A little bit Nantucket & A little bit Cottage Chic

Who doesn't love a personal style quiz - right? I love them and Sproost has a great one to try and I liked how the results turned out. It said I was 67% Cottage Chic and 33% Nantucket which tells me I am one beachy kind of lady. I dream of living near the beach someday but until then, I'll incorporate the beachy feel into my house.

 I love the furniture and how it's laid out in the room above.

It's so airy and relaxing.

 The furniture and room layout still has me wishing for warmer days at the beach.

 The coffee table and accessories are perfect.

 And here's my favorite room of all.

 One beautiful picture wall.

 Love, love, love this coffee table!

I've been eyeing one just like it for about a year.

 Furniture and rug are perfect.

And look at that cute dog relaxing on the coach - reminds me of our living room.

What are you waiting for? Head on over to Sproost and take the quiz.

All Lit Up

Last week I asked everyone which outdoor lighting options they liked the most and I got a real mix of responses. I love seeing how everyone picks something a bit different but I ended up picking none of the options that I posted. We were under a bit of a time crunch and needed to purchase lights that were at a store versus on the Internet. I'm happy with my selection and they installed the lights today - now I'm wishing I had purchased new lights for next to the front door but they are good enough for now. I did however listen to all of you and went with clear glass versus the opaque glass. I hope you like what we picked!

 Dont' the lights look all regal and proud to be next to the garage door? I love them but most importantly they work and will make me feel better about getting home in the dark, no boogie mans to jump out and scare me thanks to the motion sensors.

Now we have one more thing to check off the house to-do list. Don't you love that feeling?

You Capture - What Inspires Me.

This week's You Capture topic over at I Should Be Folding Laundry is all about what inspires me. Here's a few pictures that I took that inspire me.

Seeing the world differently through my camera lens.

Trying something new - taken during my macro class this past weekend.

 Appreciating the beauty of the simplest things.

 Freedom!

 Getting up early on a Sunday morning to go for a nature walk.

 Beauty from a different perspective.

The list of things that inspire me go on, and on, and on but this is what has been inspiring me lately. Interested in joining the You Capture Challenge, learn more here.  

P.S. Santa is coming early this year and I am getting my present on Thursday. A new camera? Possibly....

Light 'Em Up

Thanksgiving break will be here in a few short days and now that I have my photography class under my belt, it's time to get some much needed projects done around the house. First on my very long list is to get outdoor lighting installed on the garage so that our house is better lit and will provide the lighting we need to shovel our driveway in the winter. I know, I hate to admit that winter is on it's way and unfortunately in Chicago we get a lot of white fluffy snow. In addition to installing more lighting, we are also going to have an outdoor outlet on the front of the house installed so it'll make it so much easier to put up holiday lights. Gosh, we'll have to do that over the Thanksgiving break too. In the meantime I would love your advice on the following lighting options that I am pondering. Please let me know which of the following options you like. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Light 1

Light 2

 Light 3

 Light 4

 Light 5

 Light 6

 Light 7

 Light 8

 Light 9

Photography Assignment - Final

Monday night is our last night of class and we had to put together a slide show of 25-30 pictures based on our subject. I decided to do abstract flowers since I was going to be taking a macro class over the weekend. The macro class was a workshop taught by the same instructor who teaches the Composition class I am taking on Monday nights. He is a great instructor and I learned that macro photography isn't as easy as you may think! I felt like my composition was strong but I struggled with the technical stuff...still. So much to think about - depth of field, white balance, ISO, lighting, lighting, and more about lighting. You get the idea, I love it but I have a whole lot more to learn.

Here's a collage of my final project, I hope you enjoy it. Gosh I wish I had another week to work on it but this is as good as it gets at this point.

You Capture - Serene

This week the You Capture challenge is "serene". Given that my final photography assignment on "abstract flowers" is also due this week, I thought they went very well together. I have always found flowers to be so relaxing and peaceful and I hope that shows up in these pictures.

Webster Definition: Serene - calm, peaceful or tranquil

Captured through wavy glass to give that abstract affect.

It's my first attempt but I still like how it turned out, I'll get better with practice.
Another wavy glass shot.
This one really has a calming feel to it.

Pebbled glass.

A beautiful pink rose.

I was trying to capture the texture on the petals with my extension tubes.

I hope you enjoyed my "Capture" for this week's Serene challenge. Interested in seeing how others captured this? Click here for more inspiration.

Photography Assignment #4

This week's photography assignment was architecture and people/animals. Originally I planned on taking pictures of Tanner for the assignment but I ended up going back home to help my brother move and these horses were across the street from his new home. I had to take an opportunity to capture these beautiful animals but I don't think they were as happy about it as I was - 2 of the 3 tried to charge me at the fence!

This horse above was the first in the bunch to try and charge me.

My niece named him "Charge" - how appropriate.

This white horse was the 2nd horse that came at me for trying to take pictures during dinner time. My niece named him "Whitey".

Notice them eyeing me while they are eating?

Here comes "Charge" coming after me.

This is the only shot with all 3 of the horses but unfortunately that branch is cutting off "Charge".

This is my favorite horse shot - look at those nostrils.

This isn't part of the assignment but I am putting them in anyways.

My niece plucked the "hair" off of each one of these after I took some pictures.

She is quite the explorer and loves nature including bugs.

These 3 pictures are part of my architecture assignment that I took of the 5 story spiral staircase. The building I work in is absolutely gorgeous but I was in a hurry to get the shots done before the sun set one evening.

The first 2 shots are from the 1st floor looking up and the last is from the 5th floor looking down.

I hope you enjoyed this week's assignment, next week is our final assignment and I picked railroad tracks for my subject.....haven't had anytime to get pictures so this ought to be interesting. Stay tuned.

You Capture - Halloween

Each week Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry hosts a "You Capture" event to encourage us to pull out our cameras and take some shots based on a different challenge topic. Since I am taking a photography class, this is already happening on a regular basis but it's nice to have a challenge each week to continue this good habit. The more I pull out the camera and switch up my subjects the better I can see my photography become and the more I learn about my camera.

This week's challenge on "You Capture" is Halloween. These aren't the most stellar shots I've taken but at least you can see what we were for Halloween.

Tanner - cutest bumble bee ever!
Me - Dr. Pepper (get it?!)

Us.

My hubby with hair! One good looking monk.

I mean a "chipmunk" (get it?)

Yes we are corny but it was a kids party and we needed to not be risky if you know what I mean.

Photography Assignment #3

I just completed my week 3 photography assignment which consisted of landscape (blah) and a your choice shot. Since I just got my extension tubes in the mail (love, love, love) I thought that was the perfect opportunity to showcase them using macro photography shots. I headed to a couple of our local forest preserves early Sunday morning and got a couple of shots. Well actually A LOT of shots but that's part of the assignment, take at least 20 of the same subject. At first I didn't think that was necessary but once you start taking more and more shots you realize that there are a million ways to shoot the same subject and hence comes the creativity.

Your Choice shot #1
Your Choice Shot #2
and my favorite!

Landscape #1

Landscape #2