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

Getting Neighborly

Getting Neighborly

One of the things I learned when I went to one of Dee Williams' workshops (and which I've emphasized in every workshop I've taught, too, because as usual Dee was right!) is the importance of being a good neighbor if you're a tiny house dweller.  So we invited everyone on our end of the block to c'mon over for snacks, drinks, and house tours last night and... ALL the neighbors showed up! We had a splendid time visiting with our neighbors, hearing about their homes and projects and lives, learning more about our neighborhood history (even on a geological timeline!), and watching the dogs romp with PieHead. 

Community Decision Making Philosophy & Process

Community Decision Making Philosophy & Process

Here at Going Places we have been slowly crafting our Community Living Agreements together. When we kicked off the community in February, we hadn't refined our community decision making process so the first month or so it was sometimes tricky to figure out how to move forward on something. Figuring out a decision making process was one of the first decisions we made together as a community. What we landed on is a system that allows us to gauge interest really quickly by offering literal thumbs ups for proposals we're excited about.  

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Good Magazine Looks at Tiny House Costs

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Good Magazine Looks at Tiny House Costs

Several weeks ago I was interviewed by Lauren Modery of Good Magazine for a piece on the true costs of building or buying and dwelling in a tiny house... She did a great job identifying the material costs, time costs, labor costs, and parking costs, many of which are glossed over when the media gets captivated by tiny homes.

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Tiny House Fest Vermont Call for Tiny Houses

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Tiny House Fest Vermont Call for Tiny Houses

I'm already looking forward to the second Tiny House Fest Vermont which will be over Labor Day weekend. The Tiny House Collaborative will be leading a Tiny House 101 Workshop on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2 and the fest is on Sunday, September 3. Can you join us?! Mark your calendar now to join in on the fun!Additionally, the coordinators of Tiny House Fest Vermont have put out a call for tiny houses to be available for tours at the event. If you (or someone you know) has a tiny house to share and show off at the Fest, read on and get in touch with the event organizers.

Community Projects & Maintenance Lists

Community Projects & Maintenance Lists

One of the things our fledgling tiny cohousing community is working out now as we settle into our rhythms is how we go about chores and work party projects. Which, of course, means identifying projects so that they can be tackled during those times we've designated.

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Tiny For Two (T42) Photos

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Tiny For Two (T42) Photos

Yesterday was Beltane (AKA May Day) and it marked the one year anniversary of starting the build for our new tiny house, T42. To celebrate, we want to share photos with you! In mid-March, Kristina of Kristina Lynn Photography came to do a photo shoot. As I've hinted at in my Niche Newsletters, Kristina is a photographer who especially loves taking photos of people in their homes and recently she's become intrigued by tiny house dwellers. So it was an awesome opportunity to have her come shoot our little house. She captured some truly fabulous shots and we're excited to share them with you!

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My Journey to Tiny Cohousing

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My Journey to Tiny Cohousing

Here at our tiny cohousing community, Going Places, we all share the main floor of the common house, which has a kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and a flexible space called the Req Room (you Harry Potter fans out there know what we're talking about!) In addition to all this shared space, we also have two tiny houses on the property, The Lucky Penny and Tiny for Two (T42), which act as detached bedrooms.

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Earth Day Texas Recap

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Earth Day Texas Recap

his past weekend I had the opportunity to teach two sessions of the Tiny House Collaborative Tiny House Community & Zoning Workshop at Earth Day Texas (EDTx) in Dallas, Texas. Lee and I co-taught since BA was the coordinator for the tiny house village at the event.