Tiny House Construction Essentials: Plumbing Systems

Remember Casa Pequena, that tiny house we framed and wrapped in just 2 days at the Casa Verde festival in McMinnville last April? If not, here's a sweet video of the Case Pequena build.

It's time for Casa Pequena to be plumbed. Fortunately, Shelter Wise and Portland Alternative Dwellings are teaming up to offer a Tiny House Construction Essentials series and the next class is the plumbing session. Derin Williams of Shelter Wise and Ian Bruner of Bruner Plumbing will be leading the session on Monday, September 16th from 5:30-8:00pm. You can find more information and register for the session on the PAD Workshops page. Sign up today!

Lina's Next Adventure

This post from last summer was lingering in draft mode. Now that Niche is having it's first birthday, I realized I'd better get it posted! -Lina

This summer I've been going through a Transition Time as I wrapped up my Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, my Urban Design Certificate, my work with Intrinsic Ventures in the Ford District. On top of all that, I moved from my Home, Sweet Yurt into my Home, Sweet Pea. And then I immediately spent a couple weeks catching up with my long-lost family.

So as the dust settles, I'd like to introduce you to Niche Consulting LLC and tell you about my next adventures. In January I created Niche, my own sustainable design consulting company, so that I could do design and lifestyle consulting with people interested in creating their own small homes and so that I could work on sustainable development projects. You can read Lina's Next Adventure, the letter I wrote to the folks in the Ford Building for more about that.

I remember declaring as a sophomore in college that I wanted to be a sustainability consultant someday, but I didn’t know quite what that meant. So I was researching the sort of companies for which I’d like to work. The trouble was that I was most intrigued by fringy sustainable housing ideas like natural building, cohousing communities, district sustainable energy use, and creating small homes by converting garages and basements. I couldn’t find a single company that seemed like it would allow me to pursue my passions.

But as I graduated, the parent of one of my dearest friends gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. Gayle told me:

“The jobs you’ll love best throughout your career probably don’t exist yet. So just be ready for them, when they’re ready for you.”

What better way to prepare myself for all the exciting projects to come than to create a company that will allow me the flexibility to pursue them?

I give credit to three people for convincing me I could – and should – start my own company. Matt Eppelsheimer of Rocket Life Incorporated taught me an incredible amount about start-ups. Joan Grimm helped me understand that creating my own single-member LLC would enable me to work with companies like Portland Alternative Dwellings more easily on a contract-basis. And Lizzy Caston, a fellow Portland State University Masters of Urban and Regional Planning alum, inspired me to strike out on my own by telling me about creating her own consulting company. I met with her for a cup of tea in early January and by the end of the week my company was registered!

Now that my graduate school degree is complete, I have the time to see what that means to be self-employed. I'm looking forward to site managing for Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel in September, co-instructing the Tiny House Design-Build course at Yestermorrow in September-October, team teaching Tiny House Basics Workshops with Dee Williams and Joan Grimm in November, and doing some capacity-building work with Portland Alternative Dwellings. Hopefully, I'll also have lots of opportunities to do consultations with individuals.

If you've who have been trying to find your niche and haven't yet, maybe it's time to make it! If you'd like to talk to me about small house designs or tiny lifestyle consultation, please contact me.

Tiny Open House at Bayside Bungalow

Two years ago, my friend Brittany gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received when she offered to let me rent her tiny house on wheels to decide if the Little Life is really a good fit for me. I LOVED the little house and my first Year of Living Little, so I've been living in tiny houses ever since. Now Brittany rents her tiny house out by the night so other people can try on tiny. On Sunday, August 18th she's opening Bayside Bungalow up for anyone to come see for themselves. If you're in Olympia or can get yourself there, go check it out! You'll find her invitation below:

***

Many people over the past year have asked if they could see the Bayside Bungalow and check out the tiny little house that I now rent out as a vacation rental.  Alas, the time has come for a (tiny) Open House!

Are you interested in exploring, testing, touching, trying, photographing, peeing in (the composting toilet - duh!), measuring & learning more about tiny houses?  Then this is for you!  Learn about how it was built, why I decided to build it, how it works, what goes in (water, electricity & food) and how it all comes out (gray water, urine-diverting toilet system), and most of all - does it fit YOU?  Bring on the questions!  Bring a sketchpad, measuring tape & camera & explore this tiny house.

What: Open House at the Bayside Bungalow tiny house vacation rental

When: Sunday, August 18, 2pm-6pm

Where: The Bayside Bungalow in Olympia, WA

Your host: Brittany Yunker, builder & owner of the Bayside Bungalow

For directions & more info, photos, or to make a reservation, visit www.baysidebungalow.com

Please invite a friend & swing by!  I look forward to meeting you.

Cheers,

Brittany YunkerThe Bayside Bungalow ~A tiny house on Puget Sound~ www.baysidebungalow.com Olympia, WA bbyunker@gmail.com 360.556.9719

Home, Sweet Pea

Yesterday a handful of friends helped me move My 190 Things to my new home, Sweet Pea. We made the move in one trip and it only took a couple hours, though it would have been quicker if we hadn't gotten stuck in rush hour traffic. I'm grateful to the friends who were willing to schlep boxes and sit in traffic in the summer heat in exchange for beer and pizza in the garden afterwards! Thanks, friends!

Sweet Pea is the smallest of the three peas in POD49. (The other two "peas" are 2-bedroom bungalows, home to my fabulous neighbors. Check out this Oregonian article about POD49 to learn more.) I'm so excited to introduce you to this jewel box of a house! These gorgeous photos were taken by talented photographer (and fellow tiny house dweller) Chris Tack of Tiny Tack House. You can see more of his brilliant work at Tack Photography.

Sweet Pea was designed by Dee Williams and built by master craftswoman Katy Andersen. And since you may want one of your own once you've seen it, I should mention that the Sweet Pea plans are now available on Portland Alternative Dwelling's website!

The Sweet Pea has a side entry with French doors that open out onto the porch. To the right is a window seat with a bump out over the tongue.

The house was built out to the edges of the wheel wells so it's extra wide. The walls are tall, too, so the sleeping loft is especially roomy. I found that I can orient my bed either direction because the loft is so large, so I've turned it so that I can look straight out the skylight. I especially love the view of the bamboo from my bed!

The kitchen has metallic countertops and a butcher block for chopping. It's fully set up for cooking with a propane range, a mini fridge, a sweet little sink, and a range hood. I love the built-in pantry where I can put all my mason jars. I'm really excited to have a proper kitchen again. I made do with My Kitchen Cupboard, but having running water and a gas stove again is definitely inspiring me to cook!

The bathroom is equipped with an Airhead compost toilet and a shower/tub combo. Even though it is too warm right now to take a bath, I'm excited about the prospect of taking a bath on a cold day this fall! After living in my Home Sweet Yurt for ten months I will always be grateful for having hot running water in my living space! I'm glad I tested the limits of my minimalism and that I will not take for granted the resources available to me.

I've loved spending my morning finding a place for everything so that everything can be in its place! I'm finding there's plenty of space to spare. At 120 square feet, plus a sleeping loft, Sweet Pea is much more roomy than the 113 round foot yurt. And it's so impeccably crafted that I'm sure I'll learn a lot from living here that I can use on my own build. I look forward to having this be my Home, Sweet Pea, until my own little house is complete.

Perfect Packing Weather

It’s Transition Time and I’ve now caught up on sleep enough to tackle the next steps. This morning is grey so it seems like the perfect whether to bustle around the house, organizing and clustering in preparation for my move into the Sweet Pea in Pod 49 on Monday. A lot of people I know are transitioning right now, too. I helped a friend move last weekend and yesterday had breakfast with a friend who was in the midst of packing. So yesterday evening I was feeling inspired to start packing myself and this morning I've continued.

One of the things I’m discovering, however, is that it’s tricky to pack two days before a move when you don’t own much more than you use! Many of the items that surround me are things that I actually will use in the next two days. I’m finding that packing in advance is especially difficult since I don’t have a good place to put the bags I’ve already packed! My floor space is mostly dedicated to circulation and there aren’t any counters. I’m making do by putting everything on top of my dressers and My Kitchen Cupboard.

As I sorted through my dresser I pulled up My 200 Things inventory spreadsheet again because I was curious to see where I’d land.

I began My 200 Things Challenge in September when I moved into my Home Sweet Yurt with 198 Things. Over the past 10 months I did my best to not acquire new things. There were a few items I picked up and a few I let go. In January when I did my New Year’s Re-Inventory I discovered I’d slipped a little. Part of it was that I realized there were some things I hadn’t counted in the first place. I was at 214 Things. So I did some Taking Stock without Stocking Up and got myself down to 197 things. But then I went shopping for The Minimalist's New Clothes in February and found 6 great items so I ended up at 203 things.

I was pretty content with what I had at that point. So I decided that it was okay to have 203 Things. After all, as I explained in My 100 Things Challenge: Who’s Counting Anyway? for me the challenge isn’t so much about the number as it is about the intent. The goal was to be more mindful of my possessions and to consider everything I own more carefully.

When My Tiny House Adventure Began, I was thinking of my stuff in terms of volume. I’d been living in the 832 square foot house I own so I was trying to figure out which items would fit in the 121 square foot tiny house I was renting? When I began My 200 Things Challenge I began thinking in terms of count instead of volume. Suddenly it wasn’t about whether or not something would physically fit within the space but whether I wanted and needed it there at all.

So I haven’t been real precious about the exact number. I could have been stricter with myself, but it just wasn’t that important to me to be precise. I had plenty of other things to focus my attention on. Nevertheless, I’ve found it to be a useful exercise. I am more contentious about what I bring into my home. Because my new year’s resolution was to go paperless, I’ve been Strategizing Digitizing, Getting All My Docs in a Row, and especially contentious about not letting more paperwork into my life. I find that these days I’m more likely to consider whether or not an object fits into my life, rather than just whether or not it fits into my space. Therefore, I feel like I’ve succeeded in My 200 Things Challenge, regardless of the number.

But in case you’re curious, I AM keeping track. I’ll report on Monday what my count ends up being!

Now it's turning into a beautiful day and I'm off to Caravan - The Tiny House Hotel! This weekend I'm site managing at Caravan while Kol and Deb are out of town. I think it will be lovely to sit under the canopy between tidying up Rosebud and checking in tonight's guest. I'm so glad the weather is cooperating with my best intentions these days!

***

Update on 8/6/13: The yurt came partially furnished so there are are eight items I’ve been living with this year that I’m not taking with me: the bed frame, the mini fridge, the nightstand, the table, 2 chairs, and 2 water jugs. I've decided to not count these items on my updated list. My final count? 190 Things. You can see My 190 Things List here.

Transition Time

It’s August 1^st and today marks the first day of the rest of my life. Perhaps I’m being dramatic, but today feels like a pivot point. It seems I often set myself up so that several major things change all at once in my life, but this particular moment in time feels more extreme than usual.

My last three shifts went like this:

1) When I first moved to Portland My Tiny House Adventure Began right between my grad school orientation and the first day of classes. I left the last orientation activity, drove up to Olympia, and the next morning we drove Bayside Bungalow down to Portland. My sisters arrived that evening and helped me move in. We ate dinner at the Grilled Cheese Grill (which is next door to Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel – things seem to come full circle!) The next day I settled into this charming little tiny house on wheels. And the following day my Masters of Urban and Regional Planning coursework began.

2) The day before my 29th birthday we got the Tiny House on the Road Again and returned Bayside Bungalow to its bayside location in Olympia. So I had began A New Year in a New Home. I spent my birthday settling into My Summer Garden Cottage, while continuing My Summer Dream Job: Design Building Tiny Houses.

3) In late September I Downsized from a Tiny House to a Tinier House and moved into my Home Sweet Yurt the weekend before starting my second year of grad school. It’s been a great ten months here in the yurt. I’ve enjoying going through (almost) a full set of seasons here.

The past 10 days have been a time of big transitions. I celebrated another revolution around the sun on Monday, July 22 with A Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel. A week later on Monday, July 29, I turned in my final project for Urban Design Methods and finished up my masters coursework. (I celebrated by contacting Rob at Iron Eagle about my tiny house trailer order!) Tuesday and Wednesday I wrapped up my work with Intrinsic Ventures as the Planning & Communications Coordinator for their Ford District properties. This coming Monday on August 5^th some friends are helping me move from the yurt to a new tiny house on wheels, The Sweet Pea in Pod 49. I’ll be doing sustainable design consulting through my company Niche Consulting and working with Dee Williams and Joan Grimm of Portland Alternative Dwellings.

So this morning, after 10 hours of sleep, I woke up ready for Lina’s Next Adventure. But first… a break. My to do list is a mile long, but I’m giving myself the day off today. I love the idea of finishing everything on the to do list and then being able to relax, but it turns out I never do seem to finish everything on the to do list. There are too many opportunities, too many ideas, too much potential for the list to ever be empty. So I’m trying to teach myself to relax sometimes anyhow. I find that even if the things I’m doing are super fun, I don’t really feel like I can unwind unless my time is unscheduled. So I’m giving myself a secular Sabbath today. Nothing scheduled. I’ll base my actions on my whims.

This is sustainability, right? My health and happiness depends on my ability to recognize my own limits and to live within them so that I can thrive. I’m so curious to see what the day will bring! It's drizzling today for the first day in months. I may get out there to explore yet, but right now curling back up with my kitty for another nap sounds awfully nice!

My Storage Locker

During my first year of graduate school I gained access to a locker in the urban planning building, which was a big help. I was living 7 miles from campus in the Cully neighborhood and commuting downtown by bike or bus, so it was fabulous to not have to schlep everything every day.

This week as I wrapped up my coursework, my FINAL final project was to clean out my locker. When I did, I discovered that over time I’d collected quite a bit of stuff. I also realized I wasn’t counting these items in My 200 Things Challenge. So I'm writing all about it to clear my conscience.

My locker became a repository for things that I used when I was on campus (textbooks, snacks, my chalk bag for trips to the climbing wall, etc.) But I had a bad habit of stashing stuff here that I intended to send to someone but never seemed to find the time to actually pop in the mail.

I was also startled to discover how much paperwork I'd collected over the past two years. My new year's resolution was to go paper free so I began Strategizing Digitizing. All my paperwork went into a file in my locker to be scanned (at some later date, of course, when I had time.) By the time I looked at that daunting stack of paperwork I decided I can't possibly need it all. I spent an hour Getting all My Docs in a Row and narrowed it down to just a small collection of documents that I really need. I’ll be scanning documents in the next couple days while I still have access to a high speed scanner.

In the end, there were just a few items to take home. A box of envelopes. My gym gear. Some uneaten snacks. And a gift (from last year!) that I need to mail (not pictured because that would ruin the surprise!) as soon as my sister Heidi sends me her mailing address (nudge, nudge!)

Simple Living vs. Intentional Living

This post has been lingering in draft mode, but I feel compelled to share it today because I just read Kate Goonight's post on Naj Haus called Doing Justice to Complexity. It resonated with me because she writes about how complexity and intention help us understand ourselves better. Thank you Kate for articulating so beautifully why we do difficult things that help us examine our intentions and get better at figuring ourselves out!

Someone dear to me recently pointed out that my so-called simple lifestyle isn’t always convenient – or even simple, for that matter. And he has a good point. In my attempt to simplify there are many things I’ve added into my life. Several of them actually make my daily life more complex.

For instance, I because I do not have access to laundry facilities where I live I make a trip to the Belmont Eco Laundry every week or so. This entails the following actions:

1)   Filling either my 35 or 50 liter backpack with laundry (depending on whether or not I’m washing bedding)

2)   Biking 15 minutes to the Laundromat (or bussing on rainy days)

3)   Running a load of laundry through the washer and dryer

4)   Loading my backpack back up

5)   Biking or bussing home

6)   Putting my clothes away

The trip takes me about an hour and 15 minutes. On rainy days it takes an hour and a half unless I time the bus really well. During this time I cannot make myself a lunch or tidy up my Home Sweet Yurt. However, there is free wifi at the Belmont Eco Laundry so I often catch up on emails, do research, or prep a blog post. (I’d also like to point out that the only steps unique to my laundry set up are steps 2 and 5 when I’m transporting myself and my laundry to and from a washing machine and dryer, though since I'm not home my multi-tasking ability is limited.)

There are weeks that I cram too much into my days and do not allocate an hour and a half for my laundry so I get behind on it. And although I haven’t quite pared down to a minimalist wardrobe, I do not own enough clothing to go very long without doing my laundry. Getting behind makes life more complex because it’s harder to transport two loads of laundry by bike or bus.

Would it be simpler to just do laundry in the comfort of my own home? Absolutely!

So maybe it’s a misnomer to call this simple living. Perhaps it would be better to call it intentional living or mindful living. I have become more mindful of my living space and more intentional about my daily activities because of living in a tiny house. When I fetch water or fill up propane tanks I’m more conscientious about my resource consumption. If I ever catch myself feeling sorry for myself when doing my chores I remember that people the world over work much harder than me to do their laundry, acquire their water, and heat their homes. I find that living the way I do puts the inconvenience into perspective. It helps me remember that unlimited hot running water, in-home laundry facilities, and central heat are luxuries available to only a small fraction of the people on the planet.

I’m not saying that those of us who have access need to deprive ourselves of conveniences. After all, many appliances and technologies were originally designed to simplify life. But I do think we should be mindful of how we use these tools since many of them have also added complication and waste. We can be more creative about using resources efficiently and sharing more of them. When I had my very own washing machine in my 2-bedroom bungalow I could do laundry without going out in the rain or getting out of my jammies. But my fancy frontloading Energy Star washing machine only ran 2-3 hours a week. The rest of the time it sat there, waiting for me. It was convenient. But it certainly wasn’t efficient.

Now I share a washing machine with hundreds of other people. We’re participating in the sharing economy by using the Laundromat. We aren’t responsible for owning the machines, but we make good use of them. The owner of the facility presumably makes a decent living by providing this service to us.

I Love My Laundromat, but I’ll admit that it would be really nice to have laundry facilities even closer to home. This is one of the reasons I like the idea of living in a Tiny House Community (especially Tiny Cohousing). I love the idea of sharing a washer and dryer, a full-sized oven, and a hot tub with other like-minded people. I like the notion of continuing to be mindful of living space, resource consumption, and daily activities while also participating in community and having access to technologies that make life simple and convenient.

There are people all across America trying to get tiny house communities started. Are you part of one of these efforts? If so, what tools and facilities you plan to share amongst the members?

Caravan’s Tiny Houses

 

Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel will be having its grand opening on Saturday, July 27^th, 2013 and I’m sure it will book up quickly once the word is out. It’s a great place for a staycation for Portlanders and a unique place for guests to stay when visiting from out of town. (Here's a video about America's first tiny house hotel, which Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies made after interviewing Deb and me - my part begins at 7:52.)

Families from as far away as Costa Rica and the UK have already discovered Caravan! Fortunately, I managed to reserve the whole place on Monday night to celebrate my 30th birthday. I arrived a little early so I could spend time in each of the houses before my friends arrived for a Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel. Here's my take on each of the little houses on wheels.

The Rosebud

The Rosebud is a sweet little place with a distinctly cabin feel. It has a little front porch, a window seat with built-in storage, pretty wood paneling and awesome cobblestone countertops. I fully intend to appropriate the mason jar lighting idea. And I do love the little rolling table with two chairs. This is where I stayed the night of my Big Birthday Bash at the Tiny House Hotel and I am glad I got to claim this charming little retreat. Staying in The Rosebud is a great way to enjoy a little country in the city!

The Pearl

Derin Williams of Shelter Wise built this tiny house using the Miter Box plans he created. I helped him frame up and sheathe the walls last fall, so I know how meticulous he is about air sealing, energy efficiency, precision craftspersonship, and… well, everything really! The Pearl has a very zen feel with a white ceiling, sleek dark wood paneling, and stainless countertops. It features a dinette that converts to a double bed, a lofted sleeping space above, and a wet bath (the whole bathroom is a shower stall). The outside is just as sophisticated with metal siding and a colored LED light above the porch. With its clean lines and modern aesthetic, The Pearl really is the precious jewel of Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel.

The Tandem 

The Tandem is the largest of Caravan’s three tiny houses and families snatch it up since it can sleep four people. It features a queen size mattress in the loft and a day bed window seat that converts to another queen size bed. The Tandem is wood paneled in pine, giving it a warm cozy feel. The floors are cork and the countertops and shower surround are tiled, so it has several features of a ground-bound house.

I do, of course, have a special fondness for The Tandem, since it’s the tiny house I finished out last summer. (This was the house I used for my practicum project for my Yestermorrow Sustainable Design-Build Certification and it was featured last year on the Build it Green (BIG) Tour.) When I first encountered this tiny house it was a shell: framed, sheathed, wrapped and ready to be finished. I considered buying it myself but it was bigger than I wanted so I told Eli Spevak of Orange Splot about it. He purchased the partially finished tiny house and hired me to finish it out.

So last summer I did most of the finish work: hanging siding, shingling the gable ends, running electrical wiring, air sealing, insulating, rehanging a repurposed door, paneling the interior, trimming out the windows and door, and installing cork flooring. (I even tiled the shower under the tutelage of Rocky, who is an excellent tiler. He said the tile was sure to crack when the tiny house hit the road, but it’s moved once now and the tile is all still intact!)

Fortunately, I had help from Manda and Simon when it came to the parts that were impossible to do alone: installing the long sheets of Hardy Plank on the exterior, installing wood paneling on the ceiling, and installing metal roofing and a skylight. I enjoyed most aspects of the project (except perhaps for fiberglass insulation day!) and appreciated that I was able to learn so many tangible building skills. I had a special fondness for the creative details like trimming out the storage loft window with a special shelf, creating catwalks between the lofts, and rabbeting out the back of the trim piece that rests against the tiled shower.

When I wrapped up My Summer Dream Job the tiny house was ready for the kitchen cabinets to be installed, the ladder to be built, and the finish electrical and plumbing to be completed. The owner, Eli Spevak of Orange Splot, handled all the final construction details. Once the Tandem arrived at Caravan, Deb made it feel like home sweet home with little shelves, a set of coat hooks, and beautiful quilts and pillows.

I know where every mistake is in the house (the spot where the nail gun misfired, the accent tile that I is not quite straight, etc.) but I am proud of this house. I’m really glad that so many other people will get to enjoy it, too!

Big Birthday Bash at The Tiny House Hotel

As my 30^th birthday approached I realized that I wanted to figure out a way to celebrate that involved tiny houses, but I wasn’t sure how to make it happen. Last year at birthday time I helped Brittany get her Tiny House On the Road Again so we could return the Bayside Bungalow to its beautiful spot in Olympia. I started A New Year in a New Home by settling into Granny's Garden Cottage, which I enjoyed as My Summer Garden Cottage.

This year as birthday time rolled around I co-taught a Portland Alternative Dwellings Tiny House Basics Workshop with Dee Williams. It was, of course, a lot of fun to meet some great tiny house folks, but I wanted to find a way to celebrate with my good ol’ friends AND tiny houses. And my birthday fell on a Monday, which is not typically the best night for party hosting.

Fortunately, the obvious answer came to me in the midst of a conversation with some fellow tiny house friends. Kol and Deb recently created Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first hotel in the world. It currently features a collection of three tiny houses on wheels and two more currently being constructed will be added soon. (Here’s my take on Caravan’s Tiny Houses.) Caravan is set up as an RV park so there’s a hook up station for each of the little houses and they have all electric appliances, hot running water, and flush toilets. The tiny house hotel was featured on this year’s Pedalpalooza Tiny House Tour and it opened on July 1. Caravan’s Grand Opening will be this coming Saturday, July 27^th and I’m looking forward to the party!

So I asked Deb and Kol if I might be able to spend the night at the tiny house hotel for my birthday (before Caravan's Grand Opening since I know it will book up fast once the word is out!) The place was miraculously not booked out for my birthday night so Deb suggested I reserve the whole place and host my 30^th birthday party at the world’s first tiny house hotel. So I did. (And as my birthday present Kol and Deb gave me an incredible discount on the reservation, too! Thanks guys!)

Kol and Deb have outfitted the tiny house hotel with all the fixins for a party. There’s a circle of Adirondack chairs around a fire pit, a parachute shade to provide protection from the sun, a hammock for skygazing, a colorful mural on the ground, and even a table with a grill in the middle! I knew we were in for a good time.

The friends who arrived early joined me for supper next door at the Grilled Cheese Grill. Yes, I ate a delicious but probably not super healthy jalepeno popper grilled cheese sandwich for my birthday dinner, thank you very much! (Deb also informed me that Radio Room across the street is now providing room service to the tiny house hotel!)

My party was a dessert potluck so we indulged in fresh berries, giant chocolate sea salt and caramel cookies, fancy ice cream sandwiches, sticky sweet donuts, refreshing rose, syrupy framboise, and chocolaty porters. Several friends went with the tiny theme, bringing tiny pies, mini cupcakes, and delicate petite fours! We roasted marshmallows on skewers over the grilling table and made gooey s’mores just as the moon was rising, round and golden in the east. As darkness crept up we sat around the fire pit while my long-lost friend Chris strummed his guitar and we sang along.

As most people headed out, a handful of us settled into Caravan’s Tiny Houses for a good night’s sleep. We were all up early for work in the morning, but that seems fitting considering that this was my 30^th and it was a Monday night!

My birthday presents were less tangible, but no less meaningful this year. Throughout the day I received love notes via facebook and text from friends and family around the world. I was also able to reconnect with several people I hadn’t seen in a while. It was fun to see my worlds colliding as people from different parts of my life got to know each other. I was even delighted when one of my dear friends told me she couldn’t make it because she’d been offered a job and had to talk through logistics with her partner. It feels good to be heading into a new decade with this sense of appreciation for my loved ones and gratitude that I’m at the beginning of a great adventure as I pursue this path.

Kol and Deb, thanks for making my 30^th Birthday Bash such a great time! I’m looking forward to Caravan's Grand Opening on Saturday, July 27th, 2013!