I woke up at 5:00 am this morning and quickly realized there was no hope of falling asleep again. Today is much too exciting to sleep through! As of tomorrow I'll be one of the people calling a tiny house home. So instead, I am learning how to create a blog...
Two weeks ago today I moved to Portland, OR to begin studies for my masters in urban planning. Over the past two weeks I have:
- sprawled across my landlady's living room floor studying transit maps and memorizing bicycle routes,
- realized that the quantity and variety of food available here is enough to make a foodie like me hungry all the time, and
- enjoyed quality time with the half dozen good friends I already have here, grateful for their willingness to introduce me to this incredible city.
Today I have orientation for my master's program and then I head up to Olympia in a rented F250 truck. Two years ago my friend Brittany built a gorgeous tiny house on wheels and she has agreed to let me rent it from her while I am in grad school. We'll be hauling Britt's Bungalow to Portland tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon we'll get the teeny abode settled in the garden. My very first guests will be my sisters Amy and Aurora who are hanging out in Portland for the weekend. (They may become my moving crew. I figure it will probably take the three of us less than 10 minutes to haul my boxes into the house!) Sunday I'll unpack my belongings into the house and Monday my classes begin.
I feel extraordinarily lucky to have found a splendid place to park the tiny house for the year. My new neighbor (and landlady) purchased a house at the end of a dead end street in Northeast two years ago and has subsequently turned it into an oasis of flowers, veggies, berries, and wind chimes. The tiny house will be nestled into the garden between the bamboo grove, the chicken coop, the clover patch, and the cedar fence.
For the past two weeks I've been living in the host house which has been delightful because I've gotten to know my landlady and her housemates. I've also been able to soak up some of the magic of the space she's created. I've taken to sipping my tea in the morning on her covered porch, rain or shine, and watching the birds breakfast on burgundy sunflowers. I, too, have been gorging myself on tomatoes, peppers, kale, zucchini, and broccoli from the garden, as well as helping my landlady plant new starts that we will overwinter. In the evening I like to listen to the crickets and marvel about how it doesn't really get dark here because of the light pollution.
I miss my house, garden, friends, job, and community in Walla Walla, but it's been a relatively smooth transition. I think this will be a fantastic place to live the little life. To me living little means not only occupying a small and simple dwelling but also being conscientious about how I travel and what I purchase and consume. You'll hear more about all of this in time. I look forward to sharing this adventure with all of you!