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, a photo by YF [ yffoto ] on Flickr.

This is what I do while waiting for my colleagues for meetings in the city. I'm a punctual girl ... can't stand being late. And on the rare occasion that it does happen, I make sure to let those that might be expecting me know... Anyway, to pass the time I wonder the city streets, just looking up. I don't think I will ever tire of Chicago architecture.

Side note:  Very excited to see Teitur on Wednesday!!

45

FLW

Finally made my way to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio.  I have to say, learning how he built this place in the middle of the desert while living in the structures as they were being built with no electricity, water and such is pretty amazing.  Somehow he makes these linear structures fit within the Arizona landscape - the use of local materials and pulling the reds direct from the earth - quite a talent indeed.  It's sad that he died with pretty much nothing, but he was clearly an artist that lived for his craft.  

My favorite room was the theater (last photo).  He designed the space in such a way that performers need no equipment to amplify the sound.  You can speak facing away from the audience and hear just as if they are facing you.  You can even hear a whisper! And the angles of how the seating are so that when sitting with your right arm behind your neighbor and left leg crossed over put every single person at the perfect angle to view the center of the stage is nothing short of brilliance!  A great way to wrap a quick weekend in Phoenix with my design friends!

 

58-60

Weekend in the sun.

108

Meetings in the loop

143 frank lloyd wright

Was the most beautiful Saturday - sunny, seventies and low humidity - simply dreamy.  I headed out to Oak Park with a friend to check out some Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, beautiful homes and neibghborhoods and the cute downtown area.  It's a lovely little town!  

150 Soldier Field

So after my KUAA event Teri, Nikki and Will invited me to join them for the rest of their day's adventures ... so glad they did and cannot thank them enough for such a fabulous day!!  We had the opportunity to meet the general manager of Soldier Field and have him give us a personal tour of the stadium!  He was so nice and full of great stories - it was a true pleasure and an experience I won't soon forget.  Now maybe I need to actually go to a Bears game huh...

We got to go ON the field, pose with the 1985 Super Bowl ring, go in the locker room, give a press conference (ha!) take in the view from the skyboxes, and so much more!  All this while a wicked storm rolled through the city - see the last photo and the goal post... eek! 

161 sullivan stair

I have always loved this design firms treatment of the stairwell inside the historic building. I cannot remember why they told me that they can't expose the actual staircase, but putting the photo of the stairwell on these moving doors is genius! This is a true Louis Sullivan staircase. Isn't it lovely?

And what trip downtown wouldn't be complete with a trip to Sweet Bliss bakery for some amazing cupcakes?

... via iPhone ...

architecture, social media & french fantasy

Architecture

This may have something to do with why I love Chicago so much.  iPhone photos of two architectural icons (330 N Wabash & Trump Tower) while waiting along the river for a meeting.  It was a stunningly beautiful day today and as luck would have it, I was called to a last minute meeting downtown.  It's days like today that make me wish I worked down there - you could meet your friends for a long lunch and enjoy the Chicago skyline.  

Social Media

Anyhoo, meeting was good, but the side conversation really has me thinking.  I was meeting with two people who are probably 10-15 years older than me and our conversation swayed to social media.  This seems to be a reoccurring theme to conversations these days.  What is the purpose of social media? How does it fit into our personal and professional lives?  How do you use it effectively for business?  All interesting questions and I don't think anyone really knows the answers.  Even Google missed the boat on social media!  And given that, how are we small business people to know how to really use it?  I find these conversations interesting, not only because they are relevant to business today, but how the conversations are different among the age groups.  Anyone in their early 30's or under is up to their eyeballs in tweets, facebook and etc.  They are fully emersed in the social game and, in my opinion, find it hard to associate with those who are not.  I find that anyone over 40 just doesn't want to be bothered with it and still finds value in meeting face-to-face and having a real conversation over the telephone.  Then there's the 35-40 year olds (my group, the Gen X'ers), we are stuck between those who get it and those who don't and it's a most interesting position to find myself in... I sort of feel like we will be the bridge that holds it all together... hmmm. 

French Fantasy

Upon returning to work, I saw a tweet about Bradley Cooper promoting the Hangover II in French.  As in he is FLUENT in French.  I about melted into a puddle right there in my desk chair.  I've been on the BC fence - not sure if he would be on my celebrity crush list or not - well let me tell you, this just put him at the top of that damn list.  Bonjour monsieur Cooper!!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYwvFU6dcv4]