ohc : fourth pres
The Chicago Architecture Foundation is hosting Open House Chicago - a giant open house of 150 of the coolest places in the city - landmarks to design firms and everything in between. It's a great event - heavily attended, long lines at the most popular places. And the best part ... it's free! The only problem is that you have to be very organized - know the hours each site you want to visit, map out your attack and get out early to get in as much as possible!
I stopped in Fourth Presbyterian Church to see if I could finally get past the main hall, but sadly they had a private event and closed to the tour at 1pm - I failed to do my research! Oh well. I got some fun shots anyway. Will have to do better planning next year!
millennium park
I started my staycation with a walk through the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park - had never actually walked through the garden before. It's simply lovely and in the height of summer, when everything is in bloom, I bet it's a real stunner! It's so interesting to be surrounded by these prairie grasses, wildflowers and tall trees and then just over the top of them are these huge skyscrapers. Wonderful balance! 
chicago clickin walk
(see mobile pics here)
Processed the "big camera" photos today so I could get everything posted on the Clickin Mom's forum - my first posts to the forums (eek!). A few others have posted and I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's take on Chicago's architecture! The crazy ones to see are the camera phone pics - we all walked the same streets and with all the different apps and filters, very few look the same. So much fun! 
Here are a few of the ladies in action at Union Station! 
staycation : six
stay : six podiatrist history @ the chicago history museum 95 floors above the city @ the john hancock observatory
Let me just start by saying... when I woke up this morning it was POURING rain. Buckets of rain. That is not at all what you want when you're on vacation. Anyway, I had to get out and about and my first stop was the podiatrist. (kind of goes with the anti-vacation thing to do) A quick analysis, a few x-rays and some ace bandages and I was out the door. Apparently I have plantar fasciitis, boo. This is how I walked out of the office ... it's a good look, huh?
A quick stop at home for a shoe change and it was back downtown with me. First stop was the Chicago History Museum. This is the one museum in the city that I have never been to before, so it was fabulous to finally pay a visit! I didn't learn all that much more than what I have learned in my 18 years here, but they do have a very nice display of the "white city" and "chicago fire." They had two really great exhibits - one of Ebony Magazine and the history of their Fashion Fair - and the other, the real reason for me being there, Vivian Maier's Chicago. It was a small, but well done exhibit. I really enjoy her work - she had a great eye for finding interesting subjects from very simple moments. I even broke down and bought the book of her work! Maybe someday someone will make a book of my photos - wouldn't that be something!?!
Enough about me... (ha!).. when I emerged from the museum, the sun had come out so I decided to run into the John Hancock Observatory for a few shots from above the city. I prefer the view from the JH to that of the Wills because you really get the lakefront. And on a day like today - with a little haze in the sky - it was perfect! Just look at that skyline would ya? 
saint louis art museum
A few weeks ago I was in St. Louis visiting my friend Jennifer where we spent the day taking a few of the touristy things I had not done on previous trips. First up was the Saint Louis Art Museum. They have this beautiful new wing that was just added and house a pretty darn good collection of art!
Funny thing when I was telling someone I had been there, they commented on how bad the signage was... Well you know that made my ears perk up. Come to find out, not the wayfinding signage, but the information about the works of art. They are very low contrast and are often on backgrounds that match the paint color of the wall. Now, I know this is because they want to keep from distracting from the art, but it does pose a problem for legibility. Jennifer and I had spotted magnifying glasses in each of the rooms and thought it was funny ... guess we know what we were supposed to use those for now huh..
Spotlight
the all new loo!
Three weeks ago I started renovating the bathroom in my condo. It was supposed to only be a week, but as most construction projects go, it didn't quite play out that way. Thankfully, this weekend I was finally able to shower with a door (not a makeshift curtain) and repopulate the room with my "stuff." It finally feels like it's supposed to, though we have one more day of caulking, polishing and sealing the tile.
Here's the before and during... 
It probably doesn't look that bad in the "before" photo, but I didn't capture photos of the tile that was growing black mold or the door that would not close properly because it's no longer square in the frame, or the chips in the 4x4 floor tile from who knows what. I had a choice to make - repair all of these things and live with the cheaper model or go in for the upgrade. I went for the latter - surely I will get my money's worth out of it when (if) I sell, right!?!
And now for the beautiful after...
I am really, really pleased how it all came out. There is still work to be done - I have not changed out the mirror, sink and countertop - but wanted to see how all the other finishes came out before picking a stone for the countertop. Now that it's all together, I'm still not sure what stone I should go with ...
I am a designer. And as such, I am sometimes paralyzed by the amount of possibilities. I like so many different styles. For example, I thought I would have an all white bathroom going into this whole project. And as you can see, when it came right down to it, I didn't go that route.
Decisions. Decisions.
Choosing the tile was the easy part - well the wall and floor. But then there was the baseboard (tile or wood) and how to cover the edges of the ceramic tile (I chose a marble pencil tile) and the threshold where the shower door sits - how wide, solid marble slab vs tile and what color grout and so on.
The biggest of decisions was the ceiling inside the shower. Most people just have drywall up there, but the owners prior to me had some kind of hard surface (Corian or similar) and I rather liked that approach. Plus, it's a very compressed space - so not much height for the steam to escape. So after much thought (and pricing) I decided on a custom piece of backpainted glass. It was the most expensive option by far, but is for sure the best solution.
I changed all the plugs and switches - love the clean snap on plate to conceal the hardware. I purchased these at Lowes and my electrician tells me that Home Depot has better electrical fixtures. Well heck, how am I supposed to know that?
Then there was the fan - every bathroom needs a fan and mine old one was on the fritz. There are lots to choose from, but most electricians will tell you to purchase from a supply store and not HD, Lowes or Menards. I chose a Panasonic whisper quite model and am happy with it so far. It is a little more expensive than those you see in the big box retail stores, but not much.
So... shower heads. Holy smokes are there a lot to choose from! And you have to visit a showroom that has them set up with running water to even be able to see what the water pressure will be like. I chose to go with the Speakman Anystream, though I was intrigued by the Kohler Moxie (speaker in the shower head - awesome!) but the water pressure out of that thing was pitiful. The Speakman is 2.5 GPM, and most of the others don't even come close to that! (1.8-2.0)
And then shower drain strainers ... bet you've never given a minute of thought to these guys. Well, let me tell you, they are hard to find. Most of the drains come standard with a strainer - mostly brushed nickel over brass with really open weave. I found some really cool ones, but all required some kind of retrofit of my current drain (which I did not want to do), so I did manage to find a nice polished one (in the photo above) on Amazon - you will NOT find these at your local hardware store.
Who knew there were so many tiny decisions to be made for a tiny little project?
building my beehive
Renovation of the "loo" part one has begun. I cannot wait to have my beautiful new bathroom all put together! Still a lot of work ahead...
living up to her name
Holy smokes was it windy by the lake tonight. So windy I couldn't stand still to snap a photo. And the blue hour was beautiful!
