Fresh Beginnings :)

December 31, 2015December 31, 2015 / erin / Leave a comment

COLD cold COLD here in Colorado! It doesn’t seem to get warm, and everyone is saying that this weather is unusual for this time of year here.

I really don’t mind at all. I Bitch and complain enough about it probably, but I still don’t mind that much. So many memories of cold winters in Illinois come to the forefront on my mind and attached is just fun in the cold with friends and family. Can’t beat that! 🙂

The Midwest didn’t have a whole lot where winter sports were concerned due to all of the flatness, but there was a little hill in town we would always go sledding at. If you didn’t get there right with the fresh snow, you would be dealing with mud/ice because the ENTIRE town would come out to enjoy the same small man made hill. But it was still just as fun!

I’ve never tried downhill skiing before, and I’ve only dabbed with a snowboard in the flat lands once, so …. doesn’t count for much. Probably would try it one day, but, then again…

I’d rather go camping.

So WEIRD to think it’s New Years eve, but it is. 2016 comes in and its a fresh start, fresh page, whatever corny metaphor you would like to slip in here 😉 This year was a up and down one for me.. I lost 2 of my grandparents, turned 25, had my wedding ceremony, moved twice, and so much in between.

I wouldn’t change a thing!

For myself, I just wish for more/continued peace, love, joy, and happiness in my life in the new year, and for you and yours, too.

OH! and patience. 🙂 Always could use more of that.

Cold. ish.

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 / erin / Leave a comment

The weather in Colorado fluctuates on a DAILY basis. I’ve never lived somewhere where the weather is so dramatic. I like it.

So we are so very lucky to be staying on the property of someone we know, and oftentimes in the morning we will go into the house and share breakfast and coffee. One of the homeowners is a dog named Katie. I love her.

Anywho, in the mornings she likes to stand on the table, and wait for us (me) to come out of the trailer and come inside. The other morning Ben sent me this picture of her waiting for me when I was just a little behind him.

Katie is a hairless terrier (I think) and she has SO much personality AND she adores me. Us girls have to stick together 😉 She REALLY makes me want to go rescue a dog, but that will all come in due time. There is an order to the plans for the trailer and a reason for it. BUT I DON’T LIKE WAITING.

That’s what’s wrong with everything. The need for instant gratification. Okay at least I struggle with that if no one else.

— In other news, I was actually able to go to work with Ben the other day. This time not on the trailer but rather thru his actual employer. They needed extra hands and mine were free 🙂 It was a lot of fun, VERY tiring, and very educating.

I’ve worked with Ben a lot, have learned a lot about foam, even worked for a company that also uses spray polyurethane foam, but actually working hands on gave me a much better understanding for it.

I have a picture but not handy SO I will post a picture of my new meditation stool I found at the thrift store the other day! I included a grande coffee from Starbucks for size. Pretty excited about this find!

Sorry I have been MIA as of late, just a lot going on and looking for a minute to grab!

Colorado the Beautiful *

October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 / erin / Leave a comment

I crave fall like some people crave chocolate. Cold crispy days that leave the tip of your nose red, running and just a little numb; when your cheeks are rosy and pink, a winter jacket is just too much but one layer isn’t quite enough.

I crave these days. The past few days here in CO has been what I’ve been dreaming of since last fall closed down for the winter to move in. I don’t even mind the rain… I am half convinced I could live in a place like Seattle with constant rain and I wouldn’t get depressed, but I don’t have any plans to move there anytime soon so we can’t know for sure yet. But anyways, the last two days have been steady with a light fall of rain, not to windy, not to heavy, fading in and out just enough so Ben couldn’t work and we could get out and explore CO some!

Our mission Tuesday was to head blindly into the Rockies for the day and just figure it out, as we often do when we do some “Sunday driving”. We spent a few hours on back roads winding and twisting and since it was bad weather we couldn’t see beyond the base of the hills and mountains to about half way up… still didn’t take away any of the magic. We came across some signs for a trail head about an hour and a half into the drive so we pulled off and went for a 3.4 mile hike. It was gorgeous and I was BEYOND ecstatic to be back in the mountains again. I promise my soul belongs in the mountains, it just does. So anywho, it was an awesome chilly day with a great hike, the rain didn’t bother us at all and the hike followed a river the whole time so that was pretty cool.

This was a pretty cool church we came across in the mountains not much else around but it…

On Wednesday we decided to head down to explore other parts of CO, so we headed southwest to the Red Rocks Amphitheater. That hike ended up being about 2 miles and was very cool! I didn’t realize (I don’t know where I’ve been) that CO has cacti and had some desert to it, the Red Rocks Amphitheater was full of red rocks obviously :p but it was really big smooth rock formations, and the amphitheater is almost built into the rocks. As you’re hiking along the trails you wouldn’t necessarily notice that there is an amphitheater there if it wasn’t for the signs, random parking lots and enormously big ramp to walk to get to the top.

From the top of the amphitheater, awesome views!

We could’ve used those two days “off” to work some more on the trailer, but we’ve been here for a couple weeks now and I’ve been just itching to get out and go! BUT, I have made some improvements on the trailer since then! I was able to find some individual stack-able drawers for our clothes! YAY! When I went to buy them, I went right back to the clearance spot where they were, and there was only 1 left! I was so sad, buuuut then I turned around and they just re-arranged the place J SO I got all 5 and an extra collapsible box so we have some more organization in our lives!

The white stack-able drawers are what I found to be useful to hold our clothes 🙂

My summer wardrobe (the little of it that exists) is slowly being cycled out and my fall and winter clothes are being brought into the trailer. Like I said… I crave this season so I am STOKED! We’ve had some cold nights so we’ve moved the electrical heater into the trailer. It looks like fan and it adjusts on and off with the temperature in the trailer which is very nice for those times we leave it on all night. As you can imagine it doesn’t take much to heat a small space like that, so that is an excellent feature… it does heat up like a sauna rather quickly. Of course that’s wouldn’t always be a bad thing as saunas are basically amazing, but not for sleeping. But EVEN BETTER the heater fan we use is a Vornado VH2 and we got it at a garage sale for $5. Ben insisted that it would be useful, and it has proved to be so far! WIN!

I feel like we are gaining some more order and footing in our lives. It’s a hard thing, change. I’ve said it once and I will say it a thousand times! BUT, it feels oH! So good when things start to chill out and the new routines start to feel “normal” again. (I hate that word, normal. It’s not a real thing.) But for lack of a better… “normal” is nice sometimes.

I picked the right Starbucks to sit at this beautiful afternoon. I’ve been writing this post for a few days, but the weather has been too awesome to stop and finish it. Now that I do, the sky is very clear, and I have a nice widow seat facing the snow peaked mountains in all of their glory, and my mint tea which is bomb.

The mountains are beautiful today, I may have to go explore some more 🙂

**fyi. I started this post on a Thursday and finished it on a Sunday. So if it was confusing that is why 😉

The move.

September 19, 2015September 19, 2015 / erin / Leave a comment

It took us 4 days to make it from Washington to Colorado. Day 1 and day 4 consisted of about 3 1/2 hours each, the middle two days were a healthy day of driving. Everything we owned managed to fit into my Honda Crosstour, his eighty something Nissan Pickup truck, and the trailer that we had packed with only the things we were keeping in it. (I still feel like it’s entirely to much stuff but I’ll give myself some time and an adjustment period.)

The truck made it. Took the weight of the load like a champ — We were prepared to rent a truck halfway down but we were pleasantly surprised! 🙂 I would say average speed for us was about 60 mph… Low as 35 uphill/over a mountain pass.

Really tho — Ben was the real MVP. He drove 4 days in that thing with vinyl seating, no A/C, heat on so it wouldn’t overheat, and it was 90 degrees the whole way. I don’t think I would’ve volunteered to drive it, but I don’t really have a manual down to a smooth process, so I didn’t have to put that question to the test!

So day one (a Thursday), we drove to my in-laws and stayed the night there. We slept for the first time in the thing and let me tell you, it was not too shabby my friends… If you look at face value it seems very shabby, but look at the potential and it’s a whole new ball game. It’s like a grown up fort.

What I discovered immediately was it wasn’t stuffy without a window like I thought it would be. The vent on the top almost serves as a cool fan. (Almost) The wind funnels down the vent and the trailer is constantly fed with new fresh air. Not to say that it doesn’t get pretty warm in here cause it sure does! We purchased a fan to help with that issue and are trying this one out. We plan to get a little A/C unit, but since summer is coming to a close we can give that decision more time and thought… and now with insulation it might do just fine. 🙂 We also found a little floor heater fan from a yard sale that will do the job on the colder nights, of course paired with some insulation — I digress. So it’s okay to sleep in and be in without a window… For now, but there will be windows put in… I’ll get into that more later.

The one thing I’m not liking so much anymore is the rush, and the need to be somewhere right away etc. So Friday morning we took our time getting up (as we did each morning) saying goodbye, and just left as the time came. We didn’t really pull out of Spokane until 1 PM PT. We had some last ends to tie up (break lights) and cool gadgets to buy for the adventure 🙂 We drove until about Butte, MT. and stopped at an OHV recreation area out in the middle of nowhere and tested out night number two in the trailer. (We are still in the process of naming it).

Where we stayed night 2.

It was so silent and in the middle of what seemed nowhere, probably was, and the stars were beyond stunning. I feel like I’ve never seen the Milky Way so big and bright before… or at least it’s been a VERY long time. We have a converter plug, and an extension cord so we were able to run the lights and electric in the trailer, so it really was quite the set up.

Saturday morning silently came without any issues or surprises and we slowly got going yet again. We pulled up to this park in Wyoming called Natural Bridge, a public campground, that night when it was time to call it. We had been driving since about 9AM or so that day and it was about 7:30PM when we pulled in, and we picked the wrong night and time to come apparently. We had wanted to stay at this camp the last time we drove through, however it was booked full (there’s only about 5 campsites). It’s supposed to be a cool historic natural landmark and we wanted to check it out! When we got there this time there was no one there to hog the campsites — but there was quite the drama between the one other set of campers and the managers. “Sick of dealing with people” and not wanting to hear that we didn’t know the others (case of bad timing I guess) they rudely kicked us out of the campground. SO as exhausted and hungry as we were, we packed up again in the middle of nowhere headed to find SOMEWHERE to stay the night. THANKFULLY KOA has overnight check in so we were able to find a place and bed down for a few hours, and have a fresh shower.

Somewhere on the drive…

Oh the 3rd night was in Douglas, WY… so we only had about 4 hours to drive on Sunday. So when morning came, we slid out of there like molasses and arrived Sunday afternoon and didn’t do a damn thing when we got to our destination.

And it never felt so good.

Ben during one of our many stops along the way

Working day — 1.

September 17, 2015 / erin / 5 Comments

One of the first major things that had to get done on the trailer was insulation, we just needed the time to do it. It worked out rather nicely that spray foam happens to be Ben’s profession so gaining access to it was rather easy and convenient, not to mention a major cost saver, and clearly the best option for the job.

So yesterday started with hauling everything out of the trailer, and we started with the ramp door. Screw by screw we took it apart and moved onto the walls and interior, we weren’t quite sure if we would end up spraying that day but were prepared to sleep in the trailer stripped if needed. This project will continue to progress as time and money allows, all the while having it for our permanent living quarters, so my standards have lowered drastically.

The ramp door came apart rather easily… I couldn’t imagine before we dove in how it would work etc when Ben would explain what we would need to do. But a few You Tube videos and 5 minutes in I had no problem working my way around that trailer.

This is really my first major project of anything construction related, so I’m asking Ben all the why’s, how’s, and why comes constantly. Once we got started everything just became common sense more or less and it flowed pretty easily. AND it was a lot quicker once he found the power drill for taking down the walls!

Here you can see the ceiling of the trailer, and in the process of the interior being stripped. I think I am going to leave the ceiling as is (meaning no drywall or ceiling cover). I like the strip of wood the way it is, so I think I am just going to get some darker stain for the wood, stain it and paint the metal, leaving the bars black. I have a few other things that I will plan to tie in with the ceiling wood strip, but I’ll save that for when the time comes.

Empty and ready for foam! 🙂

I did spray one tiny spot myself, but I didn’t want to make too big of a mess so I left it to Ben 🙂

Almost finished with the roof, just getting a coating on the foam. We decided to foam the roof and not the inside ceiling for a few reasons. One I just liked the look of the ceiling… Two, the black bars had a space between them and the sheet of metal above it, and its working out to be a great use for various gadgets, nets, and hooks. I want to make every space count in this small trailer so we thought this would be beneficial to keep.

I also want to reuse and recycle as many products and pieces as possible. (There is something we took off the trailer and I’m not sure WHAT I am going to do with it but it will be SOMETHING cool!) So anyways, above you see what the manufacturer used as a “trim” of sorts for the wooden interior. We ripped all of that out and some of it we cut up into small strips. We then put them above the beams and under the metal sheet that is the ceiling, between 2-3 pieces stacked for each spot. The reason we did this was so that when we foamed the roof it would still keep that space available for hooks etc.

Figuring out how to insulate the underside of the trailer was looking to be the biggest struggle but it actually didn’t turn into that much of an issue. Not sure whether to use foam board or spray foam (the preferred choice) we saved that decision for last. It was really an issue of HOW we were going to get under the beast — Ben managed to get a small fork lift to lift the trailer and create between 3-4 feet under it, foamed within a few minutes and presto! 😀

Next step is drywall! That might be a few days but I am a patient girl! My biggest struggle right now is deciding what to paint the interior…

PS. the insulation is making a WORLD of a difference.

Oh, and I am also exhausted from yesterdays work! BUT it feels amazing because I did it!

Dynomadic

September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 / erin / Leave a comment

My entire adult life has had one constant… Change. The thing I hate the most, yet the thing most comforting. Change is inevitable, its guaranteed to happen on every level, and I’ve gotten used to it. But I still haven’t figured out how to make it a seamless transition (getting closer I think) .

Anyhow, I’m a mover. Since I was out of school I was gone – moved 2 states away to the north, and then down south, back up to the north west, and zig zag back again. Each move had been the best decision of my life. It is hard constantly having to uproot and meet new people, but it’s also allowed me to open up and put myself out there… It’s enabled me to make relationships with people all over the states. Maybe moving has been my way of being able to travel and see the country, I’ve loved every place I have been and it makes me want to see more! I love the excitement a new place brings, moving isn’t for everyone and some are completely content to stay where they have always lived, but I highly recommend that everyone live someplace new at least once and at least for a year. Or at the very minimum travel! But the more I see the more I realize how much I don’t know, and have yet to see.

Growing up in a town about 45 minutes or so north of Chicago, and spending most of my time in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota I was used to flat lands, corn and cows.

I spent about 2 1/2 years in Minnesota – enjoyed living in an area that was closer to the cities/metro area. Sure Illinois was that way, but Minnesota had extra charm to me. (Forever and always GO HAWKS!) Living in the Midwest always had green trees and fresh water nearby… Always in abundance, and I’ve learned to appreciate that. I moved to Texas in 2011 (I think) and I discovered two more things. I LOVE the heat, and yet I missed the diversity of the seasons, but I knew I could never go back to a Midwest winter if I could help it! (Okay that’d make it three things then)

I met Ben in 2013… we met online in 2011 — someone brought me up to him and we emailed for a short time. But we finally met in person a couple years later and he decided to move to Texas to be closer. Ben also happens to be rather nomadic as well if not more than me. He has been around a few states and even into Canada a few times to live… So we are both used to that lifestyle. We both knew that Texas wasn’t our end point and knowing we wanted to adventure together, we shortly moved up to the Pacific Northwest. And that’s where I fell in love yet again. I love that area, the pines, the mountains, the smells, the hills, the water, the heat and the four seasons!

I didn’t know I would love the mountains, coming from the flatlands… I never did the outdoors hiking, backpacking, camping thing, and never gave it any thought. Sure camping — but always and only in a campground. Ben has definitely been one to get out into nature, and in going out on trips with him, I found something I didn’t know I was missing.

There is something very humbling being in the mountains and nature. My first real backpacking trip was up a mountain, the trail was about 4 1/2 miles and had pretty steep sleek rock at the top. It was the 4th of July and instead of a beautiful mountain top lake (that was promised), we were greeted with snow and frozen ice that was just starting to melt. I was exhausted, freshly quit smoking (the day before), out of breath, pissed off (don’t remember why – probably a nic fit) and threatened violence (with no follow thru of course). I don’t remember how many hours it took but the packs were loaded down to stay for the night. Instead we ate lunch at the top and headed back down the mountain, and it was still amazing. The whole way home (saw my first Moose BTW) I was exhausted and ecstatic that I did it — Sore down to my toenails but worth every ache!

I’d say I’m more of a city girl simply because that’s what and where I’ve usually lived, so it still can be a bit of an adjustment, but I am adjustable… And perfectly capable. It’s not that I want to keep moving and not settle in one place, it’s just the way my life has gone so far, so I may as well embrace and enjoy it. Colorado seems to have a nice mixture of what my ideals are in a place to live so I’m excited for the possibilities! Keeping an open mind to whatever may come my way– Because something else always comes, as it has to with change. 🙂 My soul will know when it’s found it’s place to set up camp, and will keep looking until its found it.

Micro

September 14, 2015September 14, 2015 / erin / 1 Comment

Live the life you imagine.

Right?

So often we are paralyzed in life and stay confined to all of our comforts because anything else is terrifying. And it is, with good reason too… the world can be a bitch. BUT imagine finally letting yourself rise above the fear and do what you always dreamed of. The fear is there, it always is, and will be… but you do have a say in how much of a voice your fear will have.

My dreams? To live small.

I’ve always had this longing in my soul to travel. Travel the world, travel North America, get in a van and go. Stay in one place and work, and travel in my down time, or take my belongings and go. In whatever way I could make it work, I’ve wanted to. Several things have deterred me from making the leap over the years… Lack of knowledge of how to make it work, fear (yet again), debt < the BIG one, and that inner voice that keeps telling me that I’m crazy.

Thankfully I have found an amazing partner who happens to share my crazy dreams.

After having all our friends and family over to celebrate our marriage up in Washington, we found ourselves at the end of the chapter we were currently in. Not knowing what is (and still don’t know) in the next chapter, we found ourselves leaving one job and home in Washington to move to Colorado to start the next. This is where it gets interesting and the magic starts to happen….

While driving back home from visiting the family one weekend a month or so ago, my husband Ben and I got to talking about what we would do if something happened to the other. (Disclosure: We don’t have any kids, and we have no pets – YET ) It came up that if something did happen, we both planned to sell everything and travel the world like we always wanted to. While that is all fine and dandy, it upset me to my core. Why does the WORST have to happen to motivate us to live the life we always wanted? So for the rest of that 3 hour car trip (and the next 3 weeks) we talked scenario after scenario, possibility over possibility and what if’ed every thought that came to mind.

Could we make this work? Is this doable? Are we NUTS?! Yes we are.

The chain of events that happened after that led us to where we are now… Or rather where I am currently. In a Starbucks in a town north of Denver typing away at my keyboard looking for land to rent to put our 16×6 foot enclosed trailer that we are living in – and will be fixing up to make it permanently livable. Not so much a tiny home rather micro living, going from about 1700 square feet to 94 square feet.

We sold what we could, donated the rest and downsized like you wouldn’t believe. We kept our queen size mattress that fits perfectly in the trailer, one tall shelving unit and a hutch that was made by my dad. We also kept a small bedside table that has a nice storage area under the lid, and an area rug. What we couldn’t fit is going in storage for now until I can either find a place for it in the trailer or I can let go of the emotional ties. My clothing is going to be a big one, but I’ve heard of Project 333 (http://theproject333.com/getting-started/ ) and I am ready to give it a try!
The thought of big spacious rooms and areas never appealed to me much. I always saw tree houses or tiny rooms and imagined a little space that could be just mine. Cozy. Now with the tiny house movement in full swing I have resources and ideas from other crazy DIYers that can help make and shape my dreams into a reality… Now I just need to figure out how to use power tools.

This is just a blog of my life, and how we are going to give tiny living a try, and how it works for us!

Who knows, maybe we will be back in a one bedroom apartment in a month.. but I hope not, I just found a possible plot of land to rent! 🙂

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The before

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The after

dynomadic life

Dynamic Design. Nomadic Nature.

colorado