I’m back from the Tiny House & Simple Living Jamboree in Arlington, Texas, and I had a great time! I met so many interesting people and I think my speech went ok. It was such a great adventure and now I want to go to ALL the tiny house festivals! lol! Ok, maybe not all of them (yes, all of them). I am very happy to be back home and do a little introverting! lol!
Later I met Jay Shafer, and that was pretty amazing.
Then I stumbled across Susan Schaefer Bernardo (poet) and Courtney Fletcher (artist) who created The Big Adventures of Tiny House which is the most charming children’s book ever created (except for the other ones they’ve created) and these women were also just as lovely as you’d expect them to be given all the wonder and charm of the books they create. PLUS they introduced me to the couple who own the tiny haven-home that the tiny house in the book is based on (visually). What a pleasure it was to meet all of them! And why didn’t I get a photo?!
Don’t you love the face she made? Hilarious!
I was getting pretty bummed by Sunday when it appeared that I was going to catch my flight home without meeting Dee Williams. I read her book The Big Tiny: A Built-it-Myself Memoir and let me tell you, this woman is fierce! I reviewed her book on my other blog a while back. Let’s just say I am a fan! (I am!) I knew I would be at the airport when she and Jay Shafer were on the main stage, but that morning when I was wondering around hoping to soak up the last bit of tiny house goodness, I stumbled into her session in one of the smaller side rooms and let me tell you… and that quickly became one of the highlights of the event for me. Hearing her speak and watching her engage with the audience was such a respectful and life affirming time, I HATED having to scoot out early to go catch my plane. Still, I was so glad I had been there to catch some of it. She asked the questions: 1) who/what do you love? 2) how do you want to spend your time? 3) what do you want to have in your hands as you die? (People/stuff) and then I watched as the audience participated with her by telling their own stories. There was sacred space in that room.
It was also great fun to visit the tiny houses, skoolies, vans, and other creative dwellings around the property, especially the DIY homes, and ask the home owners how their food habits have changed since they started to live tiny. It was fun to hear that their answers are the same as ours so I think my book is very much on target to help other folks walk through this transition.
If there is going to be a tiny house festival near you – GO! Even if you have to make a real trip out of it. It was so much fun and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!