A Moment of Happiness

I have been a really foul mood lately. It's quite the funk. I blame it on the weather, I blame it on work, I blame it on having to navigate through my first week of Invisalign in which I realized I can no longer snack or drink coffee with ease.

Instead of all that though, I'd like to share something with you that is making me very happy right this moment.

It's this:

This photo was taken Sunday morning while I spent a couple hours hanging out with a family I've gotten to know over the past couple months. These three little miracles came home a week ago, and it was an absolute joy to capture them. It was hands down one of the most enjoyable mornings I've had in a while.

I hope to share so much more from this session, but it might be a while since my free time is in short supply these days.

I used to come home from work every night to then sit on my laptop for a few hours. In fact at one point I remember making the declaration that I was going to institute a self rule that my computer must be off by 10 p.m. And it was a really hard rule to follow that rule. Mike was in the habit as well. So many nights we sat side by side on the couch, each on our respective laptop many times with the TV on as well. I called this dueling laptops.

Sometime around the start of this year, I stopped doing that. it was as if a switch flipped and the very last thing I wanted to do was spend one more minute staring at a computer screen, even if it meant being creative and sharing photos that I'm very proud of. I just didn't want to do it. And for the first time since I started this blog almost five years ago, maintaining it started to feel like a chore.

That is the last thing I ever wanted this blog to be. It was supposed to be a creative outlet, and suddenly I felt void of any creativity. Or the times when I did, I was simply to tired to put thought to keyboard. 

It was around this same time that my job became the most demanding thing in my life. I started working more and wanted nothing more than to come home and zone out. What little energy I had was spent making dinner, doing the dishes, staying on top of my laundry and every once in a while picking up the phone when my mom or sister called. I admit I dodged their calls way too often, but I was exhausted and didn't really have much to say beyond "I'm working a lot."

My work schedule is still in hyper drive, but I'm managing with it and finding ways to not let it become my life. And even though I'm finding more time, it doesn't mean it's being taken up by blogging. The more time goes by, the more I realize I am OK with that.

The truth is, I'm not really sure what to do with my little corner of the Internet any more. I started this blog with the intention of keeping an active, current record of my writing that I could hopefully turn into a freelance career some day. Those dreams have long since dissolved. This blog then in a somewhat surprising twist of fate became the thing that launched my photo career. But I'm not really sure how much I want to make this a blog strictly about my photography. And at the same time, if I do want to make this a blog about my photography, I need to spruce up my blog platform significantly. I read a ton of photo blogs and this one doesn't live up to the caliber of what I think of as a good photo blog. Also I am not really sure how much of my life I care to share with the world any more. As such, at the same time I've stopped blogging, I've also kind of stopped using Facebook. Oddly enough, I've become more of a Twitter user despite being adamant that I didn't see the point in it for so long (ahem Kelsa and Lexi).

What does this all mean? I don't know. This isn't some grand going away declaration. I'm not closing up shop over here. But I also can't say how often I plan on updating. Who knows, maybe now that I have this off my chest the ideas will start flowing. I just don't see that happening though. As much as I used to make sitting on my laptop a part of every night, I've now done the opposite. This isn't a part of my every night, and I'm not itching to make it that again.

I do want to say though that my 365 project is pressing on, so even if I'm not over here, I am still providing glimpses of my daily life over on Flickr.

Touristy Stuff in NOLA

Mike and I stayed right in the heart of the French Quarter when we were in New Orleans. Our hotel wasn't too far from two of the city's biggest attractions - St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Park. Both were worth photo-worthy and luckily in very close proximity of one another.

St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest continuously operating church in the United States. The first church on the site was built in 1718; the third, built in 1789, was raised to cathedral rank in 1793. The cathedral was expanded and largely rebuilt in 1850, with little of the 1789 structure remaining. Also, it is beautiful, day and night.

St. Louis Cathedral sits right next to Jackson Square, also called the Plaza de Armas, so the view of the church from the park is a great one, although the square itself also is pretty beautiful.

Not too far from the Cathedral and the square is Cafe du Monde, a New Orleans institution, famous for is Cafe au Lait and bignets. Holy mother of God it is a good thing I don't live anywhere near this place. I would eat bignets every single day of my life. If I could I would eat a whole plate of them right now. As you'll see below I have a bit of a bignet problem.

I don't want to necessarily say the next thing we did was touristy, but several people did ask me when I got home if we went to the lower ninth ward. And we did. I hadn't been before so it's not like I had much to compare it to. The devastation was very apparent and certainly lingering, but it wasn't everywhere. We would see a home that was boarded up and caving in right next to a well kept home with a manicured lawn.

But it was easy to forget about the parts of the city that looks like that, when we were surrounded by the parts of the city that look like this.

I've still got a little bit more to share from my NOLA trip. And yes, I am saving the best for last.

Also, I know I haven't blogged about it for a while, but I assure you I am still doing my 365 project. You can find my entire set here.

Living Easy in the Big Easy

Mike and I arrived in New Orleans at 9 p.m. on Thursday. By the time we checked into our hotel on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans Streets we were exhausted but hungry. Mike lived in New Orleans for a summer during his late teens and thought he remembered this really good burger joint just around the corner. His nose remembered because we walked right into Yo Mama's at 10:30 with the intention of getting a burger and a beer.

We stayed until 2 a.m.

New Orleans at night has a way of doing. It sucks you in, allures you with its loud music, blatant debauchery and easy access to booze. So it was that we spent our first night in New Orleans drinking late into the night and walking Bourbon Steet with people of various levels of sobriety. It was good people watching. And Yo Mama's was good conversation with the locals, so we couldn't not stay out. It was as if the city was beckoning us to walk its streets, listen to its music and eat its food. So we did. And we didn't stop for three days.

This is the interior of Yo Mama's. If there ever were a bar that was made for my Mike, it was Yo Mama's - home of the famous peanut butter burger. Yes, peanut butter on a burger. I highly recommend it to round out a night of drinking.

As we found out though, New Orleans looks slightly different by the light of day - quieter, with an old world beauty.

Of course, it's still New Orleans so even in the light of day there are still signs of the 24 hour shenanigans taking place in the city.

This picture after all, was taken on Bourbon Street at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. I don't think any part of Chicago is this active at 4 p.m. on a Sunday.

While food and booze is the cornerstone of any NOLA vacation, what really made the trip for me were all of the street performers. Any time of day in almost every corner of the French Quarter, there are performers of all types - full bands complete with drummers and dancers, tarot card readers in Jackson park, duos of fiddlers with dogs and solo guitarists with their cases open and filled with hard-earned, and well-deserved money.

On Saturday night, Mike and headed out without a destination in mind. We wandered the city and started out at a German Jazz bar on Bourbon Street. We ended the night in the back room of a bar that housed a mid-sized concert hall, and one of the best Cajun bands I have ever heard. We danced until they finished playing.

By Sunday, we were heavier and more rested than we were when we arrived. It also was 65 degrees and sunny which was a most welcomed temperature. Remember, Mike and I had braved the Chicago Blizzard of 2011 just a few weeks prior. We wandered the city and at one point laid down in Jackson park for 20 minutes. We baked in the sun because we could.

On our way to get brunch that morning, we passed this man gently strumming "What A Wonderful World" on his guitar. As we walked by, Mike dropped some money in his case and I smiled because I couldn't help but think, it certainly is in New Orleans.

More to come. This is only a small taste of our wonderful trip.