Friday, June 16, 2017

New Jersey Tiny House Festival



It has definitely been a while since I've written! I've been traveling and super busy, and I have lots of fun things on the horizon that I want to share!

I'm breaking my bloggy hiatus to announce that there will be a tiny house festival near me this weekend! I'm so excited to be able to attend the NJ Tiny House Festival at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. Presented by United Tiny House, the festival promises workshops, and Guest Speakers, including my personal favorite patron saint of tiny dwellings, Deek Diedricksen. Hopefully I can get my battered copy of "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks" signed by him. A friend of mine is super excited about a composting toilet workshop that they will be attending.

As if I wasn't excited enough about this event, on my way to work this morning, I saw a tiny house on the road, on the way to the fair!

Hope to see you there!

Friday, August 8, 2014

Most Vital Vacation Ingredient!

On the way home from a weekend trip, a friend and I we're listening to a local radio station. They were doing a contest to see who could guess what (according to some survey) was the most important thing to bring on vacation. The survey was said to have interviewed only women. We must have called in at least 20 times, guessing everything we could think of. "Credit cards!", "Food", "Razors!", "Medication!", "Phone Chargers!", and many others. None of them were right. We got home and still waited in the car to hear the answer since we were frustratingly stumped. After another 15 minutes, we finally found out that the answer was "pajamas". This had us mystified, since neither of us thinks that pajamas is nearly as important as the other things we guessed, neither of us really even wear pajamas, especially on vacation.

Even though I started this as a blog that would focus on the tiny house movement, I have been traveling a ton, and still have had no time to build my tiny house. I stay all over: hotels, motels, friends' houses, tents, my car, etc. So I wanted to start a list of some random things that I find important to bring with me on my travels.

I want this to be an ongoing list that can grow and grow, the more I learn about what my traveling needs are, and since I most likely won't think of everything for this post. At the moment I am in a very cheap motel, so some of this list may seem geared toward that.

1. Medication and Vitamins: I take a lot of vitamins, since my eating habits aren't always that great, especially on the road. I pack mine in one of those Monday-Friday dividers that my grandmother used to use, so I don't have to bring countless jars with me.

2. Toiletry bag: even if I only have the clothes on my back, if I have my toiletry bag, I know I can be clean! I even have little dish soaps and laundry detergent in there. Much of it is from leftover complimentary hotel soaps and shampoos.

3. Chargers. Duh. And don't forget your phone either.

4. Food and refillable drink bottles: I travel to perform occasionally, and when I do, I refill my water bottle 2-3 times an hour. (I'm a gymnast at times and a designer/show producer at others) imagine if I had to buy all those water bottles. And imagine the waste left behind if I just threw away each one. Check with the locals about the tap water first, but if it's good, use a refillable bottle.

5. A few Drain plugs: Sometimes I perform many hours of gymnastics and/or have many hours on my feet before returning to a rented room of some kind. Sometimes the fixtures don't work, and I still really want my hot bath! Bleach might be a good idea too, especially if it's a motel with any level of sketchiness.

6. My own towels: This one I just thought about today. First off, if you are a germaphobe, bringing your own towels is a no brainer. I personally am not, however, motel/hotel towels can tend to be super linty. I don't often know the space where I will be performing very well beforehand, and some venues have blacklights. White lint under even the tiniest blacklight can look extremely silly.

7. Umbrella! Another duh. Couldn't hurt to pack a poncho in one of those very compact cases either.

8. Clothes that oppose the weather: going to the beach? Pack a sweatshirt. I've had so many rainy freezing beach days! Ski Lodge? T-shirt. Those fireplaces get hot.

9. Sunscreen.

That's it for now, I think. I'll add to this list again when I think of more things. For now, have a photo of my family dog adventuring through unknown dandelion fields!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Busy busy busy!

I have been all over the place for the past few months! Due to fashion week and an innumerable amount of freelance jobs, sleep has been a rarity for me, as well as blogging, and staying in one state for longer than 2 days. Sometimes, I'm in 3 states in one day for work! Thank goodness NY, NJ, CT, and PA are so close!

This is pretty much a placeholder post until I have more substantial things to write about, but hopefully interesting things are in the works! My fiancé and I plan on starting our tiny house this summer, and have been talking about starting a side business that focuses on space efficient home furnishings with multiple uses. I will also be experimenting with new job options for myself to see what types of things are available to people with an up-in-the-air traveling lifestyle like I am used to.

For now here are some photos I've taken of various commutes and job sites I have had to travel to in the past few months, while living out of my backpack!













Monday, November 25, 2013

Vardo Sighting

I caught a glimpse of this sweet little vardo when traveling to visit friends at the Louisiana Renaissance Faire. I love the painted details!





Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Which Car Should Pull My Tiny House?

Photo from tinyhouselover

Since my van died a couple months ago, I am in the predicament of having to choose what my next car should be. Should I go for a short term plan, of getting a tiny gas efficient sedan to save on fuel costs? Or do I want to establish a more long term plan of getting something a little bit more powerful for when I have to haul my studio/house/workspace on wheels?

Though I have a class B commercial driver's license,  I still have only a cave-man's knowledge of cars and their individual capabilities. I am by no means a mechanic, and therefore the most advanced knowledge I have concerning this subject matter is that a Jetta most likely not the best choice to haul a 30 foot flatbed with a house built on it.

Since I am an artist, and wish to travel with my studio/shopfront on a fairly regular basis, I feel I need to do more research than those that only haul trailers once a year for vacation, or as a one time house-moving-excursion.

So, dear readers, I would like to introduce you to TOWCAR.INFO. This site is extremely helpful, and allows one to type in all the specs of both their car, and any recent trailer that is on the market, and get an educated overview about the safety, speeds, and feasibility of taking it on the open road. This is really going to help me research and figure out which car to get for my tinyhouse pulling endeavors.

Now, my tiny house is going to be a home built one that I build on a flatbed trailer, (probably around 12-16 feet) but I can always find a caravan that has a similar size and shape, and use that to compare different car models.

To finish this post out, if anyone has any advice for me or other house-hauling newbies, feel free to write it in the comments below!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Traveling Sushi Bar

My fiancé is a permanent traveler: he works all over the country at renaissance fairs. Most fairs last roughly 2 months, so every 2 months he has to pack all his belongings, his tent, and all the equipment he works with, and move to the next job.

The people who work these fairs all year round, moving from show to show call themselves "road rennies" and have a great sense of camaraderie, and a love for the freedom this lifestyle allows.

As I become more immersed in this lifestyle, and observe more fairs from an insider's viewpoint, I get to take part in some of the things that go on in the campgrounds that are reserved for the workers.

Renaissance fairs take place on weekends, and Monday is the equivalent of a Saturday morning to those with weekday jobs. Each Monday, or "Unday", everyone gets together for the Bizarre Bazaar: a flea market reserved only for the people living on the grounds (or in my case, their loved ones). There is always one group of people who sells breakfast and coffee, and lots of people selling things to each other, whether they are handmade items such as jewelry or clothing, or things they are getting rid of, like any other flea market. It is a great occasion for people to relax, and have a good time hanging out with each other.

I have been to many of these bazaars and breakfast/brunch has always been the main event. This time, however, I was happily surprised that the people cooking announced that they would start taking sushi orders, just before noon.

I love Sushi, and I think it was amazing that even in a campsite surrounded by woods in rural Ohio, I could have amazing food made by really cool people. The pictures below show our friends Molly and Shannon at the sushi bar, and some of the delicious things they offered.









Thursday, September 26, 2013

Temptation

Its just sitting there... Perfect... For sale... But I didn't even ask how much it is being sold for because I guess I need a car first.. But I should ask anyway...

Oh the internal battles of the tiny mobile home obsessed!