Raspberry Festival Roundup

On Saturday the 19th, Lori the Loon officially debuted at the 80th annual Hopkins Raspberry Festival! Thanks to the support of many family and friends, she entered the mobile fashion world with a veritable bang. In super-mega-life-changing moments such as these, I've typically found it easier to describe things without words. The following are photos from the debut and, though they show only snippets of that wonderful day, they represent the energy and enthusiasm that made this first event a true success.

Here's an in-progress shot for some comparison.

Can you tell I'm a little bit proud of her?

All parked and ready to go!

My best friend and I showing that, yes there is enough room to go inside the bus!

Would not have been able to do this without the handsome shade-wearing man.

See, even the back of my bus is smiling!

Most enthusiastic and completely insufficient thank you's to everyone that came out to support this new business and its very exhausted but very satisfied owner.

Let the renovating begin!

For the past six months, I've done a lot of things for The Uncommon Loon. Shopping local thrift stores, garage and estate sales is literally my favorite activity, so that was hardly work. The rest of the tasks, however complicated or paperworky, could be accomplished while sitting or laying down. So, when the time inevitably arrived when all of the sitting tasks were done, it was time to get my hands dirty. That started yesterday and finished today with the construction of the two clothing racks for inside the bus! (They're overlapped to save space in the garage. Also, that folded pile of colorful goodness is my area rug, on top of more storage, just waiting to be installed.)

Speaking of getting hands (and arms and face and legs and feet) dirty...with the help of some seriously enthusiastic and hardworking friends, we got the entire inside of the bus painted! The Rustoleum Gloss Almond paint went on SO easily and smoothly that the entire process (with drying time in between coats) only took us about three hours. Now that I look at the photo more carefully..it's almost exactly the color of my dad's motorcycle! I'm holding off on posting too many in-transition photos, but tomorrow is installation day and I know I won't be able to stop myself..

With only nine days until the Hopkins Raspberry Festival, I've got a lot more work to do. Good thing opening The Uncommon Loon feels a lot more like lifelong dream fulfillment than work.