fannie & millie .: handcrafted goodness

Sorry I haven’t posted in a looooong time! I took a little road trip with the family, and I mean the whole family. It was really cool that Brandon was able to take time off from band and work duties to go with us. Chris, Brandon, Brianna, Austin and I all piled into the van with all of our camping gear and drove down to Big Sur for a reunion with my sister Linda and her kids and grandkids. It was really memorable, because I had not yet met all of my niece and nephew’s children and our children (and so forth) had not met each other.

Believing that the journey is as important as the destination, Chris and I turned the event into a road trip with lots of fun stops. Here are just a few photos from our adventures:

I have a long-held dream of buying and customizing a vintage Airstream; but I have to say that this new model from DWR looks pretty cool.

An avid outdoorsman, Airstream founder Wally Byam married a woman who had little interest in the “adventure” of sleeping on the ground. When he built his bride a tent on a Ford Model T chassis that he could tow behind the car, marital bliss was restored. The project gave Byam an idea for a travel trailer that moved like a “stream of air” and in 1936, America got its first look at an Airstream.

In 2000, the company’s motto, “Make only improvements, not changes,” was shaken by architect-designer Chris Deam who gutted a vintage trailer to create a booth for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Deam’s ability to respect the history of the iconic aluminum shell, while bringing a lighter, more spacious feeling to the interior, was praised by Airstream purists and the design community. The design caught our eye at DWR, and we contacted Deam about creating a special edition trailer for our customers.

Embracing our inner Mrs. Byam, we’ve outfitted this Airstream with the works, and all of the surfaces of the light and airy interior have been updated with today’s most durable materials. Everything you need is included to hit the road and satisfy your need to know what’s around the next bend. Whether the Design Within Reach Airstream takes you to distant places, or provides an extra room at home, its panoramic windows and iconic history will inspire a different point of view.

Isn’t that pretty? It even comes with it’s own Nelson clock:

The galley comes equipped with cooktop, stainless sink, Elkay faucet, fridge-freezer, Nelson Ball Clock and four Heller Dinnerware place settings. There are recessed halogen lights, a skylight and the Wire Coatrack by Tom Dixon. There’s also a lavatory and shower. The eco-friendly flooring has a matte ebony finish and the glossy overhead lockers are backlit and have metal perforated laminate doors. The panoramic windows have custom aluminum window treatments imported from Europe. For leisurely times outdoors, a fabric awning and two Tripolina Chairs are included. There are Matteo linens and a Maharam Pillow, and the electronics package includes rooftop AC, Sony sound system and TV.

All this for only (ahem) $49,066. Did I mention it comes with the clock?

Well, it’s awfully nice, but I think I’ll stick to my original plan.

It was a great weekend for a road trip - no rain!  I took the umbrella but didn’t need it at all. Yippee!  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.  See if you can guess where we went…

Ha, ha, I know, that’s a pretty good clue; isn’t it?  We stayed at a really artsy hotel, here’s a photo of the mural that was on our room door:

Every floor had photos (each floor a different artist) covering all of the doors.  The multiple huge photos in the dark space combined with the low ceilings, striped carpet and heavy-scaled woodwork to make us feel like Alice In Wonderland.  I loved it!  The hotel has 350 original works from both emerging and established Seattle artists.  Brianna liked the “spiritual menu” in our room and ordered a Torah within the first 15 minutes of our arrival.  Check out the photo below! We also went to late happy hour (10 pm - 1 am; gotta love that!) at Red Fin, the restaurant at the hotel.  My martini was perfect and the edamame, sushi and french fries (!) with togarashi sure were good but I was puffed up like a blowfish when I woke up on Sunday.

We visited Pike Market, rode the Monorail, did lots of shopping (of course) and lots of eating (I’ll get back to that another time…) but, for me, the highlights of this trip were the Rem Koolhaas-designed Seattle Central Library and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park.  Both places are free to visit and absolutely worth seeing!    

I hope you had a great weekend, too!!!