Category: Travel

March 2nd, 2010

Ocean View

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I still miss Blueprint magazine.  I own all nine issues, and I still refer back to them.  Last month, Kirsten at Simply Grove blogged about a house tour originally featured in Blueprint, that is now available at Martha Stewart.  So, I pulled out issue number three (the best issue, btw) and read the article.  My favorite picture is the one above, I love that beach scene!

The oversize photo was take by the house’s owner, Tosca Radigonda, at an Italian beach.  Ms. Radigonda is a professional photographer, but a Google search leads me to the conclusion that this work isn’t for sale.

All of my Google searching led me to the work of Massimo Vitali, who has made a name for himself with his own photographs of Italian beach scenes.

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This photo is listed for 25,000 Euros at the gallery that represents him.  I don’t even want to convert that to US dollars.  Actually, it would be cheaper for me to buy a fancy camera, fly to Italy, and have my photo enlarged.  I find it so frustrating that a photograph can go for so much- was the negative destroyed?  This is why people roll their eyes at high end art.

Regardless, the photographs of beach scenes are very inspiring.  Who doesn’t want to think about a sunny day at the beach?  I wonder if the beaches of Seattle would look this good…

Photos via Martha Stewart and Bonni Benrubi Gallery

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February 19th, 2010

F.L.L.W.*

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Taliesin West.  I’ve been there.  I’m someone who has been inside of a Frank Lloyd Wright building.  I’ve seen pictures and video of different buildings, but you need to go inside of something he designed to get the whole story.

We took a 90 minute tour, which is their most popular, and for good reason.  Our tour guide, Diedre, gave a great presentation, and wasn’t afraid to tell the whole story (like, Frank could be a bit of a jerk-face).  We got to see all around the house/ campus, and even got to go inside the living room and bedroom.  They don’t allow photographs inside either of these rooms, because people were selling unauthorized photos online.  They do have a postcard of the living room in the gift shop, which I snatched up.

There are heaps of books and films devoted to Mr. Wright, and so I don’t really feel it necessary to go on about how amazing his work was.  Oh, and I’ve decided that I will become a “Wright Head” and drive around the country in a VW bus to see his works.

*Fun Fact: He was born Frank Lincoln Wright, but changed his middle name to Lloyd, his mother’s maiden name, to show support for her after his parents’ divorce.  He would initial his work F.L.L.W.

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February 18th, 2010

Pro or Con for Phoenix?

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On the one hand, I’m a big fan of not having to walk into a store to buy something.  On the other, you’re buying alcohol with the engine running.

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February 17th, 2010

Great Art

We just got back from Arizona, where Brian has family and friends.  It’s so nice to get out of the cold and the rain for a while.  To be perfectly honest, though, I’ve learned that when I live in a place where it doesn’t rain like, at least every 10 days or so, I get a bit off kilter.

For a few days of the vacation, we stayed with Brian’s grandparents, Cookie and Dottie, who probably have the coolest grandparent names ever.  In fact, I love to drop their names into conversation, like I know a celebrity or something.  Cookie’s mother was quite a painter, and her art is found all over their house.  Here are some of my favorites:

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Self portrait of Margaret, Brian’s Great Grandmother, 1945.  Self portraits can show a lot of honesty, and I think this is a great example of that.

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Portraits of Cookie and his younger brother, Eddie.  These paintings aren’t very big, maybe seven or eight inches high.  I imagine Margaret painting these very quickly and easily, wanting to capture her boys before they went off to play.

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October 8th, 2009

Grocery Bag Art

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When we lived in Santiago a few years ago, trips to the Jumbo grocery store were an event I’d look forward to.  First of all, it’s more than just a grocery- they carry things like coat hangers and DVDs.  They also carry American foods like peanut butter and toaster strudel that were impossible to find anywhere else.

Brian saved a bunch of the Jumbo grocery bags, and they were just sitting in a drawer, when inspiration struck.  I decided that the adorable Jumbo elephant would look great next to the deer featured on my Adelaide Fringe poster.  I cut the logo off a bag and put it in a record frame.  When we moved into our current place, Brian reminded me that there were a few more bags, so I picked out a few more to frame.  We’re now greeted by a collection of happy elephants every time we enter our place.

Bonus photo:

The mayonnaise aisle at a Jumbo.  A security guard came up to me after I took this photo.

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October 3rd, 2009

With the Candlestick in the Conservatory

So, one of our local TV stations has started airing these little commercials that feature photos from different cities in the area.  One night, we’re watching TV and Brian shouts out “Wait!” and pauses the DVR.  He has my attention at this point, so we watch this commercial that features photos of Tacoma, where he grew up.  One of the photos is of this beautiful, gigantic greenhouse.

“Do you know where that is?” I ask.

“Yeah, that’s in Wright Park.  It’s across the street from Stadium” * (Stadium is the beautiful and historic high school featured in the film 10 Things I Hate About You.  Brian went to school there.  He was also an extra in the film.  He can name all of the time codes where he pops up… but I digress.)

“Why haven’t you taken me there on a date?  What’s it like?  Let’s go!”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve actually been there before…”  We then get into a discussion of how the place was always closed, and the park was kind of sketchy, and what teenage boy wants to hang out in an indoor garden after school.  Meanwhile, I’ve slipped off into an alternate world where I’M the one who got to go to a high school shaped like a castle with an English garden across the street (MY high school was originally built with no interior walls, so the learning wasn’t, like, confined to the classrooms, man.  From what I hear it was like trying to go to school in a Costco.)

Anyhoo, I looked up the info and found out that it is called the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory.  We visited today and while it was much, much smaller than I imagined, it was a great date.  Before we went, I thought I’d enjoy the architecture more, but I actually found the plants themselves to be the main attraction (go figure).  We picked up a few plants from the gift shop: Chenille Plant and Coleus.  Holy crap, the Chenille Plant may actually take some skill to keep alive.  Wish me luck.

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*In the name of accurate blog-keeping, the park is not literally across the street from the high school (A fact that I pointed out to Brian.  His reply: “Well, yes, but if you said that it was, anyone who’d gone to Stadium would agree.”)

Bonus Material: Brian re-creating a Senior Picture pose:

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The Beautiful Castle School:

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August 17th, 2009

Vampire Weekend

Well, I was out of town this weekend for a wedding in Forks, WA.  This wasn’t a vampire-themed affair; the groom (Brian’s cousin) was born and raised there.  What a beautiful, home-made wedding it was!  The parents of the groom hosted a few dozen campers in their backyard for the days leading up to the wedding.  The ceremony itself took place across the street in a neighbor’s front yard.  There was a real feeling of community- family and friends put together the flowers and table settings, as well as the food.  I think my favorite part was the beautiful patchwork of linens and dishware that the bride and groom had been gathering from Goodwill for months.

I think you all will be just as inspired as I am by the beautiful simplicity of this affair:

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Don’t you just love the kids’ table?  And what about the stump seats?  They were just as comfortable as any chair.  Anyone else feel the urge to start collecting vintage table linens?

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October 20th, 2008

Living room inspiration

The lounge at Mississippi Pizza in Portland:

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October 20th, 2008

Portland Japanese Garden

One of the signs that you’re getting older is when you end up going to bed at eleven on a Saturday night.  You can combat this sign of aging by deciding to take a spontaneous road trip after you find yourself wide awake at seven on Sunday morning.  My boyfriend and I hopped in the car and headed south to Portland.

My sister happens to live in Portland, and she suggested we all take a trip up to the Portland Japanese Garden.  I wasn’t the only one snapping photos- but I hope I was able to capture some unique angle on the gardens!

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October 5th, 2008

Fresh Air

I call the walls "Tiffany Blue"

I call the walls "Tiffany Blue"

I recently got to spend the weekend at Seabrook, this amazingly adorable/perfect neighborhood on the Washington coast.  My friend and I stayed in this lovely little cottage; I felt as if I were in the pages of a Pottery Barn catalogue.  The whole development is only a few years old, so there was this fresh, clean feeling everywhere.  Add a little ocean air, and I was soon making statements like, “When I get home I’m getting rid of everything and starting over!” (which was an improvement on my previous “Honey, I won’t be coming home” phone call.)

The whole visit had me thinking about how important a clean, organized space is to the creative process.  I’ve been taking car loads of stuff to Goodwill over the past few months, and the whole routine of picking over my things to choose what stays and goes has really made me think about what objects I want in my life.  I’m currently on the path of choosing beautiful and meaningful things to look at and use, rather than holding on to things “just because”.

My space is not ready to be photographed quite yet, but I will keep looking at my beach cottage photos to keep myself inspired and motivated!

This is not a movie set- these are real houses!

This is not a movie set- these are real houses!

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