chicago+indiana

It is with so much excitement that I can recap my trip to Chicago and Indiana; I've had a whole week to process it all.

Hazel and I had much quality pillow talk time (wherein I always fell asleep first, of course... so sleepy).
I spent Monday with the fabulous Lara Casey, Emily Ley, and Gina Zeidler, doing the hard work at the Making Things Happen intensive and really figuring out what matters most to me and how to get to where I really want to be, and I'm proud to say that I'm on a track that I'm choosing for myself, and I am officially open for business as Caitlin Hamilton Photography! big doins... I owe my "get it!" attitude change to the 30 wonderful women who shared all of themselves with me and allowed me to share myself with them.

 Saw some wonderful, fabulous people I haven't seen in years, Joe and Helen, AND got to meet their incredible daughter Jules for the first time.  Spent some real quality time with my friend Wes for the first time in years; we went to the MCA and both found contemporary art that we didn't hate and that we understood (goal accomplished!).
Hazel convinced me to get my first haircut in 5 years (OMG), and afterwards, I bought some bright pink nail polish on a whim that was just so bright and happy.
I mastered public transit, while looking great.
I got to see Jill and Devin, SUCH a treat. We ventured to the botanical conservatory and to deep dish pizza and shared so many laughs... so wonderful to fall right in with them like we never left each other.
Hazel took me to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, where she does research (because she is AWESOME!) and I gotta tell you, I fell in love with it. I'd love to shoot there someday. It was seriously the most PERFECT fall morning... I had me time without a phone or a camera and it was just incredible. Walking through each section was like walking into a different world every 10 minutes.
Went to Indiana to ride the Hilly, race bloomingcx, and see so many people I have missed so much.
Bakehouse Breakfasts, talks with Alycin, quality time with Teddy, Jim, and Linda, and so much chamois time. The gracious Lyle both feeding us at Scholar's Inn and allowing us to dance up a storm at his house while dressed in Halloween Costumes... his generosity continues to astound me.

I have it all.
Reconnecting with all of these fabulous people helped me so much to reconnect with ME, which is so so so important and I'm forever grateful to have had such a perfect week with you all.

There is so much to say about Chicago.
So much. I can't even believe it's real and it's only been 2 days.
Pillow talk with hazel and her wonderful cooking.
Lara, Gina, and Emily facilitating the most incredible change yesterday in me and 30 other people at MTH.
Lara saying to me, "be you, because you is AWESOME."
Making hard decisions.
Meeting 30 wonderful women just like me.
Mastering public transit.
Meeting Wes, and Joe, Helen and their SQUISHABLE little Julesbaby for dinner last night.
Cocktails with Wes at the Whistler.
So many hugs given and received.

Today, the rest of my life begins.
... and I gotta tell you.... it looks pretty wonderful.

Thank you, Chicago.

my nyc.

this is my personal new york. the view from the 35th floor, the best shower in the history of planet earth, another from my Francesca buzz, and watching celebrity ghost stories and eating crumbs cupcakes with rachel, and the best ferry ride of all time. i did a lot of things, but these are the memories that stand out the most. not your average "i went to new york cityyyyyy" photos, i know... they're just for me!

a fabulous afternoon spent at the louisville crit. for all my midwestern people, the colorado louisville is pronounced totally different... it's "lewis-ville" instead of the kentucky louisville, which is more like "luuahhvull".
just one for now.

My favorite Fridays

the first friday of every month is pretty much my favorite friday every month.... the little velodrome in boulder holds a pretty great evening of racing, complete with beer from the wonderful Oskar Blues brewery just outside of boulder. it's always a good time with good people, and i must say, one of my favorite events is the kids' race... it's almost as good as putting down dollar bets on the races at the bloomington speedway (ahem, geraint)!

enjoy highlights from my favorite friday evenings.































also, i realize that i should be doing more photo-ing of race things.

roommate field trip to celestial seasonings to take the factory tour (hairnets required, obviously)!

what a great way to spend a snow day. it snowed 20 inches and we took the factory tour instead of lounging at home.
looking at the photos, it seems i was more enthralled with all the people i was with than with the tour, whoopsy. sorry i'm not sorry! emerson was the big winner of the day; he was well-versed in celestial seasonings trivia and was given a calendar for it!

emerson's 22nd. a good night all around.



since moving, i've discovered how important holidays are. we aren't around our families (both our first families and adopted cutters family!) since we live so far from them, and it's really easy to forget about making special days special or to gloss over them and think that it can't be a special day without our whole family around. i've realized it's so important to celebrate birthdays and national holidays (even today, valentine's day) to help those days stand out and create memories.... maybe it'll spur me to make every day a holiday.

here's to today being special.

a man asked me at work the other day what my New Year's resolutions were. i was abruptly hit with the fact that i don't have any.

i'm going to spend a little time doing something that i am very good at.... and that's focusing on the past. 2011 has been a hell of a ride.

[january]
i really had it with indiana. the weather, some terrifying medical testing, and a serious lack of travel all contributed in a big way to what I would consider the worst month of 2011... it really is all uphill from here, i'd say. it wasn't all bad, though.... alycin organized the fabulous roll n bowl evening, so much love. the roll n bowl was the highlight of my january:


[february]
i hit my milestone birthday, the last one for a while... i turned 25, and my friends threw me the best surprise birthday party; i just love having all of my favorite people in the same place! among other things, i forged an important bond with one of the kids at the shelter, met our fabulous wedding planner, morgan, for the first time, and decided, once again, that math really is not the subject for me. february favorite, a night spent with friends at the vid:


[march]
my talented friend, emily, wrote a play that depauw university's theater department decided to stage. it was my serious pleasure to visit greencastle and see it live, and celebrate with her afterwards. erik and i took some us time and visited asheville, north carolina, and knoxville, tennessee. march was a great month!



[april]
what can i say about april? it's always one of the best months of the year! little 500 happenings: another cutter win, another big cutter family celebration (AND teddy's first birthday bike ride!). it would also turn out to be the last team rev race, so happy to be coaching in the pit for them.

[may]

april really set the stage for may and the rest of the year, because may was just full of more celebrating. the stewarts got hitched and graciously allowed me to be part of their day, i got to shoot an event for summit city bicycles, erik and i went to arkansas for the second year in a row for a big race, and we sent mike off with a bloomington-style upland goodbye when he moved back to chicago.

[june]

june was a hard month, but still a good one. june saw the departure of more of my nearest and dearest friends... caroline and clayton moved off to colorado, and kristen moved to phoenix (but not before goodbye packing slumber parties and goodbye boats on lake monroe). june also saw most of erik's racing (and i saw the least of erik!), including nationals in Georgia.

[july]

let's be real, july was a serious blur wherein all i did was take care of anything and everything wedding related. we also had a major land-lord induced mold-problem that caused a last-minute move, so july was a whirlwind. ricketts visited, though, a july bright spot! July also saw the annual Bloomington crit, and the going away of another part of our Bloomington family, Hank.

[august]

i mean, august was a banner month, everyone i love (with the exception of very few) was all in one place to celebrate erik and i getting married. august was the beginning of something really grand! this is from our fab photogs, nate and amanda reynolds:

[september]

my fabulous friends kelly and josh got married in september, and it was fantastic!! september was also spent anxiously anticipating our visit to see caroline and clayton in colorado. little did we know, once we got there, a job would plop into erik's lap and we would become colorado residents when october hit. the ball was rolling really fast in september.

[october]

we tied up loose ends, and i did my best to say goodbyes to everyone inindiana. this may be the hardest thing i've ever looked forward to doing. and in october, i'm not gonna lie, i pretty much regretted moving for the entirety of the month. i struggled to find a job and feel in any way at home, even though we had fabulous roommates and were living next to mountains.

[november]

i started assisting carrie and we shot our first wedding together. every day of november was better than the last, and i got hired at the YMCA right after spending a few days in colorado springs for friendsgiving with caroline, clayton, mike, and kristen, and renee.

[december]

december saw our first murried christmas, and also the first without any family. i got promoted at the Y, and, most importantly, i finally started to feel like i fit in and colorado was really home. welcome to my home.

that's enough backward looking.

2012 is going to be the best year yet, and i am so looking forward to it.