While Atlanta isn’t my hometown, it unexpectedly and quickly has become a city that I love. Part of my satisfaction is attributed to my in-town lifestyle. I live a couple of miles from our downtown office and can walk to numerous parks, restaurants, shops, and other convenience retail in my neighborhood.

Atlanta, like most cities, industries, and citizens was not immune to the Great Recession. The larger question for some time now has been how does one emerge?

A real estate industry friend of mine sent me the following article by Aaron Renn about Atlanta and where it goes from here.

While I don’t disagree with the facts of the article, I, personally, am more …

Let me start by saying this is not your mother’s clean plate club. August Table is the brainchild of my friend Cherry Chaicharn who I met during my stint in Hong Kong. She has created a series of tabletop items and textiles to bring out the designer in all of us. This Chicago native and former transportation planner (who also admits to having a serious crush on San Francisco) is truly inspired by “place”. Her current “urban”ware series includes these great cities: San Francisco, Bangkok, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

My own obsession with the dishes led to this interview for HOK Life with Cherry. One of the most interesting things about …

Without question, Spring is my favorite time of year in Atlanta because that means it is festival season. For those of you that have never been to Atlanta, the city core is compromised of a series of unique and historic neighborhoods… each with their own brand of character and flare. Throughout the Spring, many of these neighborhoods host weekend long festivals for all to enjoy. This weekend just happens to be my very favorite one – the 39thannual Inman Park Festival! (and no not just because it happens to be in my neighborhood)

Inman Park was first developed in the late 1800s and has been coined “Atlanta’s First Suburb”. (Note …

That’s right… today is National Drink Wine Day! I’m sitting at home celebrating appropriately with a glass of one of my favorite red wines from Adams Bench Winery in Woodinville, Washington (outside Seattle).

Adams Bench is a fantastic winery started by Tim & Erica Blue that I discovered on vacation last summer when exploring Seattle and the San Juan Islands. While many of us are familiar with the popularity of California’s wine country, before taking this trip I had no idea that Washington ranked second nationally in premium wine production. What makes this spot great for grape growing is the rain shadows of the Olympic Mountains to the west of Puget Sound. This creates …

In honor of Valentine’s Day yesterday, I thought I should tell a little love story… one about an aspiring landscape architect, a busy auditor, and the two global corporations at the center of their marriage. This love story is in fact mine!

Designing projects across the globe and the opportunity to experience these places and cultures is one of my favorite job perks and was a big factor in my decision to join HOK. That being said, sometimes it takes you away from the people you love more than you like. My better half, Dan Chandler, also happens to work for a global company, KPMG, that has him exploring the planet, too.
It is funny that no matter how far apart we are… the …

Three weeks ago to the day I was on an airplane, headed back from my three month stint working with the Planning Group in Hong Kong. Upon returning it was already time for the holidays… which was great because it left me with time to reflect about what a great experience my time in Asia had been. In what will likely be my last post about my time there I thought I would create a Best Of / Favorites / Top Ten / Craziest / Worst List…

Favorite New Food: Szechuan Style Chinese (check out Shui Hu Tau or Chile Figaro)

Best Holiday Party: …

Megan Holder is my cohort.  That’s right. We have a gang. 

Okay, so it’s not quite a gang, but we do have long phone conversations and plans to take over the world. (Wow, guess I’m a little prone to exaggeration…) 

Megan is the life of every situation – her love for life just bubbles out without her even knowing.  She has been with the HOK Planning Group for five years.  She resides in the Atlanta office, where she is constantly being recruited for extra-curricular-work-activities, but is a Texas girl at heart. 

There are so many great things about Megan (including the fact that her traditionally-stoic work photo features some outrageously large earrings) but there’s one …

Dragon Garden was made famous by the 1974 James Bond movie “Man with the Golden Gun” starring Roger Moore. Located in what is now known as New Territories in Hong Kong, just sixty years ago it was a barren hill. Over the course of the next 20 years, Dr. Lee lu Cheung transformed it into an oasis and weekend villa for his family and friends. With multiple terraces, a villa, pool house, gardens, and other amenities, Dragon Garden was built in phases and implemented sustainable design practices long before green design was recognized. (Ginger beer bottles were used as planting bed borders.)

Upon his death, his …

Ah, the joy of an escalator commute!  No stop lights, no traffic, I don’t even have to wait in line to swipe my transit card. My commute to work in Hong Kong begins with walking a little less than a ¼ mile before hopping on the Central – Mid Levels Escalator.

The escalator is 2,600 ft (800m) long with a vertical climb of 440 ft (135m). According to Guinness World Records, the twenty escalators and three moving sidewalks combine to form the longest covered escalator system in the world. The escalator runs downhill until 10 am and then uphill until midnight. (An important fact if you …

Anyone who knows me knows that the saying “the way to the heart is through the stomach” certainly applies. Apparently Hong Kong got wind of this, and that is how our love affair began… with food. Since arriving here just over a month ago, the team has taken me to try a range of cuisines. So far I have devoured Middle Eastern, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Szechuan style Chinese, Japanese, Dim Sum, and even a good old fashioned hamburger… some of these for the first time.

My favorite meal was the Szechuan style Chinese because of the way the spices and food interacted to cause a sensational taste explosion. The wildest food I have tried was fried chicken feet. They …