Photos from Chicago-Happy 30th!

Chicago, mistress of the lakes...

Chicago, mistress of the lakes,
Controller of our inland trade,
The freest city of our states,

What wondrous strides thy fame has made!
-Charles Frederick White "To Chicago"

Charley and I had a fabulous birthday weekend in Chicago to celebrate my 30 years on this earth.  There is something about that city that is alive with promise, ambition and wonder.  We spent a lot of time with the architecture of the city, looking at it above from the John Hancock Observatory, wheeling through on a horse and carriage ride and gliding past on an architectural evening boat tour.  The twinkling lights of the city were magical on a warm summer night.  What a way to bring in my 30th year!

   

30 years tomorrow

This little girl will be turning 30 tomorrow.  It's hard to believe that I have been living my life for three decades now!  In memory of my first 30 years, I think of all the things I have done and accomplished in my life this far:  I've travelled through Italy for a month to study art, been to see a Cirque show in Las Vegas, ran a half-marathon through Napa Valley, seen the sites of San Francisco and tasted the wine of California, raised $4000 and counting for the CCFA, seen the mountains of Tennessee, the beaches of Florida and the golf, the open plains of Montana, cruised through the Caribbean and Bahamas twice while eating lobster instead of turkey for Thanksgiving, celebrated the wedding of a brother and toasted marriage at three weddings, danced in a national championship and through the Indy 500 parade, graduated college with a BFA, visited Disney World as a child and an adult, spoken as the president at my high school graduation, toured Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West, admired the view of Chicago from the Sears Tower, hosted my own gallery show, left home to live on my own in Atlanta for seven years and then moved back to my roots in Indiana this year.  Whew!

I also am compiling a list of 30 things to do while in my 30's to get me through this next (and I've heard, the best) ten years of my enriched life!  The list will be coming next month, still busy gathering my hopes and dreams for the next phase of my life.  Now, off to one of my favorite cities to celebrate this weekend with Charley!  Bring on Chi-town tomorrow!      

Jellyfish Aquarium

Jellyfish are so beautiful and so deadly. This shot shows the gracefulness of the jellyfish moving through the water and the color was manipulated to imitate the fire and death of its sting.

Grenada

Grenada is known as the "island of spice" and the whole place smells like nutmeg when the cruise ship pulls into the bay. Yum!

Candied Apples!

I love to make beautiful apples as gifts at Christmas. It is truly a labor of love to melt all the chocolate and caramel (unwrapping every individual piece) and coat the apples. The sprinkles are just for fun!

Vegas shops

I wanted to make this picture look "hot", like the shops were baking in the sun because I was soooo hot the day I walked around Vegas outside in the dry heat shopping! I also wanted these shops to "glow" with the magic of branding (hence the comic book dots slightly visible in the photo).