Tiny Living, Big Life: Upcycled Bike Jewelry & Creating Your Own Path
Sometimes the universe brings someone into your world who feels like they’re living a parallel version of your own story — tiny home, mountain town, questionable life choices (according to “normal people”), but full of purpose, creativity, and absolute grit. That is exactly what happened when I sat down with Alix from ABD Culture. We recorded this episode from our respective tiny homes, talking about everything from tube-to-jewelry magic to crying at the gym to what it really means to build a life that fits you.
This episode is a mix of tiny-home humor, creative resilience, entrepreneurship, and the honest emotional work that comes with choosing a different kind of life.
Listen now 👇
Tiny Homes, Frozen Pipes & Learning to Love a Nontraditional Life
Alix lives in a 23-foot toy hauler that doubles as her home, studio, and shipping department. I’m in my fifth wheel. Together we cover the very real (and often hilarious) realities of tiny living — wood stoves, bad couches, 20-amp limits, frozen toilets, and that cozy feeling of walking back inside after a cold morning.
And yet…we both love it.
Because tiny living forces clarity. It asks you what matters, what you really need, and what actually makes you feel alive.
There’s something grounding about building a life that doesn’t look like everyone else’s.
Making Jewelry From Bike Tubes (Yes, Really)
ABD Culture started when Alix needed a gift for Burning Man, and her husband kept blowing through bike tubes like candy. She combined her jewelry background, her creativity, and her love for sustainability into something completely original.
She now laser-cuts everything from her camper, turning discarded tubes into lightweight, durable, beautiful pieces. It’s recycling, upcycling, art, and storytelling all woven together.
Chasing Sunshine & Starting Over at Any Age
After years in rainy, gray Vermont, Alix and her husband took their camper across the West — Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado — before finally settling in Gunnison, CO.
What I loved most about this part of our conversation is how honest it is. There’s pressure in your 30s and 40s to have everything figured out, to make “smart” choices, to pick the stable, predictable path. But sometimes the right move is the one that doesn’t make sense to anyone else.
“You’re not in line with anybody else’s chapter.”
A reminder a lot of us need.
Redefining Consistency, Success & Showing Up When It’s Hard
We talked openly about comparison, self-criticism, and that heavy feeling of seeing people “make it” quickly when you’ve been grinding for years. We also talked about crying at the gym (hi), redefining consistency, and why it’s still consistency even when it’s messy.
There’s so much permission in this conversation, permission to grow slowly, to pivot, to show up imperfectly, to build something that makes your life feel good.
Connect With ABD Culture
Shop the jewelry: https://alixandrabarron.com/
Instagram: @abdculture
Tarin It Up Links
Podcast IG: @tarin.it.up.podcast
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