ACE

Ace Learning Abroad: Architecture in the UAE

March 4, 2015
Parque 3 de Febrero

Visiting A Landscape Architecture Site in Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

One of my favorite choices during university was studying landscape architecture outside my own country. I spent a semester at Lincoln University in New Zealand, learning  new perspectives on my field, meeting terrific professors and classmates, and when I left, I took with me a lifelong appreciation for the people, the materials, the climate and the culture of the land I grew to love.

During our travels in Beirut, Lebanon, I enjoyed wandering the halls of the the American University of Beirut’s Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management. The students had cleared the classrooms for summer break, but evidence of their learning still lived pinned to the walls and piled on the studio desks. I loved peeking through their projects: sites and histories so different from any of my work at home.

Recently, I was browsing the American University of Sharjah’s website to learn more about their College of Architecture and found myself daydreaming about what it would be like to return to school in another part of the world. I’ve never been to the United Arab Emirates, but I’ve been curious about them ever since Jr. High world geography class.

Now and then I think yes, please! Sign me up to become a student again – even better if it could be in a corner of the world I’ve yet to explore.

Musings

What Hope Keeps You Going?

March 2, 2015

I just want to say Thank You.

Truly, from the bottom of my heart.

I didn’t know how my last post would be received or whether it would be too much to bring to this place, but in the days that have followed, I’ve been surrounded by such a spirit of love and compassion. I haven’t written replies to your sweet comments yet, and honestly, between those and the kindhearted words on Instagram and the private messages that continue to appear in my inbox, I’m just overwhelmed. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Hawaii, Maui

Sunrise on the Sea: Sailing from Maui to Lana’i

January 26, 2015

For these two parents used to waking up to care for a little one in the middle of the night, it felt like a pretty slick maneuver, hopping out of bed at 5:15am and making a dash for the beach. There we were: driving down from Ka’anapali to the Lahaina Harbor for a 6am check-in at the boat while Lucie stayed back at the condo with her grandparents. (Queue: “Freedom!!!”) Continue Reading…

Hawaii, Maui

Flying to Hawaii with A Baby…and other Marvelous Adventures of Once-Backpackers-Now-Parents

January 21, 2015

Two years ago, Ted and I landed at PDX International Airport in a little prop plane on December 25th, home at last from roaming the globe for 350-some days with a couple tattered backpacks and way too many electronics.

We crossed the tarmac in familiar rain, gave hugs and took reunion pictures with parents and siblings, and returned to rural Oregon where we dropped our bags, ate home cooked meals, and eventually announced our plans to spend nine months preparing to welcome little babyOregonian.

A little later that spring, rumors of an extended family trip to Hawaii circulated, and the notion sounded so lovely…and so far off. The end of 2014? Twenty months away! Enough to keep a wanderlust heart fed with hope, but laughably beyond the realities of life on the ground. Continue Reading…

Food, Oregon

My Feast Portland 2014: Oregon Grand Bounty Tasting

October 1, 2014

After an evening of Feasting on sandwiches in Director Park at the Feast Portland 2014 Sandwich Invitational, I returned downtown for more adventures at the Oregon Grand Bounty Tasting in Portland’s living room: Pioneer Courthouse Square. There, under sunny skies (and shaded cover of tents), every food and drink you could wish for from Oregon producers: wine and cheese, berries and beer, coffee and cakes and cookies and crackers, wild game and wild combinations.

(Shhh…don’t tell anyone, but I felt a little bit like Templeton in Charlotte’s Web.)

Continue Reading…