A few lovely things for today, when I’m packing up to head back to AZ and planning a few stops along the way.
A few lovely things for today, when I’m packing up to head back to AZ and planning a few stops along the way.
For the last few weeks, the David and Gladys Wright house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Phoenix has been offering free yoga classes.
Right now the house is still a private residence (Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter lives there) but they are working to turn it into a museum. The vote is in December, so they are trying to give the community as much access to the property before that, through events like this, so that people will vote to preserve it.
The classes are offered by different yoga studios throughout the valley and there are usually a couple hundred people there. Not only were the yoga classes free, but they also had a bunch of free stuff for people who attended, including t-shirts, tote bags and yoga mats.
We had been arriving about half an hour before the classes started so we could go through and tour the house. I went to two different classes, the first time I took a bunch of pictures, but they were all on my Snapchat (jasminedesirees). I thought I would remember to download them the next day but I didn’t, and I lost all of them. But luckily I was able to go again and take some more pictures.
The first time I went through the house, they had a “docent” there to answer questions about the house and the family, and it was really interesting. The house had been slated for demolition in 2012, but the wrecking crew showed up to tear it down, and called the city to make sure they were really supposed to.
The city stopped the demolition, put protections on the property, and arranged to have it sold at auction. It was bought by a private citizen, who still owns it today.
Sarah, Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter, lives on the property because it’s still zoned as a private residence, so in order to have events like yoga classes or anything else, someone has to live there and invite everyone in.
Last week was the final yoga class, but it was such a success that I’m sure they will do it again. At the end of the last class they played a Frank Lloyd Wright monologue where he discusses creativity. It was a very fitting end.
If you get the chance to go check out this amazing property, definitely do it. The house is amazing (I love the wooden ceiling inside!), and the views of Camelback and the sunset are worth it even if you don’t get to go inside. I also want to go here as soon as I have a free afternoon.
I came across a poem by Nayirrah Waheed last weekend, and immediately set out to ready everything she had ever written. I ordered her book of poetry, Salt, and I can’t wait for it to get here.
A few of my favourite lines:
i have always been the woman of my dreams
i am mine before i am ever anyone else’s
my mother was my first country, the first place i ever lived
what can i do when the night comes out and i break into stars
stay is a sensitive word we wear who stayed and who left in our skin forever
A few lovely things for a beautiful sunny day in Phoenix. I have a mango for breakfast, and absolutely no weekend commitments for the first time in 2016.
We wanted to see as many things as we possibly could in Seattle, which included the EMP and the Space Needle, so we ended up buying the City Pass because it was cheaper in the long run. We ended up getting tickets to the Chuhily Garden and Glass, which is right next door to the EMP Museum.
There were a few sculptures outside in the park as we were walking by the building, and I thought they looked pretty cool, but we were mostly going because we had free tickets.
But as soon as we walked through the door, I was blown away. There were a few smaller sculptures in the entrance way and lobby, but the first big sculpture was ocean themed, and it is absolutely breathtaking. I could have stood there all day and stared at it.
But once we left that room, and went into the next, we were greeted by a light filled room with an entire ceiling filled with multi-coloured glass sculptures. And that’s the way it went. Every exhibit was my favourite, until I saw the one that came after it.
By the time we had wandered around and looked at all of the different pieces, I was completely in love with Dale Chuhily (the artist), and I was convinced I was going to buy a small blown glass piece to take home with me, which is not something I normally do at museums.
I was quickly relieved of that notion when we got to the shop and realized that for even a small sculpture the size of a bowl, it was thousands of dollars.
I was creeping around on Groupon the other day looking for massages, when I found a glass blowing class. It sounds kind of dangerous, I’m assuming playing with molten liquid glass is not really a hobby for the un-coordinated, but maybe it is my secret talent.
I’m coming for you Dale.
A few lovely things for today, when I’m back in Arizona for 11 days in a row, the longest unbroken stretch since May.
A few lovely things for today, when I’m enjoying my gypsy summer (currently back in California), but also trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
A few lovely things for today, when I am working from Kauai, and counting down the sleeps until I get to visit the Na Pali Coast (3 more days!).
My family came to visit me in Phoenix a few weeks ago, and we had a blast playing tourist for a few days. We went hiking, went to a hockey game, and checked out Top Golf (it’s reallllly fun, and I’m a reallllly terrible golfer).
On one of the days, my mom and I had a girls day, and went shopping, out for lunch at Culinary Dropout (get the hummus!) and then to the Phoenix Art Museum.
They were showing an exhibition of Andy Warhol portraits, and it was really neat. My favourite portrait was the Marilyn Monroe one, but not the one that you always see, with the really bright colours, this one was more muted and dark, and I really liked it.
They also had a room full of silver balloons, a recreation of an art installation Andy Warhol did, I kind of wanted to run through it, but I held it together.
As part of the exhibit, there is a video feed of Warhol’s grave in Pittsburg (you can check it out here), along with a quote from Warhol about death:
“I never understood why when you died, you didn’t just vanish. Everything should just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn’t be there. I always thought I’d like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I’d like it to say ‘figment’.”
The Warhol stuff was cool, but the exhibit I liked the most was called “Fireflies on the Water” by Yayoi Kusama. It’s a light installation, you go into this pitch black little room, surrounded by mirrors, and thousands of little twinkle lights come on, in different colours and patterns.
It’s a little hard to maneuver because it’s pitch black, and there are mirrors everywhere so it’s hard to see where you are going, but it’s absolutely stunning.
A few lovely things for today, when I am having a House Hunters: International marathon, and making firm plans to one day live in an olive grove in Tuscany.
