I had just gotten back from Wrapping Up Tiny House Design-Build Cert 2025 when Chrissy called to ask if I’d consider teaching Women’s+ Basic Carpentry. This was the first Yestermorrow course I ever heard of - nearly 20 years ago now! I signed up for the catalog - which was snail mailed back then - and I’d flip through it, circling all the courses I wanted to take. It was a couple of years before I finally signed up for the Sustainable Design-Build Certification and got myself to Yestermorrow. But I’ve been going there ever since! So it feels like I’ve come full circle, having the opportunity to teach the Women’s+ Basic Carpentry course.
It’s been a couple of weeks now since we moved next door to my best friend from both college and grad school and her husband. The benefits of community have already been lovely - and quite tasty! Having my fairy godfamily help us unload our stuff the day we arrived and then join us for take out on the living room floor was just the beginning of our participation in this lovely reciprocal community.
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.
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.
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…
It is with a heavy heart that I must tell all his other adoring fans that Raffiel “Raffi” Bernini Menard* crossed the rainbow bridge two weeks ago on Monday, June 16th. He was 19 years and one month old, which is 93 years old in human years. It was a long, full, adventurous, and snuggly life and I couldn’t have asked for more!
When I booked my flight to Burlington in anticipation of Jumping into Tiny House Design-Build Cert 2025, I snagged the least expensive flight I could find that fit the schedule. That meant signing up for a ticket that included a personal item, but no carry-on luggage. I knew that was going to be a feat considering that I was packing for two-weeks… in Vermont… in winter! I just can’t seem to help travel hacking my own systems. I’ve learned a lot and it serves me well. It might not serve you. That’s fine, of course. But since I’ve benefitted from checking out other people’s packing lists (especially when it comes to building capsule wardrobes), I’ve decided to share my packing-in-a-personal-item strategies here in case they’re helpful for anyone else.
Today I received three messages within an hour, saying “I heard you on the radio!” So I knew the story about Yestermorrow’s 2025 Tiny House Design-Build Certificate went live today. In case you didn’t happen to be listening, I’m excited to share it with you, too.
My fairy godfamily had been encouraging me to move to Corvallis, Oregon for years and Choosing Community (Again) was easy when the house directly behind theirs came up for rent. Since we moved in a couple months ago, it has been a quick trip around the block to visit each other, but we wanted to create a portal to make it even easier. This past weekend we dedicated to yard projects, including creating a gate in the fence so that we can go back and forth between our houses easily.
I had just gotten back from Wrapping Up Tiny House Design-Build Cert 2025 when Chrissy called to ask if I’d consider teaching Women’s+ Basic Carpentry. This was the first Yestermorrow course I ever heard of - nearly 20 years ago now! I signed up for the catalog - which was snail mailed back then - and I’d flip through it, circling all the courses I wanted to take. It was a couple of years before I finally signed up for the Sustainable Design-Build Certification and got myself to Yestermorrow. But I’ve been going there ever since! So it feels like I’ve come full circle, having the opportunity to teach the Women’s+ Basic Carpentry course.
This past week of the Tiny House Design-Build Certificate at Yestermorrow flew by. We got so much snow over the weekend that we made Monday a studio day and everyone worked on their own designs. I shared information about small space appliances and fixtures and we discussed small space design tricks to make a small space more functional and appealing.
What an awesome week it’s been at Yestermorrow, teaching and learning through the Tiny House Design-Build Certification! A big snow storm came through last night, so we’ve got about a foot on the ground and more still falling. This is a pretty darn cozy place to be snowed in! I’ve got some sweet rolls rising in the Yestermorrow kitchenette, so it seems like a good time to catch up on this past week.
Last night over dinner I said to my companions: “Okay, so where are you when you’re eating pad kee mao (with kale?!) while listening to live folk music on a snowy night and discussing building a small house out of bamboo in the Philippines and a tiny house on wheels in Greece, mostly in English, but also a little in Spanish?” They laughed and said “Yestermorrow!” Close enough. We were actually at Fit to be Thai’d at Sugarbush in the Mad River Valley, just down the road from Yestermorrow. But it was a Yestercrew. What a joy it is to be back here to teach the second two weeks of the annual month-long Tiny House Design Build Certification!
What an awesome group of students and projects we had for the Jan 2025 round of Kitchen & Bath Design (Online) through Yestermorrow Design-Build School! The participants were super engaged and eager to help each other out with design ideas, inspiration, and product selections. What fun it was to facilitate this learning, exploring, and compiling.
It’s been a couple of weeks now since we moved next door to my best friend from both college and grad school and her husband. The benefits of community have already been lovely - and quite tasty! Having my fairy godfamily help us unload our stuff the day we arrived and then join us for take out on the living room floor was just the beginning of our participation in this lovely reciprocal community.
