i.arc summer 08 thesis critiques

I'm sorry I've not posted anything in about two weeks- my head just wasn't in the game.
HOWEVER : last night I went up to Greensboro to the old alma mater to see the thesis presentation for this year's fifth year summer studio, mainly in support of Whitney :)

The projects looked really, really, really great- I come in to these with a pretty harsh, judgmental attitude- the "in my day we walked up hill both ways..." kind of attitude. But I was actually pretty blown away- especially considering these people only had ten weeks to get the work done. Here are a few pictures of just a few of the 25 projects, and a group photo of everyone involved- students, faculty, etc... Suzanne, of an open sketchbook, was actually one of the faculty this year, and from what people were saying last night, she did an amazing job, so congrats to her, as well :) (suzanne- let me know if you want any of the SIX group photos I have and I'll email them to you!)

proof that things haven't changed : somewhere to sleep within the studio:

rowland and I with our little graduate :)

motivate!

These prints from Orange Beautiful sounded like motivational words of wisdom from my mother. I had to have them. Get them here.

sinfully good....

I just arrived back from Las Vegas late last night. I thought I would do a little recap of things we did when we weren't busting it to finish the black, white and yellow bonanza in time for market.

Here you go:

1. Visited the Hoover Dam

2. Had drinks at the new groovy Sushi Samba at the Palazzo

3. Checked out the model condos for the new LEED accredited CityCenter Las Vegas. They had these rad Chihuly glass sculpture reeds in the fountain outside.

Now I could go on and elaborate about these things but I think a little visual candy will do just fine. You can check out more on my Flickr site.

home sweet....

I am in Vegas right now longing for my own apartment. Or this one....on design*sponge sneak peak from Shauna and Stephen of Something's Hiding in here. If you didn't see it yesterday, you simply must check it out. It is glorious.

FLW

I just got back from Chicago, hence the no posts. Although alot of these trips are all work, no play... we busted it so we could do at least one fun thing while there.

We did the whirlwind tour of Oak Park. Which for those of you who don't know is the Mecca for Frank Lloyd Wright. We barely had enough time (after getting on the wrong train) to go to the Unity temple and FLW home and studio. On the in between, we saw a few houses by FLW on Forest ave.

We saw pure evidence what detail he shows to every project from exterior to interior with the arcitecture to the furniture. Some call this unified fluidity, I call it control freak.

However, no matter what your stance on FLW is, he is a mastermind that gave alot to modern design and he has some truly inspiring design. I absolutely loved the design concept behind the Unity Temple and the experience you got from traveling from the outside into the sanctuary. GENIUS... if you have never been, you must go!

You can check out the rest of my photos of oak park here.

craigslist dresser

If anyone lives close to Charlotte, I think this is a pretty cute little dresser for $60 - it's on craigslist here.

it's wedding season!

Sorry I've been MIA for a little while... besides being preoccupied with this that and the other, it's wedding season and I've been totally absorbed in all of the great photography to be seen from it.

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending one of our sorority sister's weddings in Winston-Salem. It was really cute- a Catholic wedding in a really adorable little church, followed by a reception in an art center, I think. It was a very-much pink + orange color scheme and the reception hall was beautifully decorated- the linens, flowers, accents, and decorations all around matched so well. All of these paper lanterns / lights were apparently hung the night before by a few people, including the mother of the bride who has a broken ankle or something! Such a trooper...



I've pretty-much decided that the second I get engaged I'm calling Mary Kate and scheduling my wedding around her availability... you know I stalk these photographer's blogs, but her photos tug at my heart like no other. Hopefully she'll be doing weddings for a long time because I haven't even found someone to marry, but I would have a wedding just to have her photograph it!

Blackberry Pearl

My new car. 2008 Honda Fit sport... I have pure love for it.

Bessie gets sold and retired... but at least they got to meet.

2 public spaces at its best

I remember in Iarc we watched this video in Anna Marshall-Baker's class about shared public spaces in urban environments. Since this video I have caught myself being way more cognoscente of these spaces.

While in Atlanta, I spotted this pretty groovy designed space near the Target in Atlantic Station. I love the vividly colored sunshades juxtaposed against the very hard lined concrete seats.

Another cool Public space I saw recently was in Aarhus, Denmark in the middle of all the shopping pedestrian streets. It has several different levels of seating spread out on the steps leading down to the canal.

surprise!

I am just getting back to Dallas from another jaunt to Atlanta, but it wasn't all work and no play.

Although it was a work trip, we were graciously given 4th of July off (believe me, this is a BIG deal) so I decided I would surprise my family by driving up to our farmhouse where they were having a big bash (found out later this was on sat. not fri.) but still got my immediate fam visit in.

Rental car keys in hand, I do not recommend the Chevy Aveo, I drove to Charlotte that night and then on to the farmhouse for the day on the 4th then back to Atlanta early saturday morn to work.

The only one who was truly surprised (as I had o give up my plan to dad and the brothers in order to see them) was my mom and aunt. It was good. Here are a few pics of the newly and wonderfully renovated farmhouse.

sandboarding

So ya know I've been checking-in on my Colorado-co-workers that are making their way through Central + South America, blogging about their experiences throughout the trip. I hadn't checked-in on their site in a while and was pleasantly surprised this morning to see that they'd had a couple of adventures to share- this is my 'living vicariously through other people' time in my life as I don't have the same set-up and ability to take off and go...

You should really check out their testimonials of how the trip's been going so far- if for nothing else than to look at some of the pictures, like these of them "sandboarding" down the side of an active volcano... unreal.

lovely color palettes

I read Style Me Pretty almost everyday (thanks to Kelley) . And although I am VERY far from getting married myself I love to read it because it is a style blog after all.

One of my favorite features is the inspiration boards/color palettes and Abby happens to have a contest going on right now for reader inspiration boards. The idea is to take a photo and make an inspiration board for your wedding (event) from it. This one is by far my favorite. Inspiration photo above/ style board below. We'll see if it changes as more entries pop up.

headed north

I'm off to Cleveland (kind of) tomorrow for the 4th with my family- I haven't been 'home' since Christmas time and feel like Jane needs to meet the rest of the fam.

I'm really hoping to get some great photos for work of a few different live-work-play communities in the area that I seem to have been oblivious to until now, and am hoping for some good ol' QT with most of the family- sadly, erin's still in Germany (weird!) showing Deutschland how we celebrate in the US of A.

Have a great fourth, everyone!

kerala : anthropologie

So, even though I'm totally tapped for money these days (who isn't?) I decided to peruse the 'home' section of the sale at anthropologie, where I saw this rug- the Kerala Semi-Circle Rug. Usually it wouldn't grab me so much, but it would look PERFECT next to my bed / in front of Jane's crate! Sorry the picture from my bedroom is blurry- its one of the only ones I had that *accidentally* showed the curtains I've got in my bedroom (also from anthropologie- ON SALE!!). It would look great in there... and for $29.99 it's a pretty good price... but with a puppy that's still working on house-training, a wool professional-clean-only rug doesn't seem too practical.

*oh well...*

spf45

I was walking this morning and the perfect breeze blew on me. I dreamed for a moment that I was on a beach vacation. Then I was abruptly brought back to reality when a DART bus zoomed by.

Since I won't be taking a beach retreat anytime soon, maybe the Urban Oasis at Za Za is a place to hang out... or if I wanna take it a lil more low profile, an inner tube, mojito, and my apt pool could work nicely as well. Don't forget the sunscreen this weekend!

i've got a visitor

I know this is totally un-design related, but had to post it. I am equally fascinated and mortified all at once. I went into my kitchen this morning to find this scene. My avocado had been ripped into. I am pretty sure it is a rodent of sorts because if you look closely you can see the scratch marks on the green part. Is it weird I find it kinda pretty?

It is a bummer because that avocado was going to be my lunch.... now for the rat poison! eek!

laser cut felt

Well, while we are on the subject of Laser Cut felt.... I think this is the perfect time to mention my lovely laser cut felt placemats I picked up in Aarhus, Denmark. Now these were about $10 a piece once converted to US$ but they were one of the few things that I bought while I was over there. I am terrible, because not only do I not remember the designer (although I distinctly remember the cashier assuring me that they were a danish designer), I don't remember the shop name either.

So... if anyone can enlighten me please! They came in several other colors, Kelley this might be a good alternative... if we can get the source.

I have found myself leaving them out on the table all the time and throwing random dinner parties because I love them sooooo much.

selina rose

design*sponge just covered this, but I was so in love with it that I had to share, as well! selina rose has a collection of 'textile surface design,' my favorite part of which is the water-cut felt products. These rugs are so, so cute- some day, when I have a loft with these giant brick walls, I'll have the money to buy one of these (not today, especially with the dollar/euro exchange rate..) and will hang it on the wall so that the brick shows through... ahhhh well... just a dream for now!

I'd never throw something like that on the floor- I have a feeling the puppy would destroy it in a matter of minutes.

mark brooke

Mark Brooke is a photographer, like a few others, who has a blog that I check... almost daily. Still forever-far from my OWN wedding, let alone engagement photos, I have an obsession with the variety of styles that I've seen in these *romantic* portraits!

Mark Brooke seems to have a vintage style in his- or at least the end result of his photos do... Not sure if it's the clothing the couple chose or the photography style that makes this session so cool, but I love it either way :)

dress season

As "plain-jane" as the Gap seems to a lot of people, I can usually find at least one or two things out of each season that I would love to have in my closet.

They just released a bunch of new dresses for the summer- I looked through them online and to be honest, wasn't really THRILLED about any, although I'm sure the fit is different in person than on the model in the photo. I do kind of like this one, although there isn't a whole lot that's special about it... still might be worth checking-out in person... I'm totally into gray these days.

Dansk Design Center

One of the things that I insisted on us doing while in Copenhagen was go to the Dansk Design Center. It was a small museum but very cool and informative nonetheless. They had an interactive Living Wood exhibit going on which was really neat because you could go up and examine the way the pieces were made.

I bought one of those little wooden birds by Danish architect Kristian Vedel (although I got it later in Aarhus because I was obsessing over it. I knew I would be sad if one didn't come home with me).

My other favorite thing that I saw at the museum was the Stingray rocking chair by Danish designer Thomas Pedersen. You can read more about it here.

Then there was the Muuto Nordic design group that I learned briefly about... this one is definitely worth some more research.

erin's trip to germany!

My little baby sister (erin- 17 yrs. old) is in Goslar, Germany, until July 11th. She just left the States yesterday afternoon and, of course, US Airways lost her luggage after a rushed connection. They stick to what they're good at, hmm?

Anyways, any tips for settling-in to a country with a foreign language, foreign food, without your own belongings for AT LEAST another day or so?

back to reality.

After spending the weekend in Hilton Head, including all day Friday, I'm feeling a case of the Mondays. Taking Jane into the ocean was, by far, the highlight of our lives together so far :)



Coming back to work today was cushioned just a little bit by an office-outing for lunch. There's a new restaurant (newER...) called Press- I've steered away from it because their website looks slightly fancier, but inside it's kind of like Dean+Deluca. Yes, that can be fancier, but we're talking GOOD food- great sandwiches, salads, etc... I built my own salad, of course, but I would've eaten any of the sandwiches listed. Check it out if you're in CLT- it's pretty good... and their signage / branding is pretty nice, as well.

lovely outdoor living

In the summer I will use any excuse to be outside. I found this image and idea from A Merry Mishap. She threw a party with her sister and recreated an outdoor living room. I think I will need to come up with a party idea to utilize this idea in my rarely used side yard.... or maybe I will just drag my chairs out there for some reading.

othello

Last night Ben and I went to Shakespeare in the park. His friend Jacob did the costume designs, and hung out with us and gave us some little insites (like "that wallet he just threw on the floor, it is an $800 Fendi I got as a gift"). what girl doesn't like tidbits like that?! We took a picnic and a rug (no blankets to be had) and sat out on the lawn for a little cultural enrichment.

I recommend this for anyone in the Dallas area for a couple reasons: 1: even if you arn't a Shakespeare buff or understand it for that matter, it is still fun to go out and have a picnic... and the custumes rock! 2: it takes you out of the city for a moment so you feel like there is nothing else going on (except for the occasional ambulance you hear in the distance).