Category Archive

Neighbors & Hoods

What makes a tent/RV/house a home isn’t always contained within its walls. These posts highlight the community surrounding the structures.

Exhuming love

Sometimes on my walks, I even leave my phone at home.…I KNOW! Lately, I’ve been trying to imagine my phone in my hand as a strong cocktail — do I really need to take this cocktail on a walk with me? Yikes. Do I really need to have this cocktail in my hand while I’m hugging my son? Eep. Is 7am really a good time for a cocktail? Barf.

What’s the best thing about your local library?

Libraries are getting more popular as Millennials and Gen Z re-embrace the idea of not purchasing everything we consume. It’s one of the only places you can go outside of your home where you’re not expected to spend money. You can use your library to look for jobs, scour the internet, take classes, join book clubs, and more. But we want to know what makes YOUR library amazing…

I can move anywhere! Where should I move that's affordable and full of nature?

I can move anywhere! Where should I move that’s affordable and full of nature?

Any advice or resources for choosing a place to live for another Californian being priced out of her area? I feel like I’m ready for a change of scenery. I need a place with an affordable cost of living, and I’d really prefer a place that has lots of trees and hiking options, and isn’t filled with Trump supporters.

Does such a place exist?

Suburbs to city living: How I gave up the house but found a life

How I gave up the house but found a life

For 22 years my family and I lived in Westfield, New Jersey, by many measures, the ideal place to raise a family. There are great schools, quiet leafy streets, multiple transportation options, a walkable downtown, and cultural and religious options to fit diverse tastes. Even its names evokes wholesomeness. When I arrived there in 1995, I knew within 30 minutes that it was the wrong place for me. It took us 22 years to undo that decision. I spent years telling myself that it was not so bad but always hating it. This is a story of finding my comfortable place in the world…

The stop-you-in-your-tracks, awesome doors and windows in Morocco

Remember when Ariel freaked out about the bathtubs in Puerto Rico? Well, I’m doing something similar with the doors of Morocco! I have not been able to take one walk through the streets of Morocco without stopping to take a photo of a door or a window…

Buy YOURSELF flowers to make a good impression on your new neighbors

In the midst of moving, and un-packing and re-organizing our lives, I didn’t think much of the flower boxes. I hung the them from the balcony rails and tried to remember to water them. Without my knowing, those straggly flowers paved the way to good neighbor relations…

How do you approach a neighbor about their dog’s barking?

My husband and I have no relationship with the people in the apartment next to mine, other than smiling at each other on the elevator, and so we’re at a bit of a loss about how to approach them about their dog’s barking. As far as we’ve been told, our building doesn’t allow dogs. How can we bring it up without creating a negative relationship right from the get-go?

Want to get to know your neighbors? Start a crazy-stupid, summer-long, front-yard project

Over the course of 12 weekends, we transformed our weed-infested front yard into a landscaped, welcoming entrance to our home. In addition to a nice-looking lil front yard (and a racer-back tan that’s never going to go away), we also got an unforeseen benefit: WE KNOW WHO OUR NEIGHBORS ARE NOW.