What a crowd we had!

Our fifth open house was a wonderful success!  As we mentioned before, this was a highly co-sponsored event with several groups involved:

• It was the Capitol Hill Greendrinks event, bringing together the Capitol Hill environmental community
• Sustainable Capitol Hill was also a co-host, raising funds and getting more folks in the know about their presence on Capitol Hill
• Expeditionary Art showed us that watercolors are not for wimps – Maria’s art created a big buzz around the event and drew lots of well-deserved attention
• Out for Sustainability stepped onto the scene as a new organization at this event.  This awesome crew is committed to connecting LGBT individuals who are committed to sustainability.
• Other fantastic sponsors included Sierra Nevada, Snoqualmie Wines, Pizza Fusion, and Madison Market.  We were so thankful for this excellent team who kept us well hydrated and well fed!

There were a thousand reasons why this event rocked, but one important lesson we were reminded of was how great it is for us to co-host our open houses.  In October we did our first co-sponsored open house and took it to a whole new level in January.  Co-sponsoring events with our open houses create a win for everyone involved – we get to mix communities of folks who may not have met up otherwise and to forge new partnerships in our neighborhood.  We are humbled by the organizations we’ve teamed with so far, and look forward to seeing what will happen at our next open house.  Any suggestions?  Let us know – our next open house will be in April!

Thanks to Maria at Expedtionary art for the image. More of her paintings will be on display at Office Nomads starting Jan. 13.

It’s time for an Open House at Office Nomads again. As with our past events, it’ll be an art opening with some yummy food and drink. Starting next Tuesday, January 13, from 5:30 pm to 8 pm, exquisitely thoughtful watercolors by Seattle artist Maria Coryell-Martin will be on display for the next few months. Her work is really something else. She’s traveled the world (all seven continents) and brought back many visions of landscapes. This show will be focused largely on winter scenes and include, I hope since I’ve been there too, scenes from her travels to Antarctica.

But because we like to keep things interesting here at ON, this Open House is something else altogether. For the first time, we’re partnering with Seattle Greendrinks to host the Capitol Hill Greendrinks. For those not in the know, Seattle Greendrinks is a monthly gathering of sustainability professionals. Normally, it is a city-wide event full of a couple of hundred folks all chatting, drinking and eating and raising money for a different nonprofit. But once every few months, they break the event out into smaller based in neighborhoods around the city and raise money for themselves.

We’ve been feverishly planning this event and it promises to be a great one. We’ll have donated beer from Sierra Nevada and Snoqualmie wine as well as pizza from Pizza Fusion and some other snacks. There’s also going to be some crafty opportunities thanks to Sustainable Capitol Hill and, of course, opportunities to help support Seattle Greendrinks by buying a commemartive Seattle Greendrinks pint glass. (They’re super cool and work well for beer!) Best part, if this neighborhood raises the most money, the next time Seattle Greendrinks breaks out into neighborhoods, it gets the free beer again!

So come on down, check out some amazing art, celebrate the start of 2009 with Office Nomads, have a drink, eat some food and get to know the movers and shakers in Capitol Hill’s sustainability scene.

If you’ve spent any time at Office Nomads since March, or if you’ve kept an eye on our calendar of events,  you’ve probably heard of Imagine Capitol Hill. Not only has Susan been hosting planning meetings for this weekend’s street fair at ON, she’s been one of the major planners of it. The street fair, which organizers hope will inspire participants to imagine what Capitol Hill could be like as a more sustainable community, promises to be a really great time.  I don’t know all the details, but according to the Sustainable Capitol Hill site, it’ll include an outdoor street café with free tea & coffee, sustainable cooking demonstrations and a bike repair clinic (which I desperately need to attend).

But wait, there’s more. Office Nomads will also have a booth there. Susan and Jacob will spend the day extolling the virtues of having a commute-free workspace in the neighborhood. They’ll have couches out for folks who feel the need to take a load off or want to chat with their neighbors (and maybe even get some work done on a Sunday, if they want), displays about the space and, most fun of all, an interactive art project.

The art project will ask folks to put their thinking caps on and imagine (get it?) what they would do with all the time they’d save by not commuting to work by working at a coworking office in their neighborhood. An array of colorful post-its will, I’m sure, have some pretty awesome ideas. We’ll report on the best next week.

So if you’re in the ‘hood, drop by Imagine Capitol Hill this Sunday between 11 am and 4 pm and make sure to say hi to Jacob and Susan!