The American Dream has virtually always been:  more + bigger = better.

The fad and trend that's predominated the last many decades has been to stretch yourself to the limit in order to acquire the most impressive home possible.  This home would prove that you were successful, and obviously make you comfortable and happy.

Over many decades, that's turned into crazy-big homes which required large incomes to buy and maintain, along with massive consumption of resources to build and live in.

​Tiny is fine if that's what you really need or want, but it's pretty extreme and unsustainable by most standards. 

​A more manageable and still meaningful downsize might mean reclaiming older, smaller homes and shifting to a less consumerism mentality, while still participating in a mainstream community and lifestyle.
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I've always been enamoured with the craftsman bungalow - but didn't even realize it at first. 

I remember spending time in the Pasadena California area house hunting for a possible job move decades ago and just being hypnotically drawn to the older bungalows that abound there.  I didn't know then, but it was a truly American architectural style that was also common all over San Francisco where I'd lived most of my life. 

​Looking back, the feature that always caught my eye first and drew me in, was the front porch.

This week we are thinking about and celebrating local places, local-ness, dogs, and picnics.  Let me explain!

Today is Dog Appreciation Day, which is just tremendous for so many reasons.  Dogs are all about living in the moment, and being entirely content exactly where they are in body, mind, and spirit. 

And since Saturday is National Eat Outside Day, I think we should all spend the day outside  with our pooches enjoying a picnic.  There's nothing that sounds bad about that, right?  Consider that aside from some well-earned downtime, there are health benefits too!!  

One of our goals here at The Whiskey Porch is to provide well curated, high-quality resources to help you on your journey to creating a smaller & simpler life in your Nordic bungalow.

This is my first collection in which I'm going to share some of my all-time favorites, and my focus will be books and publications here. 
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• None of these resources represent exactly my take on a small bungalow lifestyle or design, but they reflect the basics and core inspiration to get us there.

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• In fact, some of these listings feature some particularly spectacular, huge, over-the-top homes.  Not what I would call a smaller & simpler lifestyle, but never-the-less it's a wonderful idea generator.

Let's get started:

Today we shared our August News & Updates with our mailing list and I wanted to make it available here too for those of you who aren't yet members.  Here's a preview of what's included:

• Today is National Joke Day
• Local Event Highlights
• So What is a "Nordic Bungalow"?
• Celebrating Local Breweries (and such)
• Juniper Hill Cottage - We Accidentally Bought a Bungalow, and more
• Bungalow Inspiration
• Featured Prescott Front Porch
• Contractor Drama - Finding a general contractor in the wild west
• Resources - New & Noteworthy books, blogs, and publications

Check out the August Newsletter for all the deets!  

​Cheers & contentment,
~Miriam

I'm actually not all that much of a beer drinker, too rich for me, but my husband is and has traveled the world enjoying the wonderful local-ness of this beverage.  I enjoy wine and whiskey, and we'll have lots more scoop on that later this year. 

Since I'm all about local makers and creators, we are going to share a few local spots that craft adult beverages here in the Prescott area.  

I have not had the pleasure to visit them all personally just yet, but we've got them on a list  to check out soon.  Hopefully you will do the same and share your thoughts. 

We are lucky here in Prescott to have a nice variety of crafters specializing in everything from beer to cider to mead and even whiskey.  We'll get to local wineries in another post...

So, let's get to the list:
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Greetings,

Today is a big day for us.  We've officially launched our new brand The Whiskey Porch, which appropriately coincides with National Simplicity Day.  No accident, really.  I wanted to set a goal to work towards and force me not to work it to death, in an attempt to achieve perfection, before hitting the 'launch' button.

That's one thing I've come to learn in life --  perfection will never be achieved, and done is better than perfect.  And, so, here we are!  Happy to be with you and striving full speed ahead to create and share all kinds of ideas and inspiration.

To get us started, I wanted to write just a little bit about two things:  What is The Whiskey Porch all about?  And, why launch on National Simplicity Day?  
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perfect balance  -- whether it be in a craftsman bungalow, a tiny historic cottage, or somewhere yet to be discovered.

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So, it's a lot of work to build a website - all by yourself!  I had envisioned having a few articles done by now, but that's not in the cards.

Hang tight, though, because I'm working on a couple drafts and now that I'm able to focus on content that will be my priority.