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.

Jonathan Saunders

Okay, I admit this blog has always been a bit random. Mostly it has been a venue for me to keep friends and family from afar up to date on what James and I have been up to, where we've been, etc. Every once and awhile I've posted an opinion piece. And every once and awhile I've posted a design-related piece. I've long had aspirations of getting a more stream-lined, topical blog put together. But that takes a lot of time and energy. So for now, dear readers (the few yet loyal that you are!), I suppose this blog will continue to be a bit random and sporadic.

In the vein of random and sporadic, this post is about London Fashion Week. In particular, it is about the Jonathan Saunders show and the FABULOUS pieces that he put together this year. I often see fashion bloggers putting up their favorite runway shows, and they are usually pretty hit-and-miss with me. Runway shows are interesting and creative, but rarely do I see pieces that I would wear right off the runway. What usually happens is companies create designs for the public masses that reflect the ingenuity of designers, but at a far less dramatic and costly level.

This Jonathan Saunders show, however, is different. I would wear every single piece as is, straight off the runway. (Although, I would probably want these dresses and skirts to be a little longer - if you're not a six foot tall model, perhaps they're just the right length?). In any case, these pieces are fun, feminine, flirty, colorful, and classy all in one stroke. Do I dare look up how much they cost? No, better not. Just going to cross my fingers that Jonathan Saunders is the next designer to do a line for Target.

*All of the images are via The Sartorialist.

Lately

Things have been very good lately for James and myself as we continue into this new mid-western Wheaton adventure. I have to admit, the honeymoon of our new house and my new job and our new little town is over. And that has created moments of me wondering how in the world I’ve landed myself in Illinois, in exile from friends and family on either coast.

But the weather is fabulous – mid 70’s, mild-to-no-humidity, and the early signs of fall crispness in the air. And these fabulous days are to be treasured in the mid-west (and the east coast). After a summer of heat waves, I’m loving the cooler weather. And I’m also aware that I’m soon in for a freezing winter. All that to be said, I treasure these early fall days. They have made me want to get out and about as much as possible, to explore and enjoy this area before we get stuck inside with shorter days and lower temps.

Two weekends ago James and I stumbled upon a great nearby town called Geneva. I think it will be our new “Lambertville,” in that it similarly has a large river and all sorts of cute little shops and restaurants. And we happened to hit upon it during its annual “Festival of the Vine.” We got there on a Saturday night, and enjoyed the food and street bands and wine samples so much that we went straight back Sunday after church. We sampled briquette and Cuban sandwiches and banana pie and brats and sweet potoato fries. (And I wonder why I haven’t dropped any weight this summer?) In any case, it was all great food! And there are plenty of undiscovered shops and restaurants coffee hang-outs yet to be explored there….i’m gonna save up on those coffee shops for the winter.

This last week was the inaguration of Wheaton’s 7^th president, and thus James and I attended all sorts of events. By far the favorite was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who performed an inaguration performance in Edman Chapel. We dressed up and went out to dinner with my co-workers beforehand, and the concert itself was phenomenal. It was a Mexican conductor who danced his way through the performance (literally), and they performed all Mexican songs in honor of Mexico’s bicentennial this past week. James and I promptly downloaded our two favorite songs after the concert: Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez, and Huapango by Jose Pablo Moncayo. Download them! You won’t regret the 99 cents on iTunes – very fun and festive songs.

Also, James was just hired last week by Wheaton College to start a full-time position in the library, so he’ll be starting up this Thursday. We are so excited for this job - God has definitely blessed us here so far! Soon enough James and I will be having lunches together again.

That’s about the short and the long of it. Notre Dame continues to wrench our hearts. I continue to drag James along for random craigslist finds. We’re finally getting back into a decent running routine. I’m saving up for a sewing machine, to fill my winter with novice sewing projects. Life is good.

Honey Rock!

Wheaton owns a huge property up in Northern Wisconsin called Honey Rock, and James and I both got to head up there for my job the second week of August. James had been up to Honey Rock as a student leader one summer, and I got to go up with a bunch of Wheaton student leaders this year.

Honey Rock is an awesome place! There are tons of cabins (I think Honey Rock can house over 500 people), and lots to do. They having sailing, water-skiing, archery, horse-back riding, a shooting range, biking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking - it's an outdoor lovers paradise! James and I were thrilled at the chance to go sailing a couple of times - we made it through most of our second session before completely capsizing in the lake.

It was also a great chance for me to get to know my colleagues in student development, and a bunch of Wheaton students. I am already looking forward to our trip up there for next year!

Birthday Fun!

Oh, Chicago! Oh, Chicago!

You know that song sung by Frank Sinatra, right? Yes, well, I had the song in my head all day long on my birthday because I spent the day enthralled by the wonders of Chicago. My lovely husband planned an absolute gem of a day in this city--our new "backyard" city - couldn't have been better! We hopped on a train from our local suburb train station and spent the morning roaming Grant Park, Michigan Ave, and the pathway along the harbor. Then, out of the blue, James puts together a fantastic picnic spread for us in the Art Institute Gardens--he'd smuggled all the goods with him in his bag, and I had no idea! After our lazy and leisurely picnic, James shepherded me along to the favorite part of my day - an Architectural tour of Chicago given from a boat along the Chicago River. It was a divine compilation of two of my favorite things: architecture, and boating! I love how well James knows me.

Here we are on the bridge above the Chicago River.

The famed Chicago Tribune Building - a unique blend of Gothic and Art Deco styles.

The Chicago River.

One of the other Architectural Gems of the city.

A view from the Art Institute Gardens where we picnicked.

The orchestrator of this fabulous birthday.

The steps up to the Art Institute - with a multitude of gorgeous flowers.

I've also been completely spoiled this birthday with several cards and gifts from family, including this monster birthday package from my momma. More than the gifts themselves (which were so much fun), it meant so much to me to know my Mom put so much time and effort into this package. She wrapped up a whole assortment of goodies, and I felt giddy like a five-year-old on Christmas Eve. (I know adults aren't supposed to care about opening presents, but we can be giddy like five-year-olds every once in awhile, right?)

Perhaps my favorite part of the birthday package were all the little notes attached to each present, a tradition my family has that was started by my Nana (I don't know where she got it from, maybe her Mom?). My family always attaches little "notes" to each gift to give a hint or idea of why we thought the gift would be meaningful or fun to the recipient. It may seem silly to some folks, but to me it's always been just an extra touch of personalization to make someone feel loved.

Thanks everyone for all the Birthday Goodies and calls and emails - even though I only spent time with my hubby on my birthday, I felt loved and appreciated by people from all over.