ADU, Travel, Community
Lina Menard
Maui, Hawaii

After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.

Maui, Hawaii
Tiny House, Travel, Planning
Lina Menard
Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla

A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.

Lucky Penny Moves to Walla Walla
Minimalism, Workshop
Lina Menard
Downsizing Tune Up

As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…

Downsizing Tune Up

flax seed pillow

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My New Favorite Thing

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My New Favorite Thing Glad I spent the weekend before last Weatherizing the Yurt. Yesterday it snowed a bit here in Portland. It was, of course, Portland-style snow: pretty little flakes that melt the second they hit the ground, no intention of sticking around. Portland snow is a little pathetic, but really charming. I enjoyed walking through it to the streetcar stop on my way to lunch at Nicholas, one of my favorite Portland restaurants. Nicholas is a Lebanese restaurant that serves spectacular food and I was glad to share a meal there with some dear family friends. They brought me a flax seed pillow as a gift and it is my new favorite thing.

Although I’m being careful not to adopt new things haphazardly because I’m a smidge over on My Things Challenge, this one is a great addition to my possessions. I plan to take an hour in the next couple of weeks to review My 200 Things List and pick which things to let go.

Anyhow, last night I heated up my flax seed pillow in the microwave for the first time and brought it to bed with me. As much as I’ve tried to convince Raffi to crawl down to the foot of my bed to be my foot warmer he won’t do it. He prefers to sleep in my arms with his head on the pillow, too. He thinks he’s a people and I haven’t corrected him. So I put my warm flax seed pillow under my down comforter at the foot of my bed and snuggled my feet underneath. It warmed them right up.

I've just gotten home from dinner with a friend and my flax seed pillow is heating my feet as I type. It’s so nice to have toasty warm feet as I drift off to sleep!