I wish I were back in Greece

Total fail at studio right now, losing motivation, so why not finally post pics from Greece?  Sidenote: these pics are completely out of order.  Enjoy!

the Parthenon

the Caryatids

Oia, Santorini

Cliffsides in Oia, Santorini

Red Beach, Santorini

Nassos, the handsome groom

Nassos and Katerina arrive to the church

fava and tomato fries changed my life

total European breakfast

kayaking around Milos

kids jumping over fire for a full moon festival

Kleftiko, Milos

theater at the Acropolis

theater of Dionysus

my very architectural summer

My summer break is nearly over and I haven't blogged at all, shame on me.  It has really been a great summer, and while I have done a lot of interesting things (more to come), most have been more architecturally related than I had originally anticipated.

INTERNSHIP: Belzberg Architects

PROS:  

• The best office I've ever worked in. Everyone is really friendly and awesome, the boss (Hagy Belzberg) is smart, talented, and kind.
• We sometimes ate lunch on the beach.  Working on Main Street in Santa Monica, there is never a problem finding a good place to grab lunch or after work drinks.
• They are really busy and the work is great.  Perhaps you have heard of the Museum of the Holocaust?  If you've picked up an Interior Design magazine in the past two years you have probably seen their work at Club Nokia, the Kona Residence in Hawaii, or the Stone Residence in Toronto.  While highly known for their residential work, Belzberg is stepping into the civic realm and I think they will be a firm to watch in the upcoming years. 

LA Museum of the Holocaust, courtesy BA website

The Conga Room at Club Nokia, LA Live, courtesy BA website

Kona Residence, Hawaii, courtesy BA website

CONS:  

• The commute from downtown to Santa Monica every morning, but worse, the commute back in the evening.  One Friday I began to cry angry tears when after 45 minutes I had yet to make it East of the 405 :(
• They are in an interim office that is not very nice, but they have a new office next to Urth (SM) that will be underway shortly.

WHAT I WORKED ON:  

• A facade and slight interior renovation of a commercial building in Westwood Village, which should be underway within the next year.  This will be the first time I have worked so single-handedly on something and will actually get to see it manifest.  Very exciting!
• The preliminary schematics and programming for a library renovation at a cancer research campus North of Los Angeles.  Super fun, tons of line drawings and diagrams, loved it!

I also scored a second part time job that began in June...

RESEARCH ASSISTANT:  Getty funded SCI-Arc Exhibition, working with Todd Gannon, Ewan Branda, and Andrew Zago

PROS: 

• I will continue to work on this until the exhibition opens in next spring.
• It pays a fair wage.
• I pretty much pick my hours.
• It has been really fun looking back in the history of architecture and researching a show that I knew nothing about, now feeling that I know everything about it.
• Getting to sit down and chat with Thom Mayne, Frank Dimster, Craig Hodgetts, and Robert Mangurian.

Thanks to my bestie, Scotty Carroll, I have immersed myself in architectural reading where I would normally have read girly beachy novels and magazines all summer.

WHAT I'VE READ:

"Collage City" Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter
"The Architecture of the City" Aldo Rossi
"Invisible Cities" Italo Calvino
"Los Angeles: the Architecture of Four Ecologies" Reyner Banham
Log 21, 23, 24, 25
"Toward An Architecture" Le Corbusier- a re-read for me, but a much needed one
"The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture" Pier Vittorio Aureli
"House of Leaves" Mark Z. Danielewski- though fiction and not academically architectural, still a good "architectural" read, specifically the way it is written.

And that's how I spent my summer vacation :)  Next up: GREECE!!!

T+D do NYC

plant based diet

I've always been health conscience, and a certifiable health freak since halfway through my undergrad (when I officially became...dun-dun-dunnnn...VEGETARIAN!)  I've toyed with the idea of becoming vegan many times, but never go through with it because of the problems when eating out and going home to Missouri.  However, let it be known that about 50-75% of my meals are vegan.

Last week I watched a lot of documentaries, mostly on food, and it got me thinking about how gross I let my diet become whenever I don't have time.  When I stress, I eat candy and chips (aka, highly processed foods)  Because my main meals are always vegetarian and mostly low calorie and healthy, it never bothered me to have a brownie, a cupcake, 12 cookies...  You think I'm being funny, but I'm totally serious.  There are times when I will eat heavy delicious desserts every day of the week, multiple times a day.  Once a few years ago when I was deployed I was so stressed/depressed/lonely that I ate 2 bags of fun sized kit-kats.  Don't even look up the fat and calories that added to my system, I don't want to know.

This weekend I turn 27, and I regretfully agree what they say, with age goes metabolism.  I've always been the girl with the skinny genes, who never had to work to stay skinny.  Like I said, I eat 12 cookies in a day, the next day a few brownies.  It never affected me before.  Now I am seeing the effects of my love for sugar.  I'm not fat, and no one besides Danny and myself would ever notice, but it's there, the layer of fat over my muscles, the extra weight on the scale.  I used to pig out, gain a few pounds and some flab, then work out hard core for a week or two and look good as new, but that is not cutting it anymore.  It is time to stop eating whatever I want whenever I want.

My meals are going to have more vegetables (thanks to farm fresh to you CSA!) and I will limit my desserts to special occasions and things that are really really amazing. No more shitty M&M's, snickers, kit-kats, I'm saving myself for newly discovered cupcake and cookie shops, homemade cookies and brownies (not from tubes or boxes) and other amazing dessert creations, like Schulzie's Bread Pudding...  My mouth is watering, it's been 4 days since my last dessert fix!!  I'm eating a lot more fruit, because it helps with the sugar cravings.  I especially like a salad with mandarin orange slices on it.

Here's a creation from my latest CSA fruit and veg box, aka, last night's dinner.

Orange Quinoa stuffed Sweet Peppers with potatoes and green pepper on the side

Ingredients:
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 garlic cloves, minced
a little bit of olive oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
5-6 sweet peppers
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

1. saute garlic in oil in same pot you will use to cook quinoa
2. Add orange juice, water and quinoa to garlic and to a boil, then reduce and cover until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally
3.  In the meantime, cut tops off of peppers and clean out insides, keeping the body intact
4. roast peppers in oven on 450 for about 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally if you want an even char
5.  when quinoa is done and cools slightly, mix in cranberries, walnuts, and thyme. add salt and pepper if desired.
6. use a teaspoon to stuff the quinoa into the peppers
7. Serve over a bed of lettuce or on top of more of the quinoa filling

The Potatoes and Peppers:
Ingredients:
5-7 potatoes
2 T olive oil
1 green pepper
1/2 large onion

1. slice potatoes and saute them in the oil for about 5 minutes
2. slice the pepper and the onions and add them to the pan, cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are how you like them
* I usually add water to help deglaze the pan because the potatoes tend to stick

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Danny and I had the best time EVER at our friend's Matt and Rachna's wedding in Long Beach.  Quick recap of the events:

Opening cocktail party at the bar/lounge of the Renaissance Long Beach:
-Their own signature cocktail, the Bla-Tau (a play on their last names), it was a spicy jalapeno cucumber Margarita, DELISH!
-A Mexican themed dinner with quesadillas, enchiladas, tortilla soup, fruits...and lest we forget the amazing stuffed churros and tres leches for dessert.

Mehndi Party/lunch:
-Bride sits in the middle of everything while her arms/hands and legs/feet are painted with intricate Mehndi patterns
-all women are invited to have Mehndi done on their hands/feet, they are also given a set of bangles
-I quickly become addicted to Mehndi, having my palm, outside of my hand and ankle done...I regretted this a week later when everyone at work kept commenting on my hand looking dirty, it eventually looked like a hi-lighter had exploded on my hand
-the food was Bombay street foods, my favorite were these crunchy little bowls that you poured this green iced "soup" into, among other things if you like, then you pop it in your mouth and it explodes with flavor!
-Best mango lassi I've ever had!

Sangeet:
-a huge reception where the bride's family all did Bollywood style performances for the couple, the groom also did a little dance which was pretty cute!
-the dinner was Indian Chinese food, which I had never had before...it was awesome!  And I say this, not liking Chinese food at all.
-Everyone danced all night, Indian style, sometimes with sticks.  the sticks were dangerous as a lot of people were quite drunk
-coconuts with straws in them.  I partook on two by myself.
-Danny and I wore traditional Indian garb.  Thanks Pinki and Chris!

Groom's Entrance:
-outside on the Promenade next to the hotel, Matt wore all white, resembling a white Aladdin (in my opinion), riding on a white horse.  The horse was actually Tradition, the Trojan Horse.  The fuckin Trojan Horse!!!  Seriously, so awesome.
-Everyone dances to the music being played by the USC marching band.  Yes, you heard me.
-Big party down the promenade and inside into the ceremony

The Ceremony:
-Absolutely the most gorgeous thing ever
-Groom sits with his family, her family, and the priest.
-Rachna came down the aisle, being carried by a harem of men, she looked absolutely breathtaking!
-The ceremony was so traditional and beautiful.  I want to raise my kids Hindu just for the wedding ceremony!

The Reception:
-First a two hour cocktail hour with open bar and a fruit and cheese bar and an Indian snack bar (samosas and some other yummy fried things)
-The room looked like we were underwater, white and blue everywhere, amazingly beautiful centerpieces
-The food was amazing Indian cuisine
-Sprinkles cupcakes + Sweet Lady Jane's berry cake
-Drinking and dancing all night long

And that was our Memorial Day weekend 2012.

Why I love anthropologie

Attention to detail + their special birthday savings!

Ryan Gosling does Architecture

Architectureryangosling.tumblr.com

LACMA pics from January