A Quick (very quick) study in photo editing

The other day I took a few shots of some of my favorite buildings in Chicago. One of my all-time favorites are commonly referred to as the "corncob buildings". They have a formal name... although I'm not sure many people in Chicago actually know what it is.

Today, while I was going through and editing the photos, I thought that I might showcase how different treatments can really change the look and feel of the photo from tropical to retro to moody. See for yourself in the following photo transformation...

The original:


With a bit of photo editing... (pumped up colors on the left, pulled out colors on the right)
you can feel the mood shifting from happy to something completely different.



Don't these two below look more vintage and a bit faded? These two are my personal favorites.



I love how the blue in these almost changes the temperature of the photo to feel hot and almost sundrenched... like you're in Hawaii or the tropics.

Chicago 2016 Olympic Countdown

UPDATE: Barack is now heading to Copenhagen. Let's hope his star power works some magic over there!


Only 8 more days until the decision in Copenhagen is made! The city is abuzz with anticipation and I'm excited to hear what happens too. I can't imagine the excitement of having the Olympics here in Chicago. There is quite a convoy heading to Copenhagen to plead our case including Michelle Obama and maybe even Oprah. I'm thinking that Barack may just make a surprise appearance to seal the deal for us!

Keep your fingers crossed for the next few days. We'll be opening up our house for rentals during the Olympics... we're thinking of charging $2K per week. What do you think? A deal? :)

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few fun videos that the city has put out to promote the bid. Enjoy!

The 1/2 Marathon

So hubby and I spent most of the summer training for a 1/2 marathon - the inaugural Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon here in Chicago. While some of the runs were really lengthy, it was nice to get out on the Chicago lakefront path and run this summer.


We ran our last 12 mile training run near my family's house in Hudson. They have this beautiful running and biking path along the Cuyahoga Valley called the Towpath - if you live anywhere near there, its wonderful, definitely check it out. Unfortunately, I hurt my knee somewhere around mile 10 or 11. I was hoping it would heal while we were on vacation in South Carolina, but it never seemed to come around.

So, this Sunday, hubby ran the 1/2 marathon by himself, for the honor of our family! And, he did FANTASTIC. I mean, really fantastic. He got just over 2:03. Way to go! I was so proud. I have included some pics from the great day - it was perfect for the run. Cool, but still sunny.


There were tons of people out running, and cheering on the runners, particularly around the finish line. Its always so much fun.