Tagged

'Hammerschlag hall' at CMU

I was 'Tagged' this morning by PVE and I always like to play fair so here it goes :-)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was a freshman at Carnegie Mellon Univ. entering into the architecture program. It was a really difficult year for many reasons........but mainly just that architecture school is REALLY hard! I failed a course ( first time I had failed anything in my life ) and began to question where my interests lay -what did I want to do with my life....ultimately I stayed in architecture but stopped conforming to the 'status quo' and sort of went my own way.

Part of the problem was that an architect seemed to be expected to have no other life outside of his (or her) interest in architecture. That was incredibly stressful for me as I have many varied interests ( as you can see here on this blog) and I was being questioned by professors because if I didn't want to do 'architecture' 100% of the time, then what was I doing there?

2. What are five things on my list for today?

Just a typical day here....

WORK - some deadlines this week so the office is BUSY

LUNCH - hopefully get outside into the beautiful spring weather and eat my leftover chicken and carrots

GO BACK TO WORK - get some projects out of the office!

MAKE DINNER - cooking at the end of the day while watching Martha on tivo helps me relax!

READ - currently reading a book composed of notes and conversations Marilyn Monroe had with her business partner Milton Greene; a sort of autobiography.

3. Snacks that I enjoy?

I am a true snacker (thanks to a high metabolism) but I generally prefer salty snacks. Nuts and especially potato chips (my weakness that i try to avoid) -but I also have a thing for sour type gummy candies like sour patch kids. A piece of dark chocolate always hits the spot too!

4. Things that I would do if I were a billionaire?

This is one of my favorite things to think about (and why I play the lottery: you can't dream about if it you don't play!). I would keep pursuing my license in architecture (only a year or two left) and then work on my own as a developer/ architect.

One of my 'missions' in life ( as corny as this sounds ) is to make the world a more beautiful place than I found it. I sat down last night and read Charlotte Moss's 'A flair for living' cover to cover and saw so much of what I want out of life in her book; to make the world a more beautiful place for people. A lot of that is what led me to become an architect and even on a smaller level to start this blog.

5. Places I have lived;

This is complicated because growing up we moved around. However, only one place ever felt like home and that is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thats where my grandparents lived, I ended up going to college and my parents have settled down there now again. Since then I have made my home in Washington, DC. But I still love to travel!!

6. I have tagged each of you or anyone else who likes to play fair and square.

LODA and anyone else who wants to play!