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

oils

,

Oil, Spice & Everything Nice

,

Editor's Note from 2/24/16: This post was lingering in draft mode and I decided it was high-time to get it published!  Lucky Penny Oils & Vinegars

I loved designing and building my tiny house, The Lucky Penny, but I've also thoroughly loved the process of Making it Home. I've been finding A Place for Everything and this past weekend I got my spices and oils all set up. I wanted to have both of these things handy but out of the sunlight since sunlight can diminish the quality of both oils and spices. I think it's pretty cool so I wanted to share it with you. Here are the solutions I came up with!

Lucky Penny Spice Drawer

I bought a bunch of spices recently at an awesome shop called Sequim Spice & Tea, while visiting family on the Olympic Peninsula. But I hadn't come up with a good plan about how to store them yet. Last week I was hanging out at my favorite tea house, Townshend's Tea on Alberta Street, and I realized that the little containers they use for loose leaf tea would be perfect! The woman behind the counter told me where I could buy them online and a couple days ago my containers arrived. I labeled all of them and sorted my spices into them and I now have them tucked into a set of flatware dividers I picked up at Ikea. They work splendidly! It's so nice to be able to pull this drawer out and see everything at a glance. Oh, and you can also see that I have room for two squeeze bottles here. These have my sweet liquids in them: agave and honey.

Remember those copper canisters I found on my Tiny House Treasure Hunt? I decided they'd be perfect to hold my oil containers. So I purchased a set of food grade plastic squeeze bottles and filled them up with a variety of different oils (avocado, sesame, extra virgin olive oil, etc.) and vinegars (balsamic, apple cider, white, etc.) Thanks to Simply Home Community's Bulk Buys, I was able to fill my bottles from the community supply, knowing I'll be able to refill them as needed.

Because we have Community Dinner between four and six nights per week, I do most of my big cooking in the Big House. But I often do cook little things (breakfast, tea, lunch prep, and weekend suppers) in The Lucky Penny. So it's nice to have a good collection of spices and oils so I can prepare a variety of food and enjoy Cooking in the Lucky Penny!