Mark

Author archive

Hi, I’m Mark. I was born and raised in Texas. I like cheeseburgers, great design and getting my hands dirty. I have a soul patch; everyone hates it.

The Making of a Family Portrait

We tried to take the nice family shot but it wasn’t working. Every shot we took just didn’t feel right. On the verge of giving up, and feeling a shift in the weather coming on, we thought it might be fun to try and get a shot of Sarah’s hair blowing in my face. A […]

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Let us be brave in our wishes

It’s not an uncommon thing for August to fill silent gaps with song. Most of the lyrics are about things he sees around him – “the birds are flying… In the sky” “I’m sitting on the couch and looking at a book” stuff like that. Tonight though he got me with a pretty epic and […]

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A Note from the Summit

I’m writing this from the summit of Mount Washington. It’s Tuesday, October 13. Most of the world is at work. We’re on top of the tallest moutain on the east coast. Something seems right about this. Something seems right about everything. Maybe it’s the thin air talking. I have these moments of clarity in my […]

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Mark’s Top 5 Pros and Cons to the RV Lifestyle

PROS Freedom. Freedom is my highest ideal. It’s my one thing. Living anywhere we want for as long (or short) as we want, working from the road, a park, a coffee shop, Target, or anywhere in between, is awesome. Quantity quality time with my family. There are no do overs. The thinking that says work […]

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The Sweetland

When we told people about our dream, we would  get the same response but in two different forms. There was the excited/supportive/enthusiastic- “Man that sounds awesome! Why are you guys doing that?!” and then there’s the less than excited/sarcastic/patronizing “Man…okay, that sounds awesome? So, why are you guys doing that??” It seems that when the […]

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9 Things We Learned Renovating our RV

Renovating a house on wheels is a HUGE undertaking. There’s probably more like a million thing we learned but here’s 9 things we learned renovating our RV. 1. Buy your supplies as you need In previous projects we hated getting half way through something only to find out we needed that one thing like glue, […]

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We are not on Vacation.

We have to constantly remind ourselves (and others) that “We are not on vacation.” We’re traveling full-time, always in a new city with new and interesting things to do, places to go, and yummy things to eat. We love new experiences and we love good food. We’re in trouble. At the time of this writing […]

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Downsizing Your Stuff

We lived in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, with a large front and backyard. We worked hard to find just the right pieces to fill it with. Sarah and I are both designers, so shopping at Rooms to Go was not an option and neither was filling every room with IKEA furnishings. We had many one-of-a-kind […]

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You’re a good one

Me: “You’re a good kid, you know that?” August: “You’re a good grown up, you know that?” We need to hear that sometimes.

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Downsizing the Dog

It pains me to write this. At the start of any great adventure you picture yourself summiting the mountain, completing your quest, or hiking to the edge and looking over. You picture yourself with the people you love, and the things you care about. I pictured us with Sullivan. Sullivan is our dog. I’m sure […]

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Couldn’t shake it.

So we made it through the holidays and couldn’t seem to shake this RV idea. It wasn’t just an RV, it was an adventure and like all great adventures, we knew it would transform us in ways we could never imagine. We also knew that it would come at a cost. Lots of work, lots […]

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Sno-Cones and Big Dreams

Back in 2012 we were living in Houston, TX. We drove across town to one of our favorite sno-cone places. On our way home, sno-cones in hand, Sarah and I reminded each other of a long-term dream we had to travel full-time in a well designed, renovated RV. We’d talked about it a few times […]

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