PhonePhotographs: life lately

ahh! okay, craziness on aisle 14.

So much has happened since being back and while contemplating the best way to sum it up I realized I had a billion and two photographs on my cellular to explain each significant thing (that I can remember at least)

So, let me introduce you to "lately"..

labor day picnic/best-day-of-my-life thanks to ice cream man.

 ward campout.

new antique shop findings/final weeks of farmers market.

new job!!

(husbands encouragement after only a week of tiring work)

 football! 

and so it begins.

That's it! Of course if I had taken the time to do individual posts you'd be laughing and saying "oh, that kelsey!" but for the sake of time just love on my simplicity. 

I'm dying to show you my soon-to-be etsy merchandise...stay posted!

because i am blessed.

Outer Banks, N. Carolina

After spending a week in Virginia we loaded up and headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. 

We stayed in a beautiful beach house and, minus a few hours of rain the weather was superb! Of course Lady (our Nikon) came along but she didn't see too much sun. But don't you worry, I had my phone on me some of the time so I still got some good pictures. So, surprise surprise, here are some moments from the trip!

Swimming, sunbathing, cards, reading, sunbathing, story telling, sunbathing, tennis, family pictures on the beach, and some more sunbathing = best beach trip ever!!

Susan, my mother-in-law, and I felt the earthquake but it was so slight we thought it was Kimball shaking our chairs, we didn't realize until after we heard that there had been an earthquake that it was what we had felt! We also took off a half day early to beat the traffic off the island because Hurricane Irene was on her way. But we made it out before anyone else started evacuating so traffic was a breeze back to Virginia! 

What a blessing it was to spend time with family and just relax with my husband who had had a summer full of work, thanks again Guy and Susan!!

because i am blessed.

Newseum, much like a museum

Actually, it is a museum..about news. 

Very clever if you ask me.

After we finished out in Chicago we shot over to Virginia/DC for a much appreciated vacay with the family! We spent a few days there relaxing and enjoying family and I was looving on having Kimball not at work all day. Here are some fotographias from the newseum! (yes, it really is called that--i didn't make it up, i'm not that witty)

P.S. The newseum is a museum of everything news; how it has evolved over the years, the major players in news and the major events covered by the news and how. It was extremely neat and very insightful as we learned about everything that goes into news and how it really differs from country to country, region to region and even station to station. Okay, now here are some fotographias :)

top: kimball, momma hicks, tay-z on the balcony of the newseum looking out to the capital 

right: sections of the berlin wall and a guard tower (verry cool!)

left: an entire room mapping out the history of the newspaper

we also momentarily became newscasters and i found out that i am apparently not so great at reading monitors. not only am i completely incapable of reading at the pace that the monitor wanted me to read at, i supposedly am also great at making up words when the monitor isn't moving fast enough. 

i blame my many years as a student. speed reading is extremely practical when you have fatty textbooks to read through but apparently the people listening to the news don't want to hear garbled mumbo jumbo- who knew?

the 9/11 exhibit was probably my favorite.

not only did they have an antenna from one of the towers but along the wall were all of the major newspapers from 9/11/2001, it was extremely interesting to see the different perspectives of the differing newspapers. also, there was a video of point of views from newscaster covering that morning. so personal, so intense and so so heartbreaking. 

That day at the newseum was truly eye opening and I will never watch the news in the same way again!If you are ever in DC I highly recommend you check this out!

beach pictures soon to come!!

because i am blessed.

Grant Park

Our last weekend in Chicago we took one final trip downtown to Grant Park. We were hesitant, as the weatherman said it would be a rainy day. But considering the weatherman was wrong 98% of the time and it looked sunny outside, we decided to go anyway. It was absolutely perfect outside and we were able to spend a few hours in the park relishing our last bit of Chicago life.

And because I am me, here are a billion pictures to relive the day..

The bean, as promised

(it is as cool as it looks)

There was a little natural reserve portion

which displayed all of the things that grow wild in Illinois. 

Lots of bees, but very gorgeous.

 The Buckingham Fountain 

is huge. Why did no one tell us how cool it was?

We also found out that the weatherman was not so wrong today..

see clouds in background for proof.

As we realized the storm was real we scooted up toward some museums and took refuge in the Field Museum.

The storm didn't seem to last long, so we thought, or so we started to head for the train when the rain decided it wasn't quite finished. We turned into those crazy people who are running through the rain with their arm above their heads (as if it helps) and laughing big belly laughs trying to figure out which station was closest.

We were also those crazy people who sit down on the L, soaking wet, taking pictures of themselves and all the while still laughing. It was a great last hurray in Chicago, we were very glad we ignored the weatherman.

because i am blessed.