purple alliums

There's something about allium flowers that grabs my attention each time I see them. I don't know if it's because I'm in awe of how perfectly round they seem to be, or if it's the bright purple color of the petals.

I made a special trip out to Windsor Button in downtown Boston a couple of days before our trip to Chicago because I just had to get some skeins of Manos yarn for a striped scarf project so I could work on it during the plane ride. A scarf? Made out of wool? Yes. And you're working on it in this heat? Yes. Well, mostly at work where it's quite frigid because of the air conditioning. But yes, during the summertime. I know, crazy but Christmas is coming! (<-- that was supposed to be funny ...)

So, where was I going with this? Oh yeah ... so I made this special drive out to downtown Boston and actually managed to find a parking spot (thank you, parking angel!) next to the Public Garden. I went along and bought the yarn, and then on my way back to the car decided to take a quick stroll through the garden. Why not, right? It was a gorgeous spring day, I didn't have anywhere to be in a hurry, and I could use the exercise.

Oh, and the alliums were in bloom!

So pretty. So tall. So purple. So spring. So step-carefully-over-the-chain-onto-the-grass-for-a-quick-photo-opp worthy.

And it was also nice to see so many people out enjoying the weather. I loved this scene of the swan boats at rest.

Of course, as I write this -- fashionably (?) late mind you -- I look at these photos I took a couple of weeks ago and our park just pales in comparison to what we experienced in Chicago. More from that trip to come soon!

TGIF!

engagement photo shoot ~ sabrina & sean

I got to do my first engagement photo shoot last Saturday with Stephanie's sister, Sabrina, and her fiancee, Sean. They were in town from Maryland for the weekend and were kind enough to let me practice my photography skills for a couple of hours. Aren't they a cute couple?! They were super sweet to work with and in the end, extremely patient with me as both camera batteries decided to die (note to self: next time bring a hundred backups!), and tolerated the cold temperatures when I asked them to take their coats off.

We started off at the Public Garden in Boston. I love this shot of them mostly because of how Sabrina is laughing at something that he said. The drooping tree limbs and leaves are so pretty in the background.


Then we moved over to Commonwealth Avenue. I have to admit, I wanted to shoot this shot simply because I loved Sabrina's purple heels!

They wanted to go for more of an urban feel so we went over to the South End and took a few shots on the steps of a brownstone, and then in the middle of the street.

This was one of the last shots of the day, and it turned out to be one of my favorite (isn't it funny how that happens?). By this time we were all exhausted from walking around and of course, the cold didn't help. Luckily we had dimsum at Myers & Chang to look forward to afterwards, too!

It was great having Stephanie along as an assistant. She took some photos of us during the day, so it was interesting to see that perspective. This one cracked me up because you can see the little black step stool that I brought along to make me seem more "normal" height. LOL

You can see more photos from the shoot here. All feedback welcome. Interested in doing a photo shoot? Email me at candice [at!] shortcakescraps.com. :)