Wow. What a trip. My siblings and I went on our first ever Collins siblings trip this past weekend to LA to see The Format. The last time we saw The Format was also one of the most fun experiences of my life. I was home from my first year of college and Mandy, Mark and I all went together to see the show at The Living Room in Providence. I drove us to the venue (super low ceiling intimate venue) and together we belted out all their songs. This time around Ryan hosted us all in LA and he was just the best as usual. He spoiled us with hospitality – we went to Disneyland, the beach, various fabulous cafes, two concerts, went swimming in the pool, went to a farmers market, took pretty much every mode of modern transportation available (Bird, Lyft, waymo, bikes, cars) and stayed up way too late every night. It was bliss.
The concert itself was amazing. It was in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery which is an actual active cemetery. It was a super cool venue and I learned Saturday that your final resting place can be in front row concert seats. Sounds amazing!
Can I also just share that the electric scooters are super fun and Waymo was way better than imagined. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel putting myself in the hands of an AI driver but I got comfortable instantly. The best features? No more awkward small talk with cabbies and you can blast your own music! Whenever we couldn’t take Waymo it made the ride way less exciting. We also got to the point where we’d be thinking to ourselves (while in human driven cabs) “Waymo wouldn’t have cut that guy off”. Waymo did have a couple weird glitches but nothing that ever made me think I was going to die (which has happened to me dozens of time in ride shares over the years).
I am saddened the trip is over and I have to go back to the real world tonight! I’ll share the last project from my other escape from reality, camping. One of the last things I made for the micro camper was big covers for the windows. These may get modified to use different material but right now they are made of stretchy knit netting. They don’t let as much air in as I would like though, so I may make new versions with a different fabric, but the process will be the same.
Custom Car Camper Window Covers
- ~1 yard of stretchy mesh material per window cover
- Fridge magnets (mine were left over from wedding save the dates)
- e1000
1. Using scrap paper trace the shape of your windows.
2. Use this as a template to cut 2 pieces of fabric for each window and add 1″ seam allowance to the top and sides and several inches for the bottom (you’ll want to figure out the best place to add the magnets from trial and error.
3. Stitch the top and sides using a serger.
4. Place the covering over your window and the place magnets on top, figuring out the best placement to get them to stick. The magnets will prevent bugs coming up underneath.
5. Move the magnets to the same placement but underneath the fabric and secure with e1000 glue.
6. When dry trim the excess fabric to the location of your magnets.
