Thursday, October 30, 2008

Now I just Need Some Rain...

How cool is this idea? I've always been adverse to the whole galoshes idea, because really, who wants their feet incased in rubber the entire day? But now with Shuellas (aka shoe umbrellas), you can have a raincoat for your feet, that just folds up into a pouch when you're done!


Speaking of interesting rain gear, I ran across this bad boy a while ago, and it's just too awesome to share. The Nubrella is no ordinary umbrella, according to the website, and it is indeed true. How awesome would it be to walk around in your own personal bubble!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Half-way Halloween Housewarming Hosted by a Hungry Hungry Hippo

So Friday night we went to a party with a lenghty title. It was a multi-purpose party, celebrating the halfway point of the incubation of Hippo, Matt and Lindsay's in-utero child, as well as a housewarming for their new apartment and of course, gotta throw halloween in there as well. Pumpkin carving ensued, of which you can see the fruits of our labor below.

Sarah's Super Sweet Rendition of James Madison

Matt's Hippo

Tato - The evil worm I aquired my second to last day in Africa

Jen's Pirate Ship

Fun Times Taking our Pumpkins Home on the Metro
John's Nightmare Before Christmas

Close Quarters

So I read an article a while ago in the Smithsonian magazine about how New Yorkers aren't really that rude, it's just that they are so used to living in close proximity to millions of other people that it just becomes one big happy family. Because of this, the common niceties that take place in interactions between strangers go away, because there are no strangers, despite the fact no one knows anyone. It's difficult not to have your private life become public when your neighbors can just look across the street and right into your entire apartment, as you happen to walk around naked, or listen to your television, which just so happens to be even louder than theirs (this describes two of my neighbors, by the way).

It's an interesting concept, and has some potential, but I don't think it entirely accounts for big city rudeness. But I digress. I do think that it is true that it is possible to think of the people around you as being closer than they actually are. Take my metro buddies for example. Back when I lived in Adams Morgan I had 2 metro buddies, who would ride in the same train car with me at the same time every day from Woodley Park to Bethesda. We never spoke, but exchanged looks from time to time when there would be the random ranting woman, or person who refused to let someone sit next to them, or other unacceptable metro-riding behavior. Now that I've moved, even though I'm only 2 metro stops down the line, my commute has become much more sporadic, both in the car I ride in and the time that I do it. Because of this, I never see my metro buddies any more and I miss them deeply. My ride was so much more interesting when I shared it with headphones guy and studious glasses guy (I know, not very creative names, but then again, I am an engineer).

But even without my metro buddies, I find ways to pick up on the lives of the people around me. My new walk to the metro takes me past a Caribou Coffee which has tables outside. Pretty soon I began to notice a couple that would frequently be sitting outside, drinking their coffee and reading their newspapers. The reason I noticed them is that they seemed rather mismatched. An older, not so attractive man, and a younger, very attractive woman. In my head I created a sordid love affair, that could only end badly. Sometimes only the man would be there and he would be preoccupied and sad looking and I worried that it was over, but every time the woman came back. With the advent of fall I was worried I would lose touch with my couple, as they would no longer sit outside. And I have lost touch for the past month or so, and every now and then on my way to work I wonder. But this morning, there was a new development. The woman was sitting by herself, looking sad and preoccupied. Hmmm...... And yes, I know it's completely ridiculous, but that's how I pass the time on my daily walk to the metro. Who knows what other Washingtonians are thinking about me?

A Small Bathroom for a Small House

So now that I'm narrowing down what the outside of my small house will look like, it's time to turn to the inside. This is one clever solution to the cramped bathroom solution, but I don't quite know if I could handle it, not to mention it's a bit pricey, starting at £10,000. If you're going to spend that much on your bathroom, you might as well just build a bigger house. Oh, and to address concerns that I am moving out of the small house range with the container houses, I would build a house with 1 or 2 containers, so it would be well below 1000 sq. ft.


Monday, October 27, 2008

I Can't Contain Myself...

So my small house options just keep expanding! While getting my daily Apartment Therapy fix, I ran across this post on container houses, which is an amazing idea. I would never have thought that shipping containers could look so good, but it's an incredibly smart-looking solution to my quest for a small house.

The house boat idea is currently holding first place as far as the most achievable idea goes, but the container house will definitely be stored in the ideas folder. The first 3 pictures are from Container City, a company based in England, and the last 2 are from another apartment therapy post.







Saturday, October 25, 2008

Organizer/Charger Board

So I'm expanding the blog to now include one of my other loves, decorating. After deciding that I just couldn't hand over the big bucks to purchase the Pottery Barn (sorry Jed, still working on the hyperlinks) organizer/charger board, I designed my own. I put boyfriend to work, and soon had a custom board that made me very happy, for around $100.




Friday, October 24, 2008

New Plan....

So, after researching more, it is proving to be slightly infeasible to have a house on wheels in the District. But a little Craigslist searching has turned up another option, a houseboat! Some researching is in order, but stay tuned....

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Addendum to Living Small

It turns out I exxagerated just a tad in my last post. While looking at completely unrelated design websites, I happened found something about the tiny tower, and it turns out it's on a 400 sq. ft. plot, not 200 sq ft. There is a picture of it about half way down this page. Side note: I'm really proud of myself for finally figuring out how to edit hyperlinks. I was never able to do that before.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Living Small

So I really wasn't swallowed up by the Kalahari Desert, I've just been avoiding editing my photos and writing up my experiences. So, to further procrastinate, I will write on a different topic all together. This summer, I was inspired by a magazine article, I don't even remember which magazine now, but it had a tent cabin in it. This idea is rather attractive to me, as the chances of me owning an apartment, much less a house, in DC in the next 20 years or so aren't too great. Not too long after that I was watching Extreme Living on HGTV, and they featured a tower built on a tiny, plot that was maybe 200 sq. ft., and my ideas grew more. Well, life took over though, and I forgot about tiny spaces, but then I happened across a couple of articles today that have re-inspired me. This Yale student built a trailer house, which was inspired by http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/. I've lived in studio apartments for over 2 years now, so it's not such a huge leap, but it may be a while before even something like that comes to fruition.

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