Too busy to post!

I've been really busy at work, so I haven't had a chance to create any new posts. Sorry! I'll post a new one as soon as I can.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of Wingnut drinking from the sprinkler:

Visiting the Atlanta Zoo

Today we went to the Atlanta Zoo with my sister-in-law's family. It was our first time at the zoo, and I'm glad we went. Overall, we thought it was a pretty good zoo. It would've been nice if it had been a little sunnier and warmer out, but what can you do?!

The flamingo exhibit is at the entrance to the zoo, and I was amazed how much they look like pink lollipops when they're sleeping:

We walked through the African Plains section of the zoo, which houses the meerkats, lions, giraffes, black rhinos, zebras, and gorillas.

The lions were really fun to watch - especially the two young ones who kept playing and fighting with each other.

How sweet is this?!

The next exhibit housed the giraffes, ostriches, black rhinos, and zebras. It was cool, but the animals were really far from the fence, so we couldn't see them quite as well.

The gorillas were pretty amazing to see up close:

We saw some cool birds in the Tree House exhibit, and then moved on to the Asian Forest exhibit.

The Asian Forest section housed:

• orangutans (look closely at the second guy - that's his face all smushed up in the dark area of the picture - so weird!)

• world of reptiles

(water drops on snake skin)

• pandas

• and tigers

Most importantly, we learned that the Asian Forest houses a Chinese Wingnut...?

Ohh...that Chinese Wingnut:

We finished out by visiting the kangaroo exhibit and petting zoo...

...and ended the day watching two elephants fighting in the African Plains exhibit (the elephant in the picture was the bully).

Crocheting

I'm a hooker...yes, I know...it's shocking, but true! Okay, so I'm not a lady of the night, I just crochet (using a crochet hook, get it?). I started crocheting in 2005 before my nephew Corbin was born. I learned how to make baby blankets, booties, and all sorts of cute baby stuff.

(my first baby blanket)

My nephew Lucas was born later that year and I made him a bunch of funny hats and cute winter clothes (I had a lot more free time when I was just starting work in '05):

(Yes, it's a snowman hat)

(and a Hershey Kiss hat)

My favorite is making personalized blankets for the kids in my family. I'm hoping to make one for each baby born on my side of the family. The one for our 7th-nephew-to-be is in the works, so I'll post pics once it's done.

(Lucas's sailboat blanket)

(Alex's truck blanket)

I love crocheting...it's just hard to find the time. I have A LOT of unfinished projects at home!!

Photography

I love photography - I've always loved it. I don't necessarily know a lot about it, but I learn as I go along. I bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi a few months ago, and can't put the thing down. I take pictures of everything. Our dog, Wingnut, is even getting camera shy lately...I just can't stop taking pictures of him - he's so photogenic!

I have three lenses for my camera: the Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS kit lens, the Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM lens, and I just bought the Canon EF 100mm Macro USM lens. I'm really excited about using the new lens more. I tried to go out to our backyard this weekend to take pictures of our flowers, and got some cool shots:

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some of my favorite shots. I'm curious what you think about them. There are some that I love that I know are just "blah" to other people - so I want your honest feedback!

My first blog!

So this is my first blog...and I have no idea what I'm doing. My sister and I were talking about ways to release my creative energy, and she suggested I start a blog. I've never even looked at many blogs, so I'm really unsure about how to start.

I guess I'll start with my background. I'm a patent attorney, so I spend most of my day learning about new technology, drafting or prosecuting patent applications, or working on litigation matters. I'm almost always using the left side of my brain at work; even when I need to be creative in something that I'm drafting, it's creativity controlled by logic. So when I get home at night, I'm itching to actually do something more creative.

"Creative" to me just means using more of the right side of my brain, but it's still always controlled by the left side. I lack the ability to come up with an idea from scratch and run with it, so I typically focus on craft projects that start with some basic instructions, and I can be creative from there. I love doing origami, crocheting, scrapbooking, photography, and baking, and I use these as my creative outlets as often as possible.

So my goal for this blog is going to be to post information about my latest project with updates as I progress, and I hope to include some archives of projects that I've done in the past. I'm always open to comments or criticism about my work, so please feel free to share!

Hope you enjoy it!

...and you might be asking yourself, 'why the name of the blog?'. I've been Chichi (shortened to "Chich") since I was a baby, and this blog is all about Chichi - me!