Oak Park Father's Day? In August? BELIEVE.

For Father's Day, Julie upped the ante with this wild idea of taking me to Oak Park (ritzy Chicago) for a Frank Lloyd Wright tour. We went on the cheap, which meant barely eeking out the last two seats on a 5:45AM flight, and going standby at that. The upside is that we made it to Wicker Park in time to eat a banana and heath bar pancake covered in warm toffeecream. Chicagoans can sometimes be on the hefty side, so it was necessary to bulk up/fit in. (no offense. I'm the one eating candy bars for breakfast, so...)



Since we had extra time in Chicago that we assumed we'd be spending in the DFW airport, we went to the Chicago Institute of Art, to explore as much as we could before heading outta downtown. We took in this massive log, which some dood saw in California, had a mold made of it, shipped said mold to Japan to have woodworkers recreate the fallen tree, had it shipped back, and now is in the museum. Who said artists were the poor and starving type?



ARTY. There's a cute wife behind. them gold balls.

One of my favorite Wright homes in Oak Park was the Arthur B. Heurtley house. There was a hundred year oldish man who lived in the place, and he ruled, and was really proud of this beauty. I'd be proud too, because I'll be residing in a pine box at his age, not this place.

The vast majority of Wright homes one has to admire from the outside, as the current residences of the homes prefer privacy to hanging out with cool people like us. However, we did get to walk around inside Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio, and it was great. No pictures allowed on the inside though. Whatever.

We headed downtown to check out the inside of the Rookery building. When we go inside buildings in downtown Austin, we get a receptionist desk, a security guard, and an ATM machine.

This building was not like that. Long live the Rookery!!

The Robie house was another one that we got to walk around inside. It really made me want to live in 1910, be rich, have servants and be named Frederick C. Robie. There was this old victorian home built next door that looked a trillion years old, and it was built 5 years after this house. Wild. Again no pictures allowed inside. Apartment Therapy has a nice interior shot of the giant living room. Guess they must have a Robie on the staff.

Take that Jeff Tweedy. We took the Architecture River Crooze too, brah.

After said cruise, we stopped into this place that seemed a tad douchey to me on the outside, but turned out to be pretty nice. They did have this awesome beer flight for purchase, including the super potent Delirium Tremens. It was delicious, but to name your beer after the DTs is like naming your cigarettes the Coughing Blood Ultraslims.

Saw these lamps hanging in this Wine and Cheese shop near our motel. Don't get me all riled up again! Buy 'Merican people! LZF Lamps makes great stuff... and their model is basically three of mine put together and is wider, but they use only 2 pieces of veneer. I use 3. Would you rather live in a straw house or one of brick? I USE THREE. BRICK HOUSE!

We rounded out the trip with a drive to Plano, IL to visit the Farnsworth House. You know your house is a dope crib when it's been made into legos. We had a few setbacks getting there, and ended up 10 minutes late, much to the chagrin of all the others on the tour. They were also not chagrinning when it started pouring after we took two steps towards the house from the parking lot.

The upside was that we got to hang out in the house and sit around in the living room for a long time, listening to the tour guide... It was a great house. Thinking about putting a bid in on it. Not sure it's for sale, but they rent it out for $20,000 a night, so I'm pretty sure my offer will be heavily considered (I mean, it's on a flood plain yo!). We rounded out the Chicago trip with a delicious meal (thanks to friend Steve Roberts) and a rock and roll bar... Perfect end to a perfect trip! I have 9 months to come up with something big for Mother's Day, and is an equal alternative to some sorta musicals marathon. There MUST be an alternative!

Get Ready Freddy

Julie and I went away for our 13th weddin anniversary. Headed west to Fredericksburg. Mostly full o shops and the like, but still has lots of cool old buildings around, like this here Keidel Memorial Hospital down the street from where we stayed.



We enjoyed us a required two nite's stay at the Roadrunner Inn... It was perched atop a couple cool shops on Main Street. (above: Julie checks baby status from cellular)



Twas full of swanky mid century modern type artifacts, as well as this flat screen tv, which was in direct eyesight of the super cozy bed, and could play The Soup like nobody's business.



We ate a tasty meal at what was known as the Cotton Gin, now not-as-cool sounding Cabernet Grill. Romantic topics of discussion ranged from attic renovation, to baby schooling, to property tax protesting. Upside to the meal, other than its taste: I didn't pull a dead fly out of my mouth as I had the night prior at a different fancy restaurant, which shall remain nameless.



Trendy cool shop, Red, was directly across the street from where we stayed.



Sad how many cardboard animals are killed each season.



Austinite woodworker cool brah, Brian David Johnson, gets around! Spotted his wood vases right away. Someday, when I have more time than my daily allotted babynaptime, I'll get on the ball and make stuff, get stuff into stores, and sell the stuff. Til then, I'll blog about others that do it. BRING IT YEAR 13! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JULIE!

Hot New Couple

Here's something wicked sweet for local yokel types... The friggin Bohn house, which is down our street, and I've blathered about before, is going to get a remodel job by friggin Dick Clark Architecture!



Dick Clark, not the old sad brah you'll see on TV this week, but the local architecture firm, do some of the badassedest stuff in town. I could blather on and on about the lofts, n homes, n remodels these cats have done, or you could just go to the website and see for yerselfs... or check out their flickr page. That house is going to be a dooooooooooooooooooooooooozy! Invite some friendly neighbors over for cocktails lucky new homeowners! Did I mention I got a used laptop for xmas, as to not intrude on sleepin baby claire and blog blather on the computer in her room? Now you know. And will be kept mo up to date on the world according to bald.