I've been writing this for a while and I'm starting to wonder if it is totally unneccessary. I mean it's interesteing for me, but probably not for anyone else. I will never make money or get famous for doing it. It doesn't seem to be getting me any more projects or clients. I don't give the link to many people. I am NOT a people person. I sit here in my office all by myself all day and occasionally interact with others while I make purchases or pick up my kids from school and I like it that way. If I can interact in the anonymous realm of the internet I can still keep flipping off people who are bad drivers here in Flagstaff and not wonder if I offended someone I know. Maybe that's why I get so few projects.... all the people who I've flipped the bird to told all their friends. I've got vanity license plates with my business name on them. Maybe I should be carful who I wave my finger at. It's a SoCal habit that never went away when I moved to a small mountain village.
Oh well I guess the whole point of me writing this is not to entertain other people, but to help me practice my writing skills. I actaully went ahead and wrote down my goals for next year and an important one is to get something published. I'm going to go for the magazine market first and then see what happens. It sounds like an easy goal, but I'm sure it's not. I've only got 5 more pounds and I'll hit my 130lb goal. That should be an easy one to meet and then get me rolling towards all my other goals.

My Custom Bookplate

I am so proud of myself. I just created my very own personalized book plate. I've always wanted to do this, I've just never had the chance. I'm trying again to catalog my vast collection of books and in that process I need some book plates, so that I know a book is officially in my collection. I drew this in AutoCad and then added the drawing of my house and then hand drew in the details and the mountains. I am so impressed with my self. Now I just need to take it to Kinko's and see if they can make an actual bookplate out of it in high quality (acid free) paper.
I am so cool!

What is design?

I feel the need to define the term "design" as used by an architect.
I've seen the word thrown around a lot by various people and to me design is more than just nick-naks, pillows, and wallpaper. To me those things are purely personal. I don't think I could hire someone to pick the art for my walls or choose the color of my bedspread. We all need to decorate the interior of our homes as we see fit and for what feels good for us.
For an architect, design is the layout and feel of the interior space. If something is designed well the space won't change much with the addition of wall paper. It's the way a room flows from one to another, its the layout of the windows and the size and type of windows, the use of wood trim or the lack thereof. It's creating a space that feels either welcoming, cozy, reverent, or utilitarian, what ever the rooms needs to be to be functional.
Most houses that are mass produced these days are designed to be blank boxes that HAVE to be painted and decorated to reveal your homes personality. When an architect designs a house for you there should be less blank wall space and less that needs to be "decorated" in order for the house to feel like your own.
So when I talk about designing homes that are for families and children I am not talking about the furniture or the towels in your guest bath. I'm talking about the way the rooms relate to one another, the amount of storage that is designed into the house, and the way a space facilitates its purpose. Every room should have a feeling and if it's a plain white box with a 3x3 window on 1 or 2 walls, it has no feeling.
There are so many things that can be done with the architecture of a room that can give it character. There are arches, and soffits, wood trim, built in shelving, vaulted ceilings, beamed ceilings, tin ceilings, pointed arch windows, clerestory windows, walls of windows, concrete floors, mosaic tile floors, all in the architect's toolbox just waiting to be used.
I get so frustrated at builders building crap that does not jive with the way a family actually lives. There is no storage, no character, no ease of traffic flow, and such poorly designed bathrooms that it drives me crazy. But what is 1 woman to do? I can complain here all I want, but only I can make a difference and change the way we view the family home.

Publicist?

The more I think about it, the more my potential book really does have a market. The things that I need help with are just plain getting my name and my ideas out there. I think I really do need a publicist. If I want to go Martha Stewart big then I'm going to have to do more than just write this blog and do some cool houses. I need a show on HGTV, I need NPR interviews, and I need coverage in magazines like Cookie, Dwell, Working Mother, Metropolis, and BHG. I'm not sure how to do that, but it needs to get done and I have no idea how much it would cost, or if I could even do it myself. I need to just keep writing and send some stuff off to the magazines and see what happens. I can do this, I just need a very elaborate plan.

I know it's been a while. The holidays is my only explanation. I should hav a good solid 3 weeks now before the kids are out of school for Christmas. I hope I can get a few things accomplished.
I've decided I still love architecture, I just don't like building. So I'm going to do my best to make a living being an architect and not being responsible for actually building anything. Is it possible? I'm not sure, but I'm going to try.
I've got to finish my book still so that I can combine my love of both books and houses. It should be fairly natural for me to do it, I've just got to put forth the effort to get it done. I know I can do it, it's just a matter of time.
Nothing else is going on.....just trying to make money so that I can take my family on a real vacation and pay off some bills. I guess that's the same thing most of this world is trying to do.....why does it have to be so hard sometimes?
Ugh.

I'm home again today. I haven't had a full week in my $1200/month office in weeks and probably won't until after Christmas. The little one has a stomach bug. I had completely forgotten that she was the queen of throw-up until she started barfing last night at 11:00. All was good until my husband went to drop her off at daycare and she threw up all over his jacket and then brought her directly to my office to take her home while he went off to work. Ahh the joys of motherhood.
I guess it's not like I had anything to do today anyway.....just another day of internet surfing and reading and deciding what I'm going to do to start making $3000/month since this whole architect thing isn't paying the bills.
I like the idea of the web site that gives away free architecture advice. Of course I had to e-mail the AIA and find out if that is legal. I'm sure that if I do start giving away info they will find a way to revoke my license. They are so stuffy, those architects. I'm still waiting for their response. Should be interesting. In the meantime I'm still exploring the whole cool architecture web site idea. It just might work if I can work between naps and all of the various days off of school for my 3 childrens' 3 different schools. I keep bringing that up. It's an obvious detrement to my lucrative career as a successful architect. HA
Anyway like I said yesterday if anyone is actually reading this, I am offering for a limited time (until someone tells me I can't) FREE Architecture Advice. I know it sounds too good to be true, but I am willing to answer any questions at all regarding your specific project. I can't draw anything for you, but anything else is fair game. Try it. I just might suprise you with my vast knowledge.

Free Architecture Advice

I've been reading a lot lately about starting and owning an e-business and wondering if architecture has any market for such a thing. I would like to give away free advice on designing houses and working with contractors and getting plans thru the city. I would also like to have cool architect related products and cool architect designed stuff as well as sell my services as an architect for creating plans ---design only---no construction documents, for people who need the work done and need a little bit more hand holding than some architects are willing to give. I think it would be a cool place to hang out as an architect and as a person who would like the help of an architect without plunking down thousands of dollars for our services. It sounds cool, but can I do it? Has it been done before? I could have cool architecture inspired toys and books and just cool things related to architecture. I would like to try it out here first if possible. I'm not even sure if anyone is reading this, but I would really like to be an accessible architect. I will answer any questions pertaining to architecture. I would absolutely love to help. I've seen some pretty monstrous things built recently and if my free advice can help to stop that, then I am all for free advice. Do you need to move a wall, find a contractor, remodel your bathroom, get a permit for a water heater? Those are all things that people need help with and that architects are uniquely qualified to answer, but most won't take the time out to help people like that with little questions. Half of my time in fielding new phone calls to prospective clients is given away free answering these same questions. Most are related to timing and budgets and they just need someone to talk to and let them know their budget and or time frame is unrealistic and most do not turn into actual projects. If architects had a place to send people with questions to weed out the people who need a little guidance first it would save them a ton of time. That just might be my way of combining architecture with a good solid on-line presence. Wow that really sounds pretty cool. I'll have to investigate it further.

The Holidays

Last weekend was the first in a long string of holiday weekends at home with the kids. It is so hard sometimes to be at home with them all, all by myself for the whole day and not drag them out to shop for most of the day just to get out of the house. Why is that? Kids get bored so easily and they all want to watch different DVDs and it's a little too chilly for me outside. They love the 40 degree weather and the chapped cheeks. I can't sit out there and watch them play. It's just too cold for me.
So what do we do? I pack them in the car and drive out to the mall to go to Old Navy who is eternally out of any size that I might wear, and then we drive to the completely other side of town to go to Target just to buy mouthwash. Yes we needed it, but we needed nothing else at all. It was just a desperate ploy to get out of the house with them all and hope that someone might just fall asleep while we were driving all over town. No such luck.

Meanwhile my phone has been ringing all weekend but the ringer was turned off since we were at the movies Friday afternoon. 1 new project prospect called and a business for sale prospect called. Motherhood always takes precedence. That's why I have the jobs that I have, so that I can take the kids to the movies and take random days off if someone is sick or has a half day due to parent conferences. That is my other job........mother. That's why I turn down projects and opportunities. I have to be a mother first and everything else has to come second. That is the eternal plight of all mothers. Work or kids and hardly ever work and kids. So with this the holiday season upon us I pretty much resign myself to doing nothing but maintaining the businesses I already have and spending my time shopping for Christmas, going to school holiday programs, and sitting at home with any one of my 3 kids that might have the day off school during the next 2 months.

PollStar

Here's a new thing we're trying.....After attending our Millionaire Mind weekend I think I came to the conclusion that the things that I really love are writing and reading books, and going to concerts. The one thing I want to do before I die is to have Chris Isaak perform for my friends and family in my backyard. So on that note it kind of led me to concert promotion and putting together shows for other people who want their favorite band to come and play for them in their home town. That in turn led me to PollStar where I quickly plunked down the $400 membership fees. I've been getting the magazine for the past few weeks and it is so fascinating to see how much bands are making on their tours. PollStar also provides contact info for all of the bands booking agents which blows my mind. It's just a simple phone call to find out if your favorite band is available to come play. Of course it's a little bit more technical than that when it comes to scheduling etc, but the info is a major start. Is this my new career? If would be awesome, and we definitely have some music industry connections, but they are old and who knows if anyone would take us seriously, but it would sure be fun to try. Our first goals are to bring Chris Isaak and BRMC here to Flag to play. What could be more fun than bringing your favorite bands into town to play? Anyway that's something we are working on in the background to all of our other business ventures.

I turned down a good job the other day for a remodel in the country club. I just wasn't feeling it and I have so little time the next few months before Christmas, and the kids have so much time off of school, that it didn't seem like something I should do. Even though we are so cash poor at the moment I couldn't being myself to take that project. Maybe I really am done with being an architect.

So today I feel a little bit better. It's obvious that I'm not cut out to be an architect, or I would be making more money doing it. It's not what I love to do. So now the question is what do I love to do? I was having a blast doing all of that research for my book. It was really fun and exciting and I seem to have lost my drive on that as I get sidetracked by other things day to day. I think I should really stop taking on new projects and just focus on my book and some sort of Internet something. I'd love to sell information if I could do it in a non-sleazy way. There are too many people out there now selling crappy info to less than intelligent people. I just want to sell people stuff that they need and that I don't have to work too hard at selling. If I have to convince someone that they need it then they probably don't need it.
Maybe I'm just eternally flaky and I'll never really be able to commit to any career or project. Or I could rephrase that and say that I just like to keep my options open. Basically what it comes down to is that I only want to do things that are fun, that make money and that will advance myself and my family. I'm really selfish that way.

I'm not an architect

I'm in a really nasty funk. I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to be an architect anymore. I still love houses and buildings, but I just don't want to deal with the people anymore. I was really drug down by the last few weeks. I got like 4 different phone calls for new projects and most all of them were not able to afford my fees. An architect is expensive. This is not a new idea. Everyone knows that. I don't care how small your project is I don't want to do it if I'm going to make less than $3000. I don't think that's being unreasonable. I don't know these people or how much of my time they are going to eat up, so in order to hire me you have to pay me at least that. So I'm so frustrated at my work. I don't like drawing anymore and every new client is so suspicious of me for some reason. Yes I'm young and I'm female and an architect, and yes I'm expensive. I've got to make a living. I don't think they realize that to spend 2-6 months on their tiny little project is worth $3000 of my time. I'm seriously giving it up. No more construction documents. I'll do floor plans and consult on site plans, but no more documents. I'm sick of it.
So on that same note. We are broke. We need money coming in from somewhere. I haven't made a decent living as an architect ever. I'm at a whopping $22,000.00 so far this year and I haven't been paid well for a project in a while. So I've got to wonder is it just me......is it an economic thing? People don't seem to be building large custom homes anymore, or hey are just not calling me.
So that is what has prompted me to look for something new. I love out other businesses and I'm looking another one still. Anything has got to make more money than me as an architect. Heck I could probably work full time at Dairy Queen and make more money.

T. Harv Eker

So we were in LA for a while and it was absolutly fabulous. We went to the Millionaire Mind Intensive weekend inspired by T. Harv Eker's book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Of course as I suspected Harv was not there. It was somewhat interesting. The weekend was spent with half of the time devoted to some actual learning and the other half to them selling more weekend getaways for $$$$ of dollars more. Overall I liked it. We went away with a few new ideas, we spent $20 and $20 only the whole weekend on all of Harv's propaganda. We bought a hypnosis CD that is supposed to subliminally get us to create multiple streams of passive income. We haven't listened to it yet. I was very disappointed in the fact that the seminars ran until who knows how late. We left the first night at the dinner break at 7:00 pm and we were not about to come back at 8:00 for another 3 hours of learning (selling). We were there for a fun weekend and weren't about to sepnd the whole 3 days in the convention center. The second day we left at the 4:00 15 minute break and then on Sunday we didn't show up at all. We had learned all we needed too. I think it was when we were all listening to a visualization CD in the convention center hall and we were supposed to envision our happy spot and how we could change our lives to be able to go there when ever we wanted..... that Carl and I realized that we are already in our happy spots all the time. We had both transported ourselves to our own back yard and were walking thru the tall grass and wildflowers, with a warm breeze and our magnificent mountain view. If we already have what we always wanted, why are we here with all of these unhappy floundering people with no goals in life. We know more or less what we want and we always work towards our goals. We got a little inspiration over the weekend, but we are already on our way without T. Harv Eker.
We spent the rest of the weekend eating great food at Roscoe's, Morton's, the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax, walking around, catching movies, we walked the pier in Santa Monica and we even had a celebrity siting. We saw Kevin Pollack waiting outside Houston's Restaurant on 2nd St in Santa Monica Sunday night. Overall a good weekend and a welcome getaway from the kids.

Developer?

Wow I haven't written in a while and it really showed in the blog I tried to post yesterday. It was so bad and all over the place. I need to re-focus. I've been distracted from my work on the book by some actual projects and I"ve been catching up on my reading…. Books and the 3 magazines a day I’m getting in the mail. It never seems to end. I am constantly surrounded by a huge mass of information and the problem of finding the time to absorb it all. I am turing over corners on all the new and beautiful stuff that I want to try and remember. I'm looking for other women architects and trying to see what they are doing to make a change in housing. Somedays it seems like there is so little that I can do in the 5 hours a day I have while the kids are at school and others I am so productive it makes my head spin. I am amazed at myself and what I can get accomplished. I"ve got 3 businesses under investigation and 3 current businesses to run and 3 kids. I am getting it all done. This is a good day. Carl is around and he is helping out with housework lately since my last tirade about how he can't even take the garbage out while I do everything else. Sometimes he gets it and other times I have to remind him. That's just life and the way things work between males and females.
I"ve been reading so much lately and I’m not sure if it is really helping. I've read instances where reading and learning keeps you from realizing something new since you are always focused on the ideas and theories of others. But sometimes when I read history it gives me an insight to what has worked in the past and what has been a bad idea. And it turns me on to new ways of thinking about how a house works and what it says about it's owners and how it can make a person feel. It's an amazing science if you could call it that. I want to learn all I can about how people work and live in their homes. What makes them look for more and what makes them settle down? Is it all about money and setteling for whatever can be afforded? Is it really location location location? I know it's got to be a delicate balance between all 3. Can a developer ever really get it right? Shouldn't most architects be developers? I would love to be and hope to be someday when the everyday pressures of having 3 small children and the multiple pick up and drop of times and lunches and learning to read and count are not at the forefront of my mind. I think we are uniquely qualified to juggle the needs of the client and the site. What we are not qualified for in my opinion are the budget issues associated with becoming developers. We see the beauty and the function of things and are hard pressed to deny either of those for the sake of costs. The things we see as necessary for the function of a home are often lost in the budget when a developer is in control of the project. We live with it and hope to push thru our ideas into the next project.
But wouldn't it be really great if more architects took the leap and crossed over into the dark side of developing land. Infill seems like the best place to start

I just finished reading a great book about the evolution of the family home. It's The American Family Home by Clifford Edward Clark. I've been reading a lot of books on this subject lately and this one really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Mostly I've been reading books with more of a feminist slant, but this book, written by a man, was much more middle of the road. I apreciated his outlook on the woman of the house and her role in the family and that he didn't blame men for the dire state of housing.

I am most definitely not a feminist. I love my work, but I know that genetically I am better suited to taking care of my family and home than my husband is. Sure he can be shown what to do, but it is not something that comes naturally to him. He is a great dad, but he wouldn't start the laundry if it was biting his ankles.

The more I read and the more I learn about the history of home the clearer my vision becomes on what my book needs to address. People have been studying for years how to create a better house and I don't think it's something we will ever see a perfect solution to. Money will always be an issue when creating a perfect house for everyone. But as a woman I must add my 2 cents to the creation of a new 21st century home. I am just as qualified as anyone else to design for the betterment of the American Family.

Opportunity

I am getting so busy lately. Last week, after months of nothing, I get 4 phone calls for new projects. It must be that T.Harv Eker book and all of my positive cash flow thinking. So now I"ve got 4 projects, my book, my existing businesses and we've just started ramping up the search for a new business so I've got all of these prospects and financials to go thru. I'm creating my own busyness, but I've got to to get things moving. Nothing is just going to plop down into my lap. There is just sooo much I want to accomplish in this short life and there are so many fascinating things I've yet to explore. What would it be like to run a carwash, make tortillas, sell and manufacture chocolate, or own a laundrymat. It's all so interesting. Sure the money has to be good, but it also has to be fun and be a growth opportunity. Do I want to take 1 thing big, or do we want a lot of little operations going on and running us thin? There are just so many options and anything we start to undertake needs to be able to operate without us and give us more money and more time. Eventually we will hire a business manager who can lock and unlock all the doors and manage all of the employees and then we'll have even more time. Until then we will do most of the work.

New Form of Housing

I'm still not doing well with the photos. I never seem to remeber to take any, let alone anything worthy of sharing with the world.
The book is moving along slowly, but I think that's pretty normal. There just seems to be so much information to digest. I think I can honestly say that this has not been done in years and there has yet to be a solution to the best designed house for a wife and mother and gainfully employed woman. Can I do it? I'm not sure, but I would sure like to offer my take on the solution. There are so many things that I see are wrong with typical housing, but I look at it from an upper middle class point of view. I would like to see a nanny/au pare suite, private bedrooms for all the kids and private bathroom for the seperate sexes of kids. That's not always an option for most families. So my view is obviously skewwed. I'm not sure I'm qualified to offer a solution for lower income families, but I would assume we all have the same issues with housework, privacy, and comfort. Some things are universal. I'm going to give it a shot and I think I'm going to ask some big names in architecture to try and offer their solutions. I would prefer women, but any man could offer a solution if he has demonstrated the ability to be sensitive to the way a house is run. How great would that be if Dolores Hayden would create her own well researched design for the ultimate family home? That would be amazing. I've just got to work up the courage to ask her.

Wanted: Your business to buy

Holy Crap! People are actually starting to read this thing. I had no idea I was writing for anyone other than myself. I mean I know it's posted in the most public of places, but I'm just a little tiny stop in the huge internet. I guess I have a message.
I've been slacking the past few days....too many family obligations and I got a little sidetracked from my book proposal. I've got to focus on making some money for the next few weeks. I know, I know, the book will eventually earn me millions, but in the meantime I've got to get some cashflow. That city project I was interested in is just a little bit too much for me since there is only me and it's a ton of work. I'm still waiting to hear back about my fabulous never ending, never starting project here in town. The developer is not returning my phone calls. So for now I abandon the topsy turvey unreliable client world of architecture and turn instead to my amazing business skills. We own 2 other businesses besides my architecture firm, and I need to find another to supplement my erratic income. That's why we bought the first 2, but now I need a third. So if anyone has a nice service business that has all the key employees already in place and with attractive seller financing..... please let me know. I can't spend all of my hours here in my office pretending to have clients. I also run the financials for the other 2 businesses from my fabulous office that no one sees. I really like making money from doing nothing but managing people and businesses that I don't really have to work in. I don't have to show up everyday and I don't have to actually produce anything except a clean set of books at the end of the year for the accountant.

Motivation

Okay so over the weekend I read a book called 'Secrets of the Millionaire Mind'. It was really inspiring. I love all the business motivation books. They always seem to give me a needed kick in the pants. I think I need to be constantly reading Tony Robbins or Robert G. Allen in order to accomplish my goals. I get so easily sidetracked. I even typed up the major points of this last book to remind me to stay focused. I'm going to try and read it every morning and see if it keeps me on task. I'm also reading a book called 'The Female Brain'. Wow is that book fascinating. I've learned so much about my brain and my 1 year old baby girl's brain. I think it will really change the way I use my head and interpret my children's thinking. I'm such a sucker for anything I read in a book. My mind is constantly expanding.
The interesting things about the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind book is that I was actually convinced to sign up for the free 3 day intensive seminar. I'm even going to drag along my husband and hopefully it will change the way we view money.
We are pretty well off, but most large purchases have to be made on credit. We pay them off and then use them again. It's not any kind of debilitating debt, but it's debt none the less. We'd of course like to be richer, and we are always looking for ways to move us towards that goal, but sometimes we get a little stalled and caught up in our current business ventures and have a hard time seeing the next opportunity.
The more I read the more I am convinced that everything that happens in my life is a direct result of my wants and needs. We've never done without and there is always enough. It will continue to be so.......enough........until I can change my brain patterns to create excess. That is my new focus and everyone knows I always get what I want, so here's to a life of excess.

Inspiration

Friday's are so inspiring, too bad they can't happen on Monday's though because then I might just have enough umph to get thru the week and actually accomplish something. After a wonderful hour at Barnes and Noble I"m ready to be inspired for next week and get this ball rolling for my new empire.
I was watching Made with my husband the other night (with Vince Vaughn, John Favreau, and Sean Combs) and I was really inspired to start my own mafia. We are already involved in the seedy underbelly of society and make a lot of money, so why not just take it to the next level? Not that we wouldn't pay our taxes, I just want that kind of control and wads of cash laying around to be used however I wish. I need some henchmen, a driver, and good restaurant, and some more real estate holdings. That would probably be enough to get something started and get me some respect in this town.
That's all besides the point anyway. My empire that I'm really going to build needs to get started with or without money. I have a goal in this life and it is definitely not going to be satisfied with me sitting in this office looking thru Amazon and Restoration Hardware. I need to start this journey with one step and it needs to be an irrevocable step. I am destined for greatness, but it's not going to come knocking on my door.

The Book Proposal

Okay, so I really need to get everything together and just write the book proposal and stop researching. I have every book imaginable on family homes and women architects, so I know exactly what's been done before and what hasn't. I know my competition and my audience. I know my subject inside and out (I think) and now I just need to jump in feet first and write the damn thing. I have an ace in my pocket with my famous author aunt, I have my youth, and I have all of my crazy ideas that just might work. Now I need to translate that enthusiasm into the book and slowly take over the world from Martha Stewart. It can be done. Someone has to be the next great thing and it might as well be me. It really is the fear that keeps you from taking that first step.

Friday Afternoon

So this is the fabulous mustard/peanut butter color we painted the front entryway and stair wall. Notice how we have yet to finish up the stairs. It's a cool color and is working to satisfy my creative urges.

I finally got paid today, not a lot, but enough for a week or 2. So I'm a little less frustrated today. A friend of mine stopped by today who does house plans in town and chit chatted for a while. He told me he did 65 houses last year? WTF? If I did that many I would make $650,000, but sadly he only charged 85 cents a sq ft. That's still good money though. That just points out how people want custom designed houses, but don't want to pay an architect to do the work. We are just too expensive. Of course if you ask me $10,000 for a set of custom designed plans is a bargain, but not as big a bargain as $3000. It kind of ticks me off, but hey, he does good work for production builders. Still researching my plans to change the world. I found a fabulous PR company that I would work with if I had an extra $100,000 to blow. They are http://www.ogilvypr.com. They look like they could take any endeavor and launch it into millions of dollars of sales. Someday. check them out.

Frustrated

I am getting sooooo frustrated. It's a creative frustration and a money frustration. I think that's why I've started painting the entire house again. It's a creative outlet and it's cheap. I've selected 4 fabulous colors. We painted the hallway and now we've stalled. I'll bring photos tomorrow. It's a great mustard/peanut butter color and I've ordered an awesome Art Deco mirrored console table to go in the hall too, we've just got to find a new place for all of the CDs.

Anyway to get back to my frustration......I want a line of home furnishings in Target....How do I do that? Can I just contact Liz Lange, Frank Ghery, Isaac Mizrahi and ask them? I guess they were already famous for something to start with and then they were approached by Target, but I want to use Target to launch my career, not supplement it. Maybe I just don't have those fabulous ideas in me or I haven't had to opportunity to manufacture them I don't know, but I'm very frustrated. I want to design, and no one is asking me for anything. I know I know I need to design for myself, but I need to see something concrete to be inspired to create. Can I reinvent a Kleenex box, a pen holder, a pillow, a book? There are so many options and yet the only creative output I seem to have is for my own personal house where I know only I can criticize the design. It's my own thing and I'm not afraid to mess it up. Maybe that's the key...... I can't be afraid to mess up, but when it comes to product design, there is this little thing called money that seems to be getting in my way.

Martha Stewart Watch Out

Okay,
So I'm starting this research that hopefully will change the way houses are designed. I'm not talking about architect houses, but builder and multi-family homes. Architects will usually get it right, but I've seen very few builders do it. Houses are not designed with the end user in mind. They are designed with the bottom line in mind, and the glitz and glamour to wow perspective buyers. They are not thinking of function at all. Maybe it's just that people uneducated in design are buying their houses, or they just don't care about how far they have to walk from the garage to the kitchen, or where the dirty laundry goes. I've been so frustrated by these houses for years and I've finally decided to do something about it. I'm going to design my own Usonian houses that are fully functional from a woman's point of view. I'll slowly convert builders to my way of thinking and slowly convert every woman in this country to want my house deisgns over the horrible male builder designed houses. I'm just researching now, but then I've got to get some builders on board. I've got to get national magazine coverage, and not just design magazines, but women's magazines and parenting magazines too. And then I'm going to take over Target with my houseware designs and products for clutter and children. I'm basically going to create my own Martha Stewart Empire.
I just noticed today that she has some house designs for KB Homes. I wonder if Martha even looked at these plans. I see nothing that differentiates them from KB's typical plans. The toilets are still in the wrong place. There is too much housework derived directly from the plan itself, and it does not lend itself for a working family. Who do I need to talk to to make them realize that they are doing it all wrong? Why do they continue to build this way? I've become so frustrated that I've been moved to action. So watch me now!

Photos

I know I said I was going to start posting pictures. I actually bought the camera, but I have yet to install the software on my computer, and I still have to get the memory card. Why do they sell cameras without the memory card? Do I really want to just take 10 pictures at a time? Come on! So there's my dilemma. I've still got to make it down to Target and buy the card, and then we'll be rolling in the pictures.
This whole not getting paid thing is really starting to affect my shopping. Currently the total owed to me is somewhere near $23,000.00 and still not one payment. Maybe that's why I'm writing more and more. I'm desperately hoping that it will lead to a 5 book $2,000,000.00 book deal. If only.
I'm going to start to have to make cold calls to people out of the phone book and ask "Hey do you need an architect". I'm really expensive and picky about my projects... are you interested? All I need is a $5000.00 retainer and we're good to go."
Still no signage out front. I e-mailed the landlord and the reply was," I've really let that fall behind on my to-do list." There was no definite date, or promises of work getting done, just an acknowledgment of his lack of initiative. Yea! That's going to get me clients.

I'll keep thinking positive thoughts...... I will get a check in the mail today.......Someone will call today with a multi-million dollar project with a $50,000.00 deposit check in hand....... The bank will magically deposit extra money into our account....... Random House has been reading my blog.........

Women Designing Homes

As an architect and as a mother there are things that I notice about homes that others don't, like the way a floor plan flows, the way that the plan makes for more housework, the way children use their spaces, the feelings that a space can convey.

The majority of housing in this country is designed and built by men. The majority of houses in this country are kept by women. Even women that work full time still are the primary caregivers for our homes. Rarely is the opportunity given to women to design their own spaces and make them as productive, timesaving and comfortable as they want and need them to be.

There are subtle differences in a house plan designed by a woman. She creates quiet places for herself, nooks and playspaces for her children where they can play with wild abandon but still be under the careful watchful eye of their mother. She creates household work stations that are fully functioning and spacious enough to accomodate a myriad of tasks, considering everything from craft projects, household repairs, cleaning tasks, and pet care. She also createse bathrooms whose primary functions are to clean and to stay clean. Her primary concern is not the shear size and luxury of the bathroom , but the ease of maintenance of the fixtures and finishes and her ability to give multiple children baths quickly, efficiently and safely. She pays attention to sharp corners, traffic jams, durability and cleanabilty. She worries about bumps to the head, surfaces that will stain, fingers that will get pinched and splintered.

It is a completely different way to design a house. We need to look at the family as a whole and how they function inside of their home. What can be done to lighten the load of mom? What can be done to make the whole household run more efficiently? What rooms need to be rearanged? What spaces need to be added? What surfaces need to be changed? It is a matter of re-looking at the way that a family uses a house.

Writing Motherhood

There is a new columnist in our local paper who is writing the weekly parenting article. You know the one where she tells all the crazy cute little things that her kids do that drive her crazy. It is so belittling to women.
The last chick that wrote it wasn't half bad. I would read her stuff and usually relate. She had that same snide commentary about life with kids that I seem to have. She had the same problems with living in this town that I did, trying to deal with the traffic and the beaurocracy and the tourists.
But this new one....she is a little lack lustre. Of course I don't know her personally so I will judge her relentlessly. We don't want to hear a story about how your kid pooped in the back yard and you didn't yell at him. That's not real parenting. We don't want to hear how you are so much better that the rest of us, we want to hear how you're just like us. You yell and you feed them peanut butter crackers for dinner, you make them wear dirty socks to school often becuase you hate to do laundry and you hate even more trying to pair the various sizes and colors of socks for 5 different people in your household. That's what we want to hear. She seems like the perfect little minivan driving, ballet and soccer mom. She reads recipe books and she is a SAHM (the acronym that makes stay at home moms feel special). She reads parenting magazines AND books. She attends every field trip and she hates the idea of preschool since she just cannot stand to be seperated from her precious children for even 3 hours a day. She's the woman who is utterly stunned when her husband dies and leaves no insurance and she has no marketable job skills and has to send a video into Extreme Home Makeover to try and save her family from herself. Ughhh
We all have our dirty little secrets about motherhood and we want to hear those from other mothers who are trying desperatly to keep everything together and have given up the struggle to put on a happy face everyday to look like we are perfect mothers. There is no such thing. We are just being women who just so happen to have kids. It doesn't define us and our world doesn't reolve around them. We are trying to make a difference in this world and we are doing it ourselves right now. We are not cultivating our children to do the work for us when they are older. Our children are not ours for the molding or for the taking. They have their own distinct set of hopes and desires.
I would love to hear from a mother who can do more than just be a mother. Of course I would be perfect. I am a 32 year old mother of 3 who runs 3 businesses. I am an architect and I run my own architectural firm. I have so much to say and no where to say it. There are so many more interesting thing to be said about being a mother than telling the cute cocktail party stories. Maybe I'll start to post them here along with my architectural rantings. It will be an interesting pairing.

Oh and I just bought myself my own little digital camera so that I don't have to lug around the Canon Rebel to get photos on my blog. So soon eveything will be illustrated.

Vanity Fair

I just bought an issue of this magazine and wow. I was just going to thumb thru and then I had to read every single article. It's been a while since I looked at this magazine and I was really amazed. It is so much more than a fashion magazine. It has all the same adds as Vogue, but much more substance and interesting articles about fascinating people. It's part trashy and part news and all entertainment. It makes me feel more sophisticated just for having read it. That's powerful. It inspires me to try and design something truly beautiful that could aspire to be featured in those pages. Architectural Record doesn't do that for me, occasionally Arch Digest will, but usually it's Elle Decor or Domino. I want to create something, but what. Something is in me and it is buring to get out, it just hasn't identified itself to me yet. Apparently I need to put the correct materials in my hands to make the genius flow out.
I'm trying desperatley to be writer now as well as an architect and a designer. But apparently it's a long hard road and I've never got time for the long haul. I'm writing, but it doesn't really count since no one is reading it. You can't really be a writer unless you've swallowed your fear and actually given words committed to paper to a real living person that you know. I don't think the internet counts. It's too anonymous. I don't even have my real name on this blog. That's how fearful I am of committing to my writing. But at least this gets me to practice. My typing skills are getting better, but I can't say the same for my vocabulary. I've spent too much time with my kids watching SpongeBob, reading cheesy chick lit books and parenting magazines to have an impressive vocablary. Mybe I should work on that.

Life at 8000 ft

It was just called to my attention yesterday that our house is actually located at a whopping 8000 ft. I knew it was high, but that is freaking high. Flagstaff in general is at around 7000, so I guess my office where I actually write this is at 7000.
Anyway I'm trying to get into this writing thing. I've found that I write much better when I am writing for myself and no one else. I've read that in all the books I have on writing, but it never really sinks in until I try and read the crap I'm editing in my head that is destined for others to read. It always turns out too nice, too few %^&$*# in it, and doesn't really seem like me. I am who I am and I don't think I'm intended for all audiences. I have always told it like it is and not held anything back. I know that's why I don't have any really good friends except for the ones who can take and also give it right back to me. I would love to write for women and tell them all the things that they are doing wrong in ruling the world, but they are all so sensitive. Not that I'm not too, it's just the reason why we don't rule the world.

Monkey Where You Been?

Sorry, that's just the song that's currently playing on my ipod and it seemed like agood way to start. I love this song for some reason that I don't understand.
I'm sending out cold letters today to 5 contractors in town to try and get them to refer clients to me. Still no one seems to know that I'm here. Probably because there is no sign out front alerting the world. I've been here for 4 months and still no signage. It's getting old. That's part of what I"m paying for in my $1200/month rent. That's my only advertising. I didn't even make the phonebook this year for some reason. Architects aren't really supposed to advertise. It's mostly word of mouth and there are no words coming out of people's mouths to direct them here currently. So much talent and so few places to show it off.

Mondays, Children and School

Ohhhhh, it is such a Monday. I'm in my office worried about my just turned 4 today 4 year old. I dropped him off at his new big boy preschool this morning. He knows the place, his brother went there, he was mildly excited about going, but still I worry. He's a class 5 clinger. He wouldn't let go of my leg this morning and I had to pry his arms off of me to leave. He didn't cry, but he was the only kid having issues with his parent leaving. It really breaks my heart. I know he's fine after I leave, but I just wish he didn't have to put on such an elaborate show for me.
I am now officially dropping off all 3 kids at 3 separate locations in the morning which takes an hour from leaving the house to me actually getting to sit down at my desk. Then of course I start the whole thing again this afternoon when I must leave my desk at exactly 2:50 Pm to go thru the whole process again. It's no wonder I work for myself. I could never do this working for someone else 5 hours and 50 min each day, and then leaving early on Wednesday when my 2nd grader gets out at 1:15. That is such a short work week. It's a wonder I never get anything done.

Land Rover Architect

I just thought I would try out attaching a photo. This is a picture of my awesome car. Check out the custom Chip Foose star rims. Very appropriate considering the name of my business and the vanity plates that match the rims. I've noticed how most architects drive European cars (I know Land Rover is owned by Ford or some other American company). We are really just that cool. I can't think of one architect I know that drives a Ford or a Dodge. It just doesn't happen. We happen to own this fabulous RockStar Land Rover and also an Audi, the most architect or architect cars. I highly recommend them. They match perfectly with all artsy squared off architect glasses (yes I wear them too). Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can upload a picture of the A6.

Things are starting to get a little desperate around here. It's been 2 months since I've been paid on any project. That seems to be my biggest problem in being an architect. People just don't seem like paying. I think they think that architects have a lot of money and can wait to be paid, so it doesn't matter if they are a couple of months behind. It is the most frustrating thing to have done work and have accounts receivable and not be able to collect. Also architecture is not necessarily steady work. Some months I'm crazy busy and others I just sit in my $1200/month office and try and think of ways to bring in new clients. I'm at my wits end. I wish I could work like a retail business and have the clients pay when they walk out of the office with the plans. I think that's why I'm looking at trying to sell my plans in one of those weird plan books. I hate those plans. They are so ............ick. I want to do something better, but something that will still appeal to the mainstream and then sell them for like $2000 a pop. And then I want to sell at least 1 set every week and make an extra $8000 a month. But with real estate being so questionable lately I'm not sure if that is going to be my real money maker. Basically I'm an architect trying to make bank in a world where people are slowly running out of money.
UGH.

Homes for Kids

I try to keep things a s stable as possible for my kids. I moved around so much as a kid and there are certain things I think I missed out on. True my oldest son has lived in 8 different houses in his 7 years, but we have supposedly setteled down now for good in a house that can grow with us through the years. We started out 8 years ago in a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment that everyone thought we were crazy for starting a family in. Eventually we moved downstairs in that same complex to a deluxe 2 bedroom apartment. Then after several rentals and some time spent living with my mother in law we bought our first home and have been trading up ever since. Finally we have a huge stately house on 2 acres at the base of a mountain that we absolutely love. It's the kind of house you can visualize seeing old yellowed photos of 100 years from now with a family with beautiful small children sitting out on the vast front porch. My primary concerns when finding this house weren't how amazing is the master bath, or how many cars can I fit into the garage. They were... are the rooms big enough for the kids to be teenagers in? Can we have college or older age kids return to the house between going out on their own into the real world? Do the kids have enough bathrooms? Is there a play room space? Is there amazing outdoor play space? Where is everyone going to do their homework? I take a much more family orientated view when looking at houses. It absolutely has to work for a family, or I just plain don’t like the house. I've been thru so many builder homes that claim to have family friendly floor plans and it just drives me crazy. If they put the toilet any closer to the bathtub I think they'll be actually bathing in the toilet bowl. Maybe it comes down to a differencwe between the sexes. We all know men just don't notice the obvious details, and men are the primary developers for residentail subdivisions, I'm not sure, but they sure are getting a lot of things wrong when it comes to designing a home. They have so many surveys and market research, but I still don't think most fo the people they are asking really know what it is they want, or have the ability to describe what that is. Architecture and spacial design are fairly complex as are the vocabulary to describe the way a space feels and functions. Most people buying a $250,000 house don't possess the know how to actually know what they want in a house. They see all the pretty design magazines and watch HGTV, so they are kind of told what they should want. Most are not the least bit familiar with Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. They would probably know that they liked the spaces that are described in that book, but they couldn't tell you why. True a lot of these mass produced housing subdivisions have floor plans designed by a licensed architect, but you can't tell me for 1 minute that they actaully had any design input into how the floor plan turned out. Any good architect knows that the typical builder layout for a bathroom is horrible. The standard 5x8 bath is anything but functional. We all know that great rooms are not the best solution for everyone, and that sometimes we just don't need to be able to see the TV while we're making dinner. Show me a builder house that has enough storage space for a giant pack of papertowels, toilet paper, kleenex and diapers, and I don't mean the garage. I mean storage space somewhere near where you might possibly need and use these products. Storage space for out of season clothing, children's toys and games. And just to clarify a giant "game" room with blank walls and no character does not qualify. I call most houses I see "vanilla boxes". Everyone possesses a little creative talent, but when you put them in a plain "vanilla box" they are at a loss as to what to do with the space. If you really want to see a great house with creative owners look at someone who has bought a beautiful old fixer up from the turn of the century or a great 1950's ranch. Is it the people who are naturally creative or is it the spaces that inspire the creativity? UGHhh.

I just moved into my first real office. I've always wondered what the true legitimacy is of home-based businesses. We all know of the kind where you are supposed to stuff envelopes and make like 50 cents per envelope, but I'm talking about people running real businesses out of their homes. I've been in meetings and meantioned other consultants that I use and gotten snide remarks like, "I wouldn't use him. He works out of his house." Sometimes I understand that rationalle, and other times it's total bull crap. We all have to start somewhere and not all of us want to get a $20,000 loan just to set up shop and pay $1200 a month for "legitimate" office space. Now for me it was a finaicial issue to start with but also a baby issue. When you're pregnant the last thing you want to do is commit to being somewhere everyday at a certain time and wearing clothes that look somewhat presentable. Most of the time while I have been pregnant I've had 1 maybe 2 pairs of pants that fit at any given time and those are usually ugly maternity jeans, or cargo pants. Not exactly the thing to wear when meeting new clients. So the at-home office was great for me. I appeared to be working at all times of the day, when usually I was just sitting on the couch watching a baby story and trying not to think about what I was going to have to make for dinner. But if the phone rang I was "in my office". Meetings were usually held at the job site or at the closest coffee shop if the weather was bad. Clients don't usually seem to mind this because they think you are coming to them and they see it as a concession that you are making for them and not usually an inconvenience. After the baby was born and I was attached to the house it worked really well too, but only when she was napping. It's really hard when you are desperate for some new projects and you have to just let the phone ring and not answer it because you just know that as soon as you do the baby will launch into the loudest most obnoxious cry and scare any potential client away.
But now that she is a year old and it's summer and no one has been sick with the flu in months, it seemed like the perfect time to make the move into a real office. I've always wanted one, if not just for the opportunity to say, " Come meet me at my office and we'll talk" and not meaning my little cramped home office that doubles as our photomat and library, but a real office with a conference table and multiple phone lines. Plus this is my first built project in the City of Flagstaff and I was kind of proud of it and it makes really great advertising when people come by and ask what projects I've done and I can point to the floor and say This One.
Now the big problem with not having a home office anymore and having three kids is that now I’m never home to clean the house. It used to be such a great distraction to be able to say I' can't draw this now, I've got to vacuum the stairs. That is so way more important than doing that roof detail. My house used to be so clean and now it's a mess of goldfish crumbs and fluffly white cat hair.
I've yet to notice if people take me more seriously than they used too. My signage isn't out front yet and that was supposed to be the thing that's really supposed to draw in some new high profile clients and projects

I am supposed to be an architect. I have all the paperwork to back me up, but I've never really felt that version of an architect that everyone has in their heads. The thing that really throws people off is that of course I'm a girl and I've got big boobs and I tend to show them off a lot. I don't wear those cool squared off architect glasses. I don't wear those classically cool and reserved outfits that most architect wear. I don't use big words like "juxstaposition" and I don't even know any other big architect words. I'm the mother of three, I'm hot and I married a rock star. Sure I've got this great office on the main street in town with drawings laying around and a big plotter, but no one really takes me serioulsy as an architect. It's probably my own fault. It would be easy to put on all the airs of a fancy architect, but that's just not me. I'd rather be looking around Amazon.com for the latest and greatest new chick lit book, or perusing Anthropologie for a dress that might actually fit my gargantuan boobs.
I've heard that architects are one of the top 10 most respected professions. People are automatically impressed when you can truthfully answer after being asked at a party "What do you do". Usually though I am constanly asked, "So what does your husband do? " It's like your husbands profession still defines your place in society. If I'm feeling bitchy I'll answer, "I am an architect" So as to let them know how repulsed I am by their mear idea that all I do is stay home all day and watch my three kids. Usually of course when I’m asked what my husband does for a living I'm wearing ratty old jeans and a too tight T-shirt with some kind of schmooze on it and wrestling my toddler in one hand and trying to yell at my overly rambunctious 3 year old to stop tormenting his older brother. Why would they even think that I might actually have a job, let alone run my very own architectural firm? What messes with people even more is when I answer that I am an architect and that my husband is a rockstar. Of course he's actually been retired for like 10 years and hasn't played the guitar in years. He was at one time in rotation on MTV and constantly stopped at the mall and asked for his autograph.
We just plain don't fit the mold that most people have for thirty-somethings with 3 kids.
I've been fighting the stereotypical battle of the sexes for years. Doing the whole should I work or do I actaully try and spend time with my kids thing. I'ts a horribly tough decision that no one should really have to make. But after years of sitting behind a desk and trying to look busy for a full 40 hours a week, asking permission to take vacations or stay home with a sick child, trying to constantly make up hours for not working my full 40 every week I just got sick and tired of it and said this is bull shit and ventured out on my own into the world of being a business owner.