Riverside

View of Riverside from my walk up Mt. Rubidoux

Hello all!

I have been enjoying a wonderful few day break from the RV. I am currently in Riverside, California with my brother and sister-in-law. They are two of my favorite people in the world and it has been great hanging out with them and also having some quiet time. Being surrounded by seven other people all the time in the RV can be a little overwhelming. I am somewhat of an introvert, okay maybe a little more than somewhat, so alone time is kind of essential for me to keep my sanity. By the end of the three weeks of touring, I was on the brink of losing my mind so this break came at the perfect time! 

The guys are currently in Los Angeles working on their first full length album. I will be back with the band for the next two weeks spending my days in Coronado while they are recording in San Diego. I am looking forward to laying on the dock and working on keeping my skin tan free. SPH 70 is my best friend!

Before we head to Coronado, Katelyn and I, along with a few other ladies will be spending our Memorial Day weekend in Newport Beach for a bachelorette party. Basically I am on a long time vacation since quitting my job. I will be soaking up every carefree sunny moment I have before we get cozied up again in the RV very soon. 

Long Road

So things are going to be shifting a bit here on this little blog. My sewing progress has been kind of put on hold. Most of our time is spent in the RV which is very cozy with seven adults, one baby, and all of our stuff. It pretty impossible to sew while the RV is moving which is pretty much all the time, except when we are sleeping. When we aren't in the RV, we are normally at a venue. The schedule when they have a show usually goes a little something like this ... load in, sound check, dinner, doors open (which means someone has to be out at the merch table. that someone lately has been me.), during the Brandi Carlile shows the guys will play first and then hang out and sign CD's for fans at the merch table while Brandi is playing, once the show is over and everyone is out of the venue the guys will load out, pack up the trailer again and then we hit the road. Basically life is busy. The little down time we have is devoted to showering, washing our clothes, and charging our phones/computers. 

All that so say, for the time being my blog (when I can find internet) might be more about life on this long road rather than sewing. I sure hope that is okay with all of you. 

Yesterday we spent most of the day in New Orleans. The day started out great, walking around the French Quarter, eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde, and buying Louisiana hot sauce (they serve it at our favorite restaurant in Seattle and we haven't been able to find it anywhere!). The afternoon wasn't quite as fun ... one of the holding tanks in the RV was full and started coming up in the shower which had been turned into storage bins. Pete and I stored our stuff in the bottom bin so yup, you guessed it, our stuff was soaking in waste water for a day or so. Luckily it wasn't waste from the septic but instead waste from the kitchen sink. Still so gross! Our stuff was wet and smelt of chicken of the sea (canned food is a lifesaver when you are poor and living in an RV). We were able to wash most of our stuff but I have one suede boot and a vintage leather Dooney & Bourke bag that still need to be cleaned some how. My sewing case I got for Christmas took a dip in the yucky water and I'm not sure yet if it is savable. I also had a bag of vintage clothing that got a little messed up. The famous red skirt I just posted about got wet and bled onto some other pieces. It was pretty upsetting. 

I was tired, hot, and needed a shower, so it was kind of the cherry on top of my day. I can't complain too much about life in the RV though. I get to travel around the country, see some awesome venues and listen to great music all with my best friend in the world, Pete :)

Lady In Red

Updates since I left for the tour...
1. My job has changed to wife/seamstress/road manager. 
2. My home is no longer Seattle, but instead is the open road, more specifically Priscilla.
3. I have (somewhat) successfully altered my first vintage piece of clothing! 

I purchased an amazing, long, red, a-line skirt at a thrift store for 99 cents and the only real issue with it was the size. I feel like it was meant to be even though it fell down to my ankles if I wasn't holding it up. You see, I am not a big fan of red. Generally I think its a pretty harsh color and including the skirt, I only own two red items of clothing (that I can think of right now). So when I go thrifting I normally skip right over the red clothes in each section. On that particular day for some reason I decided to take a look in the reds and there was this beauty just waiting for me. I was instantly drawn to the buttons all down the front and the two large pockets. The color has just enough orange in it that it lessens the harshness a bit. Here are some before and after pictures...

Looks kind of like a weight loss picture, huh?

After. It actually fits my waist!

I had some trouble keeping my edges straight with my mini sewing machine. There isn't a guide on it and the foot doesn't hold the fabric down very well. Basically I am blaming all my beginner mistakes on the machine. I am thinking of bringing out my full size machine later in the summer when Ill actually have more time to sew.

With or without the curvy edges, I was happy how it turned out. I don't know if I will ever be a full fledged fan of red and I doubt anyone will refer to me as the lady in red ... unless they are talking about my lipstick. 

I didn't know the timer was going :) but here is the most of a lady in red I will probably ever be 

Time To Pretend

Before leaving for the tour I had decided that I would blog every single day! Well this is now day four of the tour and my first time blogging. I have plenty of time to pretend to blog but it is a little more difficult to actually do it. We don't have internet in the RV (except on my phone but that is far too difficult to make a whole blog post and upload pictures on the little screen, maybe one of these days I will try though) and out of the three venues we have been to so far, two of them have had wifi. Soon we will be stationed in Los Angeles and San Diego for more than the usual one day stop so hopefully my blogging will increase during those few weeks. In the meantime, please bear with me and stay tuned. Even though I haven't had much time to blog, I had been working on some projects and life in general has had some pretty big changes so there is much to share! Well Brandi Carlile just finished her set for the night which means the guys need to chat it up with fans at the merch table and get everything loaded out. Tomorrow night the guys play at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. It should be a fun show!!

Brandi Carlile at the Uptown Theatre in Napa, California