Boutwell Wedding

I had the honor of being one of the groomsmen for Ben and Megan Boutwell's wedding. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Ben, the groomsmen, some family and the photographer all met at the Broadmoor the morning of the rehearsal to get in a round of golf. Some had played before, while others of us, like myself, were experiencing their first round of golf. Unfortunately the off and on rain squashed any desire for me to carry my camera and capture some shots. I did, however, have the pleasure of spending about 3 hours throughout the weekend talking with the photographer, Corey, about photography. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend.

Following the round of golf, I raced back down to Bloomington to grab Kari and head back up to Indy for the rehearsal and dinner. One of the meanest ladies I have ever met was running the show. She was the wedding planner that came with the church. Yikes! We made it through the rehearsal and headed off to a delicious dinner at Buca di Beppo. I love family style Italian food! :-)

The morning of the wedding was rather crazy, but we managed to all get dressed, eat and make it to the church on time. This was quite a feat as it was the first time we had managed to all be on time the entire weekend! :-) The ceremony was stressful, but it turned out very beautiful. The bridal party all jumped into a trolley to capture pictures around the downtown area including monument circle and the new public library.

The reception kicked off for the rest of the guests with a cocktail hour that included a chocolate fountain among other tasty items; however, the bridal party grabbed some golf carts and trucked around the course for some final pictures with the setting sun. By the time we made it back to the reception hall, the rest of the guests were already in their seats waiting for the meal. We made our entrance (during which I was trying to find Kari) and found our seats. Food was served not long after we arrived. The groomsmen were extremely thankful as many of us had not eaten since our pizza lunch in the hotel room. Following a delicious dinner, we enjoyed a wonderful evening of dancing, the toasts, glass clanging and car decorating. Kari and I agreed that when we get married, we want a much smaller and less stressful endeavor! :-)

Fall in and around Bloomington

Kari and I took a nice relaxing day as a couple following Ben and Megan's wedding (pictures still being edited) by driving around Bloomington and the surrounding areas. Fall is an especially beautiful time in the hills of southern Indiana. We tried to capture as much of that as we could.

This was also the weekend for the Hilly Hundred. The start point is in a little town just West of Bloomington, Ellettsville, IN. It is a great little event spanning two days and three nights with 50 miles being ridden by thousands of cyclists each day. Sunday's route has several great hills. Kari wanted to watch people suffer on the big hill, Mt. Tabor, so we trekked out there to see some suffering. Along the way we saw some beautiful farms, crazy cows, bails of hay dressed for halloween and cyclists enjoying the last few miles of their quest.

Both Kari and I wanted to check out an orchard, so we headed to Musgrave Orchards to hopefully pick some apples and sample some cider. Unfortunately, we discovered that the public portion of the orchard was only the shop where you could buy things. This was a bit of a let down, but the cider was pretty good.

Afterwards, we made a quick pit stop at Kari's to grab some supplies to snack on before heading downtown Bloomington to walk around downtown and campus. It was absolutely gorgeous! Definitely a great way to cap off the afternoon of wandering before our date that evening!

Updated Photos on Flickr

I have been trying out a new piece of photo editing software - Lightroom 2. It has been a fun experience and something that I'm continuing to improve my skills at. The photos I have previously edited using Aperture 2 will be re-done with Lightroom. Look on Flickr to see how the differences. New photos from the weekend will be posted soon.

Chicago

I've spent the majority of my life the last two days in Chicago attending the Society for Neuroscience. It provided me the opportunity to present some of my work and see what other people are doing throughout the field of neuroscience. During breaks from the conference, I tried to take some time to capture some of the magic of the city of Chicago.
One thing that really impressed me was how blue the water in Lake Michigan was. It reminded me of the lakes feed by glacial runoff in Alaska. I only wished I would have had more time to capture the city. It is such an awesome place!

Sunrise at the Lake

My cycling buddy texted me this morning to let me know he was unable to go for a ride due to family sickness. My first thought was "Hooray! I get to sleep in a little longer! Man, my bed is comfortable!" After being unable to sleep for much longer, I decided to get up and start my day. When I realized that it was still dark outside, I was certainly glad that I did. I got ready and raced down to the lakeshore of Lake Michigan to try to capture some images of the lake at sunrise. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately, I was a little late, so I did not have long before the light that I was desiring to capture was gone.

Fall in Milwaukee

Kari came to visit the frozen tundra that is Milwaukee this past weekend. It is not really that cold up here, but it sure can feel like it at times! :) We had a blast together.

We spent Saturday at the driving range with Matt and Sarah. Who knew that golf (well, whacking a ball off a tee) could be so challenging? Holy cow! Matt and I both have ripped blisters on our hands. Yikes! We then went to the local market to grab some good food to grill out. Filet, corn, baked potatoes, cherry pie! It was delicious! What more could you want? After a delicious dinner, we all just crashed in the living room to watch a couple movies.

Our Sunday started by attending service at Poplar Creek Church. Afterwards, Kari and I began our adventures throughout the hills West of Milwaukee. We were both a little hungry having skipped breakfast, so we made a quick stop at a local market to grab some munchies. There we discovered kiwi berries. I know what you're thinking. What the heck is a kiwi berry? It is a little berry that is shaped like a grape but tastes like kiwi fruit. Bizarre. When you eat one of those and a strawberry it tastes like strawberry-kiwi juice. Incredible!

After the delicious snacks, we continued our journey out into the hills. I am including some of the pictures from that journey. It was a blast! The only downside to our adventures is that time usually runs out before we run out of the desire to continue. Enjoy!

Philly Trip

Kari and I traveled out to Philadelphia, PA, and Charlottesville, VA, to celebrate my friend Nate's wedding day and visit with Kari's family. It was a blast. Unfortunately, I did not grab any photos while we were in Virginia. It was absolutely gorgeous! I am excited about being able to go back to both places sometime in the near future!

Yay adventures!

Come to the dark side. We have cookies!
And pie (pumpkin)!

Brown County

Kari and I went to Brown County State Park to enjoy a marvelous weekend in one of Indiana's gems. The leaves were just starting to turn.

First Blog

This is my first ever blog post. Have I finally crossed over into the dark side of over-communication with the internet? Holy cow!

From now on, the posts on this site will be used to detail out the adventures and pictures from our travels. I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks,

Ben