and thats how things get done....

So as is typical had a pretty chill tuesday. My friend Danny is getting tattooed tomorrow and after not having seen him for a looooong time we hung out for a minute this afternoon and pounded out some details for his tattoo.

so I figured id spend the afternoon working on that and taking photos along the way.



of course i had to fuel up, today i had some texas style chili from the house of Q. it was spicey! and very filling. should of had them put it on a bun its so thick but other then that perfect :)



alright so on the left you see our rough sketch i scribbled while talking about ideas, as well as a little reference for the refined version.



flash forward we have a line drawing!



a quick sharpie trace onto some water color paper for further development. This is going to be a very black heavy tattoo as ive realy been into that lately and as such i need to think about shading and layout a bit more than if i were using color. i can make a dark blue right next toa dark orange and be fine but when its all black... well its all .



and here it is water colored. i dont like it after all :P



i cut it up and grabed the bits i liked and photo copied bits and pieces out of my sketch book and after some re aranging and messing around came up with something i liked more. im still going to do some tweaking in the morning so it includes the apple but i think im going to be much happier with this version. i guess stay tuned tomorrow to find out how i think it turned out.

home for some spaghetti i headed out to the ford for the evening, its about 29 degrees out but i havnt got alot of time for the car right now so any little time i can sneak in is worth taking.



one of tonights quick projects was to cut out the old U bolts that previously held in the rear spring. you can sorta see here how the clearance is to tight to just pull them out with out taking the body off.



a 4 inch grinder with a cut off wheel and the two bolts look like this now



beefy!



warm blooded. all i need is 1000 wts of work lights and a wool hat and im good to go. i can see my breath when i work but im actually pretty comfy out there most nights.



this fender support was project two. its only on the drivers side and i think serves as more of a mud flap to sheild the gas filler neck than to support anything. either way it was in my way when installing the rear spring mounting bracket on that side so it got bent out of the way for the time being. tonight i took the cut off wheel to it to cut it out of the way and get rid of the ugly bent up sections. i got about half of it cut before the grinder was to big to reach the rest so thursday ill hopefully have a minute and use the smaller air powered speedy cutter to get the rest out.

i think that ill get the majority of it out of the way and then start re working it to look nice. guess we'll see how it goes! im sure ill keep you posted ;)

time for a road trip!

sometimes its just what you need :)

I hitched a ride down to Omaha and Sarah and headed south! It has been blistering hot out so the thought of going further south sounds a bit frightfull but i figured it cant be MORE humid, and the billion hours of driving will be air conditioned.

pack the cooler and lets go!

We past threw Lincoln and down into Kansas down to Marysville Kansas to see some of Sarahs relatives. Nothing to exciting but i learned of a mothers-day weekend BBQ competition/ car show that sounds like fun, and saw some preety tremendous lighting for hours and hours.

Figuring we were already in the state Sarah granted me a 'slight' 360 mile detour... to KKOA's *Kustom Kemps Of America * lead sled spectacular!



When I had seen that we were going to be headed to Little Rock via Kansas I got on the HAMB to search for some "if im in KC what should i do?" posts and stumbled apon the fact that we would be in the "general area" the same weekend as the show in Salina. I'd never attended the show but had heard that it was one of the top two shows to hit every year if you are into traditional hot rods and customs. Its more of a custom show but when i saw that people from as far as portland oregon, miami florida, L.A. california, just all over! i knew i had to go.



after seeing cars cruising the main drags and seeing the sign i was bouncing around like something out of a cartoon full of excitement and as soon as i jumped out of the car in the parking lot this is what we see! Oh. My. God. haha, AMERICA! right? haha



we headed over the bridge into the show and caught a preety good eye full of what we were in for.



the show is held at a park so along with plenty of shade trees there is alot of trees/water/tall grass blocking you from realy seeing anything until your already in. kinda cool.



we didn't take a lot of photos figuring that we were only there for friday afternoon and more, read better professional, would be posted on the HAMB later on. So what we shot is some what random. Sarah was on the look out for kool interior ideas and dug this early 60's oldmobiles threads.



as well as this little studebaker sedan.



we both dig shoebox fords, louvers, and this sorta burgandy color so taking a shot of this 49' ford was a given.



and this bare metal 33/34 ford 5 window coupe with small block chevy v8 power. well that was all me. i wish id taken some more time to look it over it seemd to have some cool details including having the front brake backing plates drilled and chromed what looks to be several decades ago. rad :)



and Sarah added another name to her list of small old cars she craves, this new addition being a 40's ford Anglia.



i actualy had to look at the tag to see what this truck started as ~a mid 50's ford F truck if your curious, preety amazing.

but my jaw dropped threw the floor when i saw what was next to it...



EL MATADOR! not a clone, not something inspired by. no, this is the ACTUAL car. WHOA



yeah like in all the hot rod magazines in 61 EL MATADOR, whoa.



i stole these pix off the net but the owner had a giant portfolio of all the magazine and news clippings of the car as well as the AWEFUL shape he found the car in before more of less reconstructing the whole thing back to new.



honsetly ive never realy been that into these super wild customs. but i dont know, something between seeing it in person being much different and, well, actualy seeing it in person. parked on the grass and cruising down the road just makes it all different. this is a car you see in books or if it still exists in some car museum. excited to see it would be an understatment. color me nerded out. haha.



another interior shot, this time from...



this awesome Cadillac, it was one of a pair from colorado two brother drove out. both cars completely different both total jaw droppers.



a seemingly endless line of 49-51 mercs and we took photos of.....none! we did however get a shot of this snazzy 46 merc vert though.

of course we had some tastey food at Bogey's before the show, what are we supposed to starve?

haha, after the show we motored on threw some rain to St.Jo to hunker down for the night before headed to KC int he morning to see one of sarahs friends and some BBQ :)

like were going to KC and not getting BBQ? right lol.



before eating though we did wander around a bit threw some antique stores and a quick walk threw Freaks on Broadway to see the remodel. haven't been there in years the place looks awesome :)

anyhow, we stopped for a minute and took some pictures of this awesome graff piece the infamous Scribe had done.



a little further shot, the whole back of the building was covered with Scribes work and the sides and front were another artist I'd not heard of. It's actually a martial arts studio, cool.



a quick drive and a good 25 people in front of us we finaly got far enough in the line to see the door into OK Joes BBQ. roughly 35 people in line outside and another 70 ish inside. this had better be good!



lol thats one way to rate hotness i suppose



line was ridic!



i however felt like the line might be the wait when half way threw i see this. An article proclaiming the top 13 places to eat before you die, of course featuring Joe's. Eh, big deal so its some locals favorite spot.. oh wait, who wrote this? Anthony Bordain? ok now im REALY hungry and looking forward to this meal.



still more line...



the HANDS DOWN best bbq/ pulled pork sandwich i have EVER eaten. i almost feel guilty it was so good. and yes im totaly serious. daaaaaaaaaaaamn.



had to quench that thirst from waiting outside in the 100+ deg temps, this tiny jug of soda aught to do it! the backs of my hands are about 4 1/2 inches wide if that helps you all scale that cup!

a not at all quick drive to Little Rock Ark. followed, and a coma of sleep followed that.



after a day or so of chilling out and doing some wedding stuff we went shooting with Sarahs family. typically not that big of deal, BUT! it was Sarahs first time ever shooting! I had told her that until she could shoot a gun safely and make good gravey she just wasnt marriage marterial. I guess we can check this one off the list!
how exciting!



Sarah's dad showing her how to shoot a pistol.





bang! bang!



rifle? check. pistol? check. AR-15? well lets just get this scope focused.



check!



figured id give it a go as well ;)



so far a pretty good trip :)

ill let you know how the rest goes haha.

lesss stress = less photos?

kinda calming down around here and getting to relax a little more, oddly enough as life calms down the outdoors warm up...way up. its just about discussting degrees out right now.

anyways, not to much new on this end. looking at venues for the wedding tomorrow as well as seeing the zac brown band play, out doors so im hoping that overcast rainy-ness they forecasted comes true and cools us off a bit. so thats good, also just had a visit from my brother jon with his wife and insanely cute daughter :) they came up for her first birthday, every time they are around i realize how much i miss having them loser then 9 hours away in colorado. but hopefuly things work out and theyll be a little closer in the near-ish future.

that being said of course theres photos but soem links quick also.

http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2011/7/19/midmod-bungalow-in-the-uk.html

this should link to a preety rad remodel of a styleof house i see all the time and have been stumped on what id ever do with something shapped like that. realy dig there solutions.

http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2011/7/19/midmod-bungalow-in-the-uk.html

that one is a comparison between to places, realy enjoy the first one. the second one not so much

on that note may as well keep going with the house stuff...



i think i could be productive in this space...but its awefully orginized. maybe id acomplish paying bills and reading stuff online haha



i think this is actualy a small room used as a giant closet but i like the idea of displaying the shoes almost like art. kind of a hidding it in plane site kind of idea.



walking threw yet another boring white space you see somethign interesting...color! a little further in and you notice the ceiling..



whoa! awesome right?



gotta keep this figure somehow...



i guess stairs are as good of way as any :)



just dont..



ever EVER!



expect me to carry large pieces of furniture up these things. EVER. i will sooner ride a motorcycle up them or pay someone else to move my stuff. lol



some cool fireplaces



dont recall ever seeing anyhting like this before, its preety cool though i must say.

ive been thinking a fireplace with a big comfy couch, with sliding glass doors to a wood deck with a smallish set in pool would be preety awesome. on those super hot nights you could slip over and a take a dip. and on those first spring nights you could swim and use the fireplace like a bon fire to warm up :)



just kinda liked this, its simple.



some details.



this is actualy the lobby of a tattoo studio but i think it could make an awefully cool man cave inspiration photo! all kinda of neat stuff.



never been much of a boat guy but you cant denie that the cool just dripps off this chris craft boat!





so cool, i can imagine taking it out on some big lack and pulling into a shore side restraunt for a twilight dinner.



been digging the 46-48 ford coupes lately and reading up on them, definantly on my list of cars id like to have before i die. it may not be a short list but these are on it either way haha.



good place to show a 40s style custom, super obvious boat influences. i bet it just glides down the road.



40s style land speed style hot rod just to keep the hot rod to custom ratio in check ;)



of course like most things the freinds you make doing things are alot of the fun, and driving old cars to hang out with car friends for some Q? couldnt get better :)



really looking forward to april 21 2012, bbq and milk shakes. hopefully with my favorite girl and hopefuly with some new wheels!

and thats all i got!
hope your surviving the heat were ever you all are :)