Picnic...

"We need to do this more." - Us.

We live a mile from the Pacific Coast, and we find ourselves rarely taking advantage of it, especially during the winter months. Just like everyone else, we get wrapped in our lives and the stresses each day can bring. We talk about stress as if most of it is out of our control. I feel we get set on auto-pilot-mode, letting others dictate our decisions. The emotional toll that stress brings allows us to get lazy. It is easy to sit on the couch after a day at work to watch something mind-numbing, order some food from whatever food-delivery app has the best deal of the day, and pass out. Our laziness can be a vicious cycle.

I had a rare Saturday night off, and instead of going to a happy hour somewhere, getting tired, and crashing on the couch, Jamie and I decided to do a beach picnic. I raced home from work and kicked off my shoes - exchanging them for my flip flops - and we rolled down the hill to the beach in our comfortably converted VW Vanagon. There was almost no one on the beach, so we picked a spot to spread out and enjoyed the sunset. The summer breeze was coming in from the sea, and the sounds of the ocean crashing down on the sand played softly in the background as we dug into our dinner.

It is nice to put the phones down and have a conversation. I love technology as much as anyone; however, unplugging can help clear your head and get back to the scenery around us. Beauty is everywhere; you don't need a beach picnic to realize it - not to say that it doesn't help. There is always something beautiful around if we take a second to notice it. As the sun set and disappeared behind the Santa Monica mountains, I almost wanted to clap as if a band had just finished their encore.

We stayed on the beach for an extra few minutes to finish our drinks and snap a few photos; not a bad little Saturday night. We both committed to doing this more often. If I could, I would eat every meal on the beach. Take a second to see if you can find something worth pausing and admiring today.

It might just change your mood.

-YourFriendMatt

Idyllwild...

“Holy shit! It’s so cold!” - Us.

Adventure is out there, and we were aiming to find it. We recently spent a few days in Idyllwild. We packed up our VW Vanagon, put sweaters on our dogs (we are those people), and braved it up the 5,000 foot elevation at a whopping 17 MPH, in the snow, to take in the peace and quiet this small mountain town has to offer. Jamie and I love to get out of the busyness and noise of Los Angeles. Idyllwild, although very small, has an adorable feel. Everyone seems to know everyone by first name. It was great to sit in a bar, restaurant, or coffee house to enjoy the panoramic, snow-capped views or chat with folks that had grown up around the area. Everyone there seemed to love visitors.

We are both from Philadelphia so you would think we are use to the cold, but it is incredible how much your body changes to adapt to your surroundings. We are use to the sunny weather of Southern California living now. We were cold, and obviously unprepared for snow, but we found comfort in local shops and cozy restaurants to keep us warm. Our motel was just north of town and serenely quiet. We found ourselves sitting on our balcony completely bundled up, looking out into the wilderness in awe.

We will be back, Idyllwild! But, next time I am bringing boots!

Check out the video above made with Clips.

-YourFriendMatt

Lost Sock...

I set numerous goals for myself this past year and have accomplished most of them. I got married, graduated from college, got back into running routinely, worked on restoring our beloved VW Vanagon, did a cross-country road trip, I played music regularly, and continued challenge myself creatively. I am a very lucky individual and do not take what I have for granted. I have appreciated 2018, even when things looked grim, and boy, did some grim things happen this year.

One of the last projects I wanted to accomplish before closing out the year was releasing a short (very short) film. Attached here is a footage from a day off I had with our dogs, Piper and Penelope, when we lived in Nashville. When I finish errands early, exercise, and run out of laundry to do,I find myself getting antsy. Jamie hates it, but I am not really a ‘sit on the couch and relax’ kind of guy. So I decided to take my trusty iPhone, a tripod, and my actors (Piper and Penelope) and come up with something creative for us to do. This short is the end result.

The whole video is less than 2 minutes to watch, but took me way longer to find the footage and edit all the goofy sounds in.

Things can always get worse, count your blessings (or whatever you believe in), and let’s leave this place better than we found it in 2019 (and forever)...and always remember to have fun!

Thank you for taking time for us today.

Please feel free to leave feedback, thoughts, and comments! -

-YourFriendMatt

Van Renovation: Chapter 2...

"What do you think I should do with these holes in the van floor? We can see the road as we drive." - Me.

After ripping out the seats in our VW Vanagon, it was time to figure out what we were going to do with the empty-space the seat removal had opened up. Put a shag rug in and hang a disco ball? Add captains chairs or turn the seat around so everyone sitting back there can face each other? Leave and never come back to it because renovating anything is a pain in the ass? None of those options seemed right, so we went to Home Depot for some inspiration.

"You always grab a cart! It's a rule!" - Unknown

We finally landed on putting in hardwood flooring, like the kind you would put in your living room. We figured if it was good enough for a living room, it sure-as-shit was good enough for our Vanagon. We did some quick internet searching, and it did not look too hard. We measured and modified our plan, bought some materials and were on our way to put a new floor in our VW.

"Always look for good looking and cost effective solutions." - Unknown

We started by ripping out all the 30+-year-old, stained, shitty existing rug. Ripping up this shit-stained monstrosity felt like ripping up a large piece of beef jerky. The rug had lost all flexibility and covered 30-year-old stain-circles of god-knows-what spilled from years past. Once we had it all out, we had to sanitize the metal flooring, seal the holes where the seat had been bolted down so we could no longer see the road from inside the van, and installed some thick carpet cushion. Once we had that done, it was like playing building blocks. The flooring we got snaps together like Legos, it is a great solution for anyone doing a flooring remodel of any kind. We had to use our handy-dandy Ryobi jigsaw for this and cutting around vents and seats. It is worth it to take your time during this process, measure twice and cut once, patience is a virtue.

"Dangerously under-qualified" - We had to removed the door seam to get the carpet out.

"Where does this piece go?" - We had to remove a panel to ensure we coved the entire floor - super easy to put back on, it just snaps into place.

"Always clean up after you removed 30 year old carpet." - Einstien

Got some good carpet padding and filled in the rest with bubble wrap to create a soft and even base for the floor.

Measure twice - cut once. Had a few handy dandy tools to make light work of this project. Invest in a level, measuring tape, rubber mallet, and a good blade for your cuts. Then just put the panel back and screw down the door seam and you are good to go!

This whole process only took about 2 hours and added a ton of value. Customizing and getting creative with your van renovations is a huge part of what draws us to owning our van. Now we have space for all kinds of activities! 

We have a bunch more plans and ideas lined up so stay tuned!

-YourFriendMatt

Van Renovation: Chapter 1

"I mean, how hard could it be to rip a few van seats out?" - Me.

Right after we moved back to Santa Monica we knew we had to get our VW Vanagon back. We had one before the last time we lived here and missed the days of cruising in the van on the PCH, stopping to pull over if we found a cool beach area, and just hanging out in the van. We scoured Craiglist, local ad’s, and Facebook marketplace for a few weeks until we finally found one worth checking out. According to our mechanic, the engine seemed good, the body was in great shape, and besides a few minor upgrades, we found our van. Now, it is up to us to make it ours.

One of the first this we wanted to do is rip out the center, bench seats to create more space for activities. I will have more updates as the van renovation process goes, but here is a quick video of me, with no knowledge of how to do this, doing my best to remove the seats.

Enjoy and comment below! I'd love to hear from you!

-YourFriendMatt