It's amazing to think that one year ago at Jamboree a group of us connected and began to form the Tiny House Collaborative. What a year it's been! Here we are with several of our partners, too.
In the spring of 2015 when I attended the Tiny House Conference in Portland Alek Lisefski and BA Norrgard convinced me that I should come to Tiny House Jamboree later that summer. At the time there were about 3000 people signed up so we knew it was going to be the biggest tiny house party ever. However, the inaugural Tiny House Jamboree blew all expectations out of the water when more than 40,000 people showed up! So you can be sure I wasn't about to miss the second annual Tiny House Jamboree, which was hosted in Colorado Springs last weekend by Darin Zaruba and his awesome team from EcoCabins!
Isha and I flew to Denver with Lori (an awesome woman whom I met when she attended a Tiny House 101 Workshop taught by the Tiny House Collaborative in Portland earlier this summer). We headed to Colorado Springs where we connected up with other members of the Tiny House Collaborative and joined hundreds of other tiny house builders, bloggers, and advocates for Industry Night. It was great to get this sneak peek at the 40+ tiny houses that were on display at Jamboree this year because we knew that once we were attending presentations and staffing the Tiny House Collaborative booth to share info about our upcoming workshops we wouldn't have as much time to connect with builders and check out clever small space solutions. So many great ideas out there! I enjoyed paying attention to material selections in particular since Isha and I are soon going to be making choices about materials.
But, of course, it's not really about the house. It's about the people and the lifestyle. So it was great to reconnect with old friends (like Deek, Dee, the Derins, Jay, Macy, Kent, Byron and Dot, Damon and Natalie, Drew, Michelle, and so, so many more!) Of course it was also fun to meet people in real life that I'd only met online (hi, Thea!)
Jamboree officially kicked off on Friday and it's crazy to think that was the "slow day." It flew by in a flurry of hugs, high fives, and making connections with tiny house enthusiasts from all across the country and around the world (hello again, Frieda!) It was fun speaking on a panel with Andrew Odom, Lee Pera, Macy Miller, and Kent Griswold about the unexpected (and sometimes unwelcome) aspects of tiny house living that don't usually show up in the media.
Saturday was similar but busier. And rainier. This was the day I ducked out of the storm for a while to watch a great documentary by Christian and Alexis of Tiny House Expedition called Living Tiny... Legally! Saturday was made extra memorable by helping prep for and then attending BA Norrgard and John Breen's wedding at the Mini Chapel. The Bareen wedding was truly a highlight of Jamboree and we'll never forget it! Thunder crashing. Rain pouring. Andrew Odom cracking jokes amongst moments of tenderness. BA and John being ridiculously beautiful in their in-love-ness. Oh, and yummy vegan chocolate cake, too.
Sunday was a great day at Jam as we made more amazing connections, spoke on a Tiny House Collaborative panel about how tiny houses impact relationships, and attended more presentations, including a standing-ovation talk from none other than Dee Williams which, in true Dee fashion, made us laugh, cry, and hug each other.
Monday the Tiny House Collaborative had a retreat to attend to business, make plans for the rest of 2016, and look ahead to 2017. We hope you'll be able to join us for one of our workshops. The next two are a Tiny House 101 Workshop in Ojai, CA in October and a Tiny House 101 Workshop in Austin, TX in November.
On Tuesday I got to go for a hike in Garden of the Gods with Vina Lustado of Sol Haus Design and Lee Pera of Boneyard Studios. It was great to have some exercise outdoors, enjoy conversation with these two amazing women, and be back where the Tiny House Collaborative started. That afternoon I had dinner with some newlywed friends in Boulder and then flew home. This week I've been catching up and prepping for next week's Build Blitz to work on built-ins for our tiny house, T42.
It was bittersweet wrapping up the Jam after an action-packed weekend. We were both exhausted and exhilarated, ready for it to be over so we could rest but also already eagerly anticipating next year. See you there!
