: Selfie
Day Two: What I Wore
Day Three: Clouds
Day Four: Something Green 

Day Five: From a High Angle

Day Six: From a Low Angle

Day Seven: Fruit 

Day Eight: A Bad Habit
Day Nine: Someone You Love
Day Ten: Childhood Memory 
Day Eleven: Something Blue 
Day Twelve: Sunset  
Day Thirteen: Myself with 13 Things
Day Fourteen: Eyes
Day Fifteen: Silouette
Day Sixteen: Long Exposure
Day Seventeen: Technology 
Day Eighteen: My Shoes 
Day Nineteen: Something Orange
Day Twenty: Bokeh
Day Twenty-One: Faceless Portrait
Day Twenty-Two: Hands
Day Twenty-Three: Sun Flare
Day Twenty-Four: Animal
Day Twenty-Five: Something Pink
Day Twenty-Six: Close Up
Day Twenty-Seven: From a Distance
Day Twenty-Eight: Flowers