Building a library this weekend...

It's no secret that James and I love books. We have a LOT of books. And something tells me that the digitized world of reading on our horizon won't phase the acquisition of soon-to-be-antiquated yet always-the-best-in-our-minds hard-copy books. In our last apartment we had five bookshelves brimming with books, but on our move to Chicago four of the bookshelves completely fell apart. (They were the cheap $30 grad-school-budget bookshelves from Target, so we weren't too surprised). Thier collapse was a minor tragedy, however, because James' "office" has been a disaster zone with 25 boxes of books spilling out all over the floor. He literally hurdles to his desk over boxes to work on grad school applications, and that makes me sad. I was so excieted for him to have an awesome office to work in when we moved into this fabulous townhouse, but alas, patience has been required of us.

But we have saved our pennies from month to month, and we finally saved enough to invest in new bookshelves! Hooray!

These bookshelves, however, have proven to be a whole lot of work. We bought an Ivar shelving unit from Ikea for 3 reasons: 1) they are real wood, and hopefully will not collapse on our next move; 2) they are streamlined, have open backs, and look different from the ubiquitous Billy bookshelves; 3) they are affordable. Some of our friends from Princeton had these bookshelves, and we always thought they looked great in their apartment. Unfortunately, Ikea is in the process of discontinuing them, and so they no longer sell them in finished stains. Thus we had to buy them as unfinished pine. What does this mean?

This means that I've spent many, many hours today using pre-stain on 18 shelves and 4 side units, then put one coat of stain on them. Tomorrow I will spend several more hours putting on a second coat of stain, and then a coat of polyurethane. Then, after the last coat has dried, I will sing the Hallelujia chorus and never stain bookshelves again.

The fun part of today? Painting our downstairs family room hunter green (We used Sabal Palm Behr paint). When we put our bookshelves against the wall, all that lovely green will show right through. And hopefully the rich, dark color that we've stained the wood in combination with our deep green will provide a thoroughly country-English-style library ethos.

Can't wait until this project is finished. Can't wait until James has a proper office. Can't wait until I've lit the fire and am reading Jane Austin in our English library. The end.



The Ivar Unit:


A few library pics I found inspirational. (both courtesy of House Beautiful).

28 Hour Road Trip Complete

28 hours round trip, that is. James and I were off to a Princeton Reunion of sorts last weekend, and in our desire to pay $200 in travel costs rather than $800, we opted for the 28 hour road-trip rather than the flight.

It was an AWESOME time. We left Thursday and crashed in Philadelphia with friends Ben and Karen (West Philly, no less). Saw a new part of the city. Ben gave us a tour of U Penn’s campus (where he is going to law school), and we got to tour the awesome house that our friends Mike and Sonja recently purchased. It’s an old house that they are renovating, and they’ll be doing campus ministry at U-Penn and other nearby colleges. Great to see all of them.

Then off to Princeton to hang with our seminary homies. We had a big party Saturday night, and for awhile I forgot that I had ever left the CRW community. Hopping from one apartment to the next for 3 days, it felt like old times. Really, it’s only been 2.5 months since we left, but it feels longer for some reason. And going back to Princeton made me realize that we are officially done with that phase of our life – going to grad school, living amongst lots of friends in the same neighborhood, first apartment of our marriage, etc. Driving back to Chicago I was, I must admit, a bit melancholy. Our Princeton years were challenging in some ways, but overall they were blessed by God and marked by growth in a variety of contexts.

Sadly, I have no pictures because my camera has died. But there were lots of laughs over the weekend. And I do believe that James and I have made great strides in road-trip entertainment. This time, John Adams on audio by David McCullough kept us enthralled for much of the journey. Willy Nelson, Christmas chorals, and Aaron Copeland also kept us company. We were also blessed with miles and miles of vibrant autumnal foliage – the drive was beautiful! And we saw our first bear road kill…yes, we saw a dead black bear on the side of the highway in western PA. I’d hate to be the car that ran into that bear, but it looked like the car won.

Back in Chicagoland now, and it’s starting to get colder. We turned our heat on for the first time when we woke up yesterday and our house was 55 degrees inside. Deep breath, trying to prepare myself mentally for the winter to come!

Hyde Park Jazz Festival

Last Saturday night James and I went to a jazz festival in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is on the South side of Chicago, and it’s also where U-Chicago’s campus is located. We met up with our friend, Travis, and checked out a few of the jazz venues on the University of Chicago’s campus. It’s been over three years since I was last on U-Chicago’s campus, and it has some spectacular buildings. The Rockefeller Chapel, for instance, is a magnificent neo-Gothic wonder. It was built around the same time period as Princeton University’s chapel (late 1800-early 1900’s), and I think I can safely say that neo-Gothic architecture just might be my favorite style. Ever. The detail in the interior ceiling structure is always incredible, the arches and domes provide such great interest, and magnificent scale (for a chapel or cathedral) truly lifts your mind and spirit heavenward. We listened to a jazz choir in the chapel for awhile, and I couldn’t keep my eyes from roaming over all the architectural details. J’aime les cathédrals!

We also listened to a jazz quartet in the Quadrangle Club, which is the faculty club on U-Chicago’s campus. I think it’s normally only open to members, but they opened it to the public for this jazz festeval. We sipped on wine and enjoyed the fruit, cheese, and crackers platters while relaxing in creamy leather club chairs. Not a bad way to end the evening.

U-Chicago's campus also has a Frank Lloyd Wright house located on its grounds - how cool is that? There was a jazz concert in the Robie House, but we got there too late to go. Bummer! I think I'll still try to take a tour of this house sometime in the near future. I've never actually been in a Frank Lloyd Wright house....something new to look forward to.