Day 197

I don't know how to make this about something that I love, but we're going to try.  I've been bitten and I think this might be the culprit.  It woke me up in my sleep and in the morning I had blisters on my toe.  All this heat means I have my windows open and the enormous amount of fruit in my apartment means I get flies.  Gross.

What I love: Here it goes...I love fruit and the colors in this painting, and the fruit leather I made and sacrificed my toe for.  Also, I love the window I stood by that looks out at the bus stop.  So many interesting people don't know you're watching them and it makes for a good show.  This sounds really creepy, maybe it is, but try it sometime, you'll see.

Day 196

Another trip downtown.  I'm kind of digging this painting because of the colors, the line, and the shapes.  It reminds me of a watermelon, which I'm also kind of devouring every day.

What I love: Experimentation that brings creative awesomeness.  Really though, I'm learning to love my trips downtown on my own even if it means I wander around the same intersection over and over trying to decide if the tiny blue dot on my phone is moving in the right direction.

Day 195

I spent a lot of my Sunday driving downtown to drop the husband off somewhere and I saw a lot of these signs...

What I love: Driving downtown on a Sunday where there really isn't a lot of traffic.  I do not love traffic.

Day 194

I call this one "Berry Delight."  Some of our friends are doing that Whole30 craze and invited us over for a birthday celebration.  Coconut whipped cream, berries, and toasted coconut are delicious.  I have 2 cans of coconut to make my own(but I'll probably add sugar).

What I love: Berries--also friends who introduce us to new things like food, places to go in the city, Burgerfest, Uber, etc.

Day 193

This one strangely reminds me of the ocean.

What I love: The release doing these paintings gives me.  It also gives me a certain amount of stress, but also release.

Day 192

I have recently become obsessed with watching the watercolor just move on the paper.

What I love: This kind of reminds me of the lake front from above, but really I just love painting today.

Day 191

"Really?"

Yes really, I'm still playing.

What I love: I love watching the color spread in a water color painting when you paint wet on wet.  I love that it starts as this tiny little dot and then expands and creates these amazing shapes.  Also I love that it's unpredictable.

Day 190

"This has nothing to do with Chicago."

You're right, but I got home and I was feeling some abstract painting and I sat down and just played around with my paints.  Since it's my blog and project I get to take the liberty of not painting what you would expect all of the time.

What I love: Relaxing days just painting.  I'm finding this project more relaxing which I also find interesting.

Day 189

You thought I was done with fireworks, eh?

I thought Chicago was too--but it's not.  It's never done.

What I love: I have officially survived one year in Chicago and while I still really hate some things about city living I can say that I find it more tolerable than I did before.

Day 188

Before the husband left for art camp we took a trip to Miko's Italian Ice.  It's only my favorite summer dessert stop, now especially since I figured out I am lactose intolerant.  Luckily they have pills for that or I would be missing out on some delicious Chicago ice cream joints.

What I love: Summer nights devouring delicious sugary, fruity treats with the husband and his lil' sis.

Day 187

We rearranged the lobby of our church to make it look more homey and it really is.  People sit out there more...which I'm not sure is always a good thing.

What I love: The wonderful diverse group of people I go to church with.  They really make my Sunday incredible.

Day 186

This one is the design on my newly acquired rug.  I wasn't going to buy it, but it makes me happy having it sit here in my living room.

What I love: That my apartment has room for a rug.

Day 185

Oh the Fourth of July.  Independence Day was a trip out to the suburbs for one of the most impressive fireworks shows I've seen.  Though that night the ENTIRE CITY OF CHICAGO tried their best to try to beat it.  Apparently no one cares fireworks are illegal even though Chicago has burned itself down before...I'm just sayin'.

What I love: Being close to the husband's family and I really love snuggling up with Noah on a blanket and watching fireworks.

Day 184

Doesn't this look so comfortable?  Since moving in to our new apartment the husband decided with all the extra space(we have extra space!) that he would hang a hammock.  We have both unfortunately fallen out of it since it's installation, but my buttocks are healing nicely and it makes for the most divine naps.

What I love: I'm not sure I would have ever hung a hammock in my house had we never moved here.  I'm kind of loving it and think we should have more hammocks in our future.  The husband is convinced we need a swinging bed.  I think the cinder block bed will have to do for now.

Day 183

I got in to town and I got on a train to head down to a doctor's appointment downtown.  I realized that I have never painted a train in Chicago, which seems strange to me, but without further ado...ta-da!

What I love: Since arriving in Chicago I have loved riding the train.  I just love the people, the noise, not really the smell, but otherwise it's a fun experience.

Day 182

This is a sculpture that hangs in the Midway airport.  Can anyone guess what lake this is from below?  The sculpture is a topographical model of the bottom of the lake bottom.  You can read more about it and see the model here.

What I love: Someone thought I was from here, which I found to be kind of amusing really and asked what this was.  Luckily I have the husband who is well versed in all things sculpture related and I was able to tell them.  Again, such creative people are here in the city even if it's for a short time.

June in Review

So for June's review you get TWO PAINTINGS!  You are so lucky.

This first one is a painting not of or in Chicago, but one I did sitting in the middle of a river in New Mexico.  Man I just love Chacos and that they made it possible to walk through the frigid mountain water to sit on the rock I painted this from.

And now you can see I was pretty busy being behind in June.  Luckily I'm all caught up and ready for July and August.  September through December might be tricky, but I'm pretty determined.

Day 181

Some neat architecture for you.

What I love: I really do love the architecture and while downtown isn't my favorite I do enjoy seeing the incredible ideas people come up with.  Chicago really is a very creative city.

Day 180

This is the husband's favorite bike shop and they've always been good to us.  Here's a shout out to SmartBikeParts.com.

What I love: It's bike season and I love riding my bike in the city to get from place to place.  It's almost just as fast as a car because I don't get stuck in the same places as cars do.  Also, sometimes I magically become a pedestrian.

Day 179

This was kind of a neat photo because of the glare from the sun glinting off the shiny tiles of the building.

What I love: I've kind of loved painting from someone else's eyes these last two weeks and seeing the city from a different perspective.  One more painting and you get to see what I see all the time.  Lucky you!

Day 178

Today was a picture of the crazy storm Chicago got and the husband rode his bike in part of it until deciding he wanted to see me at least one last time; so he took the train instead.

What I love: This gray sky, it was really neat.  I'm not a huge fan of the flat gray sky that sticks around all winter, but this one is pretty cool.

Day 177

Today's painting started out promising and then...

What I love: The variety of architecture even if I can't paint all of it very well. :)

Day 176

I think this was another photo that was not really intended to be painted, but I just couldn't resist.  During his internship they created tiny 3D sculptures of their faces and this is his.

What I love: His face and how tiny this really is.  It's like the size a small mouse.

Day 175

I had to resort to larger paper and it's throwing me off.  Most people think these paintings are huge and I thought I should clarify.  I do not attempt to paint regular size watercolor paintings everyday.  This may change how impressed you are with me right now, but the previous paintings were about 4x6 and the current ones are about 5x7.

What I love: These windows on this building.  I loved right away the color contrast that I saw when I got the picture.

Day 174

So while I was gone he got to go to a cubs game without me.  I think I'm a little jealous.

What I love: Chicago's die hard fans who never give up on their sports teams.

Day 173

Today was apparently a rainy day in Chicago.  He said he didn't want to send me a photo because it was boring...

What I love:  ...but I love trying to paint rainy streets.

Day 172

I kind of love this one.  Today's photo was of flattened squid from the Thai festival he saw.

What I love: The diversity in the city.  I kind of actually wish I had been able to go to this festival.  One of my roommates served an LDS mission in Thailand and I've always been curious to learn more.  Love the food...most of the time.  I'm not sure I could do flattened squid.

Day 171

Oh guys, I know he NEVER intended for me to paint this picture, but it was just so cute I couldn't resist.

What I love: His new iPhone case that's bright pink and blue.  He got it from a friend who was moving and he sent me the photo and I just couldn't resist painting it.  He does actually use this case, he switches off with the other girly one I brought back. :)

Day 170

This is a building that ended up in a picture that the husband took, but I'm sure didn't really intend for me to paint it.

What I love: Even though I'm not the one taking the picture, I'm the one painting.  It makes for an interesting idea.  Are you seeing Chicago through my husband's eyes or his eyes with my lens?  I'll give you a moment to let your mind recover from that idea. :P

Day 169

Another view from a skyscraper downtown.  This one is of the fountain in Millennium Park.

What I love: Seeing Chicago the way that someone else sees it.  This city can be experienced in more ways than one.

Day 168

This guy is a view of the lake from one of the buildings downtown.

What I love: I do love the lake and I really wish I had a boat.  I recently have created this fantasy of graduating and buying a boat to sail around the world in.  I would begin with the Mediterranean.  Any sponsors want to fund two poor artists?

Day 167

So it turns out that I skipped town for two weeks and obviously could not paint things that I personally saw while away.  So I asked my husband (who by the way loves the city of Chicago) to help me out and take pictures of things he saw here in the city while I was away.  The next two weeks are from his experiences of loneliness while I was away.

What I love: This image is from our new apartment.  I love that while I was away he was busy hanging all of our pictures on the wall so that when I came back our apartment would feel more like home.

Day 166

Today we spent the day exploring Nauvoo and I spent the day in Keokuk at the hospital with a concussion.

What I love: Visiting places with so much history and although I spent most of the day at the hospital I got to spend it with friends and people who care about me.

Day 165

Today was a trip out of the city.

What I love: I love camping even if you do have to pay for it here.

Day 164

Love the little corner stores that we can get supplies for our journey to Nauvoo.

What I love: The diversity in Chicago.  The diversity in the places we live, the places we eat, the places we go.

Day 163

A day out with friends downtown before I left means cupcakes and falafel.

What I love:  All the different foods that I get to taste living in the city.  It was my favorite thing when I first moved here, and it continues to be my favorite.

Day 162

Of course an empty apartment means DANCE PARTY!

What I love:  Who doesn't love a good dance party in a tiny apartment with a disco ball.

Day 161

Today is the last day of school for the year!  Thus, our end of year party and I'm finally a full-time teacher again.

What I love:  The camaraderie that being a teacher brings and how lucky I've been to work with so many wonderful people.

Day 160

Today was a sad day because of friends actually left.

What I love: That while I still love Utah I have found some lovely friends here in the big city.

Day 159

Today was a trip to the burbs to see the husband's family before I left.

What I love: The garden and that the siblings-in-law did such a lovely job of taking care of it while I went away.  We have a feast of peas and cabbage.  Just wait until the zucchini comes in...

Day 158

Today we actually moving day, but then we went downtown because my sister came in to town to help with the move.  It was exhausting and lovely all at the same time.

What I love: The fountain in Millennium Park.  It really is such a neat sculpture.

Day 157

Today was a going away party for some dear friends.  They've moved away to D.C. and we will miss them...and the delicious meats they smoked.

What I love:  Besides the people, the food, I love that summer is kind of sort of finally coming!!!

Day 156

Oh dear followers, this is partially why there haven't been so many posts.  I moved and it's been wonderful and kind of disorganized.

What I love: Having approximately 632 more square feet to live in and so much more light.  It makes my life about 1,000 times better.

Day 155

Today we had a thing swap with some friends from church. :)

What I love: My new shower curtain and the lovely company of so many ladies.

Day 154

Today we went to a play put on by elementary students and it was excellent!

What I love: That I have such lovely friends and how impressive this play was!  I especially love having friends of all ages.

Day 153

I thought you guys might enjoy another view of the church.  It's kind of weird and neat building.

What I love: I love the variety of buildings in Chicago, especially the churches.  They are so interesting and unique.

Day 152

Oh you thought I had stopped painting did you?  Proved you wrong!

What I love: This little belly and sister that put the star on it.