so mod

one thing i love about chicago is all the free stuff during the summer. every thursday and friday from 5pm-9pm the art institute of chicago is free to everyone. i've been a few times before and adore the impressionists galleries, the photography section and the thorne minature rooms.

the modern wing just opened in may but i hadn't quite made it over there until yesterday.

it was AWEsome! i dislike using that word because it is so cliché. and the funny thing is i went to the tate modern in london and hated it. well, not hate; didn't get. however, the modern wing of the art institute of chicago was beautiful.


first in the building itself (designed by renzo piano): bright, open, airy, free flowing. felt very form follows function. and the pieces collected for this wing, while some were a bit odd, were no less than extraordinary in my opinion.

my favorite exhibit was the cy twombly the natural world paintings. they looked like sponges filled with paint thrown against a canvas or finger painting; but they were beautiful. the colors and movement. they made me feel good. galleries that interested me included works such as the gerhard richter paintings that looked almost like photographs; european contemporary which included works from picasso, matisse, dalí, and kandinsky; and the surrealism pieces.

i won't profess to be an art expert. but i know what i like. and i liked the modern wing.

photography essays: part 3 - iso & the exposure triangle

i - s - o

means international standards organization. wait, what? this is a post about photography, right? yes; iso sets standards for many things including film speed, which is the film's sensitivity to light. with digital cameras, there is no film, but everyone knows iso so we still call it iso.

the lower the iso, the less sensitive to light; the higher the iso the more sensitive to light. at a lower iso, more exposure to light is required to create the same image density than if the camera was set at a higher iso.

iso is measured using the ISO arithmetic scale (ASA scale): 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400

changing from a normal rating of 100 (used outside on a sunny day) to 200 will get you one more stop of light. why do you care? say you are inside, it's late afternoon and you really want to shoot at a greater DoF (maybe at a f11 aperture). but, with the available light you stop only stop up to f5.6 before your shutter speed is too slow shutter speed that it picks up handshake (unintentional motion). if you increase the iso, you can gain more stops of light and can increase your aperture number without decreasing shutter speed.

if you need stops of light, you get through either:
increasing aperture size (bigger hole to let light through),
decreasing shutter speed (keep shutter open longer to let more light in), or increasing iso (more sensitive to available light).

too complicated? an illustration...



i've tried to find just the image, but this online tutorial has a great moving image of the exposure triangle towards the end. actually the whole video is quite helpful, but it's about an hour and a half, so set aside some time to watch it.

another reason you might want to alter the iso is to introduce grain as an artistic tool. the higher the iso, the higher the grain. gives the photo a nice artsy feel, especially if combined with black & white.


a post wouldn't be right without a photo.

set the iso high on my nikon coolpix point&shoot; shot is grainy, but i like it.

on a cobblestone path in the castle district
budapest, hungary









good articles: cheat sheet, cheat table & pictures, highly recommend! excellent illustrations on relationships in the exposure triangle, inverse square law, exposure definitions, intro to flash

next up - white balance

a dinner party

first, i am not a cook. or a chef. or a wanna be. sometimes i bake, but only at christmastime. second, i saw that movie julie & julia with my friend elaine, but i was only inspired to eat.

i think elaine was inspired by seeing the movie because she invited me over for a small dinner party on sunday. i agreed (who turns down free food?) and used the opportunity to get some food-type photos and practice manual mode on my d80.

first we (and by we, i mean me) had some wine while elaine prepared the dessert - fresh nectarines.


then for the main course, a bed of sliced zucchini, a filet of delicious cod, topped with sauteed red peppers, snap peas, and some kind of buttery sauce.

(p.s. if you see the movie julie & julia, you'll discover the secret to a great recipe is butter...and more butter.) she also served some warm penne pasta complete with my favorite garnish: capers.

i thought the food was delicious; the pictures hardly do the meal justice. but we had fun; might try sushi next dinner party which should make for some tasty photos!

photography essays: part 2 - shutter speed

shutter speed is the length of time the shutter stays open and determines how much light hits the film or image sensor in digital cameras. some good analogies i've heard are to think of a window in a room: open the window shutters to get more light; close the shutters to get less light. or sun tanning: stay outside longer to get more exposure to the sun; stay out less to get less exposure.

shutter speed can be used in relation to the aperture if that is your priority; or it can be used as a tool to get the motion effects you desire. there are two basic types of motion effects: stop motion and motion blur.

stop motion shows no blur; but because of the subject's orientation, you know it had to be in motion when the picture was taken (think person jumping in mid air or these flags flying). you obtain this effect when the shutter is open for a short period of time.






motion blur is different from just a blurry photo. motion blur shows the subject blurry to indicate motion while the some reference surroundings are in focus (think fast moving car - it's blurry but the street surroundings are in focus). you obtain this effect when the shutter is open for a longer period of time and/or how close you are to the subject (think of driving past a trees right by the street and then trees at the horizon - trees on the street look blurry, trees on the horizon don't seem to move at all). you'll also often see shutter speed manipulation with water shots; a nice blurry white waterfall indicates a slow shutter speed.

a plain old blurry photo is most likely due to the camera shutter being open too long plus small hand shakes. you may not think your hand is shaking, but your camera ain't no fool. a rule of thumb to reduce hand shake for photos taken without a tripod is to keep the shutter speed at least greater than the inverse of the lens focal length (50mm lens = at least 1/50sec shutter speed).

(see the unintentional blur near the top of the buildings?)


this is a good time to get into shutter speed measurements. it is measured in seconds and fraction of seconds. the example above showed the photographer needed at least one-50th of a second shutter speed to reduce hand shake with a 50mm lens. shutters can stay open as much as 30" or as little as 1/1000sec or faster! digital cameras don't use the '1/' notation though; they would just indicate 50, 250, 1000.

another reason to leave the shutter open long enough would be in low-light situations where you need to gather in as much light as possible (think night landscape shots - no motion blur necessary; but it's still dark, so you need to take in as much light as possible).

the more light you need, the slower shutter speed you need. remember: because shutter speed and aperture are related, a change to one is a change to the other!

some good articles: ephotozine, digital photography school, wikipedia

next i'll get into ISO and the completion of the "exposure triangle."

things making me happy today...

friday, coffee, and the homemade toffee (recipe courtesy of erin)

good blogs and killing an hour of time at work reading them

that the beach trip is less than 4 weeks away



and gmail video chat,
for i'm sure to see
my nephew and new niece
this weekend
even though they live hundreds of miles away
:)

photography essays: part 1 - photography roots & aperture

the latin root photo means "light"
the latin root graph means "write"

to write with light... that sounds quite nice!

so.... the basic elements of photography involve light: how much of it to let in, how long to
let it in, how sensitive to be to it. and it's not one element or the other; they all interact
and affect each other.

this entry focuses on that first element...

how much light to let in: aperture
the best analogy i know is the eye. when it's bright outside, your pupil constricts and becomes a tiny black dot; it doesn't need a lot of light to see its surroundings. when it's dark, the pupil expands and becomes a larger black circle; it needs to take in as much light as available to see its surroundings.

aperture is the "pupil" of the camera lens. the blades in the lens open and close depending on
available light. if it's bright outside, you need a smaller aperture; if it's darker outside,
you need a larger aperture.



unfortunately, the way aperture is quantified is opposite to what you would think. f1.4 = a
large aperture (large hole-lets in more light) where f22 = a small aperture (small hole-lets in less light).



aperture is measured in stops of light. the stops are not incremental
(1,2,3...) and it was decided long ago by the some old dudes, so you basically just have to
memorize it.

"from where you are [whatever stop], you can either have half as much [stop down-less light-higher aperture number] or twice as much light [stop up-more light-smaller aperture number]."
fortunately, the way aperture is quantified is in line with the way you would think of depth of field (DoF). DoF is the amount of the photograph that is in focus (sharp). f1.4 = shallow/small DoF (less in focus - think macro or close-up photography) where f22 = a large DoF (more in focus - think landscape photography).



controlling a photograph's DoF is an artistic tool (think bokeh). you, the photographer, tell everyone else looking at the photograph what is important, what you want them to see. and it makes a difference!

just because it is bright outside, doesn't mean you have to use f22 and sacrifice artistic expression. there are other elements you can control to still get the photograph you want. but, using the available light - choosing to go earlier or later in the day - is also part of planning for a photograph.

some other articles on aperture: pioneer woman, ken rockwell, photoxels

that's all for today!

my photography essays

alright, i like to take photographs. not a surprise to anyone anymore. chicago has been my muse. it is an absolute delight to wander the streets and turn window bars or a broken window or the animals at lincoln park zoo into my chosen form of artistic expression.

for others who know me, my desire to be creative has only recently starting creeping up to my very left-brained engineering-studied spreadsheet-making corporate-america self.

hence the reason for this post. i'm going to combine both "selfs" and compile short essays on the components of exposure and the functions of my camera. more for myself (to study and really learn the technical side), but also for anyone else who runs across this and wants to know more about photography.

i think i'll accompany the posts with photographs including technical details. any other photographers out there, please feel free to make corrections to any misstatements or misunderstandings.

stay tuned!

my niece, gabrielle lea

on july 17th, we welcomed gabrielle lea to the world! is that not the most beautiful name you've seen?

i went down to atlanta for a week to visit and of course use this as a photo opportunity. my sister, lea, and i collaborated and created a birth announcement. i shot and edited the photo; she created the announcement! head on over to her blog, space bk, for the final product.

my book, i have made a book!

it all started when my friend, jill, graduated from, umm, graduate school. i wanted to give her a present, but i was pretty sure she had all the house necessities she could want. a gift card is boring. no clothes, no candles, no picture frames.

ooo, pictures. that could work. she's moving away from chicago and she just might want a momento of the city she has lived in the past 2 years. and i just happened to have taken quite a few pictures since i've been here.

but which one is the best. her favorite or my favorite? i couldn't decide on one. so i picked 40 pages worth and self-published a book via blurb. yeah, it's a real website. it arrives in 2 business days (i'll put a lil picture up) and i'm very excited! i will be able to give a gift that means something and is handmade but doesn't look like macaroni art.

the next best thing is that i can sell the book on the blurb bookstore. here's a handy badge:

c h i c a g o

photography

By carrie anderson

Book Preview

i heart faces - "just for fun"

i browse others' blogs. a lot. and i become attached to other people and their lives and i'm excited for their news and sympathize if things aren't going their way.

and they don't even know who i am!

anyway, here is my path to this post:
kevin swan -> kiera photo -> jasmine star -> i heart faces

there is a "just for fun" contest at i heart faces and i wanted to enter. rules, only 1 pic, at least 1 face.

here's my entry:

this is a face i'll love to enternity: my nephew, ethan.

i had a long layover in atlanta and was able to meet the family at our favorite restaurant, figo pasta, for lunch. i brought ethan a toy double-decker bus from my recent trip to london and he named it charlie. i was just documenting the family-time and ethan was such a ham for the camera!

chicago's two seasons

if you've read anything i've written in the last 9 months, it's been about how chilly chicago is. and chilly is an understatement.

however, in a matter of less than a week, we've gone from the 60s-70s (that felt like 50s-60s) to the 90s feeling like the 100s!

where did spring go? where did mid 70s-mid 80s go?

to combat the heat, locals are hitting the beaches and "cooling centers". as in europe, not everyone here has air conditioning or at best, window units.

if we can't complain about the cold, at least we can complain about the heat. there's always something ;)

one day i ate my way from white sox park to chinatown to logan square

every summer, my department organizes a company outing to a white sox game on the southside. probably because we can find a group of $20 tickets; that wouldn't be an option for a cubs game, no matter how bad the team is doing.

the good thing is we get to leave work around 11:30am, head to the patio for all you can eat and drink, watch the game and then head home. different this year was that the weather on june 4th was supposedly 70 degrees, but we all donned our jeans and jackets. no shorts and flip-flops for these chicagoans. and though i did not partake in the adult beverages, i was still craving an afternoon nap once the food settled. and i did; napped from inning 5 through 7. i woke up to watch the sox lose 7-0. oh well, an afternoon out of the office.

now that i was free earlier than normal, i didn't want to waste it. so i convinced a co-worker of mine who is chinese to stop in chinatown before heading back to the loop. i have been thinking about getting milk tea since i had some at the chinese new year parade. the best place i've found (thanks to my co-worker) is saint's alp - a hong kong based teahouse chain. i tried the peanut flavored black milk tea... mmmm. you know it's a good place too because everyone else beside me was chinese.

after that, we walked over to the chinatown square ("new chinatown") to visit stores selling everything from candy to goji berries to ginseng (upwards of $600 per gram!); shark fins to sea cucumbers to hasma (frog fallopian tubes - a delicacy, dessert, and good for your skin?). we also stopped into the saint anna bakery, which smelled so good but was cash only so i didn't get to buy anything. apparently finely ground pork is used in a lot of the cookies and desserts. i'll be back to try!

next we wanted to visit an art gallery in old chinatown that supposedly housed prints from the artist who created sponge bob square pants. we didn't get to verify because the gallery was closed for '30 minutes'. longest 30 minutes ever! but we did browse other tea shops, grocery stores (bought fresh lychee fruit), jewelry and fake purse shops. it was definitely a better experience because my co-worker was there.

she stayed for dinner with another friend, but i headed back to the loop to meet a friend and her husband. we headed northwest through wicker park and bucktown toward logan square. our destination: fuego mexican grill & margarita bar. we sampled fresh lime juice margaritas (a little too sweet for my taste, definitely get by-the-glass instead of pitcher), table-side guacamole and a variety of funky salsas. i ordered the ensalda azteca for a meal and took half of it home. it was a delicious mix of black beans, corn, pico de gallo, queso enchilado, and a cilanto lime dressing. i have realized the last few times i've ordered a meal was more likely due to the garnish (in this case, the cilantro - my favorite). i had the rest of my salad for lunch and it was just as delicious.

so ended my long day, eating everything from ball-park dogs to chinatown lychee fruit to logan square guacamole. a good day in my book.

someone tell chicago it's summer

last year i had to wait to june to ditch my northface fleece (windwall - they are the best!). i was ok with that because as soon as june came around, the sun came out and warmed everything up and i forgot all about that long spring/winter that was april-june.

this year, however, it is june 3rd and i am still wearing my fleece to work. the weather channel says it will be 68 degrees today. but that's in the middle of the day and it's always "cooler by the lake" so i never get to feel the 68 degrees on my way to work or home.

will someone please tell chicago it's summer now?

a goal met

at christmas, i weighed myself and was quite shocked at the scale. assuming it was broken, i kept with the family tradition of eating and drinking over the break.

back at home, i checked again on my scale. eek... either it was broken, or all the beers and food and eating out since i moved to chicago had caught up with me.

i've never tried to lose weight before, but i realized i needed to before it got out of hand. i'm only 28; i can do this!

the only exercise i remotely liked was running, although i couldn't run but maybe 2 miles (i laugh now at how i thought that was a "long" run). my friend in nashville kept inviting me to run the country music half marathon with her, but 13 miles seem soooo long and frankly impossible. but i thought i could sign up, pay, train, and if i still couldn't do it i didn't have to.

so january 2009, i sign up and pay $100. i find a training schedule online and tape it to my fridge. i start weighing myself every day or so and writing down how many miles i did, adding them up at the end of the week. i figured if i was going to do this right, i should change my diet. yes, i gave up beer until the half. and most breads, and pizza, and pretty much all sugar. but slowly.

training started as 2-3-2 during the week and 4 mile long run on the weekend. then it bumped up to 3-4-3 and 5 on the weekend and so on. because this is chicago and january, i had to run on a treadmill. oh those days were long and boring. and i would get so tired i kept telling myself 'you're never going to make it to mile 13' (which coincendentally is not a suggested training method). the first time i went for 7 miles on a saturday, i had to lay on the floor and stretch for a good hour and a half after. what did i get myself into?

but the weight started coming off, and i wasn't missing beer, and my clothes fit better. and other people noticed and paid complements. by the week before the half, i was doing 5-6-5 and 10 on the weekend. and i liked it. i enjoyed my saturdays: they were all to myself, i would run for 2 hours (2!), and just think. i wouldn't be that tired either; i would stretch, eat, shower and be ready to go. i even went dancing one saturday night after a 10 mile run (although, i'm not sure my feet were happy with me on sunday).

so it all came down to april 25th. that thursday before, i flew to nashville to stay with my friend, j. friday we went to the expo, bought matching running shirts, stocked up on some beer for the next day, and went to italian. saturday we woke up and j's boyfriend drove us downtown to the starting line near the tennesee titans stadium. the first corral started around 7:30am; we crossed the start line around 8am.

it is hot. it is hilly. it is humid. but the whole city lined the race route; people handed out orange slices and kids sprayed us with water from garden hoses and sprinklers. there were bands along the route playing upbeat songs and tens of thousands of runners all headed for the finish line.

i have a strategy: start at a slower-than-you-want-to pace for 2 miles, walk through the water station & stretch (~1 min), run to the next mile, walk 1 min, run to the next mile, walk 1 min, and so on until you are done. that lasted me til mile 11.5; it was uphill and i frankly had to walk more than a min. so i walk to mile 12 and pick it back up for the last 1.1 miles.

and i finish! i really finished! i never thought i would! i got done in 2:34:00. not bad for a first try. my friend comes in later and afterwards we go to five guys burgers and friends for the biggest juiciest burger. tasted like heaven. and when i get home, i have the first ice cold beer of 09. and it was gooood.

running items i could not do without:

• ipod,
• nike+ ipod attachment (thanks b-rad),
• training schedule that you can cross off,
• scale,
• calendar to write down miles & weight,
• good shoes (nikes),
• good socks,
• bandaids,
• an "it" song (at the moment, it's "just dance" by lady gaga)

stories along the way:

• my brother-in-law got me the nike+ ipod attachment for christmas to motivate me and my sisters. my cat stole the receiver that plugs into the ipod and hid it somewhere after i'd only had it for about a month. i tore up my house trying to find it to no avail. so i bought another one...
• i wore two random socks because i couldn't find any matching pairs. one sock had some kind of symbols stitched in the arch and it wore the biggest blister in my left foot (hence why bandaids became so important. and good socks.)
• the italian restaurant we went to the night before the race wasn't up on the latest local news and only staffed one server that night. the place was so busy that the poor 17 year old dude couldn't keep up and kept forgetting things. horrible service, but it wasn't his fault.
• i signed up for the soldier field 10 mile and the chicago 13.1 half marathon to keep up with the running!

update:
5/23/09 soldier field 10 mile finish time 1:44:26
6/07/09 chicago 13.1 finish time 2:17:16

l.p.z.

lincoln park zoo - begun in 1868 with a pair of swans. add a bear cub, a bison (first born in captivity), over 1250 other animals, and 140+ years and you have the zoo as it stands today.

lincoln park formal gardens (just outside the zoo)

it's free and close to where i live, so i visit often. i always find myself checking up on the deer, zebras, monkeys, tiger, and lions. here are some of my favorite images.

an i-pod running playlist

in no particular order, these are the songs i love to run to! i tested them today on a 10 mile run.

madonna - ray of light
ashlee simpsom - love me for me
jamiroquai - cosmic girl, canned heat
daft punk - high life, aerodynamic
black eyed peas - let's get it started
the knack - my sharona
fatboy slim - the rockafeller skank
mamma mia soundtrack - dancing queen
one-t - bein' a star, the magic key
soul decision - faded
house of pain - jump around
kt tunstall - suddenly i see
pussycat dolls - when i grow up
eddy herrera - tu eres ajena
daddy yankee - machucando
the darkness - i believe in a thing called love
will smith - gettin' jiggy wit it
no doubt - it's my life, i'm just a girl
outkast - hey ya
dead or alive - you spin me round
311 - do you right, plain
bob sinclar - the beat goes on, love generation
daniel beddingfield - gotta get thru this
gorillaz - feel good inc.
lady gaga - just dance
oakenfold - starry eyed suprise
britney spears - womanizer
our lady peace - the world on a string
juvenile - back that ass up

an experiment

today, april 10th, a nice spring day, i decided to go outside for lunch. i was blasted by some cold air coming off the lake and through the wind tunnels of the downtown buildings. man, that's weird. so i looked at weather.com and it IS chilly - feels like 30 degrees actually.

i was about to feel sorry for myself, but i really wanted to rub it in. so i looked up atlanta...

71 degrees.

alabama... 82 degrees.

new york... 56 degrees.


i was really starting to get mad. i thought, somewhere had to be colder than chicago! so i looked up iceland.




32 degrees...

arg!!

i am training for the country music half-marathon in nashville (less than a month away now!). excitement is brewing as i see the distances i run go up and my weight go down - i've lost 14 lbs since christmas :D

part of the training is to participate in smaller distance races a couple of times before the big race, to kind of see how you do in the race environment. i did a 5k in january in -2 deg windchill. it was fun; there was snow on the ground, it wasn't currently snowing.

today is the shamrock shuffle. it's an 8k (5 miles) and the longest race i would have run before the half. 32,000 people signed up. it's a huge and fun deal.

but i woke up this morning and there is a freakin' blizzard outside! it's march 29th! arg, this would never happen in atlanta. the silver lining is that the next few days, the temperature will be high enough to melt all the snow quickly. i'm so done with winter...

** update, only about 13,000 people actually showed up to run. i don't feel so whimpy now.

1 year

so it all began one year ago. well officially, it began in july 2004: my long slow process to chicago.

in june 2004, i started working for my company right out of school. when they offered me the job i was all "awesome, i'm getting paid!" but they threw in a company car and 10 weeks training at the home office in chicago. 'icing on the cake,' i thought. after a few weeks at the branch, i pack two suitcases and flew into o'hare airport.

i had been to chicago once before in the early 90s tagging along with my dad for an AIA convention. AIA = American Institute of Architects. apparently chicago is known for that: architecture. the only things i remember of chicago is that it was windy, the bulls had just won the 3-peat, and my parents left the kids in the hotel to order room service while they went to charlie trotter's.

so in summer 2004, it was a brand new city to me. ok, please don't laugh at me because i was somewhat oblivious in my youth. i didn't know chicago was in illinois, or on lake michigan, or that the sears tower was here. i'm just being honest. i knew where paris was and the gulf of mexico and i'd been to los angeles and new york. i just didn't think much about the midwest. oh, but i was missing out!

that summer i spent every day in a classroom, every afternoon walking around neighborhoods, and every evening on the lake front watching fireworks or movies or concerts. on weekends, friends would come visit and we'd explore the city together. this place was so alive! everyone outside! and it was nice in the middle of summer to be outside! i took the train, learned to navigate the city, had amazing food, and drank in all the beautiful architecture. the city was mesmerizing. i was the only person in my training class really sad to leave and go home. after training, i told my boss "once i pay my dues, i'm moving to chicago." and that was a cloud over his head for the next three and a half years.

i learned a great deal in atlanta and can truthfully say i worked with the best people i have ever known. but in the back of my mind, chicago kept calling. in the meantime, to satisfy my desire to be there, i found every possible way to get up there: training, meetings, presentations, and one girls' weekend in 2006. it was that weekend that i began my earnest search to transfer.

it figures when i decide to do something that nothing happens. i made calls, talked to people, searched the company website for jobs. nothing. and more nothing. i think it was one conference call with former trainees, that someone got a whiff that i was moving to chicago with or without my company. luckily, they wanted to keep me, so they put me in touch with the home office internal recruiter (why didn't anyone tell me she existed before?!?). within a month (november 2007), i had an interview for a position that i honestly wasn't excited about but would have taken just to move. i believe that Someone upstairs knew that wasn't a good idea, so i did not get that job. but i was asked to return as soon as possible to interview for another position. this one was actually in line with my skills and experience. i interviewed first week of january 2008, accepted a week later, and asked for a start date of april 1st (thinking that the city would have warmed up by then... ha).

i put my condo up for sale, found a place to live in chicago, arranged for a truck, and packed everything i own and moved on march 26, 2008.

so 1 year later, my condo is still for sale in atlanta, i still have boxes i haven't unpacked in my apartment here, and i do think upper-40s is warm! i've gone from knowing no one to having a growing group of friends. i've played every intramural sport from kickball and softball to volley ball and floor hockey. saw the cubs and sox play. went to the taste and the scene. been back to atlanta, been abroad, been on work trips, but now chicago is home.

da blues

this happens to me ALL the time. always triggered by returning from a fabulous vacation abroad. i should probably stop vacationing and... nah, i could never.

so i just returned from all my amazing travels and am sitting here at my desk eating my soup for lunch. oh how tremendously boring! one week ago, i was visiting the catedral de sal in zipaquirá, colombia before drinking mojitos out of half-coconut shells and partying til 4am at andres carne de res in chia, colombia.

two weeks before, i was spontaneously buying a eurostar ticket to paris for 1 night with my friends from london. in less than 36 hours, i had a beurre-sucre crepe in front of notre dame, watched dusk approach from the steps of sacre-coeur, had an amazing 4-course dinner and red wine at oh! duo in the 15th, saw la tour eiffel, and had the most delicious tea known to man....

two weeks before that, i was laughing the hardest i've laughed in a year with my sister and friends in brooklyn at radegast hall & beer garden over wallet phones and talking in numbers (you really had to be there).

so back in chicago, it's 40+ degrees but feels like 32. i had already packed the snow boots and scarves, but i should probably bring them back out.

march <> spring in chicago (sorry that was a little computer dorkism).

the only thing that keeps me going is: tulip days, cubs baseball, beach trip with family, training for 1/2 marathon, chicago summer festivals and concerts, possible trip to south carolina, new baby in the family and trip to atlanta in july, sister and friends coming to visit this summer, searching for a salsa dance club, and potentially the most amazing christmas & new years plans i'll ever have (i'll keep you posted).

** for photos, check http://www.flickr.com/photos/khakiaraki/

36 hours in paris

i planned my trip to london in november thinking that i wouldn't have an opportunity to see erin for a while if i didn't go over thanksgiving. well, work sent me to london in february, so i was back earlier than i expected. we were at an office for 14-16 hours a day, stepping out for triangle sandwiches at lunch and crawling back to the hotel after dark and after everyone else had left the office.

thankfully, i had gotten a good tour of london in my previous visit, so i had more time to relax with erin while in town. we ate at pasha, drank at lounges in south kensington, and in general hung out in erin's flat.

because the work i was completing required a weekend stay, friday night, erin, her flatmate frances, and i were all talking about what to do for the weekend. we came up with every plan from going to scotland, ireland, bath, or york. while looking at the train schedules, we noticed we could take the morning eurostar to paris for only £139. it had been 6 years since i'd been to paris and i was pratically salivating with excitement! we decided and bought tickets for a departure 7 hours later.

we went to st. pancras station at 6am and were on the road to paris just after 7am. we were so excited but also without a plan. we had no hotel, no map, no idea of what to do other than wander aimlessly around. we arrived at gare du nord in the 10th arr just before 10am. we walk outside and are immediately bombarded by gypsies. the ploy these days it to come up to you with a piece of paper asking if you speak english. i knew it was a diversion, but i had to warn erin and frances.

we head back into the train station to purchase a guide book with map and made our way to the châtelet metro stop. side note: the châtelet stop spans quite a few blocks with stairs, escalators and moving sidewalks transportating hundreds of people around underground. it can be quite confusing. i think we spent 25 minutes trying to navigate the labyrinth.

we exit and make our way to the Île de la cité: an island in the middle of the seine river, housing notre-dame and sainte chappelle. in 50 degree sunny weather, we sit at les deux palais for coffee and a croque-monsieur. it is somewhat of a tourist spot due to its proximaty to notre-dame, but we were starving and needed to sit down to start researching a hotel. at the cafe, we poured over the guidebook and blackberrys, making phone calls and trying to use my elementary french to book a room. we finally find one for €85 a night in the 14th arr near the cité internationale universitaire de paris, just a few stops south of gare du nord on the RER B.

a plan! after dropping off our luggage at the hotel parc montsouris (bare bones, thin walls, but a bed and bathroom and cheap; served its purpose), we head back into the city on the RER B. destination: notre-dame and a beurre-sucre crepe.

a stroll across pont-neuf and the rue de rivoli (and an attempted shopping experience at la samaritaine, but apparently it's closed for "security enhancements"):

and up to montmartre to watch the sun set from the steps of sacré-coeur:

back down to le marais, for tea at mariage freres and sweets:

and ending the evening at oh! duo in the 15th arr for an mouth-watering, plate-licking, four-course french meal and red wine.

the next day, we pay our respects (as all who visit paris should) to la tour eiffel. we wander the neighborhood and stop for a leisurely lunch at la patata, not quite ready to leave as our time was so short.

but our train departs at 5pm, so we head back to gare du nord, first saying goodbye to the louvre...to the Île de la cite and the seine....

au revoir paris... until next time...

for more photos: flickr: paris

walken

"I was walking
Like I said by myself
I was talking
To myself about you
Like I always do"
- wilco, "walken" from sky blue sky

one of my favorite songs. i also like to randomly text my sister with the lyrics. i always think of this song when i'm about to go somewhere.

for example...

i'm really excited because i have 3 weeks and 3 continents of travel ahead of me. first, for work, i'm headed to new york city. i'm going over the weekend to visit with the sis and hopefully get some good photographs.

then i come back and 2 days later head across the pond to london for work. i'll be there for a week and a half, and over the weekend i hope to go with my friend erin somewhere cool. maybe paris ;)

and THEN, i come back and have 1 day till i head south to colombia, south america to help my freshman college roommate celebrate her wedding. i'm making a stop in cartagena for a long weekend and then bogota for the rest of the trip. again, hoping that there will be some splendid opportunities for photos.

stay tuned...

** for photos, check http://www.flickr.com/photos/khakiaraki/

the white city

a reference to the grand city created in jackson park, chicago to host the 1892 columbian exposition. white because all the buildings were adorned with white stucco and electricity was introduced to light the boulevards at night, reflecting off the white buildings and creating a luminosity against the tenements of chicago. the city is the main character of erik larson's devil in the white city (a historical book written like a novel...i highly recommend).

this winter, "the white city" means something completely different. it means inches of snow covering every rooftop, sidewalk, and sandy beach. it means slightly gray skies and christmas lights still wrapped around tree branches.

and here's what it looks like: