On the road, day 2

We started in Hebron, OH. . . we are now in Joplin, MO. . . dad's still snoring (and farting) so I'm having a bit of a hard time sleeping right now even though I'm beyond exhausted. . .

The drive was a bit easier today though he still drives as thought he's in a car and not carting around all my most prized possessions. Today, he was a bit crazy on a turn and I asked him not to break my stuff. He was all, "well if it were to get broken, it would have happened all ready." Gee dad, thanks. . . Who knew my dad was such a card?

For the most part we were quite today, driving and listening to music and This American Life but we did have moments. . . here are some highlights:

- Heading into Indiana. . . here's the exchange:
Dad: Now that we're in Indiana, I need to tell you a story. . .
Me: Okay
Dad: Well, there was this Indian lady. . .
Me: Dots or feathers?
Dad: Feathers. . .
Me: Okay
Dad: So she went to this doctor and he saw that she didn't have any nipples. . .
The doctor says, "that's unusual. . . you have no nipples. . ." She says "yeah, it's happened to like 500 women in my tribe. . . they even have a name for us. . ."
The doctor says, "yeah? what's that?" The woman says "the Indian nipple-less 500"

Yep. . . I had the same reaction. . .

-Waffle House waffles, bacon, and coffee are the bomb!

=There are a LOT of caverns on the road.

- Unless it's to eat, pee, or get gas, there is no stopping on this trip. . . all photos will, in all likelihood be from the truck. . .

Here are some pictures from today. . .

Homes in Ohio


Springfield. . . Are we there yet?


Our truck at the Waffle House


St. Louis


Dad and the Mississippi

Well, I guess that's all for the day. . . It's quiet for a short time right now, I'm going to try to fall asleep before the snoring starts again. . . Oh well too late. . . still. . .

Love from Missouri.

hearts and puppies,
erika

PS- OH! We ate at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant called Yummy Yummy. It wasn't so much. . . but it was Chinese food in Ohio, what did I expect? Still that name. . . it's a good one. . . and I learned that my dad and I were both born in the year of the rabbit! Who knew!?!?

Roadrunner, day 1

Update on my landlord situation. . . it all turned out just fine. I'm tired and beat up but we got our deposit back in full! Yippy! Place was probably cleaner than when we moved in. . .

So. . . on the road. . . I was hoping to have some pictures but my dad isn't much for stopping. I promise to take pictures tomorrow regardless, but just a warning. . . they might all be from the inside of the truck cab!

As for the trip so far, it took me 3 days to convince my dad that going through the Holland Tunnel was the right way to get out of the city. Luckily, traffic was brisk (for New York) and we were through the tunnel in no time! All tunnels out of the way! Off we go to the great wide West! Well. . . no. . . not really. . . apparently Pennsylvania is chock full of tunnels! Every other mountain has a freaking tunnel going through it! Dad was a trouper, though, and he drove along with nary a wince.

That's not to say there were no white knuckle moments. . . my father is a reformed speed demon and his need to be right and up front still seemed to show up every so often. I think he forgot that we were in a truck. I must have stepped on my passenger side break at least 10 times during our 500 plus mile trip! Eek!

We did have a bonding moment, though. . . I happened to have Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation"on my ipod and thought that dad would like it. Once he got used to her voice (a voice I'm quite fond of but I also understand that several folks fine it hard listening) he loved it! Listening really made the hours fly though it did get in the way of talking. . . but do have 4 more days of this to actually learn about each other. . . right?

I guess that's all for now. . . if I can fall asleep. . . he snores. . .

Love from Ohio.

hearts and puppies,
erika

My landlords suck big fat toes!

I'm sure it will come as no surprise when I say that my landlords are turning into jackass shysters now that we're moving. Yes, I painted my apartment. Yes, I hung pictures on the walls. Yes, there's wear and tear but that's because we actually LIVED in the apartment for 2 years!!! I don't know much about the law but I do watch a lot of judge shows (Judy. . . People's Court. . . my personal fave. . . Judge Mathis. . .) and as far as I know you can't dock someone's security for the kind of basic wear that comes to a place after 2 years of living there. . . Someone should inform my landlords about that!

Grrrr.

I'm painting and patching like mad here and still it might not be enough! If anything I'm saving them money from having to have this place repainted. I bought the paint. . . I'm doing the labor. . . but still they're threatening to charge me if it's not done "right." I was told "your apartment has to be in perfect condition when you leave in order to get your deposit back in full, just like it was when you moved in. " Well, you know what. . . it wasn't in perfect condition when we moved in. It was a dirty sty! The bathroom was disgusting from the workers who had been in to paint and refinish the floors, the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen were full of crap, there was mysterious brown stuff on some of the doors and a hole punched into one of the closet doors! I'd say that's far from perfect. . . maybe I should leave it like that. . .

Man. . . there's a special level of hell where landlords like these end up. . .

Thank you for letting me rant. . . love you all. . . about as much as I hate moving. . .

hearts and puppies,
erika

PS- Dad's here and here's your first revelation. . . The man is terribly afraid of tunnels! Which makes getting out of here kinda hard. . . because the only bridge off this island in the direction we are heading is almost 2 hours out of the way. But I think I've convinced him that the Holland Tunnel is okay. . . at least I have for now. . . we'll see on Sunday. . .

Bloggers love the rock!

Funny, as I get ready to leave this little chunk of Long Island known as Brooklyn awareness for my "I ROCK NY" bags grows and grows. The attention is great but it makes me a bit sad too. Not that they love my work enough to recognize but just that I'm leaving the town that inspires me to rock. Anyway. . . check it out. . . first some rock love in Rare Bird Finds a super great shopping blog and then Joi hipped me to the loveliness that is the Gold School blog. Yea! such fun!

As for the move. . . it is approaching faster than an oncoming train! Yep, it's this weekend. It seems it's come so fast. . . a few weeks back I was getting ready for Renegade, now everything (including my sewing machine!!!) is in boxes and bins and plastic wrap. . . it's enough to discombobulate a girl! My dad comes in tomorrow to help me transport all 5 and a half years of accumulated miscellany across this great big country of ours. Who's bright idea was it to move to California!?!? Oh yeah. . . mine. . . It's all so overwhelming. . . I don't think it will all finally set in until I'm somewhere in Ohio. Now it's just boxes and paint and the security deposit (specifically, getting it back).

I'm gonna try to blog the trip. . . it should be interesting. Dad and I don't spend that much time together. I don't think we've spent more than 4 or 5 hours alone together and now we're heading off cross country in a moving van. This is the stuff of art house movies, people! Expect amazing revelations! . . . or just long stretches of silence. . . either way. . . what a read!

Talk to you soon.

hearts and puppies,
erika

VIVE LA SWAPPY!!!

Let them eat cake? Nah! Let them swap craft supplies!!!

This Saturday, Bastille Day, The New York City Craft Mafia and Etsy Labs are sponsoring the Return of SWAPPY!, the 2nd of our craft supply swaps. Here's the specs as written up by the lovely folks at Etsy:

Saturday, July 14, 2-5PM
At: Etsy Labs: 325 Gold St., 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Has your boyfriend/girlfriend/roommate/cat been begging you to destash your crafting supplies? If your mountain of fabric has been threatening to bury you alive, get yourself down to Etsy Labs for the second awesome NYC Craft Mafia Supply Swap. This event is totally free, just bring your unwanted craft supplies and (if you want) drinks or snackity type things to share.

Got no supplies but still wanna swap? It'll be $10, please.

See ya there, swappers!

Like it says. . . hope to see you there!!!

hearts and puppies,
erika

Moving right along. . . Gugh-gugh-duh-gugh-gugh-duh

Don't know if you know but I'm moving from my beloved Brooklyn. After 5 years in NYC I'm heading out at the end of the month. It was a hard decision, but the right one. I think I'll be able to make something brilliant of the boyfriend if I can cut my costs back (something I could never do here).

So where am I going and what am I doing?

Well. . . I'm moving home, back to Bakersfield, back to my mom's. I must admit I'm a little afraid, scared I'll fall into the familiar day to day that was my life in Bakersfield 5 plus years ago. It was comfortable then. . . I was, to a small degree, a local celebrity, profiled for my acting in the local paper, the lead in community plays, free fries at the Burger King because I was that girl from Comedy Sportz. . . I must admit it was nice. . . but that is not why I'm moving. No, I'm moving to get myself off of this plateau I've built for myself.

If I can cut back my costs, I feel I can really focus all my energy on making the boyfriend profitable. Yes, my imaginary boyfriend and I are planing to take over the world!. . . from Bakersfield. . . for now. . .

Goals for this new year:
More shows!
A clear and concise wholesale catalogue
A better website!
An always full web shop
Collaborations that you will love (can't tell you who the collaboration will be with just yet but I can tell you that it is gonna be so super awesome you just won't know what to do with yourself!)
Leather work (my imaginary boyfriend will be making leather goods by this time next year, THAT is a promise!)

Well. . . that's all. . . but that's a lot. . . no?

hearts and puppies (and hopes and dreams. . .),
erika