the year in pictures [2015]

year eleven for the [year in pictures] post.

in the past, i'd have to dig through files on my computer to gather my favorite photos from the last year, now i can simply open up instagram. scrolling through my feed, it was easy to see this year had a defining theme.  thumbing through photos of babies, marriages and engagements, this was a year of [growing up]. i realize that's a very vague theme to some up a year, but it is true. more than any previous year, i saw the people in my life make choices and go through events which added maturity  to their life story, myself included.

instagram had a feature this year where it grouped your best nine photos of the year, however that feature was based only on likes and comments. it didn't take into account the sentiment or personal feeling behind the photograph.

please enjoy ten images i personally chose because of what they meant to me and show this year was all about [growing up].

the_spicy_pickle_3.28.15

maybe not the best photo to start off a year of [growing up] as this photograph shows the time i had my girlfriend try an incredibly hot pickle, but i'll explain. my girlfriend and i have very different tastes in most everything.  a phrase we always say to each other when trying something new is "open mind" which is exactly what i said before she sampled the pickle.  remembering to keep an open mind seems to me a very [grown up] attitude, which is why i included this picture. well, that and it still cracks me up. by the way, she wasn't a fan.

 whale_of_a_good_time_5.25.15

memorial day found my girlfriend and i traveling to tulsa for a long weekend.  we enjoyed craft beer, wine, museums and incredible food. we also stopped to visit the blue whale, a route 66 icon. originally a playground and rest stop for the kids of cross country travelers, it now sits as a relic of a time long gone by.  she knows i love visiting places like this and we had a wonderful time checking it out.  what really made this trip memorable though, is that it affirmed a very [grown up] decision i had brewing in my head.

containment_6.26.15

i love my city and one of the ways i try to give back to my community is being an active member of our local aia.  to make that organization more apart of the community i wanted our group to host an art show for the monthly art gallery crawl, but i wanted to do something different, something never before seen here. through a lot of donations, a lot of peoples help and hard work, and through the creativity of friends and countless strangers, we did.  in june we hosted a "pop-up" gallery, a shipping container filled with over 500 napkin sketches. by far one of the greatest things i ever helped organized.  planning an event like that and caring about the community you live in made me feel very [grown up].

the_future_is_now_7.3.15

back to the future is my all time favorite movie and 2015 is a very big year in the movies trilogy. as most of you know, it's the year marty travels into the future. a small town near wichita hosted a "back to the future" celebration last summer and there was no way i was going to miss it. i ended up having a great time. when i was eight years old i remember wondering what life would be like in 2015 when i was all [grown up].  little did i know then, ironically, i'd be attending a "back to the future" festival.

 lobstah_roll_8.1.15

i think this is the most "norman rockwell-esque" photo i've ever taken.  as a mid-westerner this scene is so typically new england to me, it makes me smile. this photograph gets included because this is the weekend i asked my girlfriends parents for their "blessing" to ask their daughter to marry me. the second most [grown-up] question i would ask in 2015.

day_at_the_beach_8.30.15

as an architect, i had to visit "the national building museum" this summer while in washington d.c. it's a fantastic space and i had the chance to view "the beach".  an installation which allowed [grown-ups] to act like kids having fun in a gigantic ball pit. this was also a wonderful trip spent attending a wedding with my girlfriend. a trip which helped me decide the setting for an event later in the year.

 popping_up_9.25.15

this summer wichita took a vacant and unsightly lot in downtown and turned it into a pop-up park. in the grand scheme of large cities, this is nothing new, but for our little mid-western town it was a very original idea.  with food trucks, seating, artwork and outdoor games, it seems to be filling a "hole" in our cities urban fabric by creating a dynamic community space for the more and more people living and working downtown.  one small way i feel this city is [growing up].

above_the_crowd_10.3.15

a staple in my yearly schedule is attending the austin city limits festival.  i go to great lengths to make sure this weekend is blocked out every october so i can attend.  i wouldn't miss it for the world. however this year was the first time my concert going friends entertained the idea of doing something else next year. are we [growing up] or simply getting to old for the three day festival in the texas sun? who knows. that being said, this shot does a great job of capturing the feel of the festival and i'm glad i got to experience it for another year.

 point_of_engagement_12.10.15

this is outside the willard hotel in washington d.c. the spot where i asked the most [grown up] question of my life. from this spot forward i knew my life would be different.  from this spot forward i no longer thought about "me" but rather "us." from this spot forward i knew i'd have someone there with me all the time, to laugh with, to cry with, to share good times and bad.  this spot changed everything in my life and i couldn't be happier about it. 

off_to_the_future_12.27.15

in a year full of [growing up] it seems appropriate to end with this photo from my friends december wedding.  he and i [grew up] together and i was absolutely thrilled to be a part of this moment in his life. we both did a lot of [growing up] the later part of 2015 and i'm glad we were there to talk about it with each other. i love this photograph because there's such a feeling of happiness and pure joy as he and his new wife head into the future. a perfect way to feel as we enter into a new and exciting year.

call me [griswold]

this past memorial day weekend found me visiting a route 66 icon.


while visiting tulsa, wandering in and out of gift shops i discovered we were very close to one of route 66's most famous icon's, the blue whale of catoosa.  being a fan of the famous highway, i had to see it!  the trip would not be complete until i had stared into the eye of this fictional beast.

after starting the morning enjoying an amazing breakfast, we set out.  although it was a short trip we encountered several mishaps.  not only was weather a factor, but i had a slight freak out at a gas station, thinking i had put the wrong type of fuel in.  there was also a few choice words spoken to the gps after it took us in circles.  frustrated, i stopped the car.

"this was no longer a vacation. it was a quest. a quest for fun."

like some strange mix of clark griswold and captain ahab, i was bound and determined to find this fictional creature. thankfully for all involved, i.e. my girlfriend, the destination was just around the corner, and what a sight it was!  i giant aqua colored artifact from another time; a reliquary of roadside kitsch!  i spent the better part of an hour climbing around it, taking pictures and chatting with the other tourists who had made the pilgrimage to see this marvelous man-made mammal.

having spent most of the weekend enjoying the comforts of the digital age, this whale was a giant reminder of days gone by, back to a time where sites like this were the only salvation from squabbling siblings sardined in the sweltering back seat of a station wagon and possibly the only entertainment for miles.  although it was tricky to find, it was worth it.

"it is not down in any map; true places never are." - herman melville 

the [new] old fashioned way to travel

now, more than ever, i'm convinced smaller cities must embrace technology to compete in the tourist game.

that...and city pride.

memorial day weekend, my girlfriend and i, traveled to tulsa, oklahoma for a little trip. we started out finding a great deal online on a great downtown hotel; from there we left the weekend to chance...well chance...and social media...and iphone apps.

upon arriving in tulsa, lunch was chosen using yelp.  while at the restaurant, we decided to visit a local brewery i follow on twitter.  as we tried the many samples of amazing beer, we got back on yelp to locate a place for dinner that night, easily finding which restaurants included gluten free items.  minutes after checking into our hotel we added the hotel's wifi password onto our iphones.  we got our bags settled and changed for dinner.  not knowing exactly where we might need to park for dinner, we checked to see if uber was available; it was.  while on the elevator we set our location and a minute after reaching the lobby, our driver was there.  ironically during the uber ride, technology took a back seat as our driver told us other locations to try near our destination.

the rest of the weekend followed suit.  finding places to eat, drink and visit using facebook, twitter or yelp and uber-ing our way there.  however once at those places, conversations we had with bartenders, waiters and drivers led to other great places to visit around town.

it's easy to know where to go in larger cities. anyone could name off several places they'd visit in new york, la, chicago and paris, however i'm not sure the same could be said about cities like tulsa, lincoln or wichita. it's harder to know where to go, but thankfully technology changes that, but it's not everything.

tulsa was a fantastic weekend getaway, in large part because of the information we had available at our fingertips.  even with technology helping us find the little jewels of the city; the people encountered at those places let us know why those jewels shine and help make tulsa a great place to visit.

[minnesota, wi] [hinnom, tx] [lisbon, oh] tulsa,ok

the other weekend some friends and i traveled down to tulsa, oklahoma to watch bon iver perform.  having been cooped up in my apartment the past few weeks studying, i wanted to squeeze as much culture out of tulsa as we could in a short amount of time.

heading down early in the day, we met up with our gracious hosts, an aunt and uncle of one of our friends, who took us to eat in the cherry street district.  after lunch, and with it looking like a hip area of town, we spent the next couple hours exploring this nook of the city.  amongst the sites taken in were a few boutiques, a great irish pub, and a wonderful coffee house with the perfect random assortment of second hand furniture including one of the coolest mid-century couches i've ever seen.

gearing up for the concert we ate at el guapos cantina located in the blue dome district.  not only was the food fantastic, but they had margarita's named, "the lucky day" and "little neddy goes to war". if you don't get the reference don't worry, but trust me, it's hilarious.

the concert was at the brady theater and was nothing short of amazing. not only was the opening band, the staves, wonderful, but bon iver put on a great show and sounded perfect.  however, i do believe he was doing his best to dispel the rumors his music puts people to sleep as they had a beautiful stage setup and intense light show.  after the concert our friends recommended we stay in the brady arts district and hit up a bar called soundpony.  we were told it was a biker bar, and after stepping inside, realized the joke. bicycle parts, gears, wheels, racing jersey's and posters were everywhere.  as if this little play on words wasn't enough to make me stay, it also happened to be motown night.  needless to say we spent most of the night there dancing to james brown, sam cooke, and otis redding.  after ducking in a few more bars we called it a night.

the next morning, after eating an amazing pancake breakfast provided by our hosts, they took us to the philbrook museum of art.  it had once been a mansion built from oil money but was later given to the city and turned into a museum.  not only was the collection great, but the grounds and building itself deserved attention as well.  built in the 1920's the whole atmosphere had a great-gatsby-esque feeling to it.

with our time running short, we left straight from the museum and headed home, feeling we had experienced a good slice of tulsa.  on the drive home we listened to music on my "outdated" phone.  i only say that, because at the museum i spotted my phone behind glass on exhibit.  granted it was an exhibit on industrial design, but none the less, maybe it's time to upgrade.