Gallery Wall

House projects continue to consume our time. I'm sure it will be that way for awhile! Over the holidays we finished painting/hardwood flooring the bedrooms and also squeezed in painting the hallway. There wasn't much time to enjoy the fruits of our labor before moving on to the next project: The Wall.

We've been itching to tear down that wall ever since we first saw the house. It separates the front living room area, which gets glorious sunlight, and the family room/kitchen area where we spend most of the time. The wall just isn't necessary since we aren't the type of people to have a formal living room. So that continues to be a work in progress. Although the wall is down now we still need to clean up the edges.

Among the chaos I thought I'd find solace in finishing a room... the hallway. If you can count that as a room. The hallway starts at the front door, takes you through the house, and drops you off at the bedrooms. Just painting the dingy walls and getting rid of the gold fixtures made me extremely happy.

Now up near the front door the hall opens up into..... a large standing area? The space is really unnecessarily large. I guess it's nice for welcoming guests. Sure, we'll go with that.

I knew I wanted to do a gallery wall someplace in the house. They're all the rage right now. You'll just have to trust me on that. In our old house we used the wall along the staircase for this. Since we no longer have a staircase I had to find another spot. Enter unnecessarily large space in the hallway.

I credit this next idea to someone else... probably something I saw on Pinterest. Instead of just hanging pictures randomly I cut out pieces of paper to plan out where I'd hang my frames. I thought this would be terribly tedious but it actually wasn't so bad.

My Christmas poinsettias are still going strong!

The tedious part was hanging up the frames. Why do 4x6 frames need TWO wall anchors? It just adds an extra step of hanging to use a level. So annoying.

I'm not sure how much time this actually took me, but I gave myself a Sunday to casually work on it. So there we are. A lot of the pictures are kind of random- most of them seem to fall in the category of art or pictures from our trips together. For example that picture in the middle left. Yes, the promiscuous one. That was a piece of art we picked up in Portland. It was done by a local artist and if you look closely the drawing is made up entirely of small numbers. It's pretty neat.

Zoom out a bit and here's our new entry area.We tried to make it functional. Now when people visit they have a place to hang their coats.

Speaking of that coat rack. I'm pretty into it. I picked it up on Amazon. When not in use it hangs as an inconspicuous wall sculpture/art. The hooks flip down to hold coats as needed. So clever.

Adventures in Albuquerque

For the next couple of weeks (minus the few days I have already logged) I am in New Mexico for some Very Important Stuff (VIS). Week 1: Albuquerque. Week 2: Santa Fe.

In between VIS, I narrowed down the things I wanted to see in Albuquerque (based on recommendations) to two things: The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History and a visit to the Sandia Crest.

Today I was able to cross off the first thing!

If you are anti-nuclear, please avert your eyes.

I managed to get to the museum before closing time. Exactly 45 minutes before closing time, with just enough time to race through the exhibits and snap some pictures. The museum walks you through the history of nuclear science, past to present, including WWII and the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, nuclear medicine, and nuclear power. For being a one-story building, there's really a lot to see and a lot to read. I really wish I had had more time to read things. Instead, I took pictures of signs to read later. It was not ideal.

So here's an abbreviated tour. Starting with some of the beginnings.

The first controlled nuclear chain reaction took place in a squash court under the stands of the
unused University of Chicago football stadium.

Weapon casings identical to those used for the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs

Limo used to transport Manhattan Project scientists

Some planes and missiles.

B-29

B-52B

Even a glimpse into the present.



Last but not least some nuclear art. Seriously.

It was fun to see some art on the walls. Some of it was just there for decoration, and some for sale. And the stuff for sale was not cheap. Maybe I should get into that...







 This was one of my favorites.

Doug Waterfield, Doomtown X11: The Trinity Test, 2011

All in all, a good use of 45 minutes.

Left vs. Right

Infographs. Appealing to the left brainers with their organization and logical presentation of data. 

Appealing to the right brainers with their cute graphics.

I stumbled across this infographic today and thought I'd share.

I'm definitely left brain heavy, with a heap of right brain on the side. Me: a planner, rational, logical, precise, a dog lover! Can be creative and artistic. Interested in the unexplained? Sometimes, yes.

Definitely not me: impulsive, reads lying down. A cat lover.

Via: Online College Advice

Baltimore Birthday

I turned 28 this year. Only two more years until I'm thirty. I swear I was 21 just yesterday....

This year Mike and I did a very adult thing for my birthday and visited an art museum. Specifically, we visited the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Its been sitting there all this time and I've never been. And its FREE.

 

 

 

 

This guys would have been a better fit in my Halloween post.

Although the armor, and sculpture, and jewelry, and other random stuff is neat, I'm more of a fan of the paintings. I must have been entranced, because I forgot to take pictures, except for these two.

 

 

And some pictures of good ole Baltimore.

 

 

 

 

We concluded the festivities with lunch and beers at Victorias. All in all, a good day!

Pinterest

As if I needed to spend more time browsing fun things on the internet. I just discovered Pinterest. I'm well aware that this website has probably been around for quite sometime, but I still love it. There are so many great ideas and things I want, or things I want to make! I may need to sign up soon so I can start tagging things.

Cool New Mugs

Recently I found myself browsing through stores while waiting for a flight out of the Portland, OR airport. I stumbled upon these hand warmer mugs in a Made in Oregon store:

Of course the mugs are slightly less cool now that I've seen they can be ordered off of Amazon, but nonetheless, they are still a nice addition to our collection of mug. And I'm sure they'll be much appreciated when the winter months roll in!