How I Spent My Totally Awesome Weekend

So, you know those days when it’s late Sunday night, and you realize that you totally wasted your free time over the weekend? Like, no projects, no friends, no special meals, no resting, no reading…just cataloged hours down the internet rabbit hole, maybe some laundry, and justa buncha driving?

Then, you know those other weekends, when it’s Monday morning, and you’re like, “Wow. What a full and awesome couple of days that was.”

I had one of those this week.

Okay, well, to be fair, this was an “extended” four-day weekend for me. (No posts on Thursday and Friday. Did you notice?) For my birthday gift, my mom organized a trip to Columbus, IN, which is a small town of 40,000 people that has, like, sixty major examples of modern architecture. All the churches, elementary schools, public buildings, even the jail are contemporarily designed works of art. Six of the buildings are national historic landmarks. The library was designed by I.M. Pei, the church across the street by Eliel Saarinen, and the local bank branch by Eero Saarinen.The coolest part, for me, was the North Christian Church, above, by Eero Saarninen in 1964. Here’s what it looks like on the inside:

Awesome, right? We also visited the recently open-to-the-public Miller house, also by Saarinen, designed for the town’s patriarch, J. Irwin Miller. All the interiors were done by Alexander Girard, and the home features the first-ever-recorded conversation pit.

We also traveled an hour or so north to check out the contemporary floor of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and saw cool stuff like this:

On the way back, I stopped into Kentucky to get some not-available-in-Ohio spirits such as Calvados and Mezcal. Got home Friday night in time for a lovely (albeit hot) movie-in-the-park.

Saturday was a major green grocery trip (which is actually a great way to spend a Saturday for me, especially during farmer’s market season), a bit of crafting, and then a bike ride to the Columbus Jazz and Rib Fest, which is on the river and full of barbecue. We sampled from four different teams. No parking drama since we rode our bikes, no admission charge, and pretty solid food. Can’t beat that.

Sunday morning was an awesome free concert, and then dinner with friends, hosted by the editor of a major food blog, so you know it was tasty. 

Yeah, it was hot, but who cares when you’re having this much fun?

What did you do? Please share in the comments.