Silver Lining

As I hinted at earlier this week, spring has really taken its sweet time arriving in Chicagoland. At this time last year, my flip flop-clad feet had already taken many leisurely strolls along the Lake. Even though it’s May, my winter coats, sweaters, and rain boots continue to be in regular rotation.

On the bright side, the regular downpours have resulted in some unusually pretty water colors which were magnified by one of the only clear days that we’ve had in a while—the silver lining around an otherwise bleak (and, at times, snow-filled) set of clouds.

Here’s to sunny skies and a windows-down kind of road trip to Columbus this weekend! 

No Lifeguard

Even though autumn is my favorite season of the year, I always find the end of summer to be bittersweet. There’s something so desolate about the unattended beach that it’s nearly impossible to remember the heat and crowds that claimed it just a few weeks ago. At this time of year, it almost feels as though you have the entirety of Lake Michigan and the distant, twinkling City of Chicago to yourself. 

Windy City Weekend

Love Birds Taking Their Chances with Record Waves

My cousin and his very fun girlfriend stayed with us over the weekend to experience all that Chicago and its little neighbor to the north, Evanston, have to offer. I always enjoy showing adventurous visitors around town as it encourages me to rediscover local favorites (namely Lou Maltnati’s, Wrigley Field and nearby watering holes such as Murphy’s Bleachers and Dark Horse Tap and Grille) and explore my own quaint little neighborhood (at new late night spots like Taco Diablo). As evidenced in the few pictures that we managed to take, the weather was the perfect backdrop to a few nonstop days of family-filled festivities. 

A nod to my hometown heroes and, might I add, the winners of the game

Amid throngs of tourists gaping up at the legendary marquee

A view from our seats of a surprising sea of red shirts, captured in between bites of a world-famous Vienna Beef

A sweet ending to the weekend (inspired by this) and beginning of Shark Week

Rise and Shine

Image

Well, I guess I wasn’t kidding when I said that I would reserve a large portion of my weekend for sleeping. I did manage to get to the beach, the library, and Whole Foods to stock up on stuff for the grill, but that was about the extent of my activity. I am happy, or embarrassed, as the case may be, to report that my DVR is now 3% full. (I couldn’t bear to delete CNBC’s special on Mickey Drexler without watching it one more time later this week!)

Sky's the Limit

Today marks the one-month anniversary of sandcastle, an achievement certainly worthy of celebration! I started this blog for many reasons: to push myself to learn new skills, to remember what it feels like to think creatively from time to time, to advance my almost nonexistent technological skills, to show far-flung family and friends what I’m up to, and perhaps most importantly, to create a journal of sorts that I could refer back to and remember things that made me happy, things that made me think, and things that defined a certain period of my life.

In the very short time that I’ve been at this little project, I’ve realized how diverse my interests are (and how many people share them), how many things I still don’t know (and, after being the only one under the age of 60 at a recent Mac class at an Apple store, how many things I already know), how pleased (and at times, incredibly anxious) I can become by putting my thoughts on the web, and sadly, how little free time I have to myself after a full work week (and how important balance is for maintaining my sanity). More than ever, I’m excited to build this sandy little site and look to the horizon to see where it takes me. Thanks for stopping by to monitor my progress!

Easter Eggs-travaganza

Enjoying a seasonal favorite accented by the perfect color, Essie’s Nice is Nice

The weekend went by in a blur, and not just because we squeezed in so many Easter-themed events.  As a regular reader of the photography tips on this fantastic blog, I’ve been looking forward to getting a new lens so that I can achieve the background-blur bokeh effect in my photographs. Since I received the new equipment on Friday afternoon, I’ve been more than happy to experiment with it by documenting all of our fun holiday adventures.

Letting the cool breeze mingle with a Spring-scented candle that I hid away at the end of last summer

Finding our last-minute handiwork fun, but a tad less than eggs-ceptional

Instead of hunting for eggs, sandcastle-scouting on the shores of Lake Michigan

Putting some of my latest craft purchases to work; Inside reads "Have a Tweet Easter!"