Anna Maria Locke

life lately

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Well hellooooo! How is June treating you so far? Three days in, I'm a fan.

My blog friend Blair is hosting a weekly link-up for "life lately" posts, and since those are the type of posts I normally do anyway since I am always trying to play catch up on the blog, here's this week's re-cap!
(If you have a blog, click here to join in!)

Sidenote: I will say that FINALLY getting a smartphone has made it so much easier to take photos throughout day to day life! Most of the following snapshots are straight from my new obsession Instagram.

Sidenote 2: Also, I noticed that most of my pictures fall into five broad categories: flowers, food and drinks, zoo animals, Etsy projects, and landscapes. I guess those are some of my favorite things!


First category: flowers!

one // Gorgeous tree outside my office. What is this type of white flowering tree? There are two kinds of common trees with white flowers around here: one that smells really bad and one that smells good. This one did not smell bad. Is it a type of pear tree?

two // A huge lilac bush/tree in my neighborhood.

three // Redbuds at the zoo! One of my favorites.

four // A stunning rosebush I pass on my morning runs. Seeing and smelling flowers makes it a lot easier to get up and out first thing in the morning! I'm trying to get in a routine, and this week's fitness obsession is Tone It Up for workout inspiration and healthy recipes!


Second category: food and drink. Noms.

five // Honey Nut Cheerio snack. I can't really eat cereal in the morning because I'll be hungry again in like half an hour, but I love eating it as a snack or dessert! Ben is obsessed with Honey Nut Cheerios. He's eaten them almost every day for basically his entire life. A huge box is always a staple in our house!

six // Okay, this picture deserves its own entire post. This is a loaded Pimm's cup cocktail, and it's my new favorite drink! Remind me to share the recipe!

seven // Sangria on the patio. It's still not quite consistently warm enough for outdoor dining but Ben and I gave it a shot the other weekend.

eight // Delicious banana-cranberry-oat muffins! Again, I should do a recipe post for these. If I can get my blogging act together.


Third category: zoo animals!! Everyone's fave.

nine // Okay so our zoo has an awesome meerkat exhibit, but they are the TUBBIEST meerkats ever!!! I am certain that they're being fed a balanced diet, but still. Adorable. They're the most curious zoo animals and will always run up and stare at you. There's also always one meerkat on "sentry" duty, standing on a boulder and surveying the territory.

ten // Humans in Lincoln Park. Hey, we're animals too.

eleven // My all time favorite zoo mammal--the fennec fox!! They only weigh around 3 pounds, and are a shy, nocturnal desert dweller. I want.

twelve // One of my favorite birds, the Black-necked stilt. Their legs are longer than their entire body.


 Fourth category: an assortment of Etsy projects and scenes from work.

thirteen // My current favorite scarf in the shop.

fourteen // A gorgeous view from an event I was working on Saturday. I have to work a lot of Saturdays since the zoo is open 365 days a year, but I don't even mind since the setting is so beautiful and fun.

fifteen // Farm in the zoo! I love this picture because it combines my two homes: rural Illinois and urban Chicago. Plus flowers :)

sixteen // A gorgeous custom wedding envelope liner design I've been working on!


And that's all for now! Thanks for hosting this link-up Blair!

What have you been up to lately?