An inspiring trip...

After a week and a half of amazing riding and beautiful scenery, we rolled back into Long Beach yesterday afternoon. I'm trying to not let the culture shock get the best of me... but what an enormous difference Long Beach is from where we've been! I have a lot to digest about this trip... and I think it will take me awhile to find the words to describe the immensity of it... 'epic' comes to mind... so for now, I thought I'd share some photos of small moments that inspired me...

Middle of Nowhere... Here I Come!

And... we're off again!

I have been waiting, not very patiently, until we finally get to leave for our next bike touring adventure. I've been so excited for at least the last month that it's been hard to sit still (kinda like that feeling you get as a kid those last few days before Christmas!).

We're taking the train to San Luis Obispo and then riding up to Paso Robles (via a campout in Morro Bay) for the Great Western Bicycle Rally. We'll be in Paso Robles for a few days, riding around the hills and hobnobbing with other geeky cyclists. And then, from Paso Robles, we'll be riding back through a lot of nothingness, along the San Andres Fault to Ventura (where we'll hop a train back). And this time, it'll be more than just Russ and I! We have a whole big group of people coming along (for various parts of the trip). Can you see why I'm so excited?!


And as I mentioned earlier, I'm really hoping that being out in the middle of nowhere will help me make sense of the jumble of half-formed ideas in my head. Even though I have no idea what this trip will end up looking like, I know that I'll be surrounded by inspiration the entire time - and I'm so thrilled!

I'm leaving my etsy shop open, although I won't be sending out orders until I get back. See you all in June!

Some New Ideas...

Lately, I've been feeling kinda restless with my jewelry designs. There's this nagging part of me that wants to try some new things, add some complexity, push the boundaries that I've set - and just sort of see what happens. Except that, so far, the ideas floating around in my head are only half-formed - so I'm kind of at a loss about what to do with them all.

Russ and I (and a whole big group of wonderful friends) are headed off on another sure-to-be-amazing bike adventure next week - and I know that the days of pedaling around in the middle of nowhere will help me make sense of these little flits of ideas.

In the meantime, I've been collecting inspiration anywhere I can find it...

Apparently Friday is Bike to Work Day too!

California must just like to do everything before anyone else, because I hear that today (Friday) is Bike to Work Day in a lot of other places. Go figure. At any rate, it seems only fitting to keep the FREE SHIPPING offer through today as well... So go visit my shop. Enjoy!

Happy Bike to Work Day!

For me, every day is Bike to Work Day (or Bike to Market Day, Bike to the Hardware Store Day, Bike to Dinner Day, etc), but I still think it's one of the best faux holidays ever!

To celebrate, order a Bike Headbadge or a Mustache on yer Bike TODAY and I'll ship it for free! But, you better act quickly...

Twitter, Part 2

First of all... many thanks to everyone who sent in a suggestion for my Twitter name! There are so many possible permutations that I've been sitting here, stumped, for days, trying to pick one. Which is ridiculous, because it's only Twitter. But, sometimes, I can so incredibly terrible at making decisions.

So, after much hemming and hawing, I wrote everyone's suggestions on little pieces of paper and picked one out of the pile. Whew. Why is it that the little details are sometimes the hardest ones to decide upon?


If you're on Twitter, you can now follow me!

Second... I promised a drawing as a thank you for helping me wade through name possibilities! All you lovely people who commented - I wrote your names on little pieces of paper and picked one (or, rather, Russ picked one)... and the winner is...


Thank you so much Lora! Drop me an email [tangerinetreehouse@gmail.com] and let me know what lovely something you want from my shop.

Thanks again! Now I'm off to figure out Twitter... :)

My Twitter Dilemma - and a Contest!

With all the recent developments in my life, Twitter has suddenly become something that I need to figure out and become a part of.

The problem? Twitter has a maximum number of allowable characters for your username. Which means that "tangerinetreehouse" is too long - I get stopped at "tangerinetreeho" (which isn't really the right image!).

Why is this a problem? Well, it's all about branding and identity. I want to keep the same name on every aspect of my online life, so that everything points back to my website, so that there's consistency in my online (or, for that matter, offline) presence, so that people recognize me.

I would love to just not join Twitter out of protest. But, like I said, I kinda sorta need to move into the Twitter world. So... how do I abbreviate my name without losing the tie to everything else?

TngerneTreehous
TangrineTrehous
TngrineTreehous
TangerineTreehs
TngerineTrehous

Help me create a Twitter name by leaving your suggestions in the comments - and I'll enter you in a drawing for your choice of something from my shop! (Up to $100 value, no custom work.)

Thanks!

What I've been up to...

My life is currently full of clearing stuff out of our apartment and thinking about The Path Less Pedaled project and figuring out how to make and carry a portable studio when we head off. But, I have also found time to make a whole bunch of head badges. Besides being caught up in mustache fever, I've created a few custom badges as well.