My sister flew into town last weekend to do some babysitting while That Husband and I flew to Dallas for a weekend hosted by Company X. She did a fabulous job taking care of T1 (as we knew she would) and as a bonus she took great pictures of whatever he was up to while we were gone.


Side note: T1 *loves* his daddy. He far and away prefers daddy to mommy, and his favorite thing to do is to grab this particular Polish storybook off the shelf and bring it over for TH to read to him.


I die!


I adore the face he is making in the picture on the left, and on the right you can see one of his favorite ways to kick back and chill. Both of these were taken by Shay and I love them.

My grandma made me this hat, but it’s somehow become a dress-up item for T1. He loves running around the house pulling it off and on.

My sister flew in on Wednesday, we went grocery shopping on Thursday, Friday-Sunday we were in Dallas, and then on Monday we headed to downtown Chicago for some exploring and shopping. Being a tourist with another photographer is THE BEST. You walk around taking lots of pictures, and no one complains when you need to move 10 steps to the right because the light is just a little bit better. :)

Have I shown you guys my haircut yet? I’m loving it. And I know it’s cliche to be holding a camera in your profile picture when you’re a photographer, but I made that photo on the left the profile picture on my photo blog.

Shay’s photo on the left, mine on the right. I prefer hers because it includes a really cute baby.

Most of our time was spent trading off taking pictures of each other.

She has always been the better model.

I had an idea for a cool short movie someone could do. Go to the Bean and record what people do when they get close to this one-of-a-kind sculpture. Adults become like kids again! I think it would be a really fun video to watch.

Sadly, that photo in the middle is the only one we took of the two of us together in Chicago. It’s fitting that it’s in the Bean though, right?



We liked this spot because of the way the reflections look and the nice light. I wanted T1 to get out of his stroller for a few shots, but he wasn’t having it.





I tried to do some “model type” poses like my sister did above, but it just isn’t really my think. My hand looks like a claw.

This is much more fitting for me. I hate having things touching my neck and whenever I have a high neckline I’m constantly tugging the fabric away from my skin. :)

After our time downtown we went over to the Wicker Park area to do some thrift/vintage shopping. It was a Monday so several of our first choices for shopping were closed, but we found several winning pieces at Buffalo Exchange. I drooled over some Louboutins for $50, but they were a size too small. Shaylene walked away with a gorgeous pink leather coat, and I picked up a brown wool trench that I know I’ll be wearing (and loving) for years. Dinner started at Native Foods Cafe (we had the Saigon roll, very good) and ended with a take-out pizza from Lou Malnati’s. I thought the pizza was good, but not worth the hyped up price tag. Meh, I think I’m an artisan food type girl now.

I loved having Shaylene here and I’m thrilled she was able to experience Chicago with me before we left. It might not be the place I like living, but I do think it’s a really fun place to visit and host people in!

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