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

food

Tiny House Sleeps Five Comfortably

My friends Sarah and Jesse from Walla Walla visited yesterday, bringing their pup Dodge along. It was fun showing them the Alberta Arts District and it was chilly enough that our cocoas were a perfect warm up treat. Jesse cooked us a fantastic squash soup in my tiny kitchen and he served it with homemade bread. Delish!

In order to accommodate everyone for the night I moved the camping gear that I usually store in my loft over to the host house where I stashed it in a corner of my neighbor's room since she was out of town. I set up a bed for myself in the storage loft above the door with a foam pad and plenty of blankets and pillows. Raffi slept with me, Jesse and Sarah had my sleeping loft, and Dodge claimed my giant pillow chair as his bed. We all slept really well and they only tricky part is that I only have one ladder. I'd crawled into bed last so the ladder was on my side. In the middle of the night Jesse, not wanting to wake me, managed to climb down from the sleeping loft using my kitchen counter! Did I mention he's resourceful? And tall!
I'm glad my tiny house was Sarah and Jesse's first stop on their road trip down to California. They live at West End Farm in Walla Walla and they left me with farm treats: pumpkin bread and apricot jam. It was a delight having my friends here even if the visit was too short. And it's nice to know that as long as everyone likes each other a lot my tiny house can comfortably sleep five!

Entertaining in the Tiny House

Who says you can't entertain in a tiny house? I just served dinner for six! This weekend Brittany, the woman who built the tiny house I'm living in, came through town with her partner Dylan, an old friend of mine from college, so I invited three of our other college friends to join us. Before long I was hosting a dinner party for 6 in the tiny house!

It was an intimate affair considering that three of us women wedged our hips next to each other on the window seat. We moved the desk/table over to the window seat and pulled the leaves out to create a little more surface area for six plates and a bunch of food. I had two chairs inside the house but we borrowed another from my host house so that all six of us could fit around the table. There wasn't much more room to move about and I think if we hadn't all been good friends it might have been downright uncomfortable, but we had a grand time.

I made a lentil soup and picked up some tasty walnut cranberry bread and fancy cheeses. Dylan and Brittany brought wine and Lindsey made a lovely salad with fresh greens from the garden. Corey and Sarah brought a peach feta torte and a creme brulee stout that was mind-blogglingly delicious. We lit candles and told stories and laughed a lot.
As is the tradition in my house when we sit down for a meal, we all said something we are grateful for. I am grateful over and over again that so many people have helped to make Portland and this tiny house feel like home to me.