12+13/52

Week 12: Silhouette

Week 13: Shoes

Love, love, love
Bridge

10+11/52

So I haven't been awesome at this photo challenge. In my defense, this has been the worst winter ever and I have basically spent the last three months hibernating. I wasn't able to get a week 10 picture because the day I wanted to do so it rained/snow and I didn't want to bring my camera out. 

Week 10: Technology

This picture wasn't technically taken on week 10 but it perfectly captures how much technology runs our lived these days. How often does someone miss something from being on their phone. I also picked this picture because I think my sister Mk looks gorgeous. She has such an amazing smile.

I was able to get week 11 without a problem. 

Week 11: Green

My Little Leprechaun 

Love, love, love

Bridge

9/52

Week 9: Animals

Don't let that teddy bear look fool you. This weekend she showed me how she could take off her own collar while on a walk. This new trick led to me spending a good 15 minutes chasing her around the front yards of our cul-de-sac in my mom's bathrobe on Sunday morning.

No she is not a puppy...she is 7 years old.

Love, love, love
Bridge

8/52

Week 8: Landscape

There is something really beautiful about Chicago at Dusk. This time of year the lack of sunlight starts to really bring me down but lately the days have been staying lighter a little longer. When I leave the office in the evening I get to enjoy the last bit of sun reminding me that the warmer weather is coming.

Urban Landscape

Love, love, love
Bridge

6+7/52

So I know that I missed the past two weeks of photos but in my defense my computer charger stopped working and I didn't have a way to charge it for awhile. I know that this is week 8 so I'll have to post another photo in the next couple days to fully catch up. With spring around the corner I hope I get myself out and about with my camera more. I say this as I check the 10 day weather forecast that shows below 20 degrees and snow coming our way...

Week 6: "Baby" hands

Week 7: My Favorite "red" head perfecting her duck face

Love, love, love
Bridge

I Gotta Get Out of Here

My cousin Kevin and I exchanged texts last night expressing our need to get out of the city we live in and go on vacation. He live in Boston so neither of us have had a good winter.

Thankfully my family is headed to San Francisco this weekend for my cousin John's wedding. It is suppose to rain the whole time we are there but its also going to be in the upper 50s and for  us midwesterners this is basically a heat wave. I am crossing my fingers and toes that the weather doesn't impact us getting out because I really really need to get out of here these days.

Dreaming of warmer days....

Love, love, love
Bridge

5/52

Week five: Natural light

A mocking tiki torch

And the snow keeps on coming....

Love, love, love

Bridge

She Just Needs To Cry

My mom lost a good friend this weekend and I don't think I have ever seen her so sad. My mom is a tough lady.  She is someone who has the "get over it" and "keep going attitude." That is not to say that she wasn't also a loving, compassionate and empathetic mother. Simply put, my mom is strong.

When I called her after I heard the news she started crying on the phone. It hurt to hear her cry. As my siblings all text back and forth worried about my mom my brother Michael put it simply by saying "She just needs to cry." He was right, she really did just need to cry.

Love, love, love
Bridge

4/52

Week 4: Bokeh

I really struggled with this weeks photo challenge. For those of you who don't know, Bokeh is the part of the image that is out of focus other wise know as the blur. I have seen this done before and the pictures turn out really amazing. It gives the main focus on your image so much more emphasis. So for this topic I decided I wanted to get a great image of Abby. I wouldn't say it was a complete disaster but it definitely didn't work out the way I wanted to.

This was the best image I got...

I know how exciting an image of a stuffed lamb must be for all of you. I don't know why but for some reason I could not master this with Abby. I have had much better luck in the past capturing some great blur. 

I guess the lamb is the best were going to get for tonight.  

It wasn't a total waste of a night. I still got to spend some time with my sweet Abby girl.

Love, love, love

Bridge

A Freezing Tuesday Song

When I checked the weather this morning it said -11 but feels likes -26. I repeat, feels like -26. My response to that was "Nope" and then I got up and emailed my boss telling her I was working from home today. I also emailed my family that we should unite and all move to California together. We will see how that turns out.

Hold onto hope everyone...it has to get warm eventually.

Stay safe and warm!

Love, love, love
Bridget

Holy Cold & Week 1/2/3

Chicago is experiencing another Polar Vortex. What were my ancestors thinking when they decided to make this our home???? I know I will be singing a different tune when the warms up. Thankfully I work for a company that encourages you to work from home when the temperatures drop below zero so I am currently bundled up at my desk wearing two pairs of sweat pants. I guess it could be worse.

I am still sticking with the photo challenge and will post week 4 sometimes this week. Since I decided to do this 3 weeks into January I decided to combine week 2 and 3 in one pictures. So here are week 1/2/3 of 52. I promise the pictures will get better as the weeks go on. 

1. Self Portrait

Now don't be too envious of my killer looks...

2. Colorful/3. Close-Up

My co-worker also wears some bright lips so I asked her to pucker up for me last week. 

Stay warm and safe everyone!

Love, love, love

Bridge

52 Week Photo Challenge

One of my goals of 2014 was to take better/more pictures so I have decided to do a 52 week photo challenge. Here are the subjects for each week

Via.

Because this is already week 3 I am going to post the first three pictures by Saturday. I am thinking this will be a great way to document the year and satisfy some of my creative side.

Almost Friday!

Love, love, love
Bridge

Filling the Silence

Recently I have been spending more time listening to random podcast. I tend to get a little stir crazy when I sit in silence and this has been a great way hear some interesting topics.

The most recent podcast I listened to was called "The Seven Things Your Not Suppose To Talk About" and was played on This American Life.  Here is a brief description from the website:

 "Producer Sarah Koenig's mother lives by a set of rules about conversation. She has an actual list of off-limits topics, including how you slept, your period, your health, your diet and more. You don't talk about these things, she says, because nobody cares. This week we try to find stories on these exact topics that will prove her wrong."

As mentioned in the description the topic that Sarah Koenig's mother thinks are off-limits simply because they are boring are:
1. Your period
2. Diet
3. Health
4. Sleep
5. Dreams
6. Route Talk

While listening to the different stories around each of these topics I realized they actually are really boring. I found myself day dreaming as each person tried to tell an interesting story around these topics to prove Sarah's mother wrong. At the same time, I am totally guilty of all discussing all of the things....to an extent. I don't talk about my period and I don't find that many women do. There is a level of nasty that only so much of us want to hear about.

I think we are all a little guilty of filling the silence. There is something about a silent conversation that leaves you feeling uncomfortable to the point that you just start rambling and a lot of times it is about those boring topics listed above. Let's be honest we have all been with people where someone starts talking about something so boring and all you can think is "This is the worst...I do not care about this shit."  Honestly, you might be thinking that right now. We should probably spend more time just enjoying the silence.

Via.

 

Love, love, love
Bridge

Tuesday Song

Even though its a new year I don't think I have to change everything....

I have no shame in telling you that I have been loving the new One Direction song. The first time I heard it was over Christmas. My younger brother picked me up from the train station and when this song came on the radio he looked right at me and said "I LOVE this song" and then continued to belt out the entire song word for word. Good times. 

And if you don't enjoy it well...haters gonna hate.

Love, love, love
Bridge

Wink Love

As  mentioned before I most recently joined match.com for the second time. Something that I have noticed is how much unsolicited advice people seem to have for anyone who is on match.com. Everyday I have someone telling me something I should put in my profile, the type of picture I should have, what I should look for in other people, etc. Whether or not any of these people know what they are talking about, the one thing they all say is "don't wink, don't talk to anyone who winks, winking is creepy."

What is with all the wink hating? Truth be told I didn't know winking was so wrong. I was always impressed when someone was able to master the quick wink and flattered when it was shot my way. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out there was a wink option on match. What better way to let someone know your interested? Apparently in match world winking is just flat out unacceptable. What happened to the days that a boy winking at you made your stomach flip a little? It was a sly way of letting someone know you caught their attention. Not to mention a wink done so smoothly and quickly that you had to question if that was a real wink just for you, well that was always hot.

I'm thinking someone needs to bring the wink back.

Via.

Love, love, love
Bridge

The Next 5 Months

My credit card has acquired a huge balance lately. Part of it is because I bought a pretty fancy camera that was way outside of what I could afford and part of it is because I am in that stage of life where everyone is getting married. A wonderful stage but an expensive one. So in attempt to regain a little control over my life I decided that I am going to try to spend the next 5 months spending as little money as I can and slowly paying off the debt I have racked up. I imagine that over the next 5 months I will spend time going to the gym, reading and perfecting my creative side become a thinner more enlightened version of myself. Or I will become sad, watch a lot of netflix and revert back to my college days of surviving off of a large papa johns pizza for a whole week. Either way I will most likely lose some weight.

In other news I bought a ukulele and decided to self teach myself. The more I think about it the more I understand why I am credit card debt.

Love, love, love
Bridge

My Samantha Moment

I have had the flu since Thursday night. I don't know if any of you have gotten the flu before it is the worst thing in the world. I haven't gotten out of my sweats in 5 days and I have only showered twice because I have been two weak to move. It's been an awesome start to the new year.

I would like to say that I have been a good sport about the whole thing but that would be a lie. Instead I had a full Samantha moment. There is a SITC episode where Samantha gets the flu and freaks out about being alone. That basically happened to me when my mom called and I screamed through tears that I couldn't go to the store because no one was here to take me. Then I hung up and sobbed for another five minutes under a blanket. For the record, yesterday I joined match.com.

I hope everyone stayed warm the last couple days.

Love, love, love
Bridge

A Fresh Start

I always appreciate the fresh start the new year brings. I make resolutions, goals and plans for a better year.  Personally, I am really looking forward to a fresh start this year. Don't get me wrong, 2013 was a good year, a great year in fact, but I have a strong feeling that 2014 is going to be a really good year.

My "fresh start" started bright and early this morning as I trudged through the snow to my gate outside my apartment building. My downstairs neighbor, who I have never met, came out of her apartment and starting walking in front of me. Side note, when you walk on snow you crunch or swish. If the snow is hard you crunch on top but if its soft you swish through it. Either way trudging through the snow is not done quietly, especially when you are only a foot or two behind someone else.

As my neighbor approached the gate she slowed down,  turned the knob and started staring at her phone. Naturally, I said excuse me and try to get around her. She turned and looked right at me let out a high-pitched scream, threw her hands up to her mouth and jumped like she had seen a ghost. The ghost in this situation is me. She (I still don't know her name) said sorry too quickly and walked away. Like I said, its going to be a really good year.

Happy New Year!

Love, love, love
Bridge