these treehouse days.

i receive many questions -- bewildered looks, too -- about life in our 320 square foot studio apartment. i wanted to make a few notes on these newlywed days in our upper west side treehouse, for we won't live here forever, and i want to always remember what it was like when we did.

we've had so much fun this last little while, nesting what was for many years a treehouse for one into a treehouse for two. the happiest days of my life have been spent right here. how i love the sweet dance that is cooking in a small kitchen. how i love tiptoeing across creaky floorboards when i rise with the birds and he dreams on. how i love watching husband's things mingle with mine -- two lives forevermore tangling into one. 

this has been an invaluable way to begin our life together. we've never known anything but tight quarters, and there has never been an option to go to another room. disagreements must be talked out, gifts must be wrapped and hidden in utmost secret. there's simply no other way.

when it comes to new york city apartments, we got so lucky with ours. many don't even have one closet; ours has two. household items are at the bottom of his closet, winter boots are at the top of mine. linens, christmas decorations, and all things emergency preparedness are tucked under our bed. we stow a baby box of gathered treasures under the blue velvet settee. everything has its place. books we've read live on shelves, books we mean to read live in the market basket, shoes live on my closet floor, and we live by this simple rule: if it isn't beautiful, useful, or meaningful, it must go. we are ever filling a bin for donation. we also got lucky with our extremely similar habits. we are both very tidy, we keep the same bedtime, and neither desire cable television. if we differed on these points, i imagine sharing such a wee space might prove a challenge.

this all works so well for us, and we cannot imagine living any other way. it's not for everyone, of course, but it's for us. even as our family grows and grows and our needs shift and flow, we will aim to continue a simple, mindful life. 

less house, more home. small house, big life -- these are the things we are after.