Small Business Success: A Couple Events You Should Know About

We love being a small part of the handmade world and know it's something that many of you appreciate being connected with as well. Today we wanted to share a couple events taking place across the interwebs especially catered to boosting the success of handmade and independent business owners.

Hello Feed Readers!

While Basil was sleeping in the sun, you may have just been inundated with posts from us in your feed reader! With the help of our friend Jenn, the mastermind behind accompl.sh, we were finally able to troubleshoot the outstanding issue we had when we switched over from the old blogger URL to our new domain.

How To: Natural Egg Dye Recipes

With Easter coming up right around the corner, we decided it was time to buy the extra carton of eggs and start the yearly dying!

A Lesson from Tim in DIY Flower Arrangement

Did I ever tell you guys that Tim worked in a flower shop when he was a teenager? How lucky am I — an electrician AND a florist?! Well my friends, let me tell you that these bright yellow weekend work-shorts are the uniform of a multifaceted man.

Weekend Basics

There Mary and I were sitting and thinking, wow, they really just shook things up for the season 5 premiere of Mad Men after the 1st episode ended — only to realize the tremors we both felt were literally another earthquake here in VA. That's right folks, since that first freak 5.8 earthquake over the summer, there have been several aftershocks — including the 3.1 we felt the effects of last night. Luckily it was just a little shaky for us with no immediate damage that we could see.

Seeing the Light

The warm season down this way has really lent to working on outdoor projects. Each weekend we've been trying to chip away as we can on getting our back patio space maintained and in shape for the growing season.

$15 Sneakpeeq Giveaway + 20% Off Just for Entering

When it comes to shopping, you may have gathered that I am the one in this relationship that will go the extra mile — especially when it comes to hunting down a good deal. This quality is actually in my bloodline, passed down from my maternal grandfather who trained me and my older sister at a young age to bargain at yard sales. To this day, my mother and sister remain the ultimate crusaders when it comes to finding a deal (I've deferred to them many times when on the prowl), but like I said, the gene didn't completely escape me.

Home Updates & Upgrades

We mentioned yesterday getting a couple home projects completed. We've been trying to get smaller things in the house accomplished here and there while we plan for a larger masonry project coming up later this month. After that larger project is complete (which we'll detail as it happens), we'll feel more comfortable taking on the bigger updates we have in mind.

Weekend Basics

It was a tough loss for the VCU Rams Saturday. We're glad they fought the good fight right down to the last shot — it was definitely a nail biter. Alas, my bracket is busted with the Missouri loss (isn't everyone's?) and Mary's is now a little outta whack — she had the Rams going to the Elite 8 this season.

A few things...

...as we head into the weekend!

Pinterest Challenge: DIY Bean Teepee Garden Supports

 Image from Bower Power Blog.

In a continual effort to maximize the tiny patio space we have in our new home for urban gardening, we've been trying to come up with as many creative ideas to make use of vertical space as we can.

Hello, Ikea

Believe it or not, the most economical way for us to travel down to Mexico last week was to first drive up to Washington D.C. where we'd fly out of Reagan National Airport. Taking an early morning flight out of D.C. Sunday meant spending the night in a hotel Saturday and the opportunity to spend some time in the area most of Saturday. Both Tim and I have been itching to visit the Woodbridge, VA Ikea and this was the perfect excuse!

A Little Getaway

Each year we are lucky enough to join family in Mexico for a week-long vacation at the Royal Caribbean and Royal Resorts. It's something we look forward to and has become a fun little tradition throughout our relationship. We mentioned troubles getting back home, but before getting into all that we wanted to share a little photo roundup of our week a little closer down near the equator.

Home Never Felt So Sweet

We just returned home from a week away, vacationing in Mexico. While the vacation was incredible, it was a rough commute getting back home — 31 hours rough and more to come on that— which makes finally being here all the more rewarding.

Hello there, Maverick

Did anyone else get a chance to see this heartwarming story about the rescued Weimaraner, Maverick, who went from Craigslist to Westminster?

Maybe we're a little biased on the weim side of things, but this was one story that really touched us. We both laughed at how Maverick leaps up to hug his daddy since that's exactly what he does to me every night as I get home.

There's just something about a good story with a happy ending...

How To: Plant Sweet Potatoes Indoors

As promised, we're back with a final indoor planting project for the week. Our kitchen window is beginning to get overrun with plants in various stages and we're loving it.