Saturday, April 13, 2013

Have beads will travel

At least that's our plan.  For a few years now we've been talking about what is next for us.  We left corporate jobs and moved to San Diego in 2004, initially into a downtown condo.  I found I didn't like being in the midst of a noisy city and liked the lack room even less.  So we bought a house, outfitted a studio and got on with the business of MADDesigns.

I've taught, and sold kits and written books and Mark has patiently waited for more travel.  Grand babies arrived and our Northern California roots is where much of the family still lives.

For many years we had a sailboat docked beneath the bay bridge which provided a weekend home in San Francisco.  But boats are hard work and expensive and are not particularly portable.  For this non sailor trips up and down the coast were not really what I had in mind.  The boat was sold and we continued to contemplate.

Tiny house listings always caught my attention.  How fun would it be to personalize a tiny space and take it on the road.  For the time being at least, we'll come home to the house and studio between trips and MADDesigns will continue to function, although we may see a few changes along the way.  It might be time for a smaller subset of finished kits and a long awaited transition to the tutorial only business model.  We are still sorting that out as we contemplate what life will look like now that we own an airstream travel trailer!

This one is apparently on the property of Ralph Lauren, according to this blog on Glamping where you find a great many visuals of beautifully furnished airstreams.


As you might imagine I am looking forward to personalizing ours, however Mark will most like stop me short of being able to do this! Found on Pinterest, which is proving to be a great resource for my dreams!  




We are looking forward to learning the ways of the road, finding places to stay, visiting with family and friends in our favorite Santa Cruz.  And of course there will be beads and yarn involved!

14 comments:

Rising Designs said...

Sounds wonderful. Keep us posted!

Unknown said...

I too have dreams of man-napping my husband and galavanting across the country in the name of beads LOL.

Annie Hesse said...

How exciting, ms. M! Now you can be the beading gypsy!

Cynthia Newcomer Daniel said...

What fun! I promise to keep your little house's refrigerator filled with home-grown fruit and veggies on your trips up and down the coast this summer. :)

Mikki said...

Nice! I've had that dream for a long time, but with an aging parent to care for I doubt it's going to happen.
I envision a MadDesigns little trailer behind for all your beads and kits :)

Karen Firnberg said...

Sounds fantastic! Once you have gotten used to life on the road, branch out and see more! Go to all the National Parks or visit all of the states. Plan out your teaching assignments for a cross country trip!

Dayle Askey said...

My dream, too... Looks so relaxing. I've looked around on Pinterest for airstreams... They are so cool and shiny. It'll be fun to follow your adventures!

Hanly & Associates said...

Every year Air Stream has its national convention in Sarasota. Hundreds of Air Streams decend on Sarasota and it is quite a site.

Marcia DeCoster said...

That might be a bit too far this year, but who knows, we might get to Sarasota as we get used to this way of life!

Honey from the Bee said...

Wonderful Marcia! I hope to see you on one of your adventures either up here to Santa Cruz or further north. Sounds like a lot of fun. Changes are good for us and this one holds lots of surprises I bet.

Cindy Hulsey said...

Have fun!! The Dewman and I lived in a 34' RV for 9 years. We loved it. I had plenty of basement storage for my beads, doll stuff and polymer clay toys.
We have a house now and take the RV, named Helga, to the Oregon coast in August and stay at the beach.
Enjoy your new adventure!

Marcia DeCoster said...

We have lots to learn about the RV life, but I look forward to learning it!

Helen said...

What an exciting new adventure...enjoy!

Bobbie said...

What a grand adventure! Hubby and I have often talked about doing something similar -- can't wait to hear how the beading gypsy lifestyle works!