venezia

First female 'gondolier,' though they refuse to give her the official title.

made in Texas

Arcade Fire...in an elevator. Enjoy.

show and tell

Hooray! The lovely Save the Date cards have begun production. I designed the Save the Date cards and commissioned a lady who does letterpress from Esty.com. We have been working on the cards for about two months. As it is always rewarding to see a finished product, it seemed worth sharing. Graphic design fills the need for "instant" gratification...Somehow it rarely happens at all in architecture...

I'm in love.

Well, yes with Doug. But also with this website. Thanks for the tip, Brad.

saturday afternoon at 'the studio'

this picture was taken a while back, but shows the emptiness saturdays bring. but it is oh-so-refreshing to get work done without the phones ringing!

Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

wedding website

www.carterandconnolly.weddings.com

photo shoot

This is from a photo shoot at one of our recently completed projects. When the photographer was busy setting up his fancy equipment, I snuck outside and snapped my own shots.

day dreaming

Just thinking about my new place, with my new husband and my new life...We're definitely going to need to add color somehow!

pies

All things look better in "tiny":

http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/tinypies

kindergarten

Does anyone else have flashbacks of snack-time when drinking from a carton of milk? Lately I have been addicted to Vanilla Silk soy milk and only buy milk in a quart for baking needs. I just had a glass of milk (not even directly from the carton) and it tasted like kindergarten all over again. Ah, the good ol' days. If only I could take a plastic mat to work with me for a good nap...

Good Friday

Today seems like a day one should take off from work and reflect. Instead, I am reflecting from my desk. I did however come across some interesting information I had never heard before on randomhouse.com:

"Lee Sutherland wrote:

I've heard more than once that goodbye is a contraction of "God be with ye," and even that it was a slang word that came into wide use while being strongly frowned upon by upright Christian citizens. Where does it really come from?

Yes, goodbye (or good-bye) is a contraction of "God be with ye (you)." The first use of a contracted form of "God be with ye" is recorded in a letter written by Gabriel Harvey in 1575: "To requite your gallonde of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howedyes." From the 16th to the 18th century, this contraction was spelled in many different ways: godbwye, god b'uy, god buye, god b'wy. The change from god to good, reflected in the spelling good-bye/good-by, was not fully established until the beginning of the 19th century, probably influenced by previously existing phrases such as "good day" and "good night."

Another example of the change from god to good is Good Friday, originally written god Friday,god to good? Though derived from different Indo-European roots, the words god/God and good were usually spelled identically (as god) in Middle English, and so there was confusion and overlap between these two words. The spelling good first appeared about 1250, becoming the established spelling about 1450. Adding to the confusion was the obvious notion that God is good.

According to the century-old Century Dictionary, good-bye was "originally a pious form of valediction, used in its full significance, but now a mere conventional formula without meaning, used at parting." Actually good-bye was a rather new English word at the time the Pilgrims sailed for America. According to Stuart Flexner, former editor-in-chief of Random House Dictionaries, "Slang is as old as English itself...American kids have been speaking a language of their own since they annoyed their Pilgrim parents at Plymouth Rock...It offended Puritan parents that their Pilgrim children took their traditional farewell--God be with you--and turned it into good-bye."

There are many other examples of the contraction of a phrase into a word. In fact the excerpt from Gabriel Harvey's letters quoted above has another familiar contraction: the form howedye (now spelled howdy) comes from the phrase "How do ye?" And in another of Harvey's letters, he writes: "Youre Latine Farewell is a goodly brave yonkerly piece of work, and goddilge yee, I am always marvellously beholding unto you, for your bountifull Titles." Here, goddilge yee, an obsolete expression of gratitude, is yet another example of a contraction, this one from the phrase "God yield (or reward) you." "

God be with you - Jess

recent publications

field trip

It is a rare occasion I leave my desk in the office at 14th and Rio Grande. But when the opportunity is presented, I seize it. The other thing I rarely pass up is a good tour of a home. Any home will do. But especially modern.

This house was built in the late 1930s. As you can see in the photos, the first party they threw at the house was New Year's Eve, 1940. The paintings/decorations are still on the wall. Not much has actually been changed in the house. A couple of window units were added and a swing in the back.

The Bown house, as it is known in Austin, was recently featured in a local magazine. It's too bad the pictures are not on the website because it was a particularly beautiful shoot. Especially in the basement; i.e. the Blue Room. This house would be a great location for a horror movie once it is renovated.

dinner out

Recent work for the church.

the dress

Yeah right, like I would give that away. I don't even know what I'm going to wear yet! But, I did find a beautiful dress online and it should be here tomorrow. What a relief it would be to find two big things for the wedding all in one week.

My life is quite obviously wrapped up in wedding plans right now. But not for too much longer. It is amazing how it can become such a strain, the one thing that should be enjoyed to it's fullest has become stressful in our culture. Go figure.

the venue

We have chosen our venue. Thurman's Mansion. It's an old rustic house just outside of Austin. We stopped by on a cloudy day, so the images do little justice. We knew it was right when we walked into the main room and saw the huge free-standing bar. Very cool.

canopy tour

After reading a recent friend's blog telling how annoying it is to check other friends' blogs and see no update, I have decided I should remedy my current situation. Although, maybe planning a wedding is a good excuse, but it's not one I've had in the past so I should not bother with trying to use it as one.

These are photos from a canopy tour my fiance, Doug and I went on for my birthday. The guides take you on a zip-line course through huge cedar trees following a creek. It was beautiful.

My favorite photo shows two trees intertwined to form a dam during drought. Natural ingenuity.

**For anyone with allergies the symptoms can be quite severe up there in the trees, but it's oh so worth it.

doug goes to springfield

This photo was taken just after landing in the Springfield airport a few months ago. I love it, because it so beautifully captures the awe and utter confusion Doug had as he first laid eyes on the poster of Shoji Tabuchi which I had to explain had been in the exact same spot for at least 10 years and even though his daughter looked like she was 12, she is in fact my age) My brother-in-law probably remembers having a similar reaction to the Branson posters, thinking "is this for real?"

office portfolio

This page is pulled from a recent portfolio I have been working on for the office.
It is a compliation of many publications we have had in the past year.

diddy

So, if you know me well enough, you probably know my sense of humor

is quite silly. Maybe even a little nerdy. Luckily I have found someone who

will love me despite and because of my quirks...or as he says, because

I'm "sweet". He gave me this adorable bear as an early Valentines gift.

When he asked me what his name is, I said hmmm "Bee-Diddy"? I know,

it's a stretch...

on holiday

The last post never seemed to show the holiday card for some reason. Instead here are some photos from the drive my mom and I just made from Missouri to South Carolina. The drive was beautiful and not at all captured in these photographs.

We are about to go to the airport to pick up my sis and her family...more pics to come!

lhc food drive

We're having a food drive at church this weekend. Below is the design work I've been doing for the event.

alterations at alterstudio

"before and after"

all play and no work...

collaboration

It's been over a year since collaborating with any of my K-State friends. Work has opened up an opportunity for a good friend of mine, Miss Jackie Turner and I to work together. Included are some images beautifully rendered by Miss Turner. Thanks for all your help Jackie!

add this to the list of things to attempt...

http://www.jpricharddesign.com/

just for kicks

check out this crazy monster they call architecture...

arne jacobsen

These photos are from a recent stop we made. If this looks interesting, check it out @ St. Catherine's College.

the pensive one

Already we are able to see Mason's personality. When Carter, my other nephew arrived, we knew had some definite "character". In the same way Mason's character is beginning to show itself. Where Carter is more jovial and quirky, Mason seems to be more thoughtful and calm. Of course it may be too early to tell, but it seemed to be right with Carter.

(Those of you from Austin, take note of the STUBBS poster behind me. No, I'm not secretly hiding out in Austin!)

he's here!

Mason Julius Twist
8lbs10ozs

the big day finally arrived

cookie monster...carter looks like he's ready to be a big brother and a whole lot of trouble

This is the last photo of my sister pregnant with Mason. She's at the hospital as I type this blog...Let me just say, Thursday (today) was the day I guessed she would go into labor; looks like sis knows best. Say a prayer for a quick, safe delivery!

Am I in Narnia?

This is a test for any readers or watchers of the Chronicles of Narnia. There are two objects in this scene from which CS Lewis drew inspiration. Do you know what they are?

(I tried to give you a hint by altering the picture.)

This is an alleyway leading to the Bodleian Library and The Radcliffe Camera, behind which I now sit at Blackwell's Books in the only air conditioned WiFi spot I have been able to find. We are so spoiled in the States!


ANSWERS:
the gold figure above the doorway inspired Tumnus
the lampost

we're here!

Here's the first of many pictures to come. Little is showing of "Mason" here, but if my sister turned sideways you could tell he's not too far away!

summer vacation

My posts have taken the back seat lately...all my time has been spent preparing for a long trip to England [June 28-July 21] and with those I will miss while I'm gone. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew have been living there for the past year. There will be plenty of exciting news to share in the next few weeks...A second nephew will be making his rounds on the blog circuit very soon. [Mason Julius Twist is due in July!]

fisheye friday