Boston's ICA

If you want to see architectural divinity, you must visit the newly opened and much anticipated Institute of Contemporary Arts on Boston's waterfront. Designed by Diller+Scofidio+Renfro, it is amazing and beautiful and full of thoughtful details. I finally made the trip this Saturday, a perfect day of sunshine, and spent the afternoon wandering about the building. My first impression was somewhat strange: the whole building is surrounded by tons of parking! I actually laughed as I approached, and for a split second thoguht I was back in Houston...




I paid little attention to the exhibits within, but couldn't get enough of the space itself. Room after room held something remarkable to take in, and I made sure to allow myself the time to do so. I also caught a "Making of the ICA" film in the theatre, which was a nice way to experience that space.

This was an excitingly small but beautiful moment of the building...

One of my favorite aspects of the design is the use of various materials, namely the wooden planks, cladding and flooring that form a continuous plane that wraps itself around each turn of the building. From the exterior shot, you can see how the wood forms the profile of the building.

After an extensive tour inside, I plopped down outside on the exterior plaza/deck and took a nap in the sun. Then, from there I walked back to Central Square, a good two hour walk which allowed me to view other unexplored parts of the city's interior...

Capitol Fun with the D.C. Fam

This weekend, instead of spending it in Beantown, I decided to get out of the city and head southward to D.C. to visit my sister, Jennie, her husband, Kevin, and their furry children, Luce, Piper and Diabla. Jennie graciously invited me to come celebrate her good friend, Laura's Bachelorette party on Saturday night and I couldn't pass up the offer.

I caught a quick morning flight to the capitol, arrived in to the city around 11:30 and spent the afternoon hanging out with my big sis, running errands and driving around town in Kevin's jeep--top down, wind in our hair and sun in our eyes--don't you know it! We also ran down to Union Station to say hello to Kevin in uniform, and let Jennie throw a pouty lip...but then we got ice cream cones at Mc Donalds and everyone was happier! Afterall, who can be sad holding a sugar cone?

Oh, and I got to spend time with my favorite nieces, two of which, Diabla and Luce, can be seen below.




The next day was Bachelorette party prep day. We woke up early and gave the house a lick and a promise, as my momma likes to say, for the night's party and set out all the party-ware. Then, after a good bit of work, we said it is time to relax--and by relax I mean indulge in utter pleasure and lavishness. Before the party, Jennie arranged for Laura, her and I to go to the Elizabeth Arden Spa for facials and massages. We arrived at 2:00 and slipped into comfy robes and slippers, sipped some cucumber water and prepared ourselves for a couple of hours of peace and calm. The massage came first, and was a one hour swedish treatment with aromatherapy and soothing music. Then, the facial followed with an hour of various masks and light massage. (The facial also included some "extractions" but both Jennie and I, avid pickers, were quite disappointed at the brevity of this section. But, don't get me wrong, it was still exquisite!)



And then we were kicked out. Well, not really, but we had to peel ourselves from the beds and comfort of the robes and returned to reality. We dropped Laura off for a nap and returned to Jennie's apartment to prepare for the party. I tended to the H'oeur D'eurves (?) and appetizers while Jennie arranged the apartment for the guests. And before we knew it, the party had begun! People quickly arrived, a good group of 9 total, and after a bit of conviviality, we hopped in a couple of cars and made our way to the main event: D.C's one and only Hangar Club.

Number one (because it's the only one) in male dancing, the Hangar Club was a host of treats, and mainly those of the male kind. Chaos ensued and I'm not quite sure what to say other than that it was a hell of a good time...oh and one name: Harry Thunder Thighs. Enough said. Sadly, the night came to an end, but what a night it was. Sunday caught up with a few of the best of em, myself not included because I served as DD to those unmentioned (;

But the weekend was great! I had a wonderful time, and that even includes the 8 hour train ride home today. Thanks to Kevin, I got a free ticket to ride and was able to devote almost all of the time to my knitting project.

One sleeve down, one more to go...


Thanks, Jennie and Kevin!

A trip to the campus...

So, after taking multiple trips to Harvard Square for my own purposes, my curiousity finally got to me and I said to myself, "Sarah, you should go take a look at Harvard, where all the smarties go." And I went. I suppose the area I wandered around is the Cambridge Side but I got a good look at the old campus areas, including the law school, science school, Memorial Hall, and the Graduate Schood of Design.

Let me tell you one thing: Rice University is an impeccable school that spends a loooot of time and money on primping the campus; Harvard is not. I suppose I compare the two because Rice is supposedly the "Harvard of the South," but the two schools, layout and feel wise, are vastly different. The main difference lies in the closed campus aspect of Rice. One loop, a grid of buildings and complete order. Harvard, on the other hand, is chaos! Buildings are scattered everywhere and main streets run over and through the center of campus. Plus, there are some teeerrrrribly ugly buildings, such as the School of Science and all of the strange contraptions that lie about it. However, memorial hall is quite beautiful and grand (see picture below), and the housing courtyards are nice and shady with towers of old trees blanketing the sky.

Nevertheless, their grass is dying and Rice would never (neeeevvveeeer) stand for that!



Also pictured, Graduate School of Design.