Jersey Shore and so much more

It's summer! Unfortunately being a grown-up means you have to go to work every day, and even on the weekends. Lame. How about we go back to being school kids with summer vacation?! But... in between my 50+ hour work weeks I've somehow managed to find time for fun things :) And now that my computer is fixed (hopefully) you finally get to see evidence of that. In no apparent order...

Memorial Day

I decided that Memorial Day=beach day. Luckily I had some friends who felt the same, so we packed a couple cars and headed to one of their favorite spots on the Jersey Shore. It could have been a little warmer, but we still had lots of fun. I even got in the freezing cold water- only two other people dared get in all the way and the one guy was whining like a baby the whole time. Good thing I grew up going to California beaches where the water is always cold- so I was well prepared ;) It felt so great to just lay out on the beach, walk in the warm sand (warm sand beneath my toes has to be one of my all time favorite feelings), and stroll along the boardwalk.

Lincoln Center

Living near Lincoln Center has it's advantages. I love, love, love going to performances there. And so far I've only had to pay for one... which really makes me love it. It pays (or perhaps I should say it "saves") to have friends with connections. In the past couple months I've had the opportunity to see the Metropolitan Opera and the American Ballet Theater. Both were fantastic.

Chinatown/Little Italy

I'd never been and my friend Sabrina had been craving Chinese food for weeks, so we decided to head down and explore Chinatown after I got off work one Saturday night. We did a little bit of wandering through the shops and looked for some good food. The evening was fun, the food was actually not that impressive- I'm disappointed Chinatown :( Oh well. In our wanderings we ended up at the outskirts- aka the non-tourist area- and discovered a high school football field full of people enjoying a beautiful evening with traditional dancing and other activities. Sabrina immediately joined up with a group of ladies learning/doing this dance and I somehow got dragged in as well. I was terrible, but it was a lot of fun- all the ladies were so nice (or they were just really entertained that we, mostly me, were so terrible and therefore funny to watch). We finally stopped for Chinese food, then wandered back home through Little Italy- stopping for Italian ice and gelato for dessert of course!

Maroon 5

Happens to be one of my favorite bands. Love their music. So when we heard they were going to be here for the Today Show concerts we thought we'd wander down to Rockefeller and see what we could see, or hear at least. We got there pretty early in the morning- 5:30, but you really need to be there at like 2 or 3 to be able to actually get into where you can see them perform. We love Maroon 5, but not enough to give up that much sleep over it haha. So we ended up being behind the stage where we could see half the band every once in awhile but could still listen to the great music! It was fun- and they actually sounded good live... so we'll be keeping an eye out for real concerts in the area :)

Intrepid

The USS Intrepid is a decommissioned aircraft carrier that is now the Sea, Air & Space Museum, docked in the Hudson River. During the summer they put a screen up on the flight deck and show movies. Awesome, right?! We went to see National Treasure- one of my favorite movies, and which also happens to have the Intrepid in the movie! It was tons of fun- I definitely want to go again this summer- but this time I'll be more prepared with a blanket and lots of food :)

Yankee Stadium

A Yankee's game is a NYC must. We headed out to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Tuesday night hoping to get bleacher seats (the only seats we were willing to pay for haha) but unfortunately they were sold out. So we took some pictures, wandered to a nearby bar and watched the game while eating an assortment of not-good-for-you foods. We had fun. We got smarter and bought tickets online that night for Wednesday night's game and headed to the Bronx once again (we're pretty much pros at getting to Yankee Stadium now). I don't know how many years since I've been to an MLB game- probably 10+ years, but we had a lot of fun eating hot dogs and peanuts, chatting, and enjoying the game. We were on the very top row of the entire stadium, which had the added bonus of giving you a view back to Manhattan.

I LOVE NYC. That's all I have to say :)

Birthday Fun

I've discovered that I must have this unspoken rule that I can't spend my birthday in the same place two years in a row, and often seem to be traveling on my birthday. Which I think is awesome. I spent my 23rd birthday in Spain, where my group sang "Happy Birthday" to me at the Alhambra Palace. My 24th birthday I spent in Salt Lake City with my friends and family. My 25th birthday I spent in Vancouver, Canada- complete with a surprise party with our school group. And my 26th birthday (wow that sounds old!) I spent here in New York City. Wonder where I'll be next year?!

The night before my birthday I went to dinner with a group of friends. We had yummy Indian food down in the East Village, which is a place I haven't spent much time so it was fun to have a new experience! My friend Elise, who organized the dinner, even made me a birthday cake (a homemade birthday cake, not just a cake from a box) and brought it with her. After we finished our dinner we headed outside to find a spot to eat cake. We thought there was a park just up the street but then we realized it was a lot further, so we parked ourselves on the steps of an apartment building and had our cake NYC style. It was delicious, seriously Elise is the best cook. The cake was amazing!

On my actual birthday I had to go I work. Sometimes being a grown up is rough I tell ya. Everyone here seemed so surprised that I was going to work in my birthday... And I'm still a little confused since I don't know what other options I had. Anyway... After I got off work (I made sure I worked hard so I could leave on time, which rarely ever happens), I met up with my friend Sabrina for a picnic in Central Park. Where else would I want to be on my birthday?! We had sandwiches from a place I've been wanting to try, and just relaxed at the park for a few hours enjoying the beautiful weather. After the park we ate some more yummy birthday cake :) It was a great birthday!!! 

Back to Bluff, Part 2

Notice how it says "Part 2" in the title, this means if you haven't read Part 1- you should, and before you view this one. Just sayin'.

Here are my two disclaimers: 1. I did not take all of these photographs, it is a compilation of pictures from all of us that were at Bluff that semester. 2. I'm going to skip a lot of construction steps in the random pictures I'm showing you (otherwise these blog posts would get even longer than the novels they already are). 



In the beginning, there was dirt. Lots of dirt. That's basically all there is.



This is what we planned to create on all that dirt.

Every day we traveled in our big, white van. Plus a truck or two. Apparently this particular day was an "all girl crew day."

Surveying the site.

This is what we did with all the dirt. Dig.

Digging builds character, right? It also means blisters and sore muscles.

Eventually the trench for the footings was dug and we filled it with concrete.

 

On top of the footing we built our rear CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) wall. I think we calculated having to lay close to 1,000 CMU blocks (cinder blocks). Here we are on the outside of the wall.

On the inside of the wall we got ready to pour our concrete slab by setting the formwork.

 

Total side note, look how long my hair is!... It's on my mind since I just cut it again last night :)

Pouring the slab. Okay this was seriously hard work (along with everything else we did haha). We were using one of those little cement mixers where you have to add everything by hand- buckets of sand, gravel, water, and cement. The mixer was just a little too high for most of the girls to be able to easily dump anything in so it was a struggle but we had to take our turn! Basically we had to hoist it up a little bit at a time, lift and get it as high as your knee, then your hip, then up to elbow height and into the mixer! By the end of the day we each had bruises taking up almost our entire forearm from the heavy buckets.

The exterior walls of our project consisted of two types. 1. The CMU wall shown previously, which was then buried in the dirt on the outside edge about 6' (you'll see in later pictures). 2. Straw bale walls on the exposed parts of the house. These were both chosen for their structural and insulating properties.

Meet my partner in crime, Hoku. We are a lot alike except she is smarter and much more talented with her hands and skilled at construction. She basically had to fix all my mistakes, good thing we were on the same teams! Here we are getting ready to frame the interior walls.

Walls framed, straw bales in place, and roof started!

Oh ya know, just drilling some holes into the wood and concrete to be able to attach the interior wood walls to the exterior CMU wall.

 I think we'll call that good for Part 2.



Back to Bluff

I came across my Bluff pictures a little while ago, and I started thinking. Dangerous, I know. But I just thought about the last year and was amazed at how broad the range of my experiences has been in the last 12-18 months. In that amount of time I built a house (I know, I still can't believe it), my brother Derek got married, as did two of my best friends Krisann and Jessica, I traveled to Florida and Canada, completed my last semester of graduate school and my Master's Thesis project, moved to New York City, and got a job in architecture. Pretty incredible, really I have zero room for complaints. I have been extremely blessed and am so grateful for all I have experienced.

So, since I didn't have this blog a year ago- most of you have not seen pictures or even had a chance to hear about my experiences with Design Build Bluff (it feels like it's been a whirlwind since then with everything going on!). So I thought I would share a) so I can brag (people, I built a house) haha and b) because it was an incredible experience worth sharing.

Notice how everyone in the background is working hard and I'm posing for pictures ;)

At the beginning of the semester we had to write a letter to our professor as if it were the last day of the semester. I thought it was ridiculous at the time, but I read through it again today and I'm glad I have it! Surprisingly it was pretty accurate, so I'm going to use a couple excerpts to describe my experience...

"I began the semester nervous. I anticipated hard work and worried about the unknown. Hard labor for eight hours a day? My hands and muscles ached just thinking about it. Power tools? Absolutely terrified me. Spending the semester with 11 other architecture students in the same house, at the same job site, every day? Let’s be honest that should scare anybody! So I worried. I just didn’t really know what to expect. Would it be as hard as I imagined it? Or even harder than I could possibly fathom? Would I leave Bluff at the end of the semester just absolutely miserable? Or would it become a life-changing and possibly life-shaping experience?...

The first few days of Design Build Bluff taught me just how right and wrong I was. My muscles did ache, and my hands blistered. My face got sunburned, wind burned, and my nose got so dry from running so much it started bleeding. But I also spent every evening telling my roommate how great it was to spend all day working outside. To be outside in the sun in a place surrounded by such incredible views. How enlightening it was to see the building process happen before my eyes- in real life, not in a textbook."

Totally accurate. I. Was. Terrified. There is no other way to describe my dread at the approaching end of Christmas break.

"In the freezing wind and the burning sun of this spectacular place, I learned construction and I learned about myself. Learning experiences come in all shapes and sizes, and this was a big one. Much more powerful than I ever imagined- and certainly not as miserable. It was hard. Physically, mentally, and emotionally harder than anything I have ever done before. But the end result? So worth it.

I feel confident about myself. Not just about my newfound construction knowledge, but confident in my abilities. Confident that I have valuable ideas and knowledge. Confident that I can speak my mind in a clear and expressive way. Confident that being active and working hard makes you feel the best. Confident that I can keep learning and improving. Who knew I could learn so many lessons about myself in the middle of the desert?"

And that my friends, was my Design Build Bluff experience. The next few blog posts will have pictures of the project, and proof that I used power tools. Mmhmm. Better believe it.

Photo Credit: Scot Zimmerman