cotton... and my bed

Those are the two things I miss most about being away from home. Van Panther (our Cat) comes in at a close 3rd.

dramatic kitty/dog

for no reason at all....

packing

... and no help from this guy.

searching for a home

I have been spending every free moment I have searching apt listings, trying to find a place in Richmond. A ton of them say NO to PETS! really! how can you resist this face?

been sewin for days!

The bags are finally finished, and they look great... if I do say so myself! This round has a little something special, a diamond stitched into every single one. You can see them all HERE. 

If you would like a bag and are planning to come to a show, tell me which one you like, and I will reserve it for you! (these babies are one of a kind) If you don't reside in a city that the Diamond Center will be touring thru email me, brandiprice{at}gmail.com, and let me know which one you would like, and I will ship it to you!

The bags are $20 each ($22 if mailed) Made with 100% reclaimed and recycled material, they are all lined and have a pocket inside. There are two sizes the MESSENGER which is 15" x 13.3" with a 45" strap (that can be tied up if needed shorter) and the TOTE which is 14" x 15.5"

check em out! your very own diamond

lined, and a pocket to boot!

This is another hint for what K has been cookin' up to sell on tour... ill do a full post on it tomorrow! yuuuummmmyyyyyy!

This is how the bobo's are helping... jerks.

in exactly 3 months...

we will be spending our fist day as Virginians, (I can't believe it's that close) one of the things that I'm going to miss most is being able to go to my parents house for the weekend, especially times like mothers day. These are a couple of images from our road trip from Lubbock to Ft. Worth this past weekend. I've been making this drive all together now for over 10 years, and it never ceases to amaze me. Almost every trip we see some kind of amazing sunset, or crazy awesome clouds. I will start out taking pics of it with my iphone and K will say, "do you think we should stop for this one?" I always answer "no" but then quickly digress and we pull over so I can get my "big camera" and get a better shot. 

This is what I have referred to, for most of my adult life as "my mesa." It also signifies that I am one hour from Lubbock. This formation is right outside of Post, TX and I have recently found out that it's called "flat top mountain"... whatever. 

Found this guy while exploring around an Allsups in Baird TX. 
This is Cotton staring, mystified by the white horse. Cotton has a thing for anything that's white. It could possibly be due to the fact that his fur is white? BUT he has a strong attraction to other things that are white... blankets, toys, horses, cats...? 
Road Dog.

Kyle thought that this cloud formation was actually a flying saucer, a gigantic flying saucer entering our atmosphere... who knows, stranger things have happened.

less protesting, more Van Panther...

THAT is exactly what is in line for this weekend! ( and Cotton to, of course )

I have started a new project of sorts, something that I can take on the road when we tour to sell, and hopefully generate more cash flow for gas! I will reveal more about that later BUT I though I might just show these images. This project does involve me sewing, on a machine, which is something that I haven't done since I was in 4-H in jr. high... just like riding a bike, right? And just like when I do laundry, or recycling, or just about anything else, Van Panther has to be RIGH up in it! His favorite sewing thing to play with is the pin cushion.... REALLY VAN, the pin cushion! I come home daily and find it in a new place. He has also found a new favorite place to sleep, the fabric bag. That darn cat... if he wasn't so dang cute!

40mph constant wind with areas of blowing dirt.

THAT was the weather forecast for today... oh, and gusts of up to 50 mph, but I must say the 40 mph constant is pretty brutal in itself, AND if "areas" means the entire city of Lubbock and surrounding communities, then they hit that one right on the nose. The sky has been brown since 9am this morning! Oh, West Texas, why? What is the reason for the wind (and blowing dirt), and where the hell does it come from? 

In mid March, back before the wind started to blow, my eldest cousin and I went out on a photo journey searching for the ghost town of Estacado, Texas. In 1886 Estacado was the county seat of Crosby County (which neighbors Lubbock Co.) and the town flourished, by 1890 the population was reported at 200! In 1891 Estacado lost the title of county seat and after the grasshopper invasion and drought in 1892 it all but finished the dwindling community off... damn those grasshoppers. Read more about the town HERE.

I will also take a moment to tell you about my cousin, Cobey. Cobey is 4 years older than me and when I was growing up I thought he was the coolest! He introduced me to scary movies, Stephen King's Cat's Eye and Mervyn LeRoy's adaptation of William March's novel The Bad Seed... and on top of that he had a dark room in his bathroom! My love of photography stems directly from him, thanks Cobey. Oh and btw... He is also a graphic designer ( I am a copier ).

These are a couple of my images from our explorations. See the whole gallery HEREThe above house we found in Crosby Co. As the wind would blow the old house seamed to inhale and exhale... the white door on the left would open and shut as if to let you know it was still breathing. 

ps. Just a little hint on my big announcement: In August the bobos, K and I will be moving over 1,600 miles from our little home in Lubbock.

this weekend...

i will be here... This is my room at my Mom & Dad's house. I Love my room at my Mom & Dad's house (Cotton does too)... funny thing is, I never had my own room at my parent's house growing up (except on the occasion that my sis would get mad at me and move into my little brother's room... which actually happened often, huh... but she always came back!) BUT now, at almost 30 years old, I have my own room, that I share with none, well, except for Cotton. 
Mom knows that I love green!

well hellllloooo monday, nice to see ya!

Our dog Cotton a.k.a bobo-buddy-butt-face (as his name has now warped into) has an issue with sleep crying... and ever so often will flip his feet around, but nothing like poor little Bizkit here. I laughed out loud at this one... and now I am chuckling again just thinking about it! Hmmm ha! It's good for a monday smile at least.

p.s. please do not worry about us offending our Cotton by calling him "bobo-buddy-butt-face" he, as many know, is deaf, and as long as we say it with a smile on our faces, and love him as much as we do, its all the same to him!

p.p.s I found this on one of my favorite blogs, a cup of Jo... check it out!

I found these pictures of a baby Van Panther...

on my computer today at work... and he is inside the refrigerator, right next to the Lone Star  and the 99 cent salsa. It made me laugh out loud, especially now that I really know what makes that Van Panther tick. HA!

the bobos-numero uno

This is officially the first of a billion of these adorable faces that I will post this year. They are just so irresistible! (this photo shot by mr. K baby hutchison!)

Van Panther likes to get inside things, especially things that I am trying to use at that specific moment.

laundry

THIS is what happens when I attempt to do laundry. I can't bare to wake the sleeping babies, so I just usually work around them, lame!

when life gives you lemons... put on your sunglasses

We had another long weekend of recording. I say we, but really Kyle had a long weekend of recording. It always amazes me that even though I sing and play, at least the guitar, on all the tracks, my contribution to recording seems to be around 15%. There is an incredible amount effort that Kyle spends putting his "magic" on the tracks. They are sounding so good, but now we are under the crunch! 1 week from today is when it MUST be finished, so every hour not working or sleeping will be dedicated to finishing up the album. We did take a little break on sat to have some band photos shot. We hired a photographer friend but at the last minute she had some camera issues and was unable to photograph us, so knowing that our time was limited, and since we were already dressed up we did it ourselves. After a quick trip to the local camera shop to get a wireless remote control shutter release (the coolest thing ever) we were ready. We had some ideas to shoot some images outside but when we got to our destination we discovered the wind was around 40mph (and that is not an exaggeration!) so we headed home to experiment with what could be done inside, and away from the wind... here is what we came up with. The sunglasses were K's idea, respectively. The appearances of the bobos were on their own accord. 

look at this boy...

I was looking thru some old photos and found this one of Cotton a.k.a "bobo"...isn't he beautiful?

day 4-6 my eyes are going to explode!

WOWO... truly my eyes and head might explode from the pure landscape diversity that I have seen on this trip so far. So on Monday we drove out of Las Vegas by way of the Mojave Desert, and into L.A., arriving just as the sun goes down (this seems to be a trend with us). Our friend Marcus, who until 3 weeks ago worked with Kyle at the bronze foundry in Lubbock, and moved to LA to be a special effects artist, was to be our host for the evening. He and his friend from high school, Nate (who is a aspiring actor), live about a block off of Hollywood Bl. They were too much fun, and totally the odd couple, just two barely 21 year olds from the midwest trying to make it in Hollywood. Best of luck to both of them. I bet it won't take anytime and we will be seeing their names in lights. 

On Tuesday we did some driving around in the Hollywood Hills, and up into Laurel Canyon across Mulholland Dr., and down into the Beverly Hills/Bel Air area. It was incredibly beautiful, and the homes were, of course insane.

After some sight seeing we headed to our friend Kenny's house in Orange County, Fulton to be exact. He lives in a crazy awesome house that feels like you step back into the late 50s early 60s, and many of the rooms are either decorated with tiki chic or music memorabilia. Kenny and his girlfriend, Debonee treated us to a fantastic Cuban dinner in an area I believe they called Orange Circle. Both of them have the best stories and are great company, and after dinner we got a viewing of Kenny's guitar collection, exclusively Rickenbacker Guitars, and one very rare one called a "light show"... and it lights up! (see pics below) 

This morning, Wed, we woke up and got a private tour of the Rickenbacker Guitar Factory where Kenny works. All Rickenbacker Guitars are all had made right there in that building... and as of now there is a 2 year waiting period for a guitar. So amazing (see pics).

After lunch we headed south to Newport and spent some time walking up and down the beach. The weather is beautiful, and I must take a moment to gush about how it has been amazingly perfect this entire trip. It got a little chili when we were in Flagstaff, and today it got a little warm 90.... but how could we ask for anything more perfect. Tonight we have another night with Kenny, and then tomorrow off to Joshua Tree... more later!

mojave desert

Peggy Sue's 50s diner next to the Ghost TOWN of Calico, CA. Best grilled cheese and vanilla malt this side of the mojave desert.
Peggy Sue's motto:
Laurel Canyon, LA, CA
Outside Marcus's apt our first night in LA, sorry I forgot the arrows...

Orange County street


Our lodging area for last night and tonight
a small tasting of the tiki
Kenny and the light show... i was amazed.
At the Rickenbacker factory






Newport Beach





we saw a seal off the pier!