Conroe No. 4 Grand Opening! and... Architect Barbie?!

So I was happily on my way to start writing up a new entry about how great the grand opening of my second fire station was, and I saw a fellow architect's blog mentioning an Architect Barbie. In an apparent effort to teach little girls about what they can be when they grow up, Mattel has begun an "I can be.." Barbie series and this is what Architect Barbie looks like:

First of all, KUDDOS on the great hot pink tube, Mattel! Can't wait to go to my next jobsite visit toting this puppy around. And look at that skirt! If I dress like that I'm sure I'll get Mr. Contractor to do anything I want. Oh what a happy and pretty and pink life, that of a lady Architect!

Anyway, back to business. Today was the grand opening of the City of Conroe Fire Station No. 4; this was my first full-fledged project which I saw from Programming all the way to Construction. It was so exciting! Kind of strange to see rooms and equipment you spent months designing and drawing be "real" all of a sudden. The station has some nice features and the Client couldn't be happier with their new building. That made me feel really good :) This year marks a centennial celebration for the fire department so they went all out for this grand opening:

two nice cakes (this one was based off our SketchUp rendering)...

colorful balloons...

... and even one of the original fire trucks for the City! Which was later used, along with a new fire truck, to do the ribbon-cutting. Pretty cool :)

The best part was seeing the fire station inside and out, seeing how the firefighters decorated the place and how proud they are to show it off. I absolutely love working on a design, getting to see it turn into reality and learn from the process so I can improve on the next design. It was a good day :)

The day room (very nicely decorated!):

One of the main corridors, which features stained concrete floors:

The tower:

The apparatus bay:

From the parking area (it was a cloudy day but thankfully it didn't rain):

Yay Conroe! :) For more photos of the station taken by a professional photographer, go here: http://www.glyonphotography.com/CONROEFD/

Made by me!

I started off the new year wanting to make things again. When I was a teenager, I remember making a lot of things that I needed because I couldn't afford to actually buy anything new: a box for filing paperwork, a set of small drawers for desk tools, etc. I only needed a cardboard box, glue, scissors, and a little creativity.

I've done it again! :)

Since I'm not the best at going through mail and/or getting rid of little pieces of paper here and there, I decided we needed a mail box in our kitchen. Sooo I started thinking:

Cardboard box: Check...

Glue: Check...

Scissors: Check...

But what would I use for the outer lining of this box? I suddenly remembered that a few months ago I snatched a discarded binder full of laminate samples from the office, and sooo the process began!

Outer lining: laminate samples

Inner lining: plastic dividers from an old planner

Front tag: leftover basswood

It works! No more paper clutter on our counters!

Excited

YAY!!! :)

Rooting for the Other

Hang on to your seats. It's a double-feature night!

Natalie Portman's in a new movie titled, "The Other Woman". The trailer depicts her character as a sweet ingenue who falls for and sleeps with a married guy. Awwww look at that! In the blink of an eye she gets the guy divorced, gets pregnant and married!! And double-aww! She works soooo hard to earn his son's affection. Life's awesome!

Wow. I think I have an issue with that. Then again it's Hollywood. *shrug*

American Idol Greats

Random alert.........

I was just going through an entertainment website's "Top American Idol performances", and out of 20 these were the ones that I had to look up to watch, just because they're so memorable:

- Allison Iraheta's "Cry Baby" (Exit performance)

Yes, she botched a note or two on this one; this was, however, her exit performance and she was literally singing through tears. Her passion on every word, every syllable is palpable. If only she would've sang this way the night before:

- Kris Allen's "Heartless"

This guy was in trouble before this performance; the judges hammered on the idea of a Danny Gokey/Adam Lambert showdown, but no amount of persuasion was able to take him out of the competition (or the AI victory, ultimately). The arrangement was fearless and so much more attractive than the original. Above all, it just takes guts to rearrange and perform a song that had been sung not long before on the same stage, by Kanye:

Kris Allen - Heartless (American Idol 8) [HQ] en Yahoo! Video

- Kelly Clarkson's "Stuff like That There"

It's amazing to me that this girl was a nobody when she sang this; to this day she's my favorite AI winner not only because of her talent, but her charisma as well. This was Big Band week and let's face it: there have been very very few performers on this show who have been able to pull it off on similarly-themed weeks. Kelly not only pulled it off, she freakin' nailed it:

No Sweeter Sound

One of my favorite sounds ever is hearing Sam sing Christian hymns at church. He was musically trained as a little boy so he hits the notes just right; his voice is very deep yet has a softness that I can't explain... above all, there is an amazing passion when he sings. Amazing music to my ears, amazing love for our Creator... it brings tears to my eyes every now and then. Tonight once again, I thanked God for the man He put in my path.

Finally Feeling the Christmas Spirit!

As I adopt more responsibilities and write increasingly long to-do lists in life, it seems like every year it takes me a little longer to get into the Christmas spirit. Which makes me a little sad. This year though, I'm just happy that I'm finally feeling it. And it's amazing! :)

In light of so many holiday photo cards we have received from friends and family, I decided to experiment a little and come up with a couple of designs for cards of our own. Granted, we don't have too many peeps to send them to but it's just a fun Photoshop project and well... let's face it, I LOVE Photoshop. :)

So here they are! I think we'll end up printing the one with our photo on it because it seems more personal. Yes I know: they all look like generic store-ordered cards. I'm still proud of them, especially because that picture of us with Mr. Snowman is actually a merge of TWO photos! It was only the two of us out in the snow so we took pictures of each other. Ahhhh I love having the time to create :)

In case I don't post before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D