tulips

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Felt like I was in Pella, IA for a minute... 

fire hydrant

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Fire hydrant with some visual affects.

art show

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Me at the RiverFest Art Show at Raygun --where I displayed a couple of my paintings. This was REALLY exciting for me since I've never displayed anything in an art show (minus my 1st grade fruit bowl) or publicly at all. It was a good time talking to everyone else who also had art to share.

trail

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: This nature trail and I will become friends this summer.. YAY marathon!

license plate

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Saw this on a car in the softball parking lot and I loved the older/worn look to the license plate. It's just sweet.

cloud watching

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Ever look up at the sky and let your imagination run free? See the dancing ghost? Or the crocodile?

mocha

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Mocha latte that was going to get me through the day on this Friday.

train

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: The train decided to stop right here.  So it blocked the street and sidewalks over which it was supposed to be passing. Train was NOT winning.

coffee

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Late nights usually result in a need for coffee the next morning. (Awful quality due to camera on my phone and not being able to find my actual picture camera).

paste

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Molding paste on a canvas --this is the start of my next painting. I'm pretty excited to see where this one goes.. but don't want to give away too many details on here just yet!

rocks

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Walking to work and I looked one way and this is what I saw. Immediately I took a picture --the colors are very neutral but I like it. To me it doesn't look like something you would normally see in stereotypical "Iowa" either.

birds on a wire

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Birds sitting on a wire. I LOVE when they do this!

couch

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: What happens after a night of drinking..?

ice crystals

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Ice crystals forming inside of a freezer.

railroad crossing

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: The controls for the barrier that comes down when a train is about to cross a road. I like the silhouette-ness of the picture.

palette

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Colors and combinations of colors created to put on the canvas.

banana split

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: My all-time favorite treat to make at DQ (minus the banana)! YUM!

paint the rainbow

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Part of my paintin' supplies

meow

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Why is this mat outside the front door? DUH! Puffie is the most badass cat around town.

tigerhawk

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Tigerhawk design outside of the football offices on the University of Iowa campus. GO HAWKS!

marathon shoes

(pic to come)


Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Shoes that are made for running so my marathon training might go smoother. 

bonnaroo ice cream

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: I was shopping around Hy-Vee when I came across some Bonnaroo ice cream. I was amazed so I took a photo and hope they have this available the entire weekend of Bonnaroo this summer!

strike

Location: Omaha, NE
Subject: My mom, cousin, and I went to see my sister play softball. Action shot of my sister at bat.

pink pumpkin

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: Candy collector.

waterfall

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: A water pipe carrying SCORCHING (see the steam?) water burst above the ceiling in our office today. It proceeded to rain down in to our office. Chaotic start to the Monday.

clouds

Location: North Liberty, IA
Subject: With all of the thunderstorms today, there was a lot of funkiness going on with the clouds in the sky. It's fascinating that a bunch of water particles can make such weird cloud formations.

sunset

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: A gorgeous sunset.

nugget/peanut love

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: This picture pretty much sums up us as individuals, and the friendship we share. A couple of clowns, I'd say. Our facial expressions and the slight awkwardness make me laugh!

alcohol aisle

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Abundant options to drink on this St. Patty's day.. :)

airplane tracks

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: I really liked the view in the sky this morning. The sun was rising and there was evidence of airplanes that had recently been over the area. 

stadium

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: On the outside of the south endzone at Kinnick Stadium. 

on the rocks

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: A delicious margarita (on the rocks) to go along with our amazing mexican fajita dinner. YUM!

friend, artist, teacher

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: Ryan and myself when I dropped him off to Chunghi's house. He flew out to New Zealand today to finish his student teaching (safe travels!). Ryan has been very influential and inspirational to me (about life and especially with art). I wish him the best during his time down in New Zealand.

organic chemistry

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: Chemistry book. I wish I never had to look at this stuff again... but it's necessary to know if I want to do well on the DAT.

oliver

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: This is my puppy Oliver. If you know Oliver, you know how much he loves lasers. When my camera initially tries to take a picture an orange light is emitted; Oliver saw this and tried to "attack" the orange light. I captured this photo as he was pouncing on the light. Classic Oliver.

pbp

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: A Peanut Buster Parfait. YUM! Since they're currently on sale, I've been making a lot of them. I like how this one turned out (and it doesn't look so fake like the plastic ice cream in all the pictures hanging up around the store look)... and I spend A LOT of time at Dairy Queen in my day-to-day life. So why not snap a shot of some good looking ice cream?! 

easel

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Subject: This is the easel that I use while painting during my painting class. Since there are (and have been) many people that use this, there is a lot of unique and random paint colors splattered everyone on the easel. This is a close-up shot of one of the horizontal bars that helps support the canvases while they're being worked on.

blown glass

Location: Madison, WI
Subject: Blown glass. These were hanging up around the Kohl Center --and they look absolutely stunning! As much as they might look like balloons; they're actually blown glass. Awesome. 

Mad-town visit

Location: Madison, WI
Subject: Doors on the state of Wisconsin capital building (due to all of the controversy surrounding Gov. Walker). It's amazing (and awesome) to see people voicing their opinions on the matter in any way possible; I of course had to leave mine as well.

Location: Madison, WI
Subject: A protester's sign sitting outside the state of Wisconsin capital building. I had to share another since this being so widely watched and debated.

Location: Madison, WI
Subject: Again outside of the state of Wisconsin capital building. I just think it's hilarious so I had to snap a picture.


This will probably be an event that is widely remembered by many, and yet another place on my path of life that I have been taken too.

rubber ducky

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: "Rubber ducky you're the one; you make bathtime lots of fun..."

railroad tracks

Location: Iowa City, IA
Subject: A set of railroad tracks that I have crossed on many days to either go to work or hop on a Cambus to get to class; and yet another place in the world my life has taken me too.

light switch plate

Location: Marion, IA
Subject: This is a light switch place that I made one summer when I was at camp. After coming home from camp it got put up in our house. I see it daily and felt it was a good way to start my blog off of things that I encounter in my everyday life.

Off Topic Ramble..

While some people viewing this know me, there are many other people that don't know me. Here's a quick update: I recently became single a few months ago and since then I have really tried to embrace my inner [painting] artist (hence THIS blog; it can also be accessed underneath my profile on the right hand side ---->). Painting is not the only art form that I'm interested in --photography has always been something I've wanted to test out. Now that I'm single I'm also starting a kind of self-discovery phase; there are different aspects of myself I want to work on and change. While painting has been a very eye-opening experience for me.. I think it's time to jump all in and really start stirring things up.


This is where this blog comes in. My entire life growing up my family LOVED to take pictures. We have SOOOO many boxes of photos around our house; and sometimes at family gatherings we'll take a box out and go through them. This has been awesome! Not only are there some good (bad, ugly, comical, sad, etc) times that were had that are then relived, but seeing how my family and myself have grown through the years is fascinating to see. Since we have so many pictures --it's only natural that I would have a deep love for photography. 


I've decided to start another blog where I will (attempt) to post a new picture everyday for the next year (or 365 days). The subject of the pictures will be any and everything that is around me in my day-to-day life. Since I'm on a new adventure to discover a new (and hopefully improved) me; I'm hoping some of the things I encounter in the next year will be influential on the changing me. Feel free to comment on any pictures that you want. The world is a big and fascinating place.. and I can't wait to see where my life takes me. :)