A Family Event

These are the last photos from Mexico I am going to post today. Aaron and I went with my mom, my sister, (my almost sister) Angie, and family friend Dave. It was quite the rag-tag team, but we all made it out alive, if not for a little sunburn.

Yes, all 6 of us crammed into a taxi meant for 4. 

I think it is appropriate that the only group photo of us that is half-way decent is the one where we all made funny faces. 

We also went on a zip lining, burro-riding, bumpy driving, whale watching adventure tour. Nobody told you the water was going to be that cold.

 Note: I did not take the zip lining photos. They are courtesy Vallarta Adventures.

New cars and panda sweaters

As luck would have it, I received the panda sweater for Secret Santa this year (even though Emily did not wear it as many times as she was supposed to). It also came with a list of required wearings:

It's Fall...

but my mother doesn't seem to notice.

Contributing to the declining birth rate

I recently photographed a mother/nurse/student who has five children. They were the most well behaved, adorable girls who came out to watch their older brother's baseball game.

Occasionally I recall that at my age, my mother had a 5 year-old and a new baby just around the corner. Aaron's mother was already pregnant with him. I just turned 24. Maybe it is because women of my generation have more expectations of a professional and personal life that does not exactly center around rearing children that I am waiting until later in life. 

I am sure there are a variety of socio-economical reasons that stereotype me, but based on a bet with my sister, I still have three years before I have a child. I should have never left "who is going to have a child first" up to a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Recently Part 2: People

More photos from my iPhone:

Reminds me of home

I photographed this isolated island in the Chain O' Lakes in Johnsburg a while ago.

It made me long for the days of my youth spending time at our remote cabin in New Boston, IL. It was a one bedroom fishing house with no phone and lots of bugs.

My grandparents tore down the cabin and put up their retirement home in my teenage years. I have many memories of singing Don McLean's American Pie and pencil markings of my growth from my time at that magical place.

I brings me to tears thinking about how I have not been back to that place since my grandmother died in her sleep at that home on New Year's Eve in 2009. These places are so special.

Virginia Vacation

(I played around with a new app on my iPhone called ShakeItPhoto)

Outtakes

This afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing Tracy (pictured below), a Richmond High School senior who is competing in the 4-H Beef Show at the McHenry County Fair next week. She showed me around her family's farm and took out Moto (the steer) for a walk. Moto reminded me of my mom's black lab, Star, who gets so excited to be outdoors she can't help but hop and run. Moto was hoping a running all around.

Then Moto got up in my camera, slightly curious, slightly scared, and then he licked me. And we bonded forever.

The Tracy's brother Huey wanted to show me his ducks, so they caught some ducks and I was able to pet them (even though I thought I was going to get bitten). Huey will be in 4-H next year.

This family was great to work with. Tracy clearly knew what she was doing this these steers. Her parents really seemed encouraging and loving. Not to mention they had an awesome house on a huge property with an in ground pool. They were also big proponents of adopting, which I completely admire. I think my mom would be offended if I asked them to adopt me though.

Snaps from Spring of 2010

Some Summertime Travel

I have quite a few travel plans for this summer.



The first of which is a 14 hour drive to Badlands National Park.



The second is a trip to Virginia Beach for the MacDonald family reunion (just days after the Janisch/Hoffman family reunion).

Awesome.

Weekend guest

Aaron and I hosted out first guest at our new apartment last weekend: my sister.



Aaron and I bought this really fantastic plum couch off craigslist for fairly cheap.

This really wonderful, practically brand new, huge, cushy, kind of heavy, (really expensive but we got for next to nothing) couch would not fit into our elevator (and attemps to "walk it up" resulted in a bruised nerve in my thumb). So instead, we took the big comfortable cushions and made a bed on the floor of our living room and watched District 9 (and by we, I mean me because the other two were either asleep or computing).

Despite not having a couch, table, chairs or other necessary furniture and an air mattress that would not hold air, the weekend was pretty nice.

A summer recap

This summer I managed to watch horrible daytime tv, crocheted till my fingers ached (and I am still not finished), visited with many family members, panicked as my sister drove the car for the first time (legally), and enjoyed the quite of the suburbs. Now I am off to the hustle and bustle of the city.

Should have bought this for my grandfather

My grandfather asked me what I was going to do after college. He said that anything I did would be fine with him as long as it was not a job working for Barack Obama.

Counting pennies to buy stamps

I am looking back on all the unfinished goals I had for this winter. There are many letters that have gone unwritten, many scarves that were not finished, photos not printed.

I should really get on those.

Not soon enough

I just wish I could feel like I was finished. But there is a part me me that knows I am not.


This project has made me miss my family more than ever.

"Howe was it?"

Talk about finding buried treasure. A geological treasure. Rita took us to visit Howe Caverns on our first day in Troy. Discovered by Lester Howe when he was taking his cows out to pasture and came upon a "Blowing Rock" that blew hot air in the winter (and cold air in the summer). Low and behold, beneath the rock were caverns of limestone. It was quite breath taking. Complete with walking tour, slow speaking tour guide, and boat ride!

Pictures not included: the completely awful bridal altar (if you want a really cheap, kind of neat wedding), boat ride, other blurry shots because it was so dark.

I actually had a really fun time shooting in here. Mainly because the battery on my camera was dying so not only could I not see the photographs I was taking because the display would not work but I also could only take one picture at a time because my camera shut off after each shot (it was almost like shooting film).

Homeward Bound...not just a movie from my childhood

The first week of my very welcome Thanksgiving vacation was spent with my family in Chicago. The drive from Rochester to Chicago is typically 10 hours long. This trip was no different with one exception. Aaron and I have decided to start "collecting" flattened pennies. (Collecting as in if we have the money and we see a crank, then we get it). Ohio has some classic penny cranks. I will elaborate on this in a future post. 

Aaron talked of how much he wanted chicken, specifically Popeye's chicken only moments before embarking on this trip, low and behold, we found one on the way. 


We then met my family at Steak and Shake where we were bombarded by hoards of tweens demanding fries and water. Put this on the list of things that make me feel old at 22.

The highlights of the trip were definitely the dinner my mother cooked (typical tacos), the dinner Aaron and I cooked (typical pizza), and a wonderful trip to Forest Park to visit Willie. And I bought a few great records that will inspire me to finally buy a new needle for my record player.