The white house update. Close.

We are getting very close to being really close.

The front is looking good. Love the round doorbell.

Spore doorbell.

Living room fixture.

Close up of Studio sink tile.

Last minute Mexican paradise.

As with every year (so far) while the kids are at camp, Josh and I have taken a short beach trip. This year we didn't plan one as we have this renovation going on, but about a month before Keewaydin, I couldn't resist the urge to set out- just the two of us. These trips together are very special. No worry trips because the kids are all looked after and having fun at camp. They have been some of my favorite trips and this one did not disappoint.

I have had this small hotel in my travel file for quite some time. Casa Sandra in Holbox (said Hol- bash) Mexico. An island on the tip of the Yucatan about 2 hours drive north/northwest of Cancun. Then a short ferry ride to the island.

The grounds of Casa Sandra. Sandra is a beautiful Cuban artist who owns the resort and was there with us, along with many of her friends and family. Very lovely property and owner.























Breakfast for 2.

The pool was nice for a quick cool off and for socializing.

The restaurant was manned by a young Cuban woman chef. Everything was delicious and fresh. Great vibe.

The rooms all have air conditioning and hammocks and nice elegant touches. But not all with ocean views and spotty electricity, which made for a little more... adventure?

We rented a golf cart to explore the island which is only about 3 miles long on the inhabited part. The Coca Cola family is said to own most of the bigger section of it.

Birds were more prevalent that people on most of the beaches.

A storm was upon us. 

Loved the pointy umbrellas that dotted the landscape.

Wild pink flamingos on the islands very large sandbar. They are perfectly made for this natural habitat. Swishing their feet to churn up the crustaceans and sticking in their long necks to gobble them up. Fascinating.

We "hung out" at a local beach shack near Casa Sandra for lunch.

We saw the boats bring in the conch. Then awesome ceviche was served.

On another day we rented bikes for another island tour.

And stopped at another beach shack for refreshments (beer)

In town there were lots of interesting and colorful buildings and signs.

Lunch of whole fish.

There was the gelato lady in town. Yummy homemade creamsicles. Coco for Josh.

The churches, I especially love. I marvel at the creativity of the devoted.

One day we set out early for a Whale Shark tour. Where we could swim with whale sharks. This was a very long 2 hour ride from which I really felt I may never return, and never see any whale sharks. Well, low and behold we came upon about 15 of the monsters. This was one of the coolest snorkels ever. Enormous whale sharks (not whales/not mammals, not sharks/no teeth) swimming along side us, under us, around us, very close to us. Awesome.

From the boat. The water was so blue when u were in it, I felt like I was swimming in blue Gatorade.

This was a post card I bought, but I swear this is what it looked like coming at me. Open mouth. Come on in. Totally wicked!

On the ride back we stopped at a beautiful spot and hand fished for a ceviche snack. Josh got in on the fun. Of course, he caught one.

We stopped at another island for a swim and had fresh ceviche made on the boat. This place was gorgeous. Miles of sandbar with lots of interesting shallow water fish. Josh saw a few lobsters, too.

Ceviche made with Josh's catch by Tony the boat captain.

 On the last morning we hung out at the beach and saw a group of native Mexicans gathering off in the water. There was a beached pilot whale there. Crazy beautiful, but injured in some way and they needed to put him in Casa Sandra's pool until the Miami rescue could pick him up. Unfortunately, we had to leave to catch the ferry to the airport before he actually made it into the pool. Here he is. Very cool to see.Very sad to be that whale.

We had such a great time in Holbox. Very serene and quite a magical little island.

Happy campers.

All seems well in the great outdoors of Vermont. There hasn't been a whole lot of sightings this year. But I managed to find a few pics from the website.

Looks like Mathilda is participating in Saturday Spectacular. The performance night at Songa.

They celebrate Valentine's day at camp on July 14. Lottalove.

Mose playing some tennis.

Packing Spam for his Oswegatchie canoe trip. 

Chicago conference-vacay.

After camp drop off Josh and I flew over to Chi town for his annual summer AMIN conference. Will he conferenced, I took in the sites with an architectural tour from the Chicago River. Lovely cool day. Spectacular skyline in Marina City.

The famous Water Tower from the river.

My favorites were the Corncob buildings. Built in 1964 by Bertrand Goldberg, a student of Mies van der Rohe.

This view was from the Hancock building where we had a conference dinner the first night.

The city at sunset.

I also did some walking down the Mag Mile and shopped a few Anthros, as well as Allsaints, which I really adore. All my colors represented :)

Also found some fun graffiti to enjoy.

I stopped at the Jonathan Adler and came home with this, shall I say, not quite tongue in cheek spoon holder. JA makes me smile.

The last night of the conference we took in a Cubs/Mets game. But did not sit in Wrigley field but on someones rooftop stands. Pretty cool up there with dogs and burgers and drinks included. Josh was cheering for his team the Mets. They lost though.

After the conference I booked us into the Public, an Ian Schrager hotel near Lincoln Park for some us time. In what is called The Gold Coast area. This was my hotel heaven, around every corner.

First, the lighting. Absolutely perfect. Old chandeliers clustered together in the entrance.

The mega ball chandies in the Pump Room restaurant.

The lobby lounge was very cozy with fireplace and sofas. The photographs seemed like classic Vermeer until you got a closer look. They are pictures by Dutch artist Hendrik Kerstens of a girl, with not a pearl earring, but soda cans for curlers. While another had bubble rap for a head scarf. Josh and I loved them so much. Silliness.

The rooms are my ultimate. White on white. Come to Momma. Josh shows his minimal side in our loft.

We asked our chef friend David to give us some rec's for dinner in Chicago and our favorite was Blackbird. Yummy drinks, too.

We also really liked the taco lunch spot Big Star. It seems like a whiskey shot kind of a place, at night.

By Thursday, the heat wave was upon us, so we whizzed by the Millenium Park Bean.

And headed straight to the Arts Institute where the Lichtenstein Retrospective was. It was a great show. Not to miss. A few of my favorites.

Black and White Head 1966-ceramic

Varoom! 1963

Imperfect Painting, 1986

On our last morning we borrowed bikes from The Public (very nice) and took a ride around some of Lake Michigan, from Lincoln Park to Lambo stadium. Which is pretty cool to look at. Like a flying saucer landed on a centuries old building. I loved it. Afterwards Josh took a dip in the lake. 

We had a great time in the Windy City. New hats were purchased and all was good.