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I have a bit of a thing for Frank Lloyd Wright. Not the man himself (he was quite a crazy man and beyond egotistical, but then again aren't most architects?), but his architecture. I blame my father for this, not that it's a bad thing, because he too loves Frank Lloyd Wright.

In fact, in the 20 years that I lived in my childhood home, my dad rehabbed nearly the entire house from top to bottom with an arts and crafts flavored style-- simple designs and lines, wood built-ins, stained glass light fixtures in the arts and crafts style. And when my parents moved, I was crushed. Not only because it was my childhood home, but because the house was beautiful and I worried that the next person to buy it would change it all. So what did my dad do with their new house? Began the process over again, naturally.

Maybe it's cliche to say that Frank Lloyd Wright is your favorite architect, but I'm ok with that. And just as it happens, Andrew (who is an architect himself) claims Wright as his favorite as well. In fact, in the process of redoing small parts of our row house in Baltimore, we've toyed with adding little Wright-esque features here and there. The most recent being our staircase. The stairs have been completed, but our banister remains unfinished with an architectural debate at hand. We'd love to take it out and install something like this:
But wouldn't that stray from the more traditional style that these Baltimore row houses are supposed to maintain? Maybe it's a deliberation of a nerdy architect sort, but at the same time shouldn't a house be stylistically the same throughout, rather than a bit of this and that throughout? Such a tough decision.

Needless to say, during our time in Indiana this past Thanksgiving weekend, we spent a morning in Oak Park, outside of Chicago, at Frank's home and studio. While we weren't able to take photos inside, I got some shots of his home and studio exterior as well as some of the other homes he designed in the neighborhood.


















While I love most of what Wright designed, I must say that my favorite are the Usonian homes with the cantilevered roof lines and balconies, similar to the characteristics seen in Fallingwater.



Do you see a trend here? We tend to include architectural visits in our travels. Maybe one days if I get rich, I can buy a Frank Lloyd Wright home, but somehow I'd guess that I'm more likely to own a home designed by Andrew. At $875,000 a pop, buying a Wright home is no small investment!

It's been a whirlwind week or so here and I've had little time to blog during it all. Last Wednesday afternoon, we packed up our bags and headed to Cleveland to stay an overnight with Andrew's parents on a long haul back to Indiana. Thursday morning, we made the rest of our trek to my hometown to enjoy a long weekend with my parents.

While at my parents house we were able to enjoy woodfired pizza and roasted veggies from their own backyard oven (they loved the one at my mom's bakery so much my dad decided to build a second one in their yard).







I got to visit with my childhood cats, Mick and Gabby.



On Saturday we spent the morning in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, checking out a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright including his home and studio (more photos to come from that!).


And in the afternoon we drove into downtown Chicago to do some of my favorite things I used to always do in Chicago like get caramel popcorn at Garrett's, eat dinner at Bandera, check out the Art Institute (this time the new modern wing), stroll through Millennium Park and see the Cloud Gate.



Oh, and in case I forgot to tell you, we also got engaged in the Lurie Gardens in Millennium Park that same afternoon! No big deal or anything! :)

There is a lot to celebrate about today. Today marks a year since I opened my shop on Etsy! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! A little over a year ago the whole idea of opening my shop seemed crazy, but I went for it. In a year's time, I can't believe how much I've accomplished and I'm so incredibly thankful for everyone who has supported me in some way! As a special thank you, I'm offering a coupon code to you all. Use the code HOORAY20 at checkout to receive 20% off of everything in my shop!

Since today marks a year, I thought I'd revisit some of my favorite designs from the past year.








So head over to the shop and choose your favorite design! Don't forget-- HOORAY20 for 20% off!

With 2011 nearing an end, I started thinking about one of my favorite necessities for a new year-- the calendar. Throughout most of my life, and still even today, my mom gives me a new calendar each year at Christmas. I always looked forward to it because I enjoyed idea of starting fresh each year with a clean slate to jot down reminders. In fact, our current calendar is a gift from my parents-- one that my dad made in iPhoto using photos they took during their many travels in France.



My mom used to hang her calendars in the kitchen and so naturally I keep mine there as well. The kitchen often is the central part of our house where we congregate since food is an important aspect of my life. So having the calendar there just seems to make sense. As we work our way through a month's time, the calendar usually quickly fills up with little scribbles of writing here and there reminding us of important dates, vacations, events, and appointments.

After browsing Etsy over the past few weeks, I've come to find that there are some amazing artists that have created some fantastic calendars. This is what I found--

via Made by Michelle Brusegaard

via Fine Day Press

via Pam Lostracco

via blueorder

via dekanimal

via Khristian A. Howell

Each of these calendars is absolutely fantastic! Which is your favorite? Do you rely on calendars like I do?

It's definitely fall in Baltimore. I love this weather. Cool, crisp air and the crunch of leaves under your feet. This past weekend we decided to drive a half an hour out of the city to enjoy a hike in Gunpowder State Park. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do and it's especially enjoyable on a sunny fall afternoon. It also gave me a chance to do some photography-- something I haven't had time to do in quite a while because I've simply been so busy.







The fall leaves were absolutely gorgeous! And as a perfect end to our Saturday, we came home and made empanadas while enjoying a bottle of malbec and listening to music. Quite a fabulous Saturday, I must say. What have you been doing to enjoy the fall weather lately?