Fort Worth - it!

Day 2 of the DFW trip took us over to Fort Worth. In the area of architecture, this city is a contender! First stop was the Fort Worth Water Garden, another Philip Johnson treasure. The park was closed for several years and recently renovated and re-opened. Set in the center of downtown there are 3 pools, a stage and a mountain all made of concrete. The large pool pumps 19,000 gallons of water a minute and probably isn't the most environmentally friendly thing, but it sure is amazing. We watched a woman in 6" stilettos try to navigate the stairs, she ditched the heels and finally made it down.

Next we headed over to the Fort Worth Modern. Wow! This place is now on our top five favorite museums. The building is spectacular and the show by William Kentridge blew us away. If you have the chance to see either, don't hesitate.

With our minds numb from all the wonderful input we headed over to the Kimball. If we had another day it would have been best to save this place. It deserves much more than we were able to give it. The building completed in 1972 looks like a modern master piece that could have been completed in the last year and the contents are top notch. With our minds filled we headed home. The excitement continued on the drive back. We saw a funnel cloud and had to pull off the road during a heavy down pour.

T has embarked on the interior portion of his job today and the countdown has started as A heads back to school tomorrow.

Have a great week!

The adventure of J.R. & Sue Ellen

We decided to head north to Dallas & Fort Worth for the weekend to see something new. T had spent a little time in Dallas, but it was A's first time stopping for longer than a quick meal. We have heard some stories from friends that Dallas was very different than Austin in many ways, so we did our best to prepare ourselves and set out. The first stop was the Nasher Sculpture Center. A knows a few people that worked on the design of the building so it was nice to see their hard work in person. The Nasher's were generous people who started collecting sculpture with the profits from their shopping mall in north Dallas around the 50's. The collection is bold and diversified and set perfectly in the building and the gardens.

Next we headed to the grassy knoll. There is something to be said to see the place where JFK was assassinated. There are two x marks on the road where the bullets fired and you can look up to the window on the 6th floor to where Lee Harvey Oswald was. The angle does seem precarious and the conspiracy theories do seem valid. The memorial by Philip Johnson and the square are amazing a true tribute.

Blog Vacation...

Yikes! It has been over two months since we last blogged. I think we have gone into an offline heat hibernation of sorts. Plus we have been busy trying to button down the hatch since school is about to start for A and the hustle to finish the shop is on. Even in the chaos we have found time to do some fun things. We have been hanging out with friends and searching for the perfect patio to enjoy cool drinks. We even planted two trees in anticipation of shade in about 20 years.

The entire month of June was over 100 degrees and I think we both had a personal life high of 107 - my car temperature read 120. The heat can make you kind of dazed and poor T spends all day working in it. He has embarked on a pretty fantastic and challenging project. He is running a crew of guys on a cypress rain screen job. There have been some design challenges, but it is starting to look amazing. It is definitely good to be busy and on a good project.

The first day of A's summer studio begins July 13th. She has already broken bread with her fellow 13 classmates and is happy to say she enjoys them all. (This is a good thing since they will be sharing a studio space for the next 3 years!)

We are off to the cinema - still deciding on "Away We Go" or "Food Inc." Guess we'll figure it out once we get there.

Have a great week!

We had three special ladies from AZ spend the weekend with us. After a few days in the 90's things cooled down a bit and we had some great weather for the weekend. A few raindrops here and there to keep it cool. After a delicious dinner of sweet potato burritos, we started the adventure at the Congress Street Bridge which is always a favorite. The bats were very cooperative and decided to come out just as we arrived, we then headed downtown and checked on the setup for the art festival and did some urban hiking.

Saturday we found ourselves at the Indian fair and saw traditional Indian dancing, ate Indian food and saw the beautiful Hindu temple. T and I have always been fans of the culture and it was such a treat to spend the day submerged in color, music and laughter. Dinner was at a friend's birthday party. His pop came in from Indiana and made a mean friend chicken and his mom's potato salad was TDF. It is always such a treat to meet with friends and have a wonderful meal. Later we tied on our saris and had our own dance party.

Thinking of heading to Big Stacy for swimming before the day is over and our guests head home.

Have a great week!

Big Bend

We had a great time celebrating Easter in Big Bend. We hit the highway on Friday for the 492 mile drive to Terlingua where we rented a cute house in the middle of nowhere. We sure felt small under all the amazing stars. Big Bend is an amazing site and constantly reminded us that we were visitors and could easily find ourselves in bind, 98 degree heat and no shade, over four different types of rattlesnakes...you get the idea. But truly a beautiful place and worth the drive and time to get there.

As always good to be back home in our own space. Another exciting bit of news as that A is officially a graduate student at UT Austin. The ink on her student id card is still drying, but that doesn't mean she hasn't already scoped out all the student deals she can take advantage of. Free bus rides!

Have a great week!

Yodel-a-he-who or whatever

The other day as I was leaving the Whole Foods parking garage I heard a pretty amazing and interesting sound. I kept trying to see where it was coming from but could only see cars and fellow shoppers. Finally as I made it around a corner I saw a guy who was positioning himself exactly where the up ramp met the down ramp and yodeling. By being in exactly the right spot he could get a double echo and it was fantastic. It made me think that sometimes you just have to stop and listen as well as the many interesting ways people spend their lunch breaks.

The past few weeks have held many new and exciting promises and T and I are really looking forward to the upcoming year. We started our garage and have already framed three sides. T is wrapping up his first in Austin metal job, which is proving to be a great success as he has pretty much lined up three more custom jobs to follow.

We are heading to Big Bend National Park this weekend and hope to be able to share some great stories and pictures with you soon.

Have a great week!

VIP Week

We had some special guests fly in last week for an action packed week. A's parents braved the unfriendly skies and escaped the 13 degree snow filled landscape of the north to enjoy a week of sunny 70's. Highlights included Riverwalk, delicious meals and of course a trip to the BBQ capital. It was nice to take a break from the routine and share some of our Austin faves.

Some exciting things are on the horizon and we hope to have some fun posts in the near future. Until then back to grind...we are keeping our heads down and moving forward!

Have a great week!

Update: A's Dad just sent a snapshot of the snow they arrived home to. Be brave you guys, spring is only two more months away!