Ok. So, the reason my post was MIA this morning was because I was out on a mission. A very important one. If you haven’t already heard, the VIBES are coming to Bridgeport. AKA four days of music, hippies, food, vendors, dancing… Ok- get the point?

SO… My neighbors and I decided it was absolutely necessary to enhance the 4 day party with a drive-in theater located in our lot (we live in an old industrial building that’s got a huge parking lot directly in front of our homes– ideal for comfortable seating and a front row movie theater experience… see diagram below). Our idea, which has been brewing for months finally materialized last night when we got a surge of energy at approximately 12:30 am. After a all too serious pow wow, we each ran inside to gather our assigned belongings. A minute later we convened in the parking lot and with tools in hand, designed a game plan. Jordan hooked up the projector as Andes (neighbor to the right and 3-D animator extraordinaire) rigged the proper wiring techniques. Tod, Debra‘s other half, popped out of his bedroom window hanging a huge king size sheet. From our bedroom window we stuck out a skylight crank, which beautifully grabbed on to the end of Tod’s sheet and drew it over to our side. I was asked to get some yarn from my crafting materials and I obliged. When I came back we tied it up, ran outside to see the final product and and BAM. It was a magical moment.

We stood there proud of what we had accomplished, but something just wasn’t right. After conversing and considering options, we realized that the only area for improvement was the size of the king sheet. It was good, but we wanted better. We weren’t about to settle. When the men ran out of ideas (ehem), Debra and I promised that we could come up with the ideal screen mechanism. And we did just that. I was so excited that I could barely sleep last night. I had idea after idea racing through my head. What could we use- how could we suspend it- what should the texture be. So, after our routine workout this morning (which involves some sweating and a heavy amount of staring at people and dubbing their conversation) we set out to hunt and gather what will become a legend in the history of projecting movies onto one’s house from one’s parking lot.

We started off with the idea of getting simple, cheap shower liners, you know the opaque white ones. We figured that if we suspended them upside down with the rod hanging on the bottom, that they would be smooth and not subject to wind blowing. We planned on punching holes and feeding yarn through the top of the curtains (which we would surge together, btw) and suspending it from our respective bedroom windows. We thought it was brilliant until we came across what I am sure was secretly made for just what we are doing….

So, you know those white, glossy shades that can be pulled down and snapped back up? The ones that they had in school– teachers would pull them down with that swishing / whipping sound just as something exciting was going on outside during the older kids’ recess. Well, we were checking out the curtain rods to see if they were any cheaper than the shower curtain rods when suddenly we spotted the above mentioned pull down shade thingy. It was so meant to be. Perfect in every way we gleamed at our success. The shades roll off of a heavy weighted tube, which is meant to lock into the shade receptacle at the top of the window– however, we are going to flip things around and hang these nifty numbers upside down so that the tube weighs down the material. We are going to do some surgery on the top to connect the two shades together by creating one long rod to slide through the already created loop thinga mabob. Can you picture it? Sort of? Well, take my word. it’s awesome. Please see the blue prints below so you can better understand what the hell is going on and send in any ideas you have because we still have 4 days to make it ideal. BTW are you going to the vibes… ?