Without Further Ado

Didn't Mean to Lie

I made everyone open their gifts last night so that I could take pictures today and obviously it is dark outside and I still haven't posted any pictures.

The day was filled with frisbee golf for some and buying fabric for curtains in the guest room for me. No one seems to like the red sheet we hung up over the windows because during the day it looks like a little slice of hell from the inside and then at night we are sick of people ringing our bell thinking that we are "open for business" (if you know what I mean) .

So after I bought the material I dropped off The Mom and went to a work meeting. That my friends is how I spent the sunshine. Maybe tomorrow we'll have show and tell.

The Unveiling ... soon

For the last 3 months I have been sewing on our Christmas presents. We gave everyone a handmade item this year so I haven't been able to really show the internet what I have been been making because I would ruin the surprise. However, the majority of my family is coming today so tomorrow I'll do a little show and tell with the presents.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a great new year.

Surprisingly Empty

Joshua and I hit Home Depot today to get a medicine cabinet for the master bath. I expected the place to be a mad house but there were maybe 20 cars in the parking lot.

Once I stopped and thought about it - of course it would be empty the women have already bought and wrapped the Home Depot gift card or power tool and all the men that would normally be frequenting the store are at retail stores realizing they got nothing for their wives.

I talked to my friend who works at Anthropologie and she confirmed that in fact that is where all the men were today.

I'm the Constrained Type

Right now I am taking a break from writing script treatments for a client. Over the last 5 years I have figured out that I'm a pretty creative person which before I didn't think was possible since I like math. I'm very rarely a "sit down with a blank sheet and be creative" kind of person, but I am creative within constraints. I need a topic and then I can come up with a crazy idea to teach that topic, or I need someone to throw out an idea and then I can morph it into something better.

I often wish I was the blank sheet type but today I'm enjoying the constrained creativity I'm getting to play with. Plus, I just need to team up with a blank sheet creative and then we are an unstoppable force ... like Superman ... or the flu.

The Visit

Joshua's cousin Jeremy was in town for a few days. I really enjoyed having him here because he and I have never hung out longer than 2 hours. He is quite the opposite of Joshua. He is very outgoing, talks to strangers at bars and will drive to watch sports.

While he was in town they drove out to Goodlettsville where their grandparents lived. It is pretty sad because there is a Dollar General in the front yard of their house now, but they also drove out to visit their grave.

Joshua's plan for finding their headstone: drive around and look for it. Jeremy's plan: go ask the front desk. Two points for Jeremy's plan.

Finally

I've waited five years for a client to NOT say:

"we're thinking very traditional, maybe colonial or french country style"

Hear me say I have a large appreciation for and am heavily influenced by architectural history and traditional "styles". However, what I really love about architecture is letting designs evolve out of a combination of the owner's desires, their personality, respect for the site and it's context, ideas of building responsibly (green building, site impact, building orientation/configuration), the function of our built surroundings as a motivator of form, etc., etc., etc.

Sorry for the architectural nerdery, but I love going into the design process with no pre-conceived ideas, so this project has really been a breath of fresh air.