Saturday, August 13, 2011

My Everlasting Summer Project + Changes at Bubby&Bean!

I love you summertime

Happy Saturday! Isn't there something extra-amazing about Saturdays in the summertime?

It has been such a pleasure reading the responses to the survey I posted Thursday. Your input and comments have been so helpful, and I look forward to reading more as they come in!  One of the biggest requests I've gotten is for more personal-themed posts, specifically with pictures Robbie and I have taken.  So I decided that Saturday Morning Daydreams, my weekly "themed" inspiration post, will become more of a monthly or twice-monthly series from now on.  On the weekends that I don't post SMD, I'll focus on more personal posts - starting today! 

sunflower

On this lovely Saturday morning, I thought it would be fun to share some photos that we snapped yesterday as part of what I like to refer to as my "everlasting summer" project.  As many of you know, I'm a summer girl through and through, and winters here in Chicago are borderline painful.  So for the past two years, I've taken an hour or two every couple of weeks in the summertime to explore nature (as much as I can living in a concrete jungle) and take random photos of images that strike me along the way.  When winter takes over, and I start to feel uninspired or perma-trapped in the bitter cold and gray skies, these picture become my mini getaway, and serve as a sweet reminder that the green and sunshine will, eventually, return!

sunflower bud
sunflower closeup
abandoned grotto
grotto in woods
big leaf
flowers and wetlands


I realized while posting these images that I haven't taken nearly as many of my "everlasting summer" photos this year as last.  With summer in its final chapter, I'm thinking I better try to squeeze in as many as I can in the coming weeks!

As for the survey, I'm going to leave it up for a few more days, then take a day or two to soak in all the responses.  After that, I'll post about new features and any changes we'll be making here at Bubby and Bean. (Don't worry; any changes will be minor.  Bubby and Bean has always been and will remain a creative inspiration blog!) If you haven't yet taken the quick 10-question survey and would like to contribute your feedback, just click here.  Many thanks!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of inspiration and summertime adventures...







11 comments:

  1. I love these photos so much! Especially that grotto in the woods- it looks very spooky! I am excited to see more of your beautiful photographs :)

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  2. What! You just stumbled upon that old building? Cool!

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  3. melissa i think your & robbie's photos & adventures, are just as, if not more inspiring, than your saturday morning daydreams! & i do <3 SMD. :) that sunflower kapow wow, & the earth made of stones, tucked between the trees, delight me to no end.

    http://honeybeelane.blogspot.com/

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  4. amazing pictures! and i'm glad you decided to post more of your "life". looking forward to it!!

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  5. Nova, actually I'd been there before, so we didn't just stumble upon it, but Robbie hadn't been. I had no idea what it was the first time though, and it was gorgeous but slightly creepy ;). Turns out it's part of an old seminary that was torn down. The grotto, however, remains. So cool!

    Thanks for the kind words about the photos you guys! Robbie took the sunflower pic. It turned out so vivid and striking - one of my all time faves!

    xo,
    melissa

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  6. These are beautiful! You're lucky to have something as cool as an abandoned grotto in your woods!

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  7. I am loving the pictures, especially the sunflower ones. The little hairy bud and the portrait of a sunflower :) You know, our last winter was so long and cold on the Southern shores of Norway, with waist-deep snow all along and low, low, low temperatures that we don't even want to think that summer is over in a few days. But you can tell that already - the nights get considerably cold now and although days are hot and we go round picking apples from trees with each day gone by we get closer and closer to autumn, which will be dark, rainy and unpleasant (hopefully not!)

    So, what can I say, enjoy each sunny minute and stock on vitamin D!!!

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  8. Love the grotto. How peaceful and inspirational it seems. Of course, I'd probably be tempted to clean it up! Yes, summer is beginning to wan here in Louisiana even. Of course we still have a few days, but schools are opening up and that's the first sign of fall, to me at least. Thanks for the beautiful post.

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  9. So pretty, and I'm so happy that you'll be posting more about you! I love the grotto, too. Amazing. I kind of want to get married there. If I wasn't already married and everything. :)

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  10. Thanks again for your comments everyone! We had so much fun taking these pictures, and I took some new ones over the weekend of other summertime goodness that I'll post soon. Amanda, it would be SUCH a cool place to get married!

    xo,
    m

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  11. Oooh, really awesome pictures!!! I love them!

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