Photos, Photos & More Photos

As promised, here are some of the photos from the photography class along with some more photos of Chicago. The photo above is of an old cart that I saw in a yard & just thought it was neat.
This is the Gazebo in our village.
This mural was painted on the side of a garage. I guess they wanted to bring a little bit of the country to the city :)

This is an old historic Church, built in 1879.

Lights inside Starbucks. I actually got in trouble for trying to take this picture, which is why it's blurry. Some young guy that worked there told me that I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside. Maybe he thinks we were going to copy them & open up a coffee shop across the street ;) I think he takes his job way too seriously!
This is a gas meter. I bet the meter readers get a chuckle out of this when they see it!

Now onto more Chicago pictures. These were all taken with my cellphone, so they aren't the best quality:

Downtown Chicago.

Cassie liked this building.

Sculpture of some sort. Hopefully if someone from Chicago is reading this, they can tell me what it is.

Fountain.

A building that I thought was cool......wish I could have gotten a better picture of it.

The "L", or at least that's what Jim told me it was.

Just another picture of my odometer that I had to snap as the mileage is my birthdate ;) The trip to Chicago didn't help with keeping my mileage down! LOL

That's it for today. Gotta finish getting Cassie ready to go to Traverse City today & then she leaves from there on Thursday for her trip to Europe.

Have a wonderful Sunday,

Benita

Wednesday In The Windy City

We left Michigan at 8:00 am for our trip to the Windy City to get Cassie's passport. After driving 5 hours, we finally found a parking garage that had space available. We forgot that Chicago was an hour behind us until our time on our cell phones changed. We were about 5 blocks away from the Passport Office building, so we grabbed a bite to eat & then headed to the building. While waiting & waiting (& waiting) in line to go through security, we were informed by the security guards that if you weren't traveling before the 26th of this month, that you would NOT be seen, even if you already had an appointment. Needless to say, this put me in panic mode since Cassie wasn't leaving until the 29th, but I refused to leave the line! Come to find out, they were taking people that didn't even have appointments, too, which really ticked me off! They wouldn't be so busy if they made everyone get an appointment! ARGH!

After a while, Jim saw a guy walking around pulling certain people out of the line & we went up to let him know that we had an appointment with a confirmation number. He told us to follow him, along with several other people that also had confirmation numbers. He took us up to the 18th floor were we had to wait in another line. Then we finally got to hand in all our paperwork & luckily, they never even asked us when Cassie was traveling. So we were then sent to yet another line where we had to wait for our number to be called. Once we got up to that line, I asked the guy if there was any way to get the passport today & he said that they were only giving them out today if you had an emergency; otherwise, we would have to come back the next day to pick it up. Then a few minutes later, he said he would go ahead & let us wait for it now since he obviously saw that we traveled a long way. WHEW! I didn't even care if we had to wait another hour & a half in yet another line! It took us a total of 6 hours, but it was worth it because Cassie now has her passport & she's SO happy! And so am I! Now I can stop stressing & start relaxing :)

The weather sucked while we were there & we forgot to bring umbrellas, but we still managed to get some pictures before we left. I have some more on my cellphone that I need to upload to my computer since we weren't allowed to take our cameras into the federal building, but here's the pictures we took from our car. Enjoy & don't forget to click on each image for a better view :)

Upon entering the city, we saw the Chicago Stock Exchange building.
Chicago buildings & some scary storm clouds. Look at the license plate on the car in front of us.....SPORTS. Jim, of course, thought it was cool :)
More scary clouds! It was like these clouds just covered the city & nothing else.
I wish this picture would have turned out better. I don't know exactly what this is on this building, but I thought it was neat.

Hard Rock Cafe.

A really cool McDonalds. It's 2 stories & has big screen tvs.

Sports Authority Building.....just thought it was cool :)

Chicago Tribune.

Home of the Chicago White Sox.

Flag on the back of the White Sox field.

Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge.

Welcome to Indiana.....Jim's hometown state :)

That's it for now. Next time I update, I'll add some more pictures of Chicago plus some pictures from our photography class on Tuesday.

Taking Cassie to get a haircut today & to buy her a lighter suitcase as her luggage can't weigh more than 45 lbs. on the airplane. She has to pack for 10 days, so this should be interesting!

Have a super day,

Benita

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L DAY!

The forecast yesterday: B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! And I took FULL advantage of the day! After dropping Cassie off at school, I did a little cleaning, then jumped in the shower & hit the road. I had no clue where I even wanted to go.....I just knew I had to get out & enjoy the weather & that's exactly what I did. I left the house around 11:30 a.m. & at that time, it was 64 degrees out! WOOO-HOOO, Baby! Spring IS here, even if just for a day right now :) The reason I say that is because it's supposed to get cold again this weekend with another chance of snow. Welcome to Michigan!

I went to 2 different LSS's & picked up a few things.....some new WeRMemoryKeepers & Around The Block papers, some travel papers & embellishments of France & Germany for Cassie's upcoming trip (for some reason, I can't find anything to do with Switzerland), some more Basic Grey Blush papers & some Basic Grey rub-ons. I have to leave some money for this Friday's Freaky Friday at The Scrapbook Zone :)
Then it was off to Target. I was debating whether or not I wanted to go there, but now I'm glad I did as I hit the Clearance jackpot! I got 2 of the Prima vases at half price, 3 sets of the Making Memories photo cubes, regularly $3.99 on clearance for $1.98, 4 sets of the Making Memories ribbons & one BoHo frame set, all pictured below: After the stop at Target, I had to go to Greene's, an art supply store, to pick up some paper mache paste for Cassie. She wanted the powder kind that you have to mix yourself. As I was driving on the highway, I almost fainted when I saw the temperature now......77!!! Yeah, I know it's dangerous to take a picture while you're driving, but I never took my hand off the wheel. I just propped the camera up on the steering wheel & snapped this picture so I would have proof that it really was that warm in Michigan in March :) And yes, that's how many miles I have on my baby already :( But in my defense, it's made a couple of trips to Traverse City already along with a trip to PA & back & well, I just love driving my car ;)

Last night, Cassie & I had our second photography class & what a great time we had! Since the weather was awesome, we went outside to take some pictures before it got dark. We were taking pictures of shadows & learning how different lighting works with our cameras. Here are some pictures that Cassie took (she's using my DRebel for the class while I'm using my 35mm film Nikon):
Not the best looking thing to take a photo of, but I love how she captured the shadow on the fence!

Here's a photo she took of the shadow of the trees in a puddle of water.

And here is her shadow along with the shadow of a sign & fence on the back of a garage. I took a picture similar to this, but with both of our shadows in it.....once I get the film developed, I'll post it.

After the class, Cassie wanted some ice cream & since it was so nice out, how could I refuse? :) So we headed to Frosty Boy & we both got hot fudge sundaes. Dummy me forgot to take a picture of them before we ate them, but trust me when I say that they were very yummy :)

This morning, I was in the mood to take some more photos, so after I took Cassie to school, I drove by the lake in our neighborhood to capture the steam/fog/mist on the lake.
This one blurred a little, but I still like it :)

And then when I got home, I let the dogs out & decided to snap some pictures of them, too. Onyz wouldn't stand still long enough, so the pictures of her blurred, but I just love this one of Reeses.....the look on his face just screams "LET ME IN!" LOL

Ah well.....guess I better get off the computer & put away all my stuff that I bought yesterday. It's supposed to rain today (figures!), so I'll probably just stay home & clean.

Have a Happy Hump Day,

Benita

Time Change

I was very happy when we observed Daylight Savings a few weeks early this year! I didn't even mind losing an hour of sleep or having to change the time on my 14 clocks, which doesn't count the stove, microwave or alarm clocks. Those of you that know me know that I have this thing for clocks. And out of the 14 clocks that I own, 7 of them chime on the hour & some on the 1/4 & 1/2 hour. I think they drive Jim nuts sometimes, but he knows how much I love them, so he tolerates them ;)

I just purchased the clock above a few weeks ago when Jim & I went to the bowling tournament in West Branch. It was on the wall in the hotel gift shop & at first, I didn't think it was for sale. But I decided to ask the clerk anyway & I was surprised when she said that it was. She even knocked $10.00 off the price for me because she said it's been hanging there for so long. This clock is huge! And it matches perfectly in my grape kitchen :) I have it hanging above the entry that leads out to the garage.

Another one of my favorite clocks, although they're really all my favorites, lol, is this one pictured here. I purchased it from QVC a few months ago because I love the roses on it & it matches really good in my family room. Can you tell I love purple? :)

I captured this sunrise picture this morning as I was driving Cassie to school. It didn't turn out the best as I had to take it quick since there was a car behind me. I was hoping to take some more pictures of the sunrise on the way home, but one thing I've learned about Michigan sunrises......capture them the instant you see them because before you know it, they're gone! It's now cloudy out & the sun is no where to be found. But I have proof that it was out for a minute :)

Another good thing about the time changing is that the weather was really nice this past weekend & we had temps in the 50's, which helped to melt some of this snow. You can now see grass, although it's brown, in my front yard :) I just hope that this is the last snow we see for a while now! But you never know.....this is Michigan afterall!

Next week, I have to make a trip to Chicago to get Cassie's passport. Why, you ask? Well, once again, I procrastinated & waited too long to get her a passport & at the end of this month, she's going on a trip of a lifetime to France, Switzerland & Germany for 10 days! I don't know who's more excited.....me or her! LOL Her best friend's high school class is going & they said that Cassie could go along, so we jumped at the chance. As scared as I am having her fly that far away by herself, I know that this will be a wonderful experience for her! I'm letting her take my DRebel with her & told her that she better bring me home a LOT of pictures to scrap :)

And speaking of pictures, Cassie & I just started taking a photography class last Tuesday to learn all about lighting & different effects. I had to give up my bowling for 5 weeks for the class, but it's worth it. And besides, I don't think I could bowl right now if I wanted to......for the past couple of days, I've had some sharp pains & tightness in my right hand. I don't know if it's carpal tunnel or arthritis. Ahhhh......the signs of aging :)

That's it for now.....off to upload my scrapbook layouts that I did over the weekend for the Zone design team, then I need to get this room cleaned & that may take all day to do!

Have a great Monday,
Benita

Teaching TooT!

Starting in April, I will be teaching some classes at The Scrapbook Zone :) I am SO excited & nervous at the same time. This will be my first time teaching anything, which is why I'm nervous, but I know I'll truly enjoy it. I'm still working out all the details (dates, class descriptions, etc.), but that will all be posted in their upcoming April/May/June Newsletter. If you don't receive their newsletter yet, be sure to sign up for it on their website: The Scrapbook Zone. And even if you don't live in Michigan, you can still shop at The Scrapbook Zone online. One of the classes I'll be teaching will be all about Primas ;) Then I'll be doing some of my altered home items as well. Be watching my blog for all the details.
Whoever came up with the saying about March coming in like a Lion wasn't kidding! Early this morning, it started snowing & sleeting, then it turned into all sleet. Luckily, the temperature stayed above freezing so the roads didn't get too bad, but here is a picture of what my driveway looked like today.....a icy, slushy mess! Glad I didn't have to go anywhere except to take Cassie to school. I just hope that it clears up by tomorrow as Cindy & I are heading out to The Scrapbook Zone for their Freaky Friday sale. LOVE Freaky Fridays :)

This past weekend, Jim & I went to West Branch to bowl in the Best Frame Bowling Tournament & we had SO much fun, even though neither of us bowled very good. After we bowled our 3 games together, we switched partners & bowled 3 more games. I usually love synthetic lanes, but these ones were brand new & everyone had a hard time sliding on the approaches. About a year ago, this house was only 8 lanes & it caught on fire & completely burnt down. Now it's 16 lanes (which is still small compared to what I'm used to), but it's a really nice house. Now I can't wait until next year to go again!

Off to bed as I have a long day tomorrow. Cindy & I will also be going to a Body Shop party tomorrow night to get our feet pampered :)

Have a great weekend,
Benita