Must Have...Absolutely

If I ever build my dream house (or even get to gut out the master bathroom of our current home), at the very top of the list of "must haves" is a shower with slab walls. Our current shower is tiled, and while I like how it looks, keeping it clean is the bane of my existence.

A typical morning might find me scrubbing the grout with the toothbrush I keep on the soap dish, or going at the floor with the scrub brush that stays inside the shower for that purpose. It's never ending.

And so I want my shower walls lined with seamless slabs of marble or granite. Sounds pricy, but I'm convinced that a careful shopper could actually realize some savings. Tiles can be terribly expensive, and the labor to install them even more so. Surely finding a good deal on a slab would ultimately mean construction savings. And if not, well, my time is worth something after all.

What a heavenly bathroom! 

The Art of Dale Chihuly

You've heard of Dale Chihuly, no doubt. His glass sculptures are world-renowned and his name is known even to people with only a passing interest in art. I won't spend time here talking about the man himself...others before me have done that much better than I could.

You owe it to yourself to see Chihuly's work in person if you ever get a chance. Photos simply don't do the work justice. Even the best photo loses the texture, the intricacy, the play of light. I've seen the Chihuly chandelier installed at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, and a small exhibit in Peoria, Illinois. But a friend of mine recently saw a much larger installation at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and captured some wonderful images I wanted to share. Enjoy!

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