My life right now

This week (month) has been fraught with the trials and tribulations of being a professional architect, mainly those associated with licensure.  It’s been such a complicated process that I thought I’d make a little venn diagram (inspired by this blog) to help describe the mess.

 

Now that I’ve got that off my chest…

I’m bummed that I won’t be able to enter The Washington Post annual Peeps Diorama Contest because we’ll be out of town this weekend and it ends on Monday, March 1st.  But, I can’t wait to see what comes of it.  The past years have been beyond impressive.

Flaming House

Would you ever guess that the room above part of a home in Oklahoma City? It's a remodel for Flaming Lips member Wayne Coyne who grew up in the area. The whole place is as unique as the bedroom and you can see more of it here. The architect is Fitzsimmons Architects, an OKC firm who has some other really neat non-OK style homes like the OKasian house. Thanks to Kids Prefer Cheese for bringing this to my attention.

BLOGOVERSARY

It's my one-year blogoversary! Can you believe it? I can't. Thankfully, it coincides closely with my own birthday (the 23rd of February) so it's hard to forget. I'll be back tonight with a proper celebratory post.

Cheese isn’t actually structurally sound

Behold

Looks like paradise, right? But wait, is that a potato? And salmon?!! Take a gander at the work of Carl Warner and his foodscapes here. Yes, that is all real food. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s an image of Carl at work on some processed meat.

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. And thousands and thousands of calories.

Where I would like to be...

Since it's snowing in Virginia again, I thought I'd share my wish with everyone. I'd rather be here, lounging by this pool, sipping a cold one. Click on the image for its source, a blog about "Los Angeles Real Estate for the Design Conscious". Sign me up!

Some sweet stuff online

Yep, we’re pretty socked-in with snow right now.  And there’s more on the way.  I am trying hard to not think about snow as jail, but it does feel a little bit like that to me.  Certainly not what I anticipated when moving to Virginia.  I know, it snows this close to the Mason-Dixon line, but generally not this much.  I think I know what those Minnesotans feel like each winter, without all the appropriate gear and expertise.

So, this weekend was filled with working on some home projects (yay spiffy closet!), sewing, eating hearty food, watching Rudy enjoy the snow, and of course internet-browsing.  I’ve been wanting to share a few sites with you, loyal readers.  Some I’ve known about for a while, and some I’ve recently found and just must share as my mama always taught me to.

Young House Love.  Have you seen this blog?  I think I am behind the times on this one (I usually am) but these people are pretty much my idols.  They bought a sweet little 50s ranch house outside of Richmond and have been renovating it for the past few years, blogging about it, and turning that into their full-time job.  Incredible.  I don’t always agree with their style, but I love that they give full-on tutorials of most of the projects they’ve tackled, complete with their mistakes, photos, and what everything cost.  They’ve been featured on numerous websites, magazines, and are now contributors to Better Homes and Gardens Do It Yourself magazine.  Sheesh.  So I go there every so often and check out what they are up to, though I still haven’t added them to my Reader.  I’ve got a little bit of blog-reading guilt (read:  I probably spend too much time reading about other peoples’ lives) so I’m very picky about what I add to my Reader.  But I’ll probably add YHL soon.  It’s addictive.

Ten Dollar Drawings.  I can’t remember how I found this site, but I heart it.  I will definitely be asking her to make me a drawing for $10.  I just need to decide what I want drawn.  Ideas?

SpringPadIt.  Another one I’ve known about for a while but finally took the plunge and set up an account last week.  Previously, if I found a great website, I would either keep it up as a Tab for weeks (okay, it’s still a habit I’m trying to break) or email myself the link.  But with SpringPad, you can keep track of all the cool things you find online, and categorize them.  So far, I’ve set up a recipes file and one for potential blog material and various other things I’ve come across (mostly through Apartment Therapy).  It’s been great to have all my links in one spot, and I don’t have to freak out if my tabs are closed unexpectedly. 

Hope you check one of these out sites.  Let me know if you do.

Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum

Last weekend we had a friend in town, and despite the snow storm on Saturday, we made the trek into D.C. to spend the afternoon at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I have to admit, this museum hasn’t been high on my list to visit.  It’s one that though I wanted to experience, I knew it would be emotional and other D.C. sites always seemed to take precedence.  But my friend requested this museum, and frankly, it made a lot of sense to go on a snowy day.  The bitter weather of the day ended up being eerily appropriate for the subject.

I am still in awe of the experience.  I had no idea the museum was so well-designed.  It opened in 1993, before great design was really on my radar, so I never really knew what I was missing.  It was designed by James Ingo Freed, and as far as museums go, this was one of the best I have ever visited.  We spent three hours there, only in the permanent collection (there is a current exhibit there about Propaganda) and I think I read almost every placard.  I learned an incredible amount in such a short period, and I was emotionally drained.

There’s no photography allowed in the actual exhibits, but I was able to snap a few of the transitional spaces, which I think are really important to the impact of the museum.  This museum was really well-conceived.  Even on a snowy, winter day, there were a lot of visitors.  It’s not technically their high season (which is from March to August when passes are required) so I was amazed at how many other folks were present.

Without further adieu, here are some of my photos.  These next few are from the light-well in the center of the building.  Again, the snow was strangely appropriate when thinking of the conditions of the Holocaust.

This one is looking down into the lower entrance level.  I couldn’t get over those guys in uniform (see below, on the stairs).  I thought they were character actors from the time-period and I was trying to figure out what the uniform might be representing.  I finally asked one of them where they were from.  Turns out they go to West Point and they were at the museum on a field trip.  Whoops.

You see all these roofs from the walkway in between the levels, and incredible reminder of the many European cities affected by the Holocaust.

I wish I could have taken photos of some of the exhibits, but all I can say is that if you have time in D.C., this is a must-visit.  I’m really glad we were convinced to go.

Here are a few other photos of the snow in Alexandria this week, as I brace for the impending blizzard this weekend.  Maybe I’ll get to blog some more, but only after I dig myself out of the closet I plan to reorganize tonight.  I would show you “before” photos, but I’m too embarrassed of its state, so I’ll just blame the poor lighting conditions.

The one above is my office, and that loading dock leads to the Ice House, which back in the day used to store ice.  Now it stores old drawings.

 

New York in pictures

My friend Brandy went to New York last weekend and, being the incredible photographer that she is, took some stunning images of the city.  I told her they were very architectural, but hey, why put labels on things?  Oh yeah, cause I have that little labeler tool on the right that helps me categorize my babbles. 

Check out the photos here, at her blog Modern Toile.  And I wasn’t exaggerating about her being a photographer.  She is.  You can hire her.  Please tell her I sent you.