Seen While Traveling

One of the reasons I love a traveling lifestyle is that I happen upon wonderful moments like this. Maybe Brian Froud and Andy Goldsworthy had a baby and made this magical artist.

Tiny Traveling Houses in Nature

I thought I'd take a minute to show you guys this little guy taking a break from his travels in the Delaware River.

Everyone needs a cute little turtle on a humdrum Wednesday, right?

Keeping Warm

Having lived in many tiny dwellings in which electric heaters just don't cut the mustard, I thought that I'd bring up some methods of keeping warm while sleeping.

As someone who can sleep through hurricanes, but not when it is cold, my personal magic words are: FEETY PAJAMAS!!!! I have a pair with the face of the Grinch on the toes.. 

This weird sleep thing can be found HERE.

Funding Life On The Road.

While looking up how much I could make if I sold on of my kidneys, I came across this article about how to pay one's bills while taking to the open road. It is about a girl named Jami Krause who bicycles around the country with her balloon sculpture business, called Balloon Biker.

Having gone to a very expensive college, I am constantly stressed about having enough to get by whilst having adventures, and starting my small business. There are times when it becomes limiting, especially to a fight or flight type person like me, who's biggest personal priority is having the freedom to go where I please. It is difficult to find an occupation in which I can travel, as well as make enough money to pay all of my exorbitant school loans and insurance bills.

I'm constantly searching for success stories about people who can function while traveling the country, especially people who are able to do it with a job that isn't predominantly online. Jami's story is particularly inspiring, because it is creative, and I can apply it to my own starving artist experience.

Let's talk about Vardos

As a traveling tiny  house enthusiast who also tends towards the eccentric side of life, it is no surprise that Vardos are my favorite classic structure. Haven't heard the word "vardo" before? Neither had I until I looked up "gypsy wagons", "gypsy caravans".  And then I was hooked. 

Vardo is the Romani word for "wooden cart" more specifically referring to those used on the British Isles. They were most popular in the late 1800's. Though many were seen before then, it was more common for tilted carts and tents to be used while traveling. Many vardos are still held onto and restored today, and sadly for me, a locationally challenged lady who would love to go see one up close, almost all of them are in Europe. 

Though with the rise of tiny house popularity, these lovely wagons are starting to be used all over the world again. People are building new versions, putting ornamentation that is more personal than traditional on them, and making incredible little homes that double as art pieces.

There are many different types of traditional vardos, dealing with architectural shapes, and wheel placement, and roof types, etc. but I'll save that for another post! 

Below are some of my favorite images I've found of wagons, traditional and untraditional. When possible, I'll credit the builders or owners, though some of these photos have been so tossed around tumblr and pinterest that no one can be quite sure anymore. If you are reading this, and know any info about these photos, let me know, and I'll write it in!

This photo really exhibits how much work went into the detail of such a structure.

This is one of my very favorite photos. I imagine a bustling street, with merchants and sales men, talking crowds into buying mystical objects and potions. 

I often vend and camp at festivals, and have saved this photo because it is a perfect example of how to combine vending space and living space. Awnings are wonderful! And it allows a vendor to sleep and spend off time near their shops, just in case one is vending in a new or more untrustworthy area.

Love the included porch!

Love the paintjob these two did on their lovely house

I like the clever use of trims on this one. Its a great alternative for those who don't like to do intricate painting work, but still want a decorative element.

Anyway, I have TONS more photos on this and other little house subject matter, so rather than post them all in one go, I'll save some for later!

Computers vs. Phones

So I am one of those people who loves tiny, sustainable living. I'm as low maintenance as a person can get, without forsaking certain needs. This can open a discussion about which needs are most important to hang onto when shifting into a lifestyle of having less.

For instance, For the past two weeks I was without my laptop computer. Though I have a smartphone, and one would think I'd be able to keep up with everything I normally do, I just didn't.

There are a few reasons for this.
1. All my photos and references are on my computer, and I still haven't synched my phone up to it. I didn't want to write blog posts or emails without being able to include everything.

2. Things tend to load a lot slower on my phone. I'm impatient, and only use my phone to look things up in desperate cases, and nothing really seemed desperate enough to merit me keeping up with it.

3. I'll be honest, I hate reading off of the damned tiny screen. (I will be doing many posts in the future about my immense love for books, and how it proposes a problem for a tiny house enthusiast. Especially when my perfect book storage scenario is equivalent to the scene in Disney's Beauty and the Beast when he gives her his ginormous library as a present. With ladders. So many books, that ladders are necessary... sigh...) So switching even to a Kindle or Nook is out of the question.

4. Many times, the mobile version of sites I usually frequent are still buggy. The Tumblr app won't even work on my phone. And I just don't have the energy to try out Pinterest, especially when it is a site geared towards visual stimulus. Instagram takes forever, and I refuse to get into Vine, because I already get annoyed when gifs on Tumblr slow everything down.

5. The biggest problem about not having my computer is that the cell signal and internet in my house is awful. To explain how inconvenient it is, I will include an aptly drawn diagram below. I also often travel to places that don't have internet, and when they do, everyone within a mile radius is busy illegally downloading every season of Mash or the Simpsons, or whatever. Which again, makes it very slow to load anything. At least when I have my computer, I can write everything out, gather all of my other media to be emailed or blogged, and even if the internet speed is slow, it is already saved on my computer.

My cell service is confined to my driveway, and my across-the-street neighbor's yard.

In the last few weeks my phone has lost vendor applications, blog posts, and email drafts as if it was its job. Even though there are ways to counteract all these gripes, I find that I just don't care enough about using my tiny phone as a computer to make the effort. I have a good friend who hasn't owned a computer since she got her iphone, and is completely happy with it. But personally, I'd rather just wait for my laptop to be returned.

So what do you think? I'd love to have a discussion on people's thoughts about comfort levels of different media tools, like tablets, smartphones, and computers.

While you think about that, I'll be in my neighbor's yard, saving this blog post as a draft 4 times.

My Tinyhouse Wanderlust.

My Tiny House obsession started a few years ago while I was reading a book about monsters in the bathtub. I got to a chapter on werewolves, and the book showed that they lived in gypsy wagons (which I promptly found out are called Vardos).  They were full of human clothes, and all the provisions to make a life on the run from angry townspeople as comfortable as possible.  It was one of those moments, where something clicked deep down, and afterwards I knew what kind of lifestyle and dwelling I was destined for.

Not that I am constantly on the run from angry townspeople, but I am definitely the type of person that becomes uneasy if I am in the same place for over a month and a half. There are a few ways I've dealt with this: holding jobs with a 2+ hour commute, freelancing all over the east coast, making excuses to travel for work.

Let me back up. I'm a painter/wearable artist/ fashion designer, and my first professional work out of college was in a costume studio, working on films, fashion shows, ballets, window displays, etc. And the big projects would often last around a month and a half to two months, and then we'd move on to a completely different project. The act of switching gears every couple months never left me.

It is said that people who have ever worked in film and theater are nomads, and though my professional path might not always be in that arena, I am constantly in the process of exploring my identity as an artist and a wanderer.

I'm starting this blog to appease my obsession with tiny houses, and to explore aspects of a traveling lifestyle. I find that many tiny house websites focus purely on tiny houses, and the challenges/benefits of living small, but the nomadic lifestyle struggles are only touched on briefly. I feel that in this age where the home office can fit in one's pocket, there will be a greater community of those who are less stressed on the move than at rest.

And luckily I have the Blogger App on my phone. So I can share my discoveries with you no matter where I am.