October 2016

10 Posts Back Home
Showing all posts made in the month of October 2016.

Open House Chicago 2016 Series – Part 3

The next stop on the Open House Chicago was the Nineteenth Century Club House and Oak Park Art League. Nineteenth Century Club House in Oak Park, IL This clubhouse was established by a group of women who believed that education, charitable activities, and civic involvement were an important elements to a prosperous community. (Girl power!) This neoclassical structure was built in 1928 and designed by James L. Fyfe who had ties to the club through his wife and mother-in-law. The clubhouse is still used to support educational and cultural endeavors. At the time of my visit there was a dance class going on, which was fun to watch! Oak Park Art League in Oak Park, IL The Oak Park Art League was founded after World War I and this structure was designed in 1902 by Eben Ezra Roberts. (I like how colorful and fun this building’s exterior is) It was a place for artist collaboration…

Open House Chicago 2016 Series – Part 2

Saint Edmund Catholic Parish in Oak Park, Chicago Another site on the Open House Chicago 2016 was the Saint Edmund Catholic Parish. It is the first Catholic Parish in Oak Park, IL and was founded by Archbishop James Quigley in 1907. It is a 14th Century English Gothic style church which was designed by Henry Schlacks and dedicated in 1910. For a more detailed history, you can click here. It is one of those places which one has to see in person because the photographs do not do justice. The details of the ceiling is impeccable. It all looks like tiles, but if you got closer to it, you would see that it’s actually little squares of paint that are made to imitate tiles, so brilliant! I could not get enough of it but we had to move on if we wanted to see more sites on the tour!

Open House Chicago 2016 Series – Part 1

Last weekend there was something called the Open House Chicago which I participated in and it was AMAZING! Basically what it is, is that the city of Chicago opens some beautiful architectural land marks to the public for FREE! Everything about this event was screaming my name. Although I’m not a practicing interior designer, I’ve always had a love for beautiful architecture and well designed spaces. Chicago has so much architectural history that I could not pass up this opportunity. While studying interior design in school, one of the big names that came up often was Frank Lloyd Wright who is from Chicago! His home and studio was on this list of places to see too! He essentially is the one who started the Prairie Style Architecture which is the style of the houses in Oak Park, the area that I chose to visit. In this post I will show you…

Six Hours in Washington D.C.

Remember when I was telling you about a friend of mine who was visiting from the UK this summer and I took her around? Well, another place that we went to was Washington D.C. And remember when I told you we were on a time crunch? We saw D.C. in approximately six hours! Also it was the day that there was a heat wave warning…so it was quite a day! We took the metro from the Glenmont Metro Station to the Metro Center Station which was the closest to the White House, our first stop! 1. White House We could only see this from far away. There was another fence in front of that black fence which you can’t see in this photograph that we had to stand behind. I remember being able to go right up to that black fence a few years ago. I guess there’s extra security…

Easy DIY Glitter Vases

Today I will be showing you the easiest way to make glamorous vases. You can use these as beautiful centerpieces for any occasion or just as a fun touch to any side table at home. I made them for a party we did for my 5 year old niece because she wanted glittery things on the dinner tables. They were so easy to make that she helped me make them too! What You Need: 1. Glitter 2. Cans (I saved the cans I used from the chili I made last week) 3. Mod Podge 4. Foam Brush 5. Deep Bowl 6. Paper Bowl What You Do: 1. Take the paper labels off. 2. Rinse and dry cans thoroughly. 3. Squeeze out some mod podge in a paper bowl. 4. Pour glitter into the deep bowl. 5. Use the foam brush to cover the bottoms of the cans with the glue. A nice even…

The Best Chili You’ve Ever Had!

Updated 2-17-22 Today I’m going to be sharing one of my favorite recipes ever, chili! For me, eating chili is probably the best part of winter. I grew up eating it only at my aunt’s house (my mom mostly made Pakistani food at home) which was one of the few non-Pakistani dishes I enjoyed back then. As I’ve grown into an adult (I think), and have started cooking more and more, I never really wanted to learn how to make this dish only because I was scared I couldn’t make it as good as I remember tasting it. Last year, I decided that was a stupid reason not to make something so I started looking up recipes. I found one that seemed to be a good base to start on allrecipes.com. If you click here you’ll see the original. However, here is my version: ***updated 1/1/2017***  I changed the ground beef and chili powder measurements as I…

Navigate