dreaming of spring...

i hope these spring like images
brighten up your day!

are you dreaming of spring?
i am.

thanks for stopping by today!

erin


p.s. after being without Photoshop on my new computer for many months now, i have repurchased and
i am having a blast getting to know it all over again....although i feel rusty...
i am reminded how much i truly
love
playing with my photos!

p.p.s.  i even created my own bokeh layers (the little light balls you see in the background) by taking photos of the sun going down behind the trees.

p.p.p.s.  i am off to meet up with a friend, who knows a farmer whose sheep has given birth to 3 little lamby's....my camera in hand, of course!  i am so excited.

winter trees of chicago

i took this series of photos last february....

inspired by
the organic
 bare winter trees
juxtaposed against the
 icy skyscrapers
in downtown chicago.

also

so very inspired by this beautiful woman
(one of my besties)
who just booked a flight to come see me!

yippie skippie!
oh the fun we will have.

stay
 warm
 my friends.

erin

brrrrrrrr! it's winter....

the view out my window....

of snow and ice and kids on sleds....

it is freezing outside,
like really frigid!

so,
 i am enjoying
the great indoors today.....

is it cold where you are??


"Blue Monday"
survey says,
 today is the most depressing day of the year....
i say,
let's prove them wrong peeps!
do something fun today!

and stay warm.

erin

new year. new air.

"trees are poetry
the earth writes
 into the sky"

~kahil gibran

i love trees.

that is a picture of me hugging a tree...
down there on the end of my side bar....

so it was after great thought and consideration,
that mr. dan and i decided to have 5 large trees removed from our front yard yesterday.

this big old one
 was starting to lean precariously towards the street.

and the hack berries, elm and ash were particularly messy...
 with their leaves, seed pods, twigs and sap...
 which were ruining my roof and constantly clogging the gutters.
and causing mr. dan and i to curse them
 every time the wind blew and scattered their  debris....
which made more work for us.
lots of work.

after 12 years living in this house
 and watching these trees grower taller and taller and filling in the sky
and becoming more of a nuisance....

we made the hard
hard
decision
to let them go....
and it was hard.
did i mention it was hard?

although,
mr. dan quite enjoyed the 8 hours of noisy chainsawing and grinding.
he is such a guy.
a cute guy, i must admit.

later, he prepared our fire pit for our annual new years eve campfire.
as you can see, we still have lots and lots of trees out back!

my rather disturbing view out the kitchen window.
i was surprisingly emotional about this whole ordeal....

and yet at the same time
 excited about the change and extra sunshine.

and just like that....

GONE.

so,
i am looking forward to a

new year
and
new air
and
 new sky
and
new sun
and
new flowers!

and all the
 potential 
a new slate
 and new canvas
has to offer.

i believe in looking forward...

always forward 

and
 2014
is looking really good.

happy new year!

erin