Day: August 26, 2013

Tour of ArtHouse!

We’ve watched it go up, piece by piece.  Now we get to see inside!  A woman stopped by school to invite everyone to the open house.  When I made the sad face because I couldn’t go, she scheduled a tour right then for us.  This was very exciting.

ArtHouse (this is from the press release) is a collaboration between project[triangle thingie that is not available to me on my keyboard], the Powell Family, and Pacific Northwest College of Art which will bring 130 students to the North Park Blocks.

Here is the view from the front door, looking at the courtyard.  The elevators are on the right.
 

A lounging space, overlooking the park.
 
Another space.  These spaces are designed to have rotating gallery exhibits.
 
The library. Powell’s donated the art books in the bookcase.
 
Lovely contrasts in the courtyard.
 
Behind that metal fence is bike parking.
 
There are two staircases, blue and green.  This (for those of you with colorblindness) is the blue one.
 
One highlight of the building is the huge amount of natural light flooding the hallways.
 
 
Sixth floor view, looking towards Burnside.
 
Each unit has a stackable washer and dryer.
 
Here are rooms from the three-bedroom demonstration unit.
 
 
 
 
 
The living room of the three-bedroom unit.
 
And from a different angle.
 
Big kitchen and that recessed, closet-like space has a bike hook.
 
Here’s a two-bedroom unit, which is not staged.
 
 
This two-bedroom is a corner unit and overlooks the park blocks.
 
 
Nice bathrooms.
 
Good amount of living space.
 
And a very nice kitchen.
 
Here’s a view from one of the studios.
 
And a staged studio space.
 
 
 
 
The roof of our school isn’t the most attractive thing.
 
Good closet.
 
The green staircase.
 
More of that natural light.

This was our only chance to see ArtHouse as the students start moving in on Wednesday.  There will also be retail at the ground floor level.  I’ll have pictures of that when it happens. 

Three sentence movie reviews: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I read half the book, became confused and hoped this movie would clear things up.  It did a little, but I found the film just as boring as the book and nearly as confusing.  There are flashback scenes that I only could tell were flashbacks because I’d read the book, so overall, this was a dud.

Cost:  free from library
Where watched:  at home.

The Baker’s Chocolate rip off

I’ve been cooking with Baker’s Chocolate all my life.  I’m sure the box has changed a bit since my birth, but probably not by much.  And it’s certainly always included eight individually wrapped 1 oz. squares, just like it says on the box.
 
I like Baker’s Chocolate because it’s familiar and a good product and also because it’s a good buy.  When they say 2x more product than competitor package, they are talking about Ghirardelli, which is good chocolate, but comes in four-ounce bars for nearly the same price, so I don’t buy it very often.
 
But look!  Baker’s (since 1780) chocolate, has reformulated.   Now, instead of eight individually wrapped 1 oz. squares it comes in a 4oz Easy Break Bar.
 
First of all, I didn’t need an easy break bar. Those individually wrapped packages were fine for me.  Secondly, they have given us half the product and are charging the same price.

Are you kidding me?  The price break was their selling point.  I may just abandon them for the Ghirardelli.  Talk about not knowing your audience.

Apron


I’ve finished the Provence Smock featured in the book A is for Aprons.  I love it, though I will make the next one a little big bigger. It appears much looser on the model in the book than it does on me.  But I have to say, after all that fitting with the Laurel, this felt like it came together in no time.  It was pretty fun, despite the horrid instructions.  Also, thanks to Julie, who brought her sewing machine into work, so I could make the button holes.