Grieving

My grandma is gone. She passed away suddenly on Friday. As most of you know, we were very close. She was like a second mother to me. She went instantly. And, quite fittingly, her last words were "Oh, shit." For those of you that know my grandma either from meeting her or through my stories of her, know that she went exactly as she would have wanted to - without hospitals, suffering or lingering. This photo is the last one taken of the two of us. It was taken by Megan Hammond, our wedding photographer.

To all of my friends and family, please take this as a reminder to tell the people in your life that you love them. We never know when life will be taken away. Please, live every single day to its fullest - like grandma. She lived so fully and vivaciously.

Grandma - I love you with every fiber of my being. I miss you terribly. Tell grandpa I say hi.

The burbs

I took these two shots while visiting Mike's family in the suburbs of Chicago. The dog is their neighbor. He was very curious about what I was doing and why I wasn't playing with him.

Lucas and Leah

These are pictures of Mike's cousin's kids. Miss Leah is a dream child. She knows the rules...and follows them all while using perfect grammar. Sigh...

Lucas so did not want to smile. He had to study me first to decide if I was cool enough for a smile. After we played a game of nose touching, he decided he would show me some love.

Stump

This tree stump is in our backyard. It has all of this moss growing on it and all sorts of weeds growing through the cracks in it. Just thought it had some interesting textures and I like the contrast of the bright green with the old wood.

Abstract

This is one of the sculptures at the Joslyn Art Museum. It is freaking huge. I like the bright yellow against the blue, blue sky.

I got a text message at 4:00am from my brother. His girlfriend is in labor. I will be heading to Fremont after work for the event.

Lola the Destroyer

I haven't posted a picture of Lola for some time. She is getting bigger and bigger. Her new favorite thing is to chew on empty water bottles. She has already destroyed one and is working on number two. The way I see it, we are reusing it (as a dog toy) and when she is finished, we recycle it, so we are doing our part to save Mother Earth. Who knew we would have such an eco-minded dog?

In addition to trashing one water bottle, she has managed to tear two of my shirts and rip up a decent portion of the carpet in our basement. Luckily, the shirts weren't good shirts and we are wanting to replace the basement carpet.

I've said it before and I will likely say it a few thousand more times...it is a good thing she is cute.

Franny

This is Franny. She is the daughter of one of my good friends. We were actually taking pictures of Franny's cousin and of course, Franny had to get in on the action. I will get to spend more time with this little one and her twin sister next week. Gotta love those eyelashes and lips.

Lunch

This was a complete accident. A friend and I were having lunch at a pizza place yesterday and she showed me how to take black and white pictures using the settings on my camera. Neither one of us was looking through the viewfinder. I just pressed the button to see how the black and white worked and this is what I shot. This one's for you Dede...thanks!

Yellow

Normally, I'm not a big nature photographer, but I was coming out of the photography class I took on Saturday and decided to practice some of the composition tips I picked up. I like the composition, but do wish I would have focused on the center of the flower more.

The photography class was really good. I learned a lot about my new camera and the cool stuff it can do. Saturday morning, I took some pictures of a friend's little girl. They are going to enter her in a modeling contest.

On Sunday, Mike and I worked very hard around the house. We cleaned up all of our flower beds, put down fresh mulch, cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen and put away about a month's worth of laundry. It feels good to have our house put together a little bit more. Mike heads to St. Louis this evening for a leadership training session for Build-A-Bear. At least I will have Lola to keep me company. My mom and grandma are coming to visit on Tuesday.

When pigs fly

My mom and I went to the first Jazz on the Green of the season last night. This is one of our favorite summer activities. Lots of fun, food and people watching. I found this delightful pink pig flying around in the summer breeze and had to take a picture. It makes me smile.

On another note, while I love my new camera, I am frustrated with my editing software. I've been using free web version of Photoshop but the pictures that come directly off of my camera are not supported by this site. Instead, I've been trying to use the software that came with my camera without much success. I will have to add Photoshop to my ever-growing wish list.

Tomorrow, I am taking a photography class at our local community college. I don't think we will take any photos, but I should learn a lot more about the different features of my new camera.

Three little monkeys

While back in Illinois for the wedding this past weekend, I snapped a few shots of our nephews and niece. These are the three little monkeys with whom we went to Disney.

This is Drew. As soon as you turn a camera his way, he puts on the cheesiest of smiles. In this one though, you can see it his eyes that the smile is genuine.

Here is Quinn. This guy can fall asleep anywhere - whether in the middle of a wedding reception or even in line for Splash Mountain at Disney. All he needs is someone to lean against.
This is Claire. She is all girly girl. We spent some time in the backyard taking pictures together. She found an old camera. She would "take" a picture of me and I would take one of her.

Husband

This is my husband, Mike. He is kind, funny and my biggest supporter.

Thank you, dear husband, for believing in me, loving me and making me laugh.

Details

I was finally able to upload some of the pictures I took at Mike's cousin's wedding this past weekend. My goal was to capture the little things - the details. Many, many thanks to the bride and groom. We had a blast!

I found this little sign hiding in a corner of the room.

Because now they are the Swansons.

Each of the tables had a candy for the centerpiece and each guest got a little bag to fill with their favorites.

Since there was candy aplenty, the bride and groom also gave us toothbrushes to keep away the cavities. So cute!

The toss bouquet. I saw it sitting there, just waiting to be thrown and couldn't resist.

The cake - probably my favorite part of any wedding - both to eat and photograph.

Home again

We're back. The wedding was loads of fun! My feet are still a little sore from all of the dancing.

While I took a bunch of photos, I sadly have none to post today. I am working on them, I promise. I am in love with my new camera. While I will always enjoy shooting with film, the immediate satisfaction of digital is hard to beat. I really, really, really hope to spend some time with this weekend's photos this evening. Unfortunately, there is also a great deal of laundry to be done...sigh...

More travels

Soon, Mike and I will be heading to the Chicago area for a wedding. We'll be back on Sunday.

In other news, I am the proud owner of a digital SLR! Mike picked it up for me this morning and I cannot wait to use it. Be ready for an onslaught of new pictures when I return. I finally thought of something for J!

Bingo!

You know that Bingo is taken seriously when it has its very own entrance.

A few from the College World Series

I found this roll of film in the bottom of my purse. These are pictures I took as we walked around before the first game of the College World Series. For those of you that have never been, the neighborhood right around the stadium is full of atmosphere during the CWS. There are beer gardens, vendor stands and lots of people. We had lunch at Goldberg's prior to the game. They set up in this great old building with tons of photo ops.

J is for just a few more of Mia

Okay...I know these don't really count as J, but they are just too cute not to post. I am struggling coming up with a good J picture. The good news is that I already have one in mind for K.