Twelve

Today is my birthday. Twelve. A small number, young compared to most of the bloggers whose blogs I read. But I like the number- 1 2. 12.

We celebrated my birthday by going to the biggest museum in our state, driving almost two hours to get there. That was yesterday.

There was a small (pfhthhh-not very)butterfly garden at the museum, with species of butterflies from all around the world. With my dads SLR camera being conveniently located in my hands, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. Okay, 200 pictures. But here are the best:

 I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to create stunning bokeh (for those of you wondering, I NEVER shoot automatic, but I didn't have to do much too get these pictures. And none of them are edited.)

 There were butterflies EVERYWHERE. It was amazing, a totally captivating sight.

 Just you look at that bokeh!(!!)

 I know that this photo is horrible/ has lighting issues, but I posted it because, in my opinion, this was the prettiest butterfly. What do you think?

 Upside-down Butterfly :D

This one has the most majestic sapphire wing tips. Beautiful

 Poor broken-winged butterfly.

 bokeh ^

 Another beautiful one.

Those sponges are filled with nectar, I think.

With my dads SLR, I also took some pictures of my presents. I got a gift certificate to Paper Source:

 Beautiful, right?

I also got this little cute stuffed animal I've wanted for a while from Toy Story Three (I'm a bit of a disney lover) They're so cute! I love them!


Today I am twelve.

~nina

what I bought in chicago

I apologize for the lack of posts- I didn't have my memory card in my camera, so I couldn't take pictures. I want to show you some of the things I bought in Chicago, as well as tell you about some of the best stores we visited.

We went to Paper Source, which is a very cool store that sells notepads, stationary, pens, cute things and PAPER! Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and- well, you get the point. I blew $12 on paper.

We also went to Ghiradelli and I bought 10 dollars worth of chocolate. There where flavors that I had never heard of before, like Carmel Latte, and Pumpkin Spice and Sea Salt. These two are the only ones I still have left ;)

The last place we went to was LUSH, which sells soap and bath bombs. It smelled really nice in there, and the staff where really nice, but you should take into account the names of the soaps where highly inappropriate (m might find that amusing, if she looked through the website...) I bought a bath bomb, and it smells fairly good. Like candy...

Okay... So heres a list of nice stores in Chicago (that you should visit):

Paper Source

If you are in Chicago (or any other place with a paper source store) you must, must, MUST visit there... the paper is beautiful and high quality, although expensive and the gifts are hilarious....... (if m and/or kaden are reading this, they should look at this... hilarious)



Argo Tea Cafe

When you are shopping for Christmas gifts on Michigan Avenue (a. k. a. The Magnificent Mile) and get cold, you should come here. It's just off of M A and the tea there is amazing! Don't make a special detour just to go there, but if you are passing it, definitely go! I had a pumpkin spice chai latte and it was amazing! I also bought some loose tea, and I love the Hibiscus Apple (which you can also buy online!)




LUSH

With this store, you can buy everything online, too. I loved the smell of there soaps/ bath bombs but remember what I mentioned... the names of soaps are gross. They give demonstrations of how the bath bamb and things work, and all in all, LUSH is an .......  interesting place.



Ghiradelli

Of course, you've probably heard of Ghiradelli, but their stores also serve ice cream, hot cocoa, and unique flavors. I recommend the pumpkin spice caramel chocolate... yum!



Of course, we visited other places, but those where my favorites.

~nina

c.h.i.c.a.g.o

 favorite! ^