HEARD IT HERE FIRST

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I discovered on January 10, 2011 at approximately 2:30pm that I am one of the newest boarded members of the veterinary medical profession!!

The happy dancing has officially commenced!

OVERDUE

Cortez is officially at home and resting comfortably in our gravel driveway, transforming our lot into something more like a junkyard. What with Adam's skeletal Honda, complete with smashed in rear windshield and rotting ropes holding up not only the front but also the rear bumper and my jalopy that lately has been requiring at least 10 attempts to start...the new Winnie barely leaves enough room for the garage! With bated breath we wait for the call from the property manager demanding we clean up our white trash-esque act. Until then I've been dreaming up design ideas for our living room. Yes, even with barely 150sq ft of living space I've managed to partition out specific areas in order to designate the living room, the studio, the kitchen, the dining area and the bedroom!

I really like the fabric of this couch!

Because we're attempting to rennovate Cortez as economically and low-impact as possible, we're trying to use as much of the original interior as we can. Cortez came with 5 snazzy leopard print cushions covering a bench seat across from the kitchen and a couch in the back. Magically we discovered that when arranged together all of the cushions can create one moderately comfy couch with the potential to form a full size bed. I think this fabric will be a perfect option. Enough color that it's not bland, light enough that we don't feel like our sardine can is actually a sardine can and dark enough that the inevitable fur coat our dog's will leave behind will stay hidden.

Add some throw pillows, and this amazing chair I'm diggin' from anthropologie! It'll work nicely in the corner.

And some necessary organization and storage, compliments of Ikea.




A few little extras to pull it all together...

Living Room...Done!

A BIT OF AN UPDATE

So we've been putting off talking about the "big trip." And I don't really know why...likely it is because it became something neither of us really expected. Some may call it naïveté, and perhaps it is. For almost the last two weeks Cortez has been stuck in Butler Missouri. And in hindsight it's really for no good reason. We had a full tank of gas, we could have made it home if we knew better. But we didn't. To be honest we know NOTHING about recreational vehicles. We are ignoramuses. And because of this we are plagued with a retro Winnebago stuck at Don's Auto Service 200 miles away. The plan...fix the utter mess of wiring under the front dash, windshield wiper motor and extreme back and forth steering wheel movement that causes me to be petrified of the co-pilot's seat while Cortez is in motion.

The perfect vintage Winnebago we thought we were getting was not to be. What we have is someting that is in dire need of repair and rehabilitation. We've come to accept that we have no other choice but to be up to the challenge. We'll work with what we've got. And what we've got is something that will force us to grow, become adaptable and alter our expectations. The ultimate 'playout' of this vintage Winnebago experience didn't go as expected and we're hoping in the end it will be a better experience than we could have hoped for!

Cortez the Killer's got potential and we're Ok with that!

If I'm being cryptic, I'm sorry. In short we made it 80 miles away from  Joplin Missouri believing we were operating a vehicle that lacked a primary gas tank. Knowing nothing about Winnebagos we thought we were running on an axillary tank which meant we were limited to 50-70 miles at a time. After about 90 miles we realized we were running on dreams and wishes and camped out at the Wal-mart in Butler Missouri. After many phone calls, confusion and lots of frustration we were shit out of luck. We had a 38 year old RV on our hands that was not in the shape to be making a 260 mile excursion. We checked Cortez into Ron's rehabilitation center as per the ladies recommendation at Butler's local drive thru liquor store and ventured back to Ames in Green Greta the Camry. We intend on picking Cortez up this weekend, hopefully as good as new. We promise to keep you updated, because this is surely an adventure both us and you should have the pleasure of enjoying!!

Love,

A & C

Black Friday: A Market Day Success

So 6 months after being approached by Cat Rocketship (the organizer of Market Day in Des Moines, IA), Chelsea and I took our first stab at running a booth during Black Friday.  We decided to stick with my records and save Chelsea's vintage goodness for another Market Day.

Hairy Vinyl was well represented on the second floor of the Papa John's Center in Des Moines, IA.

All of my 6 or 7 Beatles records sold.

Here's a shot of my neighboring booths to the left as they set up shop.  Wish we had a shot of this hallway during the event, but we were too busy making money and talking to some amazing people.

Chelsea and I can't wait until next Market Day season, this May.

BRINGIN' HOME THE 'BAGO!

So we leave to go pick up the 'bago TONIGHT! We have to drive almost to Arkansas, 6 hours away. I think if we weren't so excited we might actually realize how loooong a drive that's gonna be. Shockingly, we don't really know what kind of Winnebago we own and although I've ruthlessly been scouring the internet to find out, I've come up empty...until this morning! This morning I stumbled upon GOLD...The original advertisements for all of the Winnies' made in 1972. I think I've narrowed our 'bago down to either the Chieftain D-27C or the Chieftain D-27CL. What's the difference you may ask? A whopping three extra inches in the bedroom. But what's really important is that it turns out we might have a 27 footer on our hands instead of the 24 footer we'd originally thought! And that my friends...is alright with me!

Here's what I've spent my whole morning looking at when I should have been studying for Boards.

They compared life in a Winnebago to 'fine and gracious living.' I have no idea how Southern belles and slavery mansions play into that.

Can I just say I love the color scheme (no, not really). Winnie seekers back then could choose between the luscious color palate of Mesa Orange, Siesta Gold or Moss Green. I'm pretty sure we scored Mesa Orange. I'm almost afraid of what we're going to see when we open the trailer door. On the upside, my research has uncovered that we do indeed have a SEPARATE shower; rather than the shower, toilet, sink combo crammed into the same room creating a situation where peeing in the shower becomes totally unavoidable!

The D-27C...soooo excited! Have a glorious weekend!