in no special order....

i just finished reading georgia's post about our time together in chicago and now my heart is all mushy and filled up. if you have the time, i really hope you can visit her and read from her perspective, how really special it is to spend time with other bloggers.

the three photos above 

are more little vignettes from georgia's gorgeous home

and

by now you know who this smiley little guy is

and

again

the three photos above are all from georgia's home. i couldn't get enough of it.

this was sitting in the kid's area at the coffee shop

from georgia's

sweet claire working on her amazing food photos

the two photos above are from when we were in woodstock for crepes

georgia's again. it's an addicting home. what can i say.

and

the little man not being very happy about claire heading to san antonio for a workshop and me heading back to wisconsin. can you blame him. lol.

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disclaimer. i warned you i had 319 photos to sift through and thought this might be the last batch. wrong. gradually, more will appear, but i'll try and sidetrack you by hopefully adding some brilliant writing to go along with them. happy weekend everyone.

also

have you heard about the craziness happening here this weekend...the big 10 football game and our area being overrun with an estimated 30,000 nebraska fans who don't even have tickets to the game but just want to be present. with the economy being the way it is, i'd personally like to thank nebraska for taking up every hotel room within a 60 mile radius of us and eating in all of our restaurants and shopping in all of our stores. what a gift you are giving us.

but sorry

our badgers will beat you and it will be a very long drive home.

ouch

when it all feels right...

when claire let georgia and myself know that she'd be coming to the states and wanted to see us again, my heart swelled up. last year was our first time meeting each other and i think it was love at first sight for all of us. something just felt right.

here is beautiful claire. 

originally from south africa, now living in dublin, she is filled beyond capacity with a love for life and people and writing and photography and laughter and travel. in case you were wondering, yes, i'm old enough to be her mother, if i had birthed her when i was 21.

by now you know that we made special plans to meet up with caroline. 

canceling plans were contemplated, after we woke up to a monsoon blowing its way through chicago, but we decided that even with winds that could blow me all the back to wisconsin, the rain wouldn't melt us. unfortunately caroline was only able to spend about 2 hours with us and i honestly feel like i hardly even talked to her. i've asked her for a do-over.

in wicker park we spent the afternoon talking and laughing in a tiny little coffee shop, who will probably ban me from ever coming again once they watch the security tapes and see that i asked people to get out of the way change seats, so that we could have a corner to ourselves. 

a huge treat, after meeting caroline, was also meeting georgia's brother and sister-in-law who live in the area and stopped by to see us. so with all of us in the little corner we carved out for ourselves, and cameras everywhere, photos being taken of everything and everyone, we proved without a doubt to anyone in ipsentos, that we were all total photography geeks. from an outsiders's perspective, i can't even imagine what they thought of us, or what we even looked like. crazy comes to mind.

when it was finally time to leave, the rain had let up and we soaked up some outside time. 

oh, and of course this is georgia, although claire and i now refer to her as 

new mama extraordinaire. 

so now on top of being an interior designer {which she isn't but should be}

and a vintage wardrobe consultant {which she isn't but should be} she is an amazing mother.

i have close ups of these strangers that i'll share later. i asked if could take their photos and of course they said "yes"

the guy on the right is a james dean look alike.

seriously, wait till you see his head shot.

georgia's home is amazing. it's warm and inviting and filled with everything wonderfully vintage. and now it's filled with the laughter of a baby. i call that perfect.

{look at him listening to his auntie claire}

this was taken right after a diaper change and right before we took him to the quaint little town of woodstock, where he got to watch us eat the most amazing crepes.

throughout georgia and her hubby's home, there are little vignettes everywhere. 

i took tons of photos but they barely show how incredible her home is. 

our last little time together

here we are in woodstock where we celebrated, once again, the end of a rainy day. 

obviously, we quickly learned that rain wasn't going to spoil our time together.

with the happiest, most laid back baby i have ever seen, we managed to really get out and celebrate our time together. 

but i have to say that dinner inside, with a buffet filled with trader joe's yumminess, 

claire's brushetta and georgia's hubby, was so special.

and 

when i told sweet baby isaac it was time for me to leave....well this just broke my heart.

"don't worry sweet thing. i'll be back to see you very soon"

*

oh those eyes....

i have 319 photos to go through from this past weekend and when i'm done with that i need to find some words to go with them. 

i know from experience that a dictionary, even a thesaurus,  just isn't going to be enough.

~

for some reason i always feel that after a girls weekend, there needs to be a go-to book that helps your heart form sentences. and when that girl's weekend is made up of camera loving bloggers who are not afraid to run around looking like total camera geeks...well you get the picture

~

but honestly, i have to admit that the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, the bees knees or whatever else you use to describe something fabulous, was this little guy above. he belongs to georgia and i couldn't keep my hands or my eyes off of him. i mean really. look at that face.

~

so stay tuned. 

i promise i'll be back with more. oh so much more.

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it rained cats and dogs....and then blew them sideways

isn't it great that you can pick apples 

and 

your friends

~

i'm still in chicago

 having a 

"girls who i blog with"

 outing

~

i have so many photos to share, that narrowing them down to a number that doesn't make blogger kick me off their site with an "are you kidding me" push, is going to be more then challenging.

 of course, that's what happens when one of the dear sweet friends has a new sweeter then sweet baby {who happens to love me by the way}

okay fine. he loves everyone. but i heard him call me auntie beth. really i did.

~

so after tomorrow 

and 

another day of having more fun then should really be allowed

~even when a monsoon literally blew through chicago~

i'll be heading back home 

filled to the brim 

with what only a girls weekend can fill me with

and

if i had a word for it, i'd share it. if i could describe it i would.

but 

i don't and i can't

~

but

there's a smile on my face and a really big one drawn on my heart, if that helps

*

happy birthday baby boy....

how in the world does your baby all of sudden turn 20. 

i swear. all i did was blink.

we love more then you will ever know. well, until you have kids of your own.

xoxoxxo

before it's too late.....

today's the first day of fall

~

i just read in the newspaper how lucky we were this summer in regards to the lack of mosquitos. i guess in early may, after some warmer days in april, we had a freeze that killed the soon to be summer mosquito population.

ummm, can i just say thank you mother nature and if it's not too much to ask, could you do that every year for the rest of my life. thank you.

~

i'm guilty lately of spending too much time here entertaining myself

and

finding new blogs

like this one and that one and even this one

and 

literally hundreds more

that somehow seem to eat up all the time i've allotted for house cleaning

~wink wink~

~

wednesday i began the seasonal job of closet reorganizing

~ 

summer clothes got taken to the basement's cedar closet. 

a "if you didn't wear it this summer you're not going to wear next summer either" bag has been filled and is ready to be taken to goodwill and winter clothes from the above mentioned cedar closet have made their way back upstairs....minus a few bottoms that have somehow become too tight. 

i don't know how that happens. 

how do your clothes "shrink" just because you haven't worn them for 6 months.

~wink wink~

~

and

now i leave you with a little teaser....later this weekend and early next week, i'll be laughing it up with some blogging friends. two i've met before, but one is brand new. i'm so excited to have some girl time.

oh, and we're all photographers, too... what a win win !! 

~

oh, and one more thing before i go read my morning blogs hop in the shower 

i ordered my new camera. finally. 

i'm keeping it a secret for now, but i will tell you that i ordered 

a 50mm 1.4 and a 40mm 2.8 lens, too because....well, because in my mind, the camera was free.

{remember the money i made from selling my gold jewelry}

and

a prime lens is something i've been told i can't live without

by too many people lately

~

it's a wonder i'm still alive

*

i hope you all have a fantastic "football filled" fall weekend

the perfect moment.....

a photographer went to a socialite party in new york city. as soon as she entered the front door, 

the host said, "i love your pictures. they're wonderful. you must have a fantastic camera."

she said nothing until dinner was finished. 

then...

"that was a wonderful dinner, you must have a fantastic stove."

sam haskins

*

if you're a dog groomer, i'll never compliment you on your shears.  and if you're a writer, i'll never compliment you on your pens. and if you're a painter, i'll never compliment you on your brushes.

today

let's raise our glasses to our beautiful talents 

and 

the ability to hold our tongues until the perfect moment

*

wait...take a second look

 we were at an amazing street fair this weekend. 

the kind of street fair where you have total sensory overload. visually that is.

here's a sweet little butterfly fairy girl. but wait. take a second look.

what's that in the background.

oh i see. it's a grown man. dressed up like a dog. 

wearing a collar and his leash just in case he gets lost. 

hello animal rescue. never mind.

he's a happy dog. smiling and wagging his tail. no need to be alarmed.

as we were walking to the willy street fair, from where we parked, we passed this elderly man. 

but wait. take a second look. it's a leprechaun. 

little did i know we'd see him again

where i could get a close up of him

remember an earlier post of mine where i confessed my love of dreads. 

well there were lots of dread heads on willy. 

i'm so jealous. anyhow. take a second look.

first, one more shot of the beloved dreads

and

now. wha la. a ferret. eating street fair food. who knew they liked things fried and greasy.

i think i want one. does anyone know if they make good pets.

okay this "take a second look" photo is too easy. it's just a great folk duo.

but still. they totally needed a close up. as they were amazingly talented and good.

WAIT. TAKE A SECOND LOOK. 

is he advertising street fair food on his abs and chest

i think i need another look

 since this lady didn't bring her reading glasses and had to get really close AND in my way

hmmm. i think i've got it. 

"at plan B you can get a shot and a brat for $6"

OH YES

sure enough. that's totally what it is. 

whew. i'm so glad it only took me 4 hunk a hunk a man photos 

in order for me to read this correctly. 

it would have been terrible if i had to stand there and look at him any longer then i did

~wink wink~

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