E is for Exceptional Beauty

Are you ready for another round of Alphabe Thursday? Let's go!

This week I'm featuring examples of exceptional beauty right here in the city of Milwaukee. No, not all of them are in the heart of the downtown, but it is amazing just how much beauty you can find in a very urban area. Enjoy.

I know that I come back to it often, but it's a classic.

Milwaukee Art Museum, September 2013

Milwaukee has a lot of beautiful old architecture.

Downtown, April 2013

Riverwest neighborhood, May 2013

Holton Street Bridge by Lakefront Brewery, May 2013

Whitnall Park, May 2013

VA Grounds, September 2013

Klode Park, May 2013

McKinley Park / Marina, May 2013

Boerner Botanical Gardens, June 2013

Menomonee River, September 2013

Greenfield Park, October 2013

And finally, I know that I continue to share this picture over and over again, but seriously. Does it get much better than this?

Grant Park, August 2013

Check out what the other Alphabe participants posted for the letter E this week right here!

New article:
Winter Themes and Units for Preschool, Pre K, and Kindergarten: Lesson Plans, Activities, and Crafts

photo share: Madison

Jake and I took a short trip to Madison, WI at the end of last month. We were only there for a couple days, but it was great to get away for a little bit. I'm still going through my photos, but here are a few of my favorites.

Henry Vilas Zoo

I did get a few pictures of the animals, but my favorite pictures are the ones that I took while looking at the zoo from across the water.

Wisconsin State Capitol at dusk

Wisconsin State Capitol at night

inside the State Capitol

from the Capitol observatory level

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Have you ever taken pictures in your state capitol?

* Have you entered my huge photography giveaway yet? If not, go check it out! *

C is for Chicago

Are you ready for another round of Alphabe Thursday? Let's go!

Many of you know that I'm from Chicago. I've been taking pictures of it for years but have only gotten back there a few times since I got my SLR. Jake and I had a little time to wonder Millennium Park and that area of town this past weekend before we saw Book of Mormon. I took an almost completely set of black and white photos. Enjoy.

 

Check out what the other Alphabe participants posted this week for the letter C right here!

why I love my new neighborhood

The neighborhood that we lived in out in Iowa was functional.  Most importantly, it was clean and safe so it was a good place to live.  We liked the area because we weren't right next to the university but were only about a 15 minute drive from downtown Iowa City.  However, the neighborhood was very boring.  All of the houses and condos were built within the last 10 years and most have no character whatsoever.  We were lucky to live in a brick building with the view of a pond.  That's about as exciting as it gets.  The other things that drove me nuts were that 1) the garages could face the street so you constantly looked at rows of garage doors and 2) there are whole stretches of the same type of building (i.e. 10 townhouses in a row).

Our new neighborhood is also clean and safe.  It's much more urban so we can't take the long, winding, quiet walks like we did in Iowa, but we can take city walks instead.  And the neighborhood has so much more character.  With that being said, I thought it would be fun to take pictures during one of my walks and create an inspirational walk post.  Any of you who craft know that inspiration can come from a wide variety of places.  Architecture and nature are definitely included.  Enjoy!

There are lots of houses with bay windows.

There are also lots of houses with rounded doors.  How cute is that?  I don't think I'd ever seen this before.  And there are tons of them.  There are at least 7 within 4 blocks of our house that I didn't photograph.

There's a lot of awesome stone work as well.  Bricks are great but the stone work is even cooler.

Some houses have both bay windows and round doors.

great corner lots

There are a few random houses that I love for no particular reason.

 How adorable is this?

 I love these little windows.

This house looks a lot like ours.  I hope that they have the awesome layout inside that we do.

EtsyBloggers, does anyone remember the fence posts?  Most fences in the neighborhood are chain links or plain woods, but this was different.

We live pretty near a big city park.  I know that this still looks very urban (and it is), but it's nice to have that little touch of nature nearby.

lawnmower patterns on the grass

 I also took a couple funny pictures.  Green Bay fans, we hope?

This house belongs in Iowa City!