LEGO Buildings and Lions - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 4

Magnet #1185 - LEGO

While I love LEGOs, I'm not like the hugest LEGO fan out there. I didn't really grow up putting them together, and played with them only once in a blue moon. In fact, I think that's why I have so much more fun with them now as an adult.

I inherited a LEGOs set at my old office, so when the kids come in, they'd playdate with me on my cube floor, and we'd build fun stuff. The box wasn't a full-on set, just randoms, so we'd really have to get creative with what we built.

Lemme tell you, if you think advertising creative folks are hard to get along with? Try getting in the way of a 4-year-old's LEGOvision.

If you've read anything from this blog, you know that I'm a big architecture buff, so of course, I'm loving all the architectural sets LEGO's released over the last couple of years. Naturally, my two fave sets are Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim and Fallingwater. I had so much fun putting them together - even as friends and family sat and wondered how old I was. Still. C'mon. They're superduper cool!

My other LEGO fave is the touring Towering Ambition architecture tour that we saw in Chicago. It's currently at the National Building Museum in DC, so if you get a chance to go, you must. It's a cityscape of tall and taller famous buildings from all around the world, all made of LEGO blocks. Freakin' fantastic. And don't even get me started on LEGOLand - I just walk around for ages looking at all of their outdoor diorama displays!

It's been a LEGO-filled weekend, too. Today, I finally braved the Rock Center crowds again to visit the store - they have a new tiny Andy Warhol display, which is superdupercute.

And this weekend, I basically hung out at the New York Public Library for their Centennial Celebration. They commissioned a LEGO artist to put together half-sized Patience and Fortitude, the library lions. Even with 60,000 pieces, they were a tad bit on the small side, but still, damned cool.

I just love my shot below of the awesome Library Lion, reading @MichelleKnudsen's Library Lion, flanked by the LEGO Library Lions. So funny.

It's like the Best. Shot. Ever.

Small gifts

Magnet #1099 - Frank Lloyd Wright's December Gifts

Heh. #1099. Appropriate given how much freelance work I'll have done this year. Yep. Rather than settle down to find another agency job, I've taken on a few freelance projects to tide me over the beginning of this year.

Things happen for reason, because the day after I accepted the third concurrent project, I found myself urgently flying down to North Carolina. And with me here for a little bit, it's been a very good thing that I can tackle these projects remotely.

This magnet - yet another from my BEA escapades in the Pomegranate booth (I should work for these people, at this point!) - is an adaptation of Frank Lloyd Wright's December Gifts, one of a dozen abstracts that FLW designed in the late 1920s as covers for Liberty, one of the leading magazines of the day.

From what I understand, they were never actually published, but these graphic designs ended being adapted up on many - and I mean, many - walls, floors, tables, countertops, and windows. Not to mention countless keepsakes, books, coloring books, postcards, notecards, ties and calendars.

And of course, magnets.

Walk. Freeze. Eat. Repeat.

Magnet #1020 - Disney, New York City

Fact: I paid way too much for this magnet. But. It was opening day at Disney's new Flagship store in Times Square a few weeks ago, and so, was totally worth it.

Plus, look at it! So darn cute! If they had a second one, with a complementary set of Disney ones (they could so do one with just the princesses!), I would totally have gotten it.

Spent the day playing tourist again in my city - one of my favorite things to do here. One of my former clients from Italy is here this week with her boyfriend, so we went wandering around Queens and midtown.

Yes, Queens. They wanted to go, so I brought them all the way out to Corona Park and the Queens Museum of Art, to see all the World's Fair stuff. You know I love it there.

Her BF is an architect, so he was totally interested in the architecture out there, and in midtown. So I picked up a copy of Francis Morrone's Architectural Guidebook to the City for him - remember him? The dude who gave the Plaza tour?

I firmly believe that all visiting architects should have that book in hand while wandering around town. We wandered through Grand Central, up Park Avenue to visit the Seagram Building, Lever House and the Frank Lloyd Wright showroom, over to Madison for the AT&T/SONY Building - such a pleasure to wander around with someone who appreciates the buildings themselves! We followed that by a quick trip into Cartier, St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square for Disney, M&Ms and Hershey's, and Toys R Us.

Yep. All day. Loved it. Walking, freezing and eating. My kind of day.

Well, without the freezing, maybe.

"I hated him, of course."*

Magnet #898 - Frank Lloyd Wright Finger Puppet

So yesterday, a friend and I went to visit the Philip Johnson Glass House out in New Canaan, CT. Sadly, their cute little gift shop at the Visitors Center didn't have any Glass House magnets (Note to Visitors Center, magnets are the #1 purchased souvenir, worldwide - I'm just sayin'.). But, they did have a good collection of the finger puppets that I love so much (but refuse to collect).

As it turns out, Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson weren't the bestest of friends, though they had a healthy respect for each other's work. So, apparently, FLW was at the Glass House for dinner one night, and throughout the night, he and Johnson ended up arguing over the placement of this papier mache sculpture. Because it was so light, FLW would move it to where he thought it should be. And then shortly after, PJ would go and move it back. After a couple of times, the situation came to a head, and Johnson grudgingly agreed that FLW's placement was correct.

For some reason, thinking of these two men arguing over this sculpture makes me giggle. A lot.

Anyway, the 2-hour tour was fantabulous - well worth the several months' wait for our tickets. It definitely ranks in my top 10 tours of all time. Not surprisingly, my favorite part of the tour was the Painting Gallery, where several of the PJ/David Whitney collection are left.

I would talk more about this tour...except that I seriously spent a couple of hours captioning the hundred photos I took. So, you can take a look at the entire FB album here.

Enjoy! Then hurry up and book a tour next year, so we can compare notes!



*PJ quote, about FLW in the Ken Burns FLW film: "I hated him of course. But that's only normal when a man is so great - it's a combination of hatred; it's a combination of envy, and contempt, and misunderstanding - all of which gets mixed up with his genius."

Room with a view

Magnet #841 - FLW Robie House Window

So, I've lived in New York since 1995, and I've been to the Met countless times. Seriously, doesn't it feel like I'm always writing about it?

Earlier this week, the Met Tweeted something about their Frank Lloyd Wright room. Dudes. I didn't even know they had one of those! And, ya'll know how much I love my Frank Lloyd Wright!

Totally don't have a clue how I've managed to miss it, but I totally rectified that this evening. It was pretty cool, though, really, in the end, it was just a room. Heh.

I think what I love about FLW houses is the fact that he designed not just the house, but much of the interior and furnishings as well. In some cases, he was pretty OCD about his furnishings being used.

I have to wonder if I'd be able to take it, if he dictated everything that could go into a house I lived in. Even if he did design it. From the chairs to the lights to the screens to the windows - I'd imagine it could be quite overbearing.

Clearly, I say this with a little bit of sour graping, as I also wouldn't turn down a FLW house, even if I think I couldn't live in it.

I will say, though, that I do love his windows. They're really very cool - with subtle differences in colors and patterns. This magnet is of one of the 174 glass patterns of the Robie House, one of the grandest of his Prairie Homes, in Hyde Park, IL. They're celebrating its centennial this year and is currently under a lengthy process of restoration and preservation.

I was so glad I detoured from our Met Scavenger Hunt to see the FLW room tonight. Love those scavenger hunts, they force you to notice the details of what you're seeking...even when you're running from one end of the museum to the other.

So, yay, for @metmuseum Tweeting about tonight's Internet Week event. Fun had by all!

Oh! Speaking of which - apparently, the New York Times has decided to disallow use of the word Tweet in their stories, because it's not in the dictionary. NYTs, you're one of the world's most venerable papers. But seriously. There's a reason why the dead tree industry is dying. But, ignoring the digital future won't make it go away. IJS.

Usonian U-turn

Magnet #714 - Pope-Leighey House

There's nothing better than serendipitous sidetrips. So, after a day of hanging out at George Washington's Mount Vernon several years ago, we were headed back to my sister's place. On the way, we ended up running into the Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, VA.

The house is on the grounds of Woodlawn Plantation, which is a house that was designed by the same guy who designed the U.S. Capitol, for George Washington's nephew and wife Nelly Custis. That's a great place to visit with a cool tour, but, I was all over the Wright house.

At that point, I didn't even know that FLW even built in the DC area. Of course, at that point, I hadn't been spoiled for the tragic end of Loving Frank, either - but that's a whole different story.

Such a great unexpected sidetrip that was. We made it just in time for the last tour of the day - and the guide took us in and around the house, explaining concepts and layouts for the FLW Usonian house. Basically, FLW's goal was to bring his architecture to the common man, affordable homes for cost-conscious people with great taste.

Though I really love touring and looking at his houses, and seeing all the intricate details in his design work, I gotta be honest. I don't think I could live an a Wright house - mainly because the places he liked to make small, I like to have big. He was a big believer in common spaces being bigger, because that's where the family gathers. His homes have big living and dining rooms, with incredibly small hallways, bathrooms and bedrooms.

And, really. Have you ever tried the plopability of his sofas or chairs? I haven't sat in many, but man, if you can't plop on to a sofa or a chair, there's no point trying to sit in it!

Isn't that nifty, look who's 50!

Magnet #608 - 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim

Huh. I'm wondering if Guggenheim New York is the title holder of the Most House Museum Magnets Owned By Joy.

Sooo, yesterday the Gugg was free, in honor of its 50th anniversary! I didn't get to go, but a friend of mine did, and he picked up this (of course) niftily-designed magnet. LOVE. From what I understand, the lines and the crowds were insane. I'm not surprised, the admission's pretty steep, so every time they open for free, the lines are literally around the block.

I'm sad not to have gone up especially to see the new Kapoor. And the Kandinsky exhibit, which is supposedly one of the few multi-piece exhibitions happening nowadays.

I read this article in Crain's New York Business that talked about how grand museum exhibitions are slowly falling to the wayside. It kinda makes me sad. It's great fun being able to see several works from one artist or oeuvre, all in one place. It's condensed knowledge and culture and genius in the confines of a few rooms.

I suppose I get it. The costs are prohibitive, indeed, several thousands just to insure one painting from one museum, let alone multiple pieces from multiple museums. And frankly folks aren't as willing to pony up the $20 for admission, and the extra $7 for the audio tour, all to have to wade through cramped spaces of humanity to squint from afar and between heads.

Ok, ok. I do get it. But I will miss it.

In the meantime, I can totally make do with seeing Vermeer's Milkmaid (twice!), and others of his oeuvre. Totally planning to do the MoMA's Monet exhibition - which is just their own Water Lilies in a while new room. And then, totally back to the Gugg, for the Kandinsky. I swear!

"Note: We are now in the domain of virtuosity, romance & symbolism."*

Magnet #526 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Saguaro Forms and Cactus Flowers

Picked this one up at BEA, again from the Pomegranate folks, and using this one for today, since we had a pretty good Frank Lloyd Wright day in Oak Park.

We spent the morning at the new Modern Wing, and then we booked it through an hour traffic to finally arrive at FLW's house and studio by 3:35pm...only to make our way toward the back of the gift shop to see the sign above their heads say, "Next Tour: Tomorrow" and hear the cashier explain to several people that they were sorry, but there were no more spots available.

You have to hand it to the guy - he was incredibly patient with the huffy visitors there - to the folks ahead of me, and to at least half a dozen more people asking for the tour while I was browsing the gift shop. I mean, telling people who traveled from states and countries all over that they couldn't see the one thing they had come for can't be an easy thing.

So, we didn't get to take the tour. And that's fine, that'll give me something to look forward to on my next trip out.

I did get to visit the little shop - though it was supertiny, they did carry the Gug and Fallingwater lego sets. And, shocker! I did walk out without them. The Gug is priced out at something like $45 - which would normally be ok for something like that, but the darn thing is seriously not taller than my hand! Crazy. And, the Fallingwater is also pretty cool, but priced at $100 and not all that much bigger than the Gug, I just couldn't justify the cost.

In the end, I picked up even more Pomegranate magnets, and an Oak Park area map that plotted the houses of FLW and his ilk, plus other important houses, and created our own drive-by tour.

*A handwritten note from a Louis H. Sullivan ornamental drawing, which really has nothing to do with this FLW magnet, or day, other than I just liked the lyricism and thought behind the turn of phrase.

Paging George Kaplan

Magnet #491 - North by Northwest

I bought this one from that magnet vendor down at Union Square. How cool is this magnet!

I mean, it's the epitome of cool with awesome Cary Grant on it. I'm actually watching North by Northwest right now, as I type. TCM's running a daylong Hitchcock marathon. Yay for TCM marathons!

This one's never been one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. I always lean toward the obvious Vertigo and Rear Window. But, as I'm rewatching it, I'm finding myself looking at it with new eyes.

I just did a tour of The Plaza, and that's where Roger Thornhill was abducted. I just went to the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition at the Guggenheim, and though the house at the end wasn't a FLW house, it was certainly done in his style. And on and on...in the end, I do find myself liking this movie even more.

Funnily enough, I've had the magnet a few months now, and only when I started to take a picture of it today did I notice there was a fifth head up on Mount Rushmore! Hahahahaa. That Hitch, he's a nut.

Is FLW the new Monet?

Magnet #464 - Frank Lloyd Wright's City by the Sea

Here's one of the many (many, many, many, many) items I purchased today (at wholesale, thank God).

It's the City by the Sea design that FLW originally created in 1913 as a mural for the Midway Gardens in Chicago. Almost 50 years later, he brought back the design for the Music Pavilion at Taliesin West. It's supposed to be geometric forms abstracty image of a city skyline, complete with balloons and confetti of color.

Yes, I know - superbusy, huh. I bet it's even more awesome when you see it in person, as that guy did. (What a great Flickr photoset of Taliesin West!)

Anyway, this weekend was almost as busy as this magnet! Another weekend with terrific friends in town. Aside from visits to Burgers & Cupcakes (which I think has the best frosting in the city) and hanging out with fun friends, the Guggenheim and a trade show were my little highlights.

It feels like lately, more people have jumped aboard the FLW bandwagon, as his work over the past few years seems to be enjoying the same attention Monet did back in the 90s. Am I the only one to notice this?

Yesterday, I finally got to see the Gugg's FLW: From Within Outward exhibition. Words can totally not explain how terrific this was. It's their 50th anniversary, and this is the largest exhibition of his work - and is a fabulous tribute to his work - both built and unbuilt.

You basically start at the bottom of the rotunda, and wend your way upward, with separated out galleries for other segments of his work. The drawings are amazing, and coupled with slideshows of the works in real life. I'm totally going to have to go back, so that I can be that obnoxious person dwelling over all the drawings and models.

The models are amazing - particularly for the unbuilt works. Though, they had a model of my holy grail of buildings - the SC Johnson Wax headquarters. Yes, yes, I know all I have to do is go to Wisconsin to see it, but really, when was the last time you up and went, hey! I need to go to Wisconsin. So, sorry, Wisconsin, it'll have to wait a little bit longer. But, seriously. How cool is this lily pad great room? According to the Guggenheim audio tour, they almost didn't let him build it, because they didn't think the columns would hold. So he produced a test column, and put something like 60,000 tons of weight on it to prove a point, and they finally relented and let him build it.

And, yes, I could keep talking about this exhibit. But ya'll should all go. I'm just sayin'.

So, the other big highlight this weekend, was BookExpo America, which is just a big publishing tradeshow. That was fun, because I could pretend I was back in the industry, caring about books and literature and pub dates and distribution, and authors and backlists, etc.

Plus, on an advertising/marketing level, I do love trade shows, seeing the booths and displays, how people laid out their floor plans and foot traffic, and seeing which booths had great stuff. And even if they're all saying that there wasn't great swag out there, I beg to differ. There just wasn't as much as previous years, from what I hear. But then again, I was happy with fun pens and bags. So silly, but a great bag makes a booth. Chronicle Press had the prettiest damn bag ever - and at least a handful of people asked me where to find it. Now. Easily the hit (bag) of the show. What? I said I like trade shows!

Today was the best day, because while I love the free stuff, a lot of the stuff in the booth I wouldn't have minded buying. And buy, I did. You know how when you go into gift shops, and they have those supercool postcard books, or those wonderfully designed and packaged notecards? Or, even those fun decks of knowledge cards? The mousepads with the artwork on it? Or, those coffee table books that you love in the store, but feel too extravagant to spend on just yourself?

Umm, yeah. They come from a company called Pomegranate.

I LOVE THEIR STUFF.

I buy it everywhere I go - and ya'll know I'm in gift shops, constantly. Their stuff is in every nook and cranny of my apartment and my cubicle at work. And I bought a bagful of stuff from them today, from notecards and knowledge cards to notepads and mousepads, and of course, a handful of magnets.

No lie. In fact, I was chatting with one of the ladies at the booth, and I said, OMG, I love your stuff. I should own stock in Pomegranate with as much of this stuff that I buy! And she laughed softly and said, well, it's privately owned. And later, I found out...by her and her husband.

Good grief, how in the heck do I end up fangurling over the most obscure stuff - ever? With the people I'm fangurling over? Sheesh.

Kirk vs. Wright. Who cares, it's pretty!

Magnet #448 - New Yorker Guggenheim

What? I said I had several Guggenheim magnets. Get thee there. Sometime between today (yay!) and August.

Ready. Set. Go.: Frank Lloyd Wright, From Within Outward.

Goodness, you'd think I was getting a commission or something for how much I'm pimping this exhibit.

But you have to understand - the Gug is like the only way we get to have anything FLWy here - from the looks of it, the Midwest is the place to be when it comes to FLW.

Though, honestly, I'm kinda glad. I bet I'd be soooo out of my demographic if I went to any of those uberWright events. At least out of my depth, anyway.

I can't see me intelligently discussing Usonian or Prairie style, Froebel blocks and sitelines, without resorting to just thinking something's pretty.

It's kinda like that Star Trek Showdown panel I went to earlier this week, where the panelists discussed who was a better captain - Kirk vs. Picard, Kirk vs. Janeway, Kirk vs. Adama, Kirk vs. O'Neill. Well, you get the picture. It was a fun thing to watch - I love watching boys get all excited about their ST or SW or their Flight Control or their comics, whatever. But, still, they were quoting Kirk speeches that I'm not even sure I ever saw. Meanwhile, I just think Kirk was pretty. Hot, even.

So, I guess it's probably good then that I'm in New York, and not with people who actually know FLW like these guys knew their Kirk.

(Thus endeth the FLW miniseries. For now. Until I actually see the exhibition.)

Openness indoors

Magnet #447 - FLW's Guggenheim

Yep. I think I've firmly established that I'm a Frank Lloyd Wright fan. Love his work - maybe not so much the guy behind the drafting board if the stories are to be believed, but what are you gonna do.

I also love my FLW magnets - and the Guggenheim gift shop purchasing person. (I hope other gift shop purchasing people learn their lesson. To wit, I used this pin/magnet for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular because they had no magnets in the shop. Ohhh, the horror! But, two days ago? I walked by their little gift shop, and I spied a little board at the cash register with at least a couple of magnet designs. Heh. Nice. I can't wait to see them up close.)

This one is supercool - it's taken from the bottom floor of the atrium, looking up to the skylight.

I think one of my favorite parts of the museum itself is the part where Wright intended folks to zip right up to the top in the elevator, and slowly work their way down the sloping walkway. They say it's like the inside of a nautilus shell with open spaces and the curvity-curves. I just think it's nifty.

I picked this magnet for today, just to help countdown to the exhibition I've been waiting for: Frank Lloyd Wright, From Within Outward." It starts tomorrow, and runs through August. According to the write-up, the exhibition is supposed to highlight one of the hallmarks of FLW's work - openness in interior space.

Well, I'm telling you, if the Guggenheim NY isn't the prime example of openness in interior space, I haven't a clue what is.

What might have been

Magnet #446 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob

Good gravy - Kentuck Knob is only seven miles away from Fallingwater, in Western PA. Since I found out last night, I've wondering how we could have been in the neighborhood and not dropped by!

Instead, I think my sisters ended up getting me this when they went on their Pennsylvania rumspringa.

The Hagens had fallen in love with the Kaufmanns' house Fallingwater, and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build it - it would be one of the last he ever built. Indeed, it was 1953, and the guy was busy working on the Guggenheim at the time. And, dude was 86 years old!!!

I picked this magnet for today, because the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that had I paid more attention to Mrs. Misenheimer's long division lessons in 6th grade, that I might have been an architect in an alternate reality.

More than Kirk's space travel, or the Doctor's time travels, or Sam Beckett's quantum leaps, or Buffy's Angel, or even Prue's astral projections, the concept of alternate realities has always fascinated me. The very idea that every single decision made on a timeline sparks a new reality of possibilities is just mind-boggling.

I will say that I'm betting J.J. Abrams has been living and breathing alternative realities for a few years at least - what with a SpUhura'd Star Trek and a non-9/11'd Fringe, and, I guess if you want to get technical, you can probably throw a bit of LOST in there, as well. My thing is that if you bother to think about it for too long, and you basically freak yourself out wondering about all other yous running around.

But, I'm of the mind that no matter what decisions you've made, or wherever those life decisions have led to you live whatever life you're living now, it must the life that you should be living. Otherwise, you'd be off living that other life. Or that other life. Or that other, other life. See? Trippy.

Oddly, Lord Palumbo, the guy who ended up buying Kentuck Knob kinda sort of agrees with me when he said (about buying the house), "Life, on occasion, becomes a matter of serendipity. When circumstances conspire to propel one in a certain direction it is best to go with the flow, or so I have found, even if the precise destination is at the time unknown."

Of architectural merit

Magnet #354 - Guggenheim New York

Ya'll wouldn't believe how many Guggenheim NY magnets I have. And I bought them all in one fell swoop. In my defense, they were packaged as sets, so it's not like I set out to buy six Guggenheim magnets all at once.

I visited for the first time late last year. I'd been to the shop (of course), but once they started renovating, I wanted to wait until it was complete before I went.

Waiting was well worth it. I love it. Seriously. It's gorgeous - you can see my one pic here, or do a Google Images search for it. I couldn't tell you a thing about the stuff on the walls. (Not quite true, but since it was my first time, I just wasn't really paying any attention at all to the artwork housed inside.)

And, of course I'd love this building - it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, whom I've written about a ton here on joy magnetism. It was completed in 1959, and sadly, FLW himself didn't live to see the final result. Indeed, he got the call for it in 1943, and then spent the next several years fighting everyone over it - clients, public opinion, etc. It was 1956 before he delivered the final design.

You know, I'm always wondering about the longevity of FLW's work. It's gorgeous, but I've often wondered if he thought they would last forever, his imprint on this earth. Or, if, because he built with mostly natural materials and had that closeness with the land reflected in his work, he thought his work would naturally wither and decay.

Case in point - the Ennis-Brown house that we visited years ago. I think they do periodic tours there, but it was totally deserted and fairly in disrepair when we visited years ago. But that was built in the 1920s, so it's to be expected.

The Guggenheim's a bit newer, and though it's been just over a half a century since, it still needed a ton of restoration...where according to Arch Record, the renovation team took off 11 coats of paint! Dudes! Then, when they got down to the concrete, they discovered hundreds of surface cracks. Which then meant they had to evaluate the entire building for its structural integrity. Whoops.

It actually turned out to be fine, and they were able to fix whatever they needed to fix, and made sure to paint it with an appropriate protective paint coat. Which then meant they had to decide what color to paint the building. When they got down to the first layer of paint, they discovered that it was a brownish-yellowish shade. And thus began the controversy, that was finally resolved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Hah. There's a part of me that thinks that maybe we should have remained true to FLW's vision (if indeed that's really what he wanted). But honestly, that means that there would have been an upside-down Pooh Bear beehive sitting up on Fifth Ave.

In the end, they decided to leave it the color that everyone had gotten used to - depending on who you ask - it's gray or off white or whatever. (According to the NYTs it's really Tnemec BF72 Platinum - goodness, J Crew was nowhere near that color, huh.)

So now, $29 million later, they're back open for business. I'm so happy the building's lost its scaffolding, and that it's back. I've superexcited, because in May they're mounting "From Within Outward", an exhibition for FLW's work. Seriously can't wait.

Oh, I could go on about FLW, but I'll stop. After all there are several more magnets to get through. Hah.

One last thing that I'm sad about is that FLW didn't heart NYC - according to the Guggenheim site, "the city was overbuilt, overpopulated, and lacked architectural merit."

Sparkly Tampa

Magnet #282 - Disney Princesses Sparkle

Yeah, I know this isn't Orlando, but, it's as close as I can get to glitter right now.

Yesterday was a great day, despite having started out with me not only wandering into the men's restrooms, but also running into a reallllly cute dad of a young kid...who also happened to be on my flight.

I swear, I did a full 360 in the restrooms, wondering when they installed urinals in the ladies' room, or when La Guardia had gone unisex. What can I say, it was like 6:30 in the morning!

But after a sucky morning, I landed in this wondrous world, this place called Tampa [metro area].

First, I had lunch with some old friends, and you can't beat company like that.

Second, my lunch was the most scrumptious potato-chip encrusted turkey burger I've ever had. Ok, it's the only potato-chip encrusted turkey burger I've ever had. But seriously, it was like one of those food epiphanies I mentioned a few weeks ago, and I just know I'll end up in NYC trying to find someone to recreate the darn thing.

Third, while I saw a few superawesome and completely unexpected roadside attractions (that I didn't get to take any pictures of, darnit). Off of US 4, someone recreated Cadillac Ranch, but used airstreams instead - how awesome is Airstream Ranch! But even more awesome, because down the road a couple exits later were some giant dinosaurs! Dinosaur World! (I'm so sad I didn't have time to stop!)

Fourth (and technically not Tampa), I went to Florida Southern's campus and wandered around for a couple of hours. I'll probably blog more on that side trip for the next FLW magnet, but for now, here are the superawesome pics without any captions.

But, finally, the piece de resistance. Yay for multiple Targets!

Really. How can you go wrong with a Target that sells me this magnet!

"If you ask me, the thing looks like a big artichoke."*

Magnet #264 - Guggenheim, Bilbao

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that my sister got me the 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die book, and I was slowly making my way through it to count up how many buildings I've seen.

Suffice to say that sadly, I have at least 900 more to go. Mind you, I haven't been trying before. Hello. Mission!

I spent most of last night looking through the photos posted on the Modern Architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright Appreciation Society Facebook groups, ooohing and ahhhing at gorgeous buildings, and posting a couple of images here and there.

One building that I'd love to see is the one on this magnet - the Guggenheim Bilbao. A friend of mine went to Spain earlier this year, and brought this back for me. Love. It.

After having seen the documentary, Sketches of Frank Gehry, I was completely psyched to hear her firsthand details of the buildings and the grounds, and seeing her pictures (and of course, my magnet). But seriously. How supercool is this building?

I'm always torn between Gehry's buildings - some people think his work is genius, while others think it's too weird and offputting.

Whatever you think - he usually manages to deliver something to talk about, and something interesting to see. Which is why I love trying to visit whatever Gehry work I can.

To wit, I begged my boss to get me a private tour of Gehry's IAC building on the West Side Highway. He totally got me in, cuz he's cool like that.

And, I said yes to one of my coworker's cocktail events, because it was being held in the Condé Nast building, in a Gehry-designed conference room.

I loved my IAC tour, but was a little underwhelmed by the Condé Nast room...until I just now realized that once again, I missed the main event. The truly outrageous Gehry work at Condé Nast is the damn cafeteria. Sigh. Time to ask someone for a favor. Heh.

Anyway, watch out world, I'm on a life-long mission. Might be a dorky one, but how fun will it be to keep checking things off in that book!


*Joshua Jackson's Pacey Witter, Dawson's Creek, the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang episode where Joey brings Pacey to her Worthington incoming frosh dinner and Pacey wows the table with his conversational abilities, thus forcing Joey to wahhhh all the way home.

Goodness gracious - GAR Day #9

Magnet #92 - Meteor Crater

Second day in Arizona was supposed to be in Scottsdale - almost a whole day at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West.

This was the stop that I was most looking forward to, with FLW being my architect du jour (ok, fine - some days it's Gehry, some days it's Pei, and some days it's McDonald's). But, Taliesin West is supposed to be supercool - both in architecture and landscape, and in seeing where he used to teach his students. Plus, there's some pretty racy stories running around about FLW student activities, and I'm starting to wonder if that's code for something.

We were going to see how many tours we could squeeze in before we had to drive to the Grand Canyon. Oh, well. It just means that for now, Scottsdale remains on the travel bucket list. Maybe I can think up a client to pitch there. Heh.

So, today's magnet was brought back by a friend of mine who just got back from her own AZ trip (thank you!). She did the really neat train from Williams, which we were gonna do, but then realized that we've done a cross-country train trip - would this train trip match up to that? We thought probably not and nixed it from the itinerary.

Somehow I think seeing Meteor Crater would have definitely been added in. How cool does this hole in the ground look! I do, however, question their home page blurb of "Experience the IMPACT!" What's that mean? Like they have one of those crazy "experience" things where you climb in and the hydraulics go insane on you? Is it a theatre show? Or, do they show Armageddon or Deep Impact 24/7? Oooh, I vote Armageddon - who doesn't love a bit of Michael Bay?

GAR Track of the Day: Great Balls of Fire!