Twas the night before BANina....

Nina's post...
THE ROADTRIP
When I last blogged I'd landed in L.A. after a 2K U-Haul/Me-Haul roadtrip from McKinney, TX.  I wanted to hit town in time to see BA before she flew to MN so I took a bit of a scenic route but drove steady in order to make it. Since I hadn't been to Austin, I decided to go there. Lucky for me, longtime friends from MD were going to be at a tattoo convention so I met John & Barry for happy hour and went with them. I have no tattoos and if it weren't for the "KidZone" I wouldn't have no tattoo cred at all. (What? water tattoos don't count?). Then on to Marfa, a town I'd heard quirky stories about for years, had read an article just recently too, that made me want to go. It's a place in the middle of nowhere but it's artsy and cool. I was told to go see the "Mysterious Lights of Marfa" (Wiki says they've been proven to be reflections of car headlights..I don't care, it was an experience, it was beautiful out there and there were several other folks out there to enjoy).  I really wanted to see the famed Prada storefront (which is actually in Valentine, about 15 miles west of Marfa) and IS in the middle of NOTHINGNESS. It's completely black out there and then you see this little "store" all lit up with Prada shoes and handbags. Just so ridiculous and cool. After that I had two targets I wanted to hit, my friend Elise in AZ and my friend Ed in SoCal. I left Texas Saturday morning and hit Los Angeles at around 4pm Monday...rolled up to Daniel's backyard just as BA & her tiny house were arriving from her latest speaking engagement at a workshop in Sebastopol. We were able to unwind with a beer (or two) before we retired and sent her off to MN the next morning.

THIS PAST WEEK
I arrived, BA left for a week and I settled in without her. I have to go through some paperwork that I brought with me and get the important things out, recycle/shred the rest. I also have an issue...the SUPER COMFY chair and a half plus ottoman that I love and have carted with me all over the western United States miiiiight be too big for my tiny house. I knew it might be but I hoped. In the mock space we set up...it CAN work buuuut...it's a tight squeeze. I knew the ottoman wouldn't also fit (it has storage!) but I like the chair because it folds out into a twin bed (sigh). In the meantime Daniel has happily borrowed it and it's at his place. (Man, I'm going to have to use a spatula to pry him off of it when it comes time to get it back). And my fridge (second sigh) might need too much surround/venting. I thought I had the same one as Daniel, he thought so too. Nope. I need to decide. I love that fridge and it has ALSO traveled the west with me. Two items with their destination to end up in my tiny house might not actually work. Moment of silence for that bummer:    ***  ____  ***    Thank you.
Daniel and I have been talking about some details and I've generally been orienting myself with the surrounding stores/services here. Lots of trees and hills. Nice area.

THE STUFF
Before I left I got rid of 75% of the stuff that was with me.  My awesome co-worker friend Monica enlisted her husband and they worked their tails off to help me load the Uhaul and to load up the boxes for the library director Beth, who was taking them to a great charity. I was so grateful for them helping me...could NOT have gotten all that done without them.
I landed HERE with boxes and items that will go into my tiny house so those things aren't necessary to unpack here, I will unpack them in Oregon or final settlement place. I have a little 5x5 storage unit for them ($66 for the two months- great deal!) and also put my road bike in it and I'm riding my mt. bike. Yes, I know. It's L.A. with crazy fast traffic (I am being very alert and wearing my new helmet, my dayglo Chrome bag and my awesome Nike jacket that lights up day and night).
The INSIDE stuff amounts to this:

1) In the kitchen, my Vitamix, Flask, KleanKanteens (but I usually have those w/me in my messenger bag).
 I brought few foodstuffs, just some salts, Shakeology & snacks from the roadtrip.
2) My bedding is a blanket (seen folded beneath), a comforter and pillow. Here it's folded and acts as my chair.
3) The black duffle is my clothing, smaller green bag on top of it is my dirty clothes. Plaid case holds my post shower stuff (blow dryer, Qtips, deodorant, etc.) The floral open cubby is nifty and from IKEA fabric which folds up flat. It'll go soon, it has mints and travel Kleenex and such, leftover from my roadtrip. 

Oh....and this:

4) My shower/bathroom stuff. 

THE OUTSIDE STUFF:  My bike and I also have outdoor chairs that can stay outdoors. So it's not much stuff for outside and it's what I consider NEEDS. I set it up for when BA comes back. Tuesday evening!!! Tomorrow!!
and then...BANinaBegins!! (that reminds me, we're on Instagram now (account name is BANinaBegins ) so check us out there for pics that we've already been posting).

Yes, B.A., if you look closely you'll see that there's a wine bottle on the table.