our awning works?!?!

Arnavick got really brave last weekend and decided to pull open our awning!

When we bought Rosy, her prior owner told us the canvas was trashed. We were expecting a rotted, nasty mess.

You guys, LOOK AT THIS AWNING RIGHT HERE!

It’s in pretty darn good shape compared to the image we had in mind. And the colors! The colors match our beloved exterior striping! Swoon!

So, there IS a little problem… well, two little problems.
One, there’s some gunk at the very top of the awning. We will have to give it a good washing to see whether it’s just gunk, or if the canvas is rotting. I’ve never wished so hard for something to be gunk.

Two, the thread came out of the seam that’s right by the door, causing a hole. I can sew really well, but I don’t know how to go about fixing this problem. I don’t want to take the awning off, and I am not confident in my sewing when I have to raise my hands over my head to do so. The great news is, the fabric there is intact.

I was thinking to possibly just gorilla glue the seam back together? Is that crazy?

cacti fabric!

I love an impromptu sister date! If ever there were a best sister award, mine would certainly receive it. We’re incredibly close, sometimes to the point of annoying our family with giggle fits and inside jokes. She’s the absolute greatest!

So when she threw out an invite to meet her at Target after work, I. WAS. THERE. I love catching up with her, and seeing my sweet nephew!

Target and I have a longstanding friendship (we see each other, like, all the time), which can get pricey if you’re not careful. I’ve even posted before about my trick for taking it easy on my wallet – my red sticker rule. If I focus my attention on clearance for non-essentials, my bank account doesn’t seem so anemic.

So when I saw that these sheets, these super cute cacti sheets, these sheets that I’ve commented on EVERY TIME I see them, were on clearance – I was all about it!

One clearance bedding cartwheel discount, one red card discount, and a $10 bill later, and I was on my way home with the cutest little cacti fabric you ever did see!

Sooo, I really want to use this for curtains in miss Rosy the Argosy! The sheets are white, so I’ll need to pair it with a thicker fabric backing for more privacy – wouldn’t a bright cactus green to match her exterior stripes be just perfect?! I’m trying to come up with a way that we can do two-layered curtains that we can use independently. As in, have the privacy curtain, but then also the option to use just the cacti curtain if we want some light to come thru in the daytime, but don’t want folks seeing in (like if I’m in my p-jams or something). More on that if/when I get it figured out.

It’ll be quite a while before I get working on curtains, we still have tons to do! But in all the hard demo work, it was nice to pick up something that’ll eventually be used for the decorating portion of the reno! I love the hard work of pulling things apart and rebuilding, but prettying her up will be so fun!

Peace, love, and camping, friends!

xo – J

the dreaded orange sticker

Our hearts sank. We were stopped in our tracks. The city gave Rosy the dreaded orange sticker, my friends.

We found out Saturday night that we had until 9/5 to move her, otherwise she’d be towed. We parked Rosy on a side street of our friend’s corner lot, and with about 100 ft of extension cords, have successfully worked on her in that spot thus far. The city had other thoughts about that.

We panicked for a little bit, but didn’t let the frenzy stop us from having our first brekkie in the camper (despite the reno mess, haha).

See, our original plan was to put her in Rob’s backyard, but it needed a little clearing first, and we just hadn’t gotten around to it. We were also unsure that she would fit through his gate.

Alas, the time had come to leave procrastination and reservation behind. Arnavick cleared the grass in the backyard, and he and Rob managed to get her back there with a few inches to spare. I’m told it took a 14-point turn! Haha!

I only wish I were there to see it, but I was at home doing homework – booooo. Hopefully Arnavick will tell the tale and post about it on here soon! Here she is in her new resting spot! We are so grateful to Rob and Nicole for opening their yard to us so we can get Rosy all fixed up!

rosy progress report / september 4

We’ve been hard at work pulling apart miss Rosy the Argosy, and I realized that I don’t really have an update here, just on social. Let’s take a look at the state of things shall we? Here is a progression of what we’ve done so far:

We’ve pulled out the following:

Five divider walls (1 wall-dining to kitchen, 2 walls-kitchen to bedroom, 2 walls-bedroom to bath)
Both twin beds
Upper cabinets above beds
Various brackets and metal framework

It took us two full days over two weekends to do all of that werk werk werk werk werk. In the Texas heat, y’all. At least we plug in the trailer and run the AC while we work.

Demo day on TV consists of folks smashing up cabinets with a sledge hammer, and pulling wreckage to the curb to be picked up by a disposal company. Demo day in real life, when you don’t have a Hollywood budget and have to be careful about the frame, walls, and windows of your camper, consists of hammering or drilling out rivets one by one, and removing hundreds of screws individually. We are replacing all of the particle board pieces with real wood, so we are being careful not to damage any pieces so that we can use them to measure. I REALLY don’t want to do the math it would take to measure out those Airstream curves.

We feel like we’re making pretty good progress! It’s hard doing our nine-to-fives and school all week when all we want to do is be working on Rosy! Gotta pay that reno bill, though, ya know?

Anyone have any reno stories to share? Post ’em in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

momentus moment alert!

Heyyyooo we just received the package for the very first item that we purchased for Rosy the Argosy! Exciting times!

Let me just tell you a crazy story. Friends, we purchased our trailer from Northeast Ohio. And we live in North Texas. We drove from North Texas to Northeast Ohio – 1,200 miles, not knowing for sure whether she was towable ALLLLLL the way home. We get there, and Rosy has a lot of surface rust on her tongue, but it’s only due to street salt from Ohio roads. After getting her all new tires, we were confident that she could make the drive.

And make it she did. ALLLLL the way home. ALLLLL the way to my parents driveway. The full 1,200 miles, and even through some sick thunderstorms and torrential rain in the Terrell, TX area. And four hours later, when we were trying to put a lock on it, the coupler broke. Broke! The metal. actually. broke! It blows my mind that we drove all that way without any issues, and it breaks in front of my parents house. After we unhitched (and ate dinner). Where she would be parked for at least a few days anyway. Wild.

I’m not here to discuss divinities, my beliefs, yours, or anyone else’s. But, WOW did we feel like that was a blessing! We are so grateful we made it here without anyone getting hurt. And now we’ve got a coupler repair kit that we can put on our gal! That is…. once we get the rust off of her tongue.

So… anyone want to share their best tips for painting our tongue once we get the rust off?

XO – J

rosy the argosy – the before tour

If we’re gonna chronicle our renovation progress on Rosy the Argosy, we must start with the obligatory “before” tour, yes? Follow me…

Rosy is a 1979 model Airstream Argosy. She is 27′ long. The thing about the Argosy models that’s different than other Airstreams is that their exterior is white, not the shiny silver most people think of when they hear “Airstream”. Ours is the first Argosy I’ve ever seen with green stripes on the outside. I’ve only ever seen orange or blue striping. We are going to do our darnedest to preserve that striping! If it doesn’t make it through the reno and a vigorous exterior cleaning, we’ll replace it with an exact replica. We love the retro look it gives her! She’s a little rusty on the outside in some spots, but we plan on brushing/sanding/sandblasting and re-painting the rough parts.

We have yet to open our awning, but we’re told that the canvas is trashed. Sad face. The good news is, we can buy a custom awning to match the green stripes. The bad news is, it’s an expensive fix. We’ll post on that when the time comes.

Shall we go inside?

(we are the bottom layout in above)

Rosy’s plumbing and electric work are intact – impressive for a gal her age! She’s outfitted with a seating area, fold out dining table, kitchen with 4-burner gas stove and oven, twin beds, a back bath with a commode, sink and bath tub, three storage closets, and overhead storage cabinets throughout.

We’re keeping the bath and kitchen where they’re located but replacing the breaking, aging plastic and particle board with new, high quality materials. The twin beds will be pulled and replaced with a murphy-style full or queen bed and storage cabinets. The dining and seating area will also remain in the same spot, but will be updated with newer, better materials and a style that is uniquely #teamjamavick.

Perhaps our favorite feature (and part of how we chose her name) is her rose colored glasses!

Her previous owner tinted the wrap-around windows in front! We love the ROSY shadows the tint casts in the dining “room”! It’s weird, and we’re keeping it.

We have TONS to do before getting Rosy live-in ready, and we’ll post the ups, downs, ins, and outs as we go!

Happy camping, everyone!

on airstreams and minimalism

I’ve dreamed of renovating and living in a vintage Airstream for years. A dream I frequently discussed with family, friends, and coworkers. I believe in putting stuff out there in the universe, you feel me? Put your best goods out there, and good comes back to you. Before Arnavick and I bought Rosy, I was often asked “why an Airstream?” or “how are you going to live in such a small space?”. Lets discuss…

Why Airstream? First off, there are so many super cool camper styles there on the market. Small ones that tow easily, big ones that get even bigger via expanding sides, ones you can drive, tall ones, short ones; we could list them all a la Bubba in Forrest Gump, but that would make this post way too wordy. There’s just something about that iconic shape and rich Americana history that rattle me deep down in my soul, in the best way. Like a big baked potato on wheels. They are so obviously different than other campers. Am I a brand snob? Maybe. But I know what I like, and Airstream is it. And I’m not the only one, just check out one of the hundreds of books, facebook pages, instagram accounts, and blogs dedicated to Airstreams. They’re kind of a big deal…

So how are we going to live in such a small space? Well, finding out is going to be fun! Our current apartment is 570 sf. Small, yes, but no camper. Let me level with you guys. I am in my early thirties. I’ve acquired a lot of stuff over the years. And sometimes, I have trouble getting rid of it (hi I’m Jamie and I am a hoarder). Having stuff I don’t use has become a bit of a burden on my soul. It’s wasteful and impractical for us to have a bunch of furniture, craft supplies, electronics, wares etc that are not being utilized. And, it’s just extra stuff that we have to clean! Shenanigans. Cleaning is probably #teamjamavick’s least favorite chore. I’m really looking forward to giving a bunch of stuff away and starting fresh. The philosophy of a minimalist lifestyle is calling to me, and I’m trying to pick up the phone.

Another side of it, is that we really love the idea of being able to pick up and go if the mood strikes. Arnavick’s family lives in Colorado, and we are excited to be able to go visit them without trying to find a pet friendly hotel or airbnb. We are driving our camper to Michigan next summer for our wedding. We want to see the Grand Canyon. Yellowstone. Mount Rushmore. Living in an Airstream means that we can go anywhere we want, and still have our creature comforts, and our creatures (dogs) with us. And we won’t need to prep the house for leaving, pack ours and our dogs stuff, and wonder for days whether we left a burner on, or the back door unlocked.

A question to all of our camper-living friends out there… what do you love most about living on the road?