BUSY BUSY BUSY

Centennial Park, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

What a weekend!

Friday evening was an engagement session at Centennial Park in Munster, IN (pictured above) with Mary & Bill.
Saturday was Ryan & Danielle's wedding in Crown Point, IN.
Today was another engagement session with Sandi & Don at Creek Ridge County Park & Washington Park in Michigan City, IN.

Each day was absolutely wonderful!

I wanted to throw up a quick recap of the weekend before I crashed out for the evening. So there you go...

We have 3 meetings in Chicago over the next 2 days. Not including the one Monica had today (I stayed home to nurse this cough I have had for the past week & to take care of the puppies).

So get ready for more & more updates coming within the next few days.

City Methodist Church - Gary, IN 10.05.08

City Methodist Church - Gary, IN 10.05.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

Yesterday I ventured into Gary, IN. with my friend Jeremy of J. Jacobs Photography (he will have his own blog soon and I will post a link so everyone can check out his great work).
If you don't know to much about Gary I will give you a quick run down from what I know...

- Once was a booming city before most of the Steel industry left. US Steel still remains fully functional but that's about it.
- 60% + of downtown is abandoned.
- Gary goes back and forth with Detroit and New Orleans as the murder capital of the United States.
- That's what I know about Gary but you can read more on Wikipedia.

We stopped at a few locations I have visited before & one new spot that I have seen pictures of before but never visited myself.

Our first stop was the City Methodist Church (pictured above).

Completed in 1925; half of the cost was given by United States Steel. The nave had seating for 950 and, during the congregation's heyday, there were nearly 3,000 members. By 1973, that number had dwindled to 300. The congregation left the building in 1975, and it was used brieflly by another congregation. It was abandoned in the early 1980's and ravaged by vandalism over the ensuing years. A fire in 1997 did considerable damage to the nave, basically just leaving the walls and some ceiling
From City Methodist we traveled over to the Post Office & then to the Sheraton Hotel.
The Gary Sheraton Hotel opened in 1978, went bankrupt from lack of business within 5 years and closed in 1984.
And to finished of our day in Gary we visited what used to be Union Station.

Overall Gary is a very interesting spot to check out. If you do decide to venture out that way please BE CAREFUL & don't get caught. A lot of the buildings we entered are falling apart & are not safe at all.

And as usual you can check out the rest of the pictures on my FLICKR page.

BANE 10.04.08

BANE 10.04.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

Last night I packed my car full of friends & made the drive up to Milwaukee, WI to see BANE.
I haven't seen Bane play in about 5 years so the trip was extra special for me.

On the way we stopped at Soul Vegetarian East on 75th & Indiana to grab some food. If you haven't been there I highly recommend it. I have taken quite a few of my friends who are not vegan & they loved it.

You can see the rest of the pictures HERE.

If you are interest in more info about Bane check out the following...

Bane on Wikipedia
Bane on Myspace

Furry Friends 09.29.08

Furry Friends 09.29.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

So today at 1:05 I sit down in front of our new tv, turn it on and go to channel 9 only to find out that the White Sox game has been put on a rain delay. So instead of going back to the cleaning that I had been doing earlier that day I took out my camera & popped off a few shots of the furry friends that live with us.

You can check out the rest of the pictures HERE.

Right now we have 2 dogs & 2 cats.

Diamond, a black lab & pit bull mix. Probably the sweetest dog on the block (unless you are a squirrel then sadly you are being chased across the yard). We found her at the Michiana Humane Society 2 weeks before we closed on out house. The Humane Society was wonderful enough to hold her for us & we actually picked her up right before we signed the papers on our house.

Lilly, the grey tabby. We picked up Lilly from the Humane Society about 2 weeks after we got Diamond. To be honest she is kind of lazy (like most cats) & if someone enters the bathroom she has to be in there also & will cry until you let her in.

Saffron (we call her Saffie), is a puggle. Unlike most puggles who are half pug & half beagle she is 3/4 pug & only a 1/4 beagle. Monica & I were grocery shopping one day when we ran into some friends of hers & they mentioned that they had puppies & if we were interested we could come by & take one home with us.

Ginger, the orange tabby. Ginger is another Humane Society rescue & is probably the strangest cat you will ever met. I have woke up early many mornings to her sitting on my chest & licking my face.

South Shore Train 09.25.08

South Shore Train 09.25.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

Long time no blog... Things have been really busy around here.

In Michigan City the South Shore train runs right down the middle of 11th street. I was driving around town and it was stopped so I hopped out of my car real quick and snapped a few shots.

I only posted a few but of course you can view the rest of them HERE.


We also purchased a new car yesterday. A 2007 Toyota Matrix!
I will snap some pictures of that soon and post them up here.

JERSEY SHORE 09.11.08

JERSEY SHORE 09.11.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

Long time no blog...

For the past few days we have been relaxing in New Jersey and New York City with some awesome friends.
Our friend Tom took us to Point Pleasant, NJ the other day where we walked along the beach and Monica swam. I of course brought my camera and popped off a few shots here and there.

You can check out the rest of the pictures here...
http://flickr.com/photos/xchriszx/sets/72157607264768184/

NYC is a wonderful place and if you haven't checked it out you need to ASAP! Great food, great records stores and just the overall feel is awesome.

Monday we are going to a White Sox vs. Yankees game at Yankee Stadium!

We are out here until Tuesday then we make the trek back home to Indiana.

Last night we shot a great wedding for Joe & Stephanie in Basking Ridge, NJ. I will get some of those shots up very soon!

Dan & Nikki 08.31.08

Dan & Nikki 08.31.08, originally uploaded by xChrisZx.

Quick Update...

This past Sunday Monica and I were lucky enough to shoot a wedding with out friend Robyn from Studio R Photography.

The day started out at the Embassy Suites hotel and then moved on to the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

If you haven't been to the Gardens you need to check it out. It's such a beautiful place.

I have a few posted on my Flickr page and as usual they can be seen here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xchriszx/sets/72157607093557073/

I will have more pictures from Sunday and from out Saturday wedding posted very soon.