Chicago & More...

Last weekend, I spent Saturday through Monday at a fabulous workshop in Chicago.  It was amazing and I learned so many new things...from traveling by train to applying an urban edge in my style.  I flew out early Saturday morning and barely made my flight (no thanks to security).  Luckily, a man with a golf cart asked me where my gate was and if I wanted a ride.  Once I showed him my boarding pass he told me to hop on, as we needed to hurry!  I was the last gate in the entire airport so I would have been walking FOREVER. 

Within a couple of hours, my flight landed in Chicago at the Midway Airport.  I was not familiar with Midway, as I normally would fly into O'Hare, but this is all there was available on such short notice.  From there, I took the Orange Line train into downtown Chicago...but not the downtown Chicago you are thinking.  Let's just say that I was quite nervous when most of the people around me had exited the train and I realized I no longer had any idea where I was going since I was told to exit the Orange Line at Roosevelt, board the Green Line, and then get off at, what I thought the man said was, "Ashton."  His English wasn't the best and while sitting on the train I noticed train stops for the following, "Ashland, Adams, Addison, and Austin."  All I could do was remind myself to look confident.

Although I was scared to tell a man who approached me where I was going, I took a chance and it ended up being the best thing I did.  I decided to get off on Ashland and started walking North.  As I walked through silent streets, past a couple of homeless people, and down an alley, I decided it was time to take a taxi...but there wasn't one.  All of a sudden my phone GPS told me to turn left in 150 feet...I almost cried tears of joy because I forgot I left it on and when I looked up I was standing at the street I needed to be on.  As soon as I turned the corner, I saw several other women getting out of their taxi's at Pro Gear Studio.  Relief at last!!!  Later, when I shared my adventure with a few of the women, Laurie told me I should have had a bullet proof vest on because she is very familiar with the area I was in.  I guess the Orange Line has a reputation as well.  Thanks to more luck, Laurie brought me to my hotel that night and then picked me up and brought me back each day for the entire weekend, as she lived just 5 miles north of my hotel.  I will forever be grateful for meeting her!

The rest of the workshop was just as exciting...in a different kind of way!  I met so many awesome people and other photographers.  We were a small group, but that made the workshop even more worthwhile.  To bring an end to my workshop weekend, Brianna and I shared a taxi to the airport.  It was fun to get to know her on a personal level.  She is such an inspiring photographer and I am so thankful that I got to participate in her very last workshop.  

In the next couple of weeks, I will be making many changes to my business.  In the mean time, I am catching up with editing, finishing up senior sessions, and beginning the holiday rush of family photos.  It is MEA break for us and I am enjoying the time off from work.  Jadee took off too, so we decided to forgo any commitments and to just do whatever.  Although I still have a ton of photo work to do, we have enjoyed extra time with the kids and each other too.  I have done a little cleaning and organizing around here...but definitely need to do more.  We have seriously outgrown this home!

To close, I did some pictures of the kids yesterday for our holiday card.  These are some of the out-takes.  It is SO HARD to get a picture of my kids!  I always wonder how it is that I can photograph other families and their kids, but not mine.  Whenever I upload pictures to my blog, I greatly decrease their quality to save on time...so these aren't the best but I thought they were kind of funny.