Day 238

I actually don't know who this is, but she stood right in front of me and how could I let this moment go?

Day 238

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/125, 22 mm

b/w

Day 237

My how the skies can change in a few minutes. I also love our flag, the colors, the meaning... thank you to our military families! We don't take lightly what you do every day for our freedom.

Day 237

ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/320, 24 mm

Day 236

Simple Seagull

I miss Seattle... but these little guys help remind me of the ocean. Lake Michigan is not quite the Pacific, but I'll take what I can get.

Day 236

ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/2000, 50 mm

Days 228-235

We had a great last of our summer hurrah in Michigan City, IN with some friends. They rented a lakehouse with their family and invited a couple other families. We had a blast swimming, waverunning, playing games, family devotions and everything in between. Have you ever played Signs, Silent Football, or Set? 

We also enjoyed watching where the kids would fall asleep. Everything from curled up on the bottom of the stairs, to out cold on cusions in the living room. So much fun! 

I took so many photos, but this should let you know the setting of where we spent that week. It was also my birthday, it was very relaxing.

Day 227

I'm pretty sure I love everything nautical. Maybe I could live on a sailboat, because I love all the details!

Day 227

ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/160, 230 mm

Day 226

The storm had ended the great sailboat race early. They tethered the boats together, and rescued the sailors. I love the sky behind rapidly swirling, the rain in the far background, and the CHICAGO lettering so bright. 

The heavy rain and crazy winds started seconds after taking this image.

 Day 226

ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/160, 180 mm

Day 225

The Tall Ships Chicago 2011 event was here this weekend. I'm pretty sure every year we've tried to go, my husband is working, and it never works out. I'm infatuated with ships! The lines, the colors, flags and cool details.. just everything! I'm also thankful the skies cooperated. They couldn't have been more perfect.

...until they turned almost black, and the heavens opened up and poured! If that wasn't fun enough? We got hail out at Navy Pier today! I have photos to prove it. 

I took so many photos today. I really should have waited until today to make up for the nine days I was out! I will probably be posting several more of these over the next few days.

Day 225

ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/4000, 18 mm

Days 216 - 224

I've been SO bad lately. I've been taking pictures, just none that I thought were very good. So, you know what happened? The next day I would take some, and not like those! This continued on for several days until I realized that I had to get over it, and post what I had! 

So here we have, Days 216-224. Nine photos at once! I am catching up if it kills me! Just bare with me, because I'm not posting the recipes tonight. I just can't do nine of them at once. I will update later.

Day 216 - My street. I've always thought it was sort of pretty as we pull in. Tonight I had to grab that while no cars were driving by. I had to wait for a while til the last of the lights had turned.

 

 Day 217 - Union Station downtown Chicago. It's a pretty cool building. I could only fit the one word in my lens that I was using. I was cool with that, I liked how it turned out. 

Day 218 - If you know Chicago, you know summer construction! This was a must due to driving by all of them everyday wherever we go. These construction workers were totally unfazed as I opened my window, stuck my head and camera out of it and took a couple photos... at the stoplight! What? C'mon, it's not New York, you haven't seen everything here! Okay, maybe you have....

 Day 219 - Beautiful old bridge! I loved this. I originally stood in the middle of 2 lanes and snapped away at the gorgeous lines and shapes on top, but settled with loving this photo.

 Day 220 - This part of town has a lot going on. I thought this was a great scene, the bucket picking up the gravel and putting it in the huge containers to the left.

 Day 221 - A family party. They always have the cutest lights up year round. I never think of this, but every time I'm there, I want to remember..

 

 Day 222 - This crazy climbing clematis. The coloring is beautiful, especially at night.

 Day 223 - More climbers! I love the chipped paint, and these little guys fighting for the top.

 Day 224 - Plumeria has to be the best smelling flower in all the world! We bought these little stalks for my MIL while we were in Hawaii in 7 years ago! She still has them growing in her backyard during the summer. She brings them in for winter, but they are in huge planters now!

Little Behind?

Is anyone else? Is anyone getting a little bogged down with the summer, back to school shopping..etc? I am!

I am officially a week behind. Every day I feel like I got nothin'! 

I'll be back soon, just wanted to stop in and say hello! You all who are with it, are so darn good!!

~ Kara ~

Day 215

Waiting til morning! What are your favorite coffee flavors? I'd have to say I'm a caramel macchiato or Dunkin' Donuts fresh ground coffee beans with vanilla creamer kinda gal. 

Day 215

ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/60, 50 mm

Day 214

The maple leaves with the summer sun highlighting their details. The lighting here was amazing, and I loved the way it accentuated the leaf it was surrounding. The leaves are really big, it made for some fun shots! 

Happy Summer!

Day 214

ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/500, 150 mm

Day 213

So I was talking to my friend today on the phone. We were discussing how far behind we were on our 365 journey that we started together. We fall off the wagon, get back on again, and repeat. Living in the city, but not close enough to downtown where all the character and fun are, what's left for us? Flowers, sidewalks, curbs.. haha we were laughing, because our inspiration is just gone! 

After I hung up, I went out front to sit and watch 3 squirrels fighting for territory of our coveted maple trees as I throw stale peanuts out there or extra what not from snacks every once in a while. I grabbed my camera and just started snapping off what I saw. Needless to say, as I came back out with my camera, the squirrels had gone to acquire new lands, and I was left with.. yep, you guessed it. Sidewalk. 

I took pictures of leaves, tree trunks, grass, etc. and then I saw it. Sidewalk art! Real live sidewalk stamps! Okay, I'm getting artsy here, but the reflection of the branches and leaves on the sidewalk looked like stamps. 

 

Day 213

ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/250, 160 mm

Day 212

Lightening storms are awesome in the midwest. I had my camera out the window for about a 1/2 hour taking everything I could possibly get. I had several cool images, but I kept coming back to this one.

I know, I'm behind...again. I'm also frustrated with blogger in that when someone asks you a question, you cannot answer back unless you go to their blog and post on their photo and it's completely unrelated. So, I will try to answer back on my posts as much as possible. It beats chasing everyone around and they might not even know what I'm talking about. So... from here on out, I will reply on the same post.

Have a great rest of the week! I will try to catch up!

Day 212

ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/5, 50 mm