On the Road

Got off to a slow, but safe, start for Palm Springs. Black ice everywhere and my husband's instinctive decision to have a wobbly wheel checked. Turns out our bearings on the back axle were very loose and our seals were shot...three hours later we hit the road courtesy of the local Les Schwab!

Headed up and over the Siskayous as I type this...send us good thoughts for clear roads

M

PS Departure Date: Six Wake-ups & Counting

Wrong...Westfield Salsa

Right...Westfield Julep

My stomach is in my throat, and my palms are sweating just typing this!!  We're down to fine-tuning now:  AS polished to a crazy mad shine, awning installed...altho it's the wrong fabric color (good times); new wheels don't fit old axle so we're taking them with us to Inland RV hoping that they'll fit when next axles get installed; and new rockstar doorbell installed!!!!

Great fun day last Friday when I tried on my awesome vintage dresses and they fit!!!  My friend Jeany is a magician!!

Humbling moment over the last few weeks...a custom-made Eames-inspired elephant for the AS given to me by a friend from work.  Any sneakerheads out there will clearly recognize the inspiration & know who is wonderful man is.  I'm truly honored by his kindness, and his friendship

Watching weather forecast daily, keeping fingers crossed for no snow in the pass and sunshine in PS!!!

Wish us luck!!!

Tick-whyisthatclocksoloud?-Tock

M

Things I Like.....Confessions of a Happy Glamper

THINGS I LIKE....Squishy Collapsible Things

Confessions of A Happy Glamper

One of the very first things I bought, oh a million years ago, for our AS were some collapsible mixing bowls & dog bowls at Camping World.  Not particularly pretty, but most definitely functional...someday when we could actually use our trailer!!

Over the next two years or so, someone clearly got the hint that this collapsible stuff didn’t need to look boring (yeah, fun colors!) AND introduced “squishy things” like the iSi prep & mixing bowls.  You bet I own them all - measuring spoons & cups, more bowls, colander - you name it!

One of my most favorite finds is an incredible, full-sized salad spinner....that’s collapsible!!  Made by Progressive, who makes lots of other trailer-friendly goodies, it has fantastic functionality and of course I was able to make room for it in the Heath AS (Doug didn’t really need that extra pair of shoes, right?)

You can find these items almost everywhere - I’ve had the most luck at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, occasionally Costco and our local Kitchen Kaboodle.  Prices range between $12 - $29....a small price to pay for bringing the creature comforts of home to your AS lifestyle!

Happy travels -

Mona

Consider Me Over the Edge

Seriously, after all of the craziness over the last few months why wouldn't I want to do something completely random? 

Time for yet another tattoo....and why wouldn't it be a couple of pink flamingos......seriously!!!

Not looking forward to the pain and itchy/scratchiness and have no idea where to place it (doesn't really matter, it will hurt anywhere) but, oh well, we'll figure that out tomorrow afternoon.

It all started with a trip to Maui with a dear friend...we both decided to "get inked" while there...and since between the two of us we owned a significant amount of all things Ralph Lauren, a Polo Pony on our ankles made sense, right?  

and then...a beautiful Sailor Jerry-inspired Swallow and Cherry Blossoms.....followed shortly by the stunning Koi and Lotus flower.  More than enough for most people right?  Uh Huh....key words being "most people".

Send me good thoughts tomorrow around 4:30 pst........I can hear the buzz now.....YIKES!!!

M

Just Call Me Sybil!!!

My long-time girlfriends would be shocked to know that yesterday, when normally I would have spent the day visiting my favorite shopping haunts, I actually rushed through my shopping so I could get back to the Airstream Polishing Project!!!

Who am I and what's happened to my inner shopper?  I'm going with the belief that she's still there...buried deep inside and surrounded by a ginormous layer of Nuvite!!  The fact that I'm walking around with beat-up-airplane-paint-stripper dissolved-permanently-gray-cuz-of-polish gray nails is a clear indication I'm not my normal self!!

Snapshot of my day:  Nordstrom - power shopping; mad dash to Cole Haan store - more power shopping; Home Depot - a different type of power shopping...power tools; and Napa Auto Parts (seriously) for 3M polishing parts 05717 & 05719 (really frightening that I know the part #s AND that the sales guys know me by name!!).  

AS Update:  Had a total of 10 people, all members of our WBCCI unit, six of whom drove a minimum of two hours each way....working on our trailer on Saturday.  The unconditional friendship they've shown is humbling, inspiring and really really incredible.  Should be able to finish first pass of entire AS by tomorrow night...just in time for the delivery of our new cyclo-polisher (which sounds like a monster from some crazy horror flick) and our Zip Dee awning (which should arrive at our local AS Dealer sometime this week).

My Next Career Move:  Become a Nuvite Distributor!!!

Officially at 30 days and counting....yikes!!!

M

It's All Coming Together

Wow....sometimes the smallest things turn out to be the most stressful!  You would think that polishing the AS (seriously, no one sells that Nuvite stuff in Oregon?) and making sure every little thing gets done before we head to Palm Springs on Feb 19th would be the most difficult things to do, right?

Uhhhh, no (don't get me wrong, those things I listed aren't easy by any stretch of the imagination)....try finding somewhere in Palm Springs to actually hook-up your Airstream...now that's what rocket ships are made of!!  I don't want to stay at a trailer park - who knows what you get with that adventure; the place that looked like it would fit the whole kitschy-era thing is booked through April and the place they referred me to had not-so-good-reviews....but wait, it gets even better!!!

One lovely location required that one of us had to be at least 55 and everyone else (except for small children) had to be at least 40....Strike One & Two; the second place had no age limit on the humans but required that the trailer be no more than 11 years old...Strike Three; redeeming moment, they sent me to Emerald Desert RV Park click here who also had a trailer age limitation....UNLESS it was beautifully maintained - at which point I pulled the old "we're one of 18 trailers on exhibit during Modernism Week card"  and, just like that, we've got a place to stay until we move to the Riveria.  

Phew!!!  I've got my eye on the third pool chair from the left, gonna need it after this self-induced craziness!!

M

Vanilla Ice Ice Baby....

Here I go again....first it was the "Crazy Christmas Target Lady" just cuz I could see myself in every one of the commercials she made and now I've decided that Vanilla Ice is fairly rockstar!


Seriously, his home renovation project "Vanilla Ice Project", is pretty good.....he definitely knows his stuff from landscaping to irrigation to design....love it!!


Trailer progress moving ahead well:  ordered the Zip Dee awning (should be here in about 10 days); bought a scooter (not a Vespa but a darling 125 cc Yamaha Vino); have arranged to have new axles installed on our way down to PS; hip Bertoia chairs should be here any day and clear coat removal in preparation for Polishing Posse this coming Saturday right on schedule!!  A little concerned about the electrical (inverter, Long Long Trailer doorbell (but much much cooler)) and interior tweaks but I've got to believe that hubby will make sure those happen.


Oh...and most importantly, I need to get going on aving those fabulous vintage dresses (my favorites are the sparkly brocade hipster ones) altered so I can have plenty of options during the cocktail party and open house(s) during Modernism Week.


Good times.....
M