We walked into our room and it was like Christmas. What a gorgeous room! Every little detail was designed and everywhere we looked there was something else to delight us.

The bathroom was separated from the rest of the loft-like room by a french door. The bath itself was airy and crisp. White linens, navy trim, copper fixtures, and graphic text and icons (like a hairdryer) to give direction.

The square in the photo above is hand soap on a robe. (This soap to be exact.) I need a lifetime’s supply.

Our sitting area had beautiful couches with cozy, faux skin throws, an awesome wall hanging, and a guitar! There was also blank sheet music in the room for composing. The room felt like it had been designed just for us.

On the desk area there was a record player with records, a radio,  and a Polaroid camera (kind of like one I have at home) and pack of Impossible Project film in the minibar. We could not resist.

The view from our window was lovely and we heard the calls to prayer from a mosque somewhere in the neighborhood daily. We were close to the Flatiron building and I really didn’t find New York as overwhelming as I expected. It is just a great city. My favorite proper city in the US. (I love you, St. Louis, but we both know you aren’t a proper city.)

I would be lying if I told you that I’m not already looking into The Ace Palm Springs for our anniversary in December. Because I have. A lot.

Last Wednesday I got  up at 5am and finished my last garment for the semester. I turned it in and then we boarded a plane to New York. Such a whirlwind way to start a trip. It’s kind of nice to come back to no homework, just lots of preparations to see to for the move. I’m excited about Austin.

A stenciled phrase from our room at The Ace

This week is probably going to feel like a week-long rumination on New York. I really hope it doesn’t bore you too much. I love reliving things in photos and I have something like 200+ photos to edit. It was a great time!

I am so excited for the trip, but there’s still lots to do: finish packing, bake a thank you pie for our the puppy and house sitters, clean the house, and on and on. Cors tried to help me with a mega load of laundry on Saturday. His method of helping is snuggling in the laundry piles and hiding tennis balls under them.

Side-note: making a super delicious stir-fry is a pretty tasty way to use up all the veggies in the house before a trip.

When we get back from New York we’ll be turning around and getting ready for another adventure, but I’ll tell you about that later. I’ll be back soon with way too many photos!

I’m always too shy to take photos of friends and I always regret it. Instead, I got pictures of books, magazines, and hot chocolates.

That’s a little ol’ Campfire Hot Chocolate  on the right. I love the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Between visits I got some work done on a new glove design. Diamond cables! I think it’s going to be quite handsome.

After our coffee shop hang out we went out to dinner with some friends, picked up our drum kit (random, I know), and then hit the road again.

Sunday was my wonderful Grandma’s 80th birthday so we drove down to Cincinnati to help her celebrate. Grandma’s house has the most crazy, amazing wallpaper. There are lots of patterns everywhere. I hadn’t been there in two years or maybe more and all the tiny details struck me so forcefully on this visit, like her coffee cups with the purple hearts and lots of other things that I remember from when I was little.

my mom & grandma

We were home to our funny, furry baby Sunday night.

I think we were in the car for something like 17 hours, but I’m hoping for another long, lazy road trip this summer. Maybe I’m crazy but I like a good long car ride.

Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum. That means that there are lots of things to see and do. Some of my favorites are the craftsmen and women who practice traditional techniques for things like silver-working, printing, etc. Most of these skills are disappearing and I think that keeping them alive is important.

I’ll keep this short and sweet, just headings and photos, enjoy!

Silversmiths

Dressmakers

My Boots and Roses

Print Workshop

Chownings for Lunch

Governor’s Palace

Shopping

I still have have a few more photos to share, but I’ll save them for later!

After a little wander around the Clay Center (there’s a very nice Chuck Close piece there), we headed over to Capitol Market. It’s a wonderful little indoor/outdoor farmers market. The outside was filled with Christmas trees, wreaths, and the scent of pine.

They even had a few flowers still blooming!

Inside is full of shops and places for good food. We ate at a very tasty sea food place. The hushpuppies were so good!

The best purchases I made were: handmade apple butter, local honey and honeycomb, and Holl’s Chocolates.

The next stop was Taylor’s Books. We browsed and waited for some friends to arrive. I found three magazines that had to come home with us. They’re shopping bags say things like “Nap, Snack, Read”.

View from inside Taylor’s. (Photo by Joel.)

Coffees in hand and friends in tow, we walked up the street to The Peanut Shoppe. I’ve driven past this little place for years, but had never been inside. Apparently it’s a Charleston institution that has been around for 50 years!

Treats were acquired and we walked over a few blocks to Mission Savvy. It’s the prettiest little gem of a shop with lots of love in the details. I love being able to spend a few dollars here and there to keep wonderful, small business around.

Me at Mission, photo by Lauren Stonestreet.

PS. Elsie wrote a short and sweet post about supporting small businesses. I think that her perspective as a small business owner is really neat.

West Virginia is my home state but I haven’t lived there since going to college, but every time I go back I feel it tug a little at my heart.

Do you feel that way about where you’re from?

Being back was a wonderful break from our busy schedules of work and grad school and of course it was so so so so SO good to see family and friends. We had some great adventures that I’m sure I’ll be reliving in photo post form this week.

Both of these photos are from our trip to Williamsburg early last week. Look at those foggy West Virginia hills!

I have lots of good things planned for the next few weeks. It’s going to be great!

I would pack a pretty, military-inspired jacket to keep me warm, a camera with lots of film and a few other necessaries.

Shoes from Toast, Military Jacket from FM908, VW bus photo by Junkaholique, Hair Powder by Lulu Organics & Nail Polish by Butter

Thursday, Joel’s birthday, was filled with exploring different part of Chicago that we had never seen before. After presents and coffee we drove down to the city to the Museum of Science and Industry. It’s one of those hands on kid friendly museums which isn’t normally our scene but we had some fun. I love the facade of the building.

I liked the old things, a compass from the maritime display and black and white photos of Queen Elizabeth II and a pink phone. Our favorite exhibit was the Wired Smart house. I want to live there so we’ve been playing around with floor plans.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brentanofabrics/3901069871/

The gardens were lovely and I think that the broken flowerpot bed dividers are pure genius.

From there we went to Topolobampo and had some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. Let’s just say it’s fancy Mexican food and it is too good to describe. I had a dessert which included cinnamon ice cream that I will be dreaming about for ages to come. After dinner we met up with Abby for the Laura Marling concert. It was at Lincoln Hall, the best little Chicago venue I’ve come across.

Friday, we shopped and then had friends over to continue the birthday celebrations with hot toddies, cookies and cheesecake.

The rest of the weekend was for homework, soup making, record listening and walks in the swirling leaves.