Art Show :: Vivian Maier :: AKA :: Super Fun Family Adventure

We took a trip into the city today to see an art show in the city at the Chicago Cultural Center, which is the coolest place ever, of course when living in the city I never once stepped foot inside.  Gosh.  So a recently discovered street photographer, Vivian Maier, had her works on display.  Vivian Maier was a street photographer from the 1950s - 1990s. Vivian's work was discovered at an auction in Chicago where she resided most of her life.   Her discovered work includes over 100,000 mostly medium format negatives, thousands of prints, and a ton of undeveloped rolls of film.  I so recemmend you hop over to see some of her images on this blog, maintained by the individual who owns the rights to 95% of her photos and negatives.  The picture of Vivian below was pulled from his blog. 

So we enjoyed Vivian's pictures and then the rest of the cool stuff we found housed in the Chicago Cultural Center, like this light.

And this phone.

And this ramp with the most unique lighting.

And this mostly empty room where I am thinking they host parties. 

Want to know what we're looking at?

This super cool glass ceiling.

Beauttiful, huh.  I love this pretty building.

Oh and we found this super sexy wedding party.

Then we hopped over to Millennium Park to see CloudGate or better know as The Bean.

Family Photo :: Four People Twelve Times :: January Edition

Husband captured all these cool shots of the kids checking out their reflection.

Then we headed back across the street to the cultural center to eat our "picnic lunch".  They have this cool room on the first floor referred to as a "library" it is filled with books for one to read while they are visiting the center.  They had a children's corner filled with books for kids. a corner dedicated to writing, filled with writing books and just the coolest old tables.  We weren't expecting to eat in this room but when we arrive back at the center the tables were filled with people eating sandwiches, we joined them.  During the week, there is live music in this room at lunch time for locals to enjoy while they eat their sack lunches. 

Image of me taken by A.

Then we headed to a local camera store so husband to check a Leica, just in case we win the Lotto or find a sack of money in an alley. We looked in this one but didn't see any bags of money, we did see a dead bird and some guys loading some weird equipment into a truck.

We ran into this super friendly police officer who wanted to make sure we were staying warm.

So the camera story, Central Camera, is Chicago's oldest camera story and like I said, husband has been dreaming about a Leica, and well, you can't find a Leica at Target, you've go to go all the way into the city to this little camera shop about 25 feet wide and a mile long.  I don't think they have redone their window display since....forever.  The shop happens to been on Wabash, which also happens to have the El train running overhead.  A and G didn't want to go into the store because they wanted to watch the trains go by. So, husband, went in to shop and I stayed out front and watched the trains with the kids for like ever in 15 degree weather. I offered the kids many times, the chance to go in and get warm and angrily refused.  I would say about midway through our train watching G started asking for ice cream.  What?  It's FREEZING!  Then A started greeting people with this super strange noise, it sounded sort of like a long drawn out heeeeeeellllllllloooooooo.  It was super interesting to take note of the people that replied to her with a hello or a strange noise of their own. 

Central Camera also happens to be the shop where Vivian Maier frequented.  Cool huh.  The shop keeper said she was quiet.....she had a quiet camera and she was a quiet girl. 

After leaving the camera shop we stopped at the McDonalds on the corner for ice cream.  Upon finding a seat, G became really worried, "Mommy, they have too much gluten here. We can't eat here."  I love that he was looking out for his sister.  I assured him that there was no gluten in the ice cream and that both he and A could enjoy it.

I am happy to report that our trip to the city today cost us $2.00, if you don't count gas, which I don't.  I am on a little January spending hiatus put into action for a couple of important reasons.  Reason number 1 : We (I) have been spending lots of money the past few months, doesn't everyone feel super overindulgent after the holidays, I do, plus we had a buch of big expenses hit at the same time this fall, so I wanted to save a bit of money this month.  More importantly, reason number 2 :  I am making a conscious effort to "downsize", to streamline our household, to become more minimalistic.  We have a lot of stuff and I am examining that for myself and our little family.  So, with the exception of grocery items, gasoline, charity, medical expenses (PT) and photos (I can't not print, but heck, photos 15 cents each).  I know I am only eight days into this little hiatus but I am enjoying the process of looking at how and when I spend money.