Crazy Eights

I've been tagged...

Eight things I did today (yesterday):
1. Drove in to town for work to attend a prep meeting for training that ended up getting cancelled.
2. Went to the doctor
3. Had my blood drawn
4. Visited my mom at work
5. Got frustrated with a loved one
6. Stopped by Baja Fresh on my way home so I wouldn't have to fix dinner
7. Called a good friend I hadn't talked to in awhile
8. Had thoughts of killing a neighbors pet (don't judge me! If you're woken up each day at 3:30 from a dead sleep because your neighbor insists on keeping a rooster you'd be cranky about it as well!)

Eight things I'm looking forward to:
1. The day I'll have kids of my own
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. The birth of my nephew
5. Hosting Bunco in a couple of weeks
6. Seeing my cousin on Saturday (Thanks Laura, for hooking us up with tickets)
7. Having three PAID days off this month!
8. Eating a yummy Trader Joe's dinner tonight

Eight of my Favorite T.V. Shows
1. Fringe
2. Project Runway
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Ace of Cakes
5. Most anything on HGTV
6. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
7. What Not to Wear
8. Nitro Circus

Eight of my Favorite Restaurants
1. Cheesecake Factory (mmmmm)
2. Olive Garden
3. Memphis BBQ
4. Cafe Rio
5. Benihanas
6. Outback Steakhouse (big fan of their lobster)
7. Panda Express
8. Las Lupes

Chicago

Last week I had a conference in Chicago and had the opportunity to stay a couple of extra days to see the sights. Of course the first day was pouring rain and the second day was a high of 40 degrees with 50 mph winds. I could have done without the weather, but I still saw as much as I could see in such a short time period. One great thing was that it gave me practice time on my camera. I've had it for a few months, but it still feels new to me. Mainly because I don't know how to use it. So I decided to not take a single picture in "auto" and push myself to learn about the aperature, shutter speed, and ISO. I'm so glad I did this. Because I was alone on this trip, I didn't feel rushed to get it figured out. I took my time and stood in one place, taking the same picture multiple times until I finally got it right. Not that there really is a "right" or "wrong", but you know what I mean. When a picture comes out completely white or black...it's probably "wrong".

Because of the wicked weather, I spent quite a few hours inside the Shedd's Aquarium. That was a great place to test out my photog skills. It's not easy getting the right amount of light and trying to capture moving objects at the same time. I still don't have it down perfectly, but it was fun trying out different things.

I could have stared all day at this octopus. He was SO active...moving constantly. And he was HUGE. He had me captivated.

A cute little clown fish

This was a pretty cool eel that was quite active as well. He was swimming all over the tank.

As much as I love and respect the octopus, I literally could stare for the rest of my life at the jellyfish aquarium. Oh how I love to watch these animals. They're like a living lava lamp.

Shout out to the turtles

And a great school of fish.

This is Chicago. Looks beautiful, especially with the leaves turning colors and the ominous clouds. Don't let it fool you people! It's not called the windy city for nothing. It was October and 40 degrees and FREEZING with the winds.

The famous "jelly bean". Everyone calls it that, but technically I think it's called Cloud Gate, or something like that. I never heard anyone refer to it by its proper name, though. So it's the bean to me.

This was a picture I took from the third floor of the cultural center. You can see a bit of a reflection from the windows, but I thought it looked pretty neat.

That concludes our tour of Chicago...hope you enjoyed your tour.