Window Still Life

Mondays are always tough for taking photographs-- I work all day so only have my lunch break to take a few snaps (and I'm getting tired of taking random shots in my office building). The natural light coming through the massive windows in our shared studio space at school inspired these vignettes. Knowing the age of our building and judging by those layers of peeled paint, the ledge is probably 100 years old.

The shells & stones were collected by a classmate during a vacation and I picked up the little souvenir bracelet at the Randolph Street Market last weekend. It's probably from the 1960s and features monuments of Paris including the Eiffel Tower. I can just imagine a young girl on her 'Grand Tour' of Europe buying it at a little stall in Paris.

Sunday Morning in Chinatown

My first summer in Chicago I lived in Chinatown in an apartment on Wentworth. It was definitely an experience and while I much prefer my current neighborhood of Ukrainian Village I definitely miss getting iced milk tea with boba on my way to the El every morning and getting $3 pan fried noodles for dinner. It's an odd area to live as it's a mix of older Chinese families and tourists-- I never knew which I'd encounter when I stepped outside my door each day.

It'd been a while since I stopped by so on this sunny day my friend and I met up for late morning dim sum-- steamed shrimp dumplings, fried turnip cakes and bbq pork buns, yum! We also poked through the local market where the sweets tempted me as usual. This week is Chinese New Year so hope all that celebrate have a good holiday!

The Forlorn Fir

In my childhood the saddest part of the holiday season for me was having to strip our live Christmas tree of its decorations and unceremoniously dumping it on the curb. While I like the smell and the texture of a real tree, now that I live in an apartment I keep my vintage Christmas decorations up yearround including a little white ceramic tree from the 1960s, so I never have to experience the 'death' of my holiday tree ever again. (Yes, I'm not even a vegetarian but get emotional over trees, odd). Anyways, saw this sad little potted Christmas tree near my apartment's dumpster today which was especially depressing as it was still very healthy and since it's in a pot will survive beyond the holidays. Would have rescued it but I'm horrible with plants (despite being the daughter of a horticulturist!) so had to leave it there in the alley. Hopefully someone else adopted it.

Also, it's so cold here that the water freezes coming out of the (outdoor) faucets! Ah, winter.