I'm a historical landscape architect, photographer, writer, recovering graphic designer and journalist, pop culture enthusiast, and unabashed sports fan. I started this blog to keep in touch with friends from Boston when I moved back to my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I wanted a way to share stories that I would have otherwise shared over drinks or while watching a Red Sox game. In my dream world I wouldn't have to choose between living on the west coast or east coast. This blog allows me to zip up the distance between the two.
gift crack: the gap in wrapping paper or the uncovered portion of a gift found on the bottom or sides of the box. this may result from the gift wrapper running out of paper or underestimating the amount of gift wrap needed to cover the entire box.
I've been trying not to write about Rafael Nadal, but I just can't hold back any longer. This will be a quick post. Everyone seems to be talking about his outfit for this year's French Open so I wanted to take a moment to look back at what he's worn at Roland Garros each year since he first played here in 2005.
I still think his outfit in 2005 when he won his first title is my favorite... and check out how young he looks! My least favorites are his outfits in 2007 and 2008 (Nike lost its way with these two combos). I was doubtful about him wearing sleeves, but they've grown on me and I love the colors he's been wearing in 2009 including the hot pink with yellow accents he's sporting at this year's French Open. However, pink does not go well with Roland Garros clay (bad choice Nike), nor have the grey pants grown on me. They didn't work last year and they don't work this year. It's not that I'm a traditionalist, but I like white pants on the courts and Nadal looks great in them.
Check out his French Open looks over the years. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
A beautiful package appeared at my door just as the warm weather returned to Portland. And inside were two beautiful flip flops - my favorite shoes and a sure sign that summer is coming. In addition to sharing a love for red shoes, Amy and I share of a love of flip flops... and not just any flip flops, but J.Crew flip flops. So even though we're on opposite coasts and can't look through the catalog picking out which shoes we're going to wear this season... it wouldn't be spring without a new pair of flip flops. Thanks Amy!
We were like two peas in a pod - Amy and I. We shared an office on the 2nd floor of Quarters C at the Charlestown Navy Yard - our own little pod so to speak. And more often than not we wound up at work wearing nearly identical outfits - not twins necessarily, but the same shade of blue or green or brown or pink (we love the same shades of blue and green and brown and pink). It was uncanny how often it happened. Of course truth be told we share a similar (and might I say pretty darned chic) style. Remember - two peas in a pod.
So now we don't see each other every day (with me living 3000 miles away and all), but no matter we are still on the same stylish wavelength. Last week when mutual friends of ours were visiting Portland they noticed my red shoes and said - you know Amy is obsessed with her red shoes. And truth be told... so am I. Maybe someday we'll be able to click the heels of our red shoes together three times, whisper "there's no place like home" over and over again, and be back together again.
NEW YORK TIMES I remember when Italian architect Renzo Piano was awarded the commission for the new New York Times building at the beginning of the century. I was still living in Connecticut and imagined I'd be close by to watch the construction of a building that I once dreamed I'd work inside. However, more than eight years (and a few moves) have passed and the building has just opened to its reporters and photographers. The punch list is still being punched, but the quintessential public spaces are open.
The NY Times architecture critic led readers on a comprehensive online tour of the building this past fall and as I watched it I longed to be in the space in person. I had no idea then that I'd be in NY City the next month, be able to walk around the building, and visit its lobby and atrium. Piano's use of texture and color is brilliant, the grays (both smooth and finely lined) evoke the paper's newsprint. The bold warm colors evoke the life and energy that the words of NY Times reporters use to bring us stories of hope and heartbreak everyday.
HEARST TOWER
Within two blocks of each other in midtown Manhattan are two historic buildings that have recently received modern updates. British architect Norman Foster's addition to the Beaux Arts Hearst building has been lauded as a success (and it is), while Portland architect Brad Cloepfil's renovation of Edward Durrell Stone's building at Columbus Circle has received the wrath of the preservation community. Though it's still under construction, Cloepfil's work blends modern style and contemporary needs with the historic fabric of Stone's building in as respectful a way as Foster's intervention blends environmental values with the historic Hearst building.