VCU is also where both Phil and I went to college, so of course, we were cheering for them the whole way, and so was the rest of the city. This is a city that has a love-hate relationship with itself, and could be diagnosed as mildly schizo. But for a few weeks at the end of March, all that got put on the shelf, and we were all Rams fans. The UofR Spiders were even in the crowd cheering for the Rams, after they lost their own game in the Sweet Sixteen round, which I thought was an excellent display of cross-city brotherly love and sportsmanship.

Saturday night, VCU lost their game against Butler for a spot in the final game. Of course, we were sad for the team, but at the same time SO happy for how far they’d come, and for the feisty underdog story that they’d dished up for us all to feast on.

Then this past Monday night, Phil and I were coming home from a meeting while the final was being played between UConn and Butler, and we saw this on the skyline. We were both filled with warm and fuzzies, and I thought it needed to be shared. I’m sure next week we’ll all go back to moaning about this-or-that about living here, but for now, I wanted to hold on to this:

Every time I walked past that open door, I would cringe. It got worse when I walked inside:

The biggest problem is obviously storage.

Phil has a LOT of craft supplies, and the fur and fleece that he uses takes up a LOT of space. The thing that killed me is that the closet, which was hidden behind the home-made lightbox, and nearly impossible to access with the table in front of it, had plenty of potential. The contractors who renovated the space prior to our purchase had done a HORRIBLE job of planning out how the space would be used, and it was completely inefficient.

You can sort of see what I mean in the picture above, and here’s a shot of the closet, once I pulled out most of what was in it:

We decided to remove the sliding mirrors completely (they blocked your access getting in and out, and that fake gold trim – SO UGLY!). Then we ripped out the existing “guts” of the closet, and put in two shelves that run all the way across the space. We built a ledge to run through the whole closet (and we may end up reinforcing the front of the shelf by adding more ledges on the left and right of the door.) We used a piece of plywood we already had on hand for the top shelf, and we had a piece of MDF cut to size for the lower shelf at Ye Olde Big Box Lumber Store.

We do use this closet to hang some long clothes that don’t get used often, like my formal gowns and Phil’s grandfather’s old coats. We wanted to keep them in here (since closet space in the rest of the house is also hard to come by.) After coming up empty-handed when I tried to find something that would work in the closet department of the Big Box store, I got the idea to add a short towel bar mounted on the underside of top shelf. That’s the silver bar you can see on the left side of the pic. It works perfectly, and has more than held up to the weight that’s hung from it. (The longer items just get tucked neatly to the left.)

At this point, it was just a matter of putting things away so that everything was accessible. Below the bottom shelf, we store most of the plastic bins that used to be stacked near the door. These are the bins we need when we do craft shows, so it’s great that they’re very easy to pull out and put away when we’re done.

On top of the lower shelf is the existing drawer systems we were already using. They’re not my favorite thing stylistically, but you can’t argue with the function. Phil can just pull out the drawer he needs, and have it on a chair next to him while he works.

The top shelf got the items we use less frequently, or items which were lighter. Here’s how it looked when everything was piled in:

From there, it was just a matter of picking out fabric for the curtains (which we scored at the awesome local shop called U-Fab.) I pinned everything, and Phil sewed them and hung them. We both LOVE the results.

Phil’s sewing table is now on the wall where the bins and drawers used to be, and there are still plenty of other things we need to find storage room for (like those big cardboard boxes, which are full of fabric and fur.) One project at a time though.

Yay!

and

http://images.urbanoutfitters.com/is/image/UrbanOutfitters/16815151_13_b

We’re attending the awesome Art Star Craft Bazaar, but you know, if you’re mobile, you should also go to the 9th Street Italian Market Fest, and say hi to our new craft show bestie, Sara from girlscantell. I have a big long blog post that’s halfway done about meeting her, but the short version is that Phil and I both found her blog awhile back, we both use it as a source of inspiration on doing this crafty biz thing, and then, at the Brooklyn Lyceum show, we set up across from her for a whole weekend. (!!!) There may have been a squeal from me, but I can’t divulge such secrets, and she was way cooler than we could have hoped. Lots of fun, goofy, smart, willing to wear masking tape mustaches with me to celebrate Mustache May… sigh. Heart.

So stalking your blogger inspirations will sometimes work out. Just sayin’. (Be cool though, be cool. Don’t look like an ass.)

In any case, come see us, then go see her, if you’re anywhere near Philly. And if you’re not near Philly, if you leave now, you just might make it in time.

Phil and I are headed to Brooklyn this weekend to the Lyceum Spring Food and Craft Market. There will be BEER on site. Craft shows with beer can’t be anything less than awesome. Craft shows with beer and baby octopi and baby apes? It’s gonna be RIDICULOUS.

I’ve been a little stressed out about this show. We did a show in Brooklyn last year, and wasn’t quite as successful as we were anticipating. I’ve tempered my expectations for this show, but I can’t lie, I’m getting excited about it. Come on, Brooklyn, bring the awesome! We are.

I am SO glad that I’ve been back in the gym. I was turning into a mopey crankpot. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I get up most days and go to work. I leave work, and then… um… not much else happens. I have dinner. I clean the kitchen. I watch some TV and play with the puppy. Repeat. Without going to the gym, my life was stressful, and there was a lot going on, but I was still bored as crap. Getting back in the gym, and going by myself, means that I have something that’s mine. I have somewhere to be. I have something to do. I’m loving it, and I just want to stay with it for that reason.

So that’s part of what’s new. Maybe later this week I’ll post pics of our new sprouting things. We planted seeds a couple weekends back, and we’ve had morning glories, basil, tomatoes, sage, and carrots pop up. If things keep up, we should have a decent harvest this year!

ps – The Kitchn cure was awesome. Our cabinets are cleaned out, and the fridge was cleaned out. I heartily recommend it for anyone who doesn’t know where to begin with getting a grip on your kitchen.

It’s been far too long since we’ve sent out a monthly update. Now that the craft show season has officially arrived, it’s high time we checked back in and let you in on all the new stuff.

Updates:

First, the big news: we are the newest members of the Richmond Craft Mafia! We’ve jumped right in and are helping out with the prep for the upcoming Spring Bada Bing show (Sunday, Apr 18, Plant Zero, RVA). If anyone wants to volunteer to help out at the show, please let us know. We’re thrilled to have been “made” in the RCM, and can’t thank everyone enough for their warm welcome.

The almost-as-big second news: Meghan is now running her own monthly craft show, as part of the Saturday Stroll event. Saturday Stroll occurs on the 3rd Saturday of every month, and encourages Richmonders to come out and support their local retailers. The craft show happens in the parking lot next to Quirk Gallery, from 11 am-4pm. March 20th was the first show, and the next show is April 17th. The show is gently curated to highlight local and regional independent artists and crafters. So come out every third Saturday, and meet the awesome people making things in the area. If you’d like to participate as a vendor, please email Meghan at: saturdaystrollcrafts at gmail dot com.

By popular demand we’ve got prints of the “Yes” paintings for sale, for just $15! These are high-quality prints on archival 8.5 x 11 paper. You can see them all (and buy them all!) here.

And our newest monsters are these ridiculously adorable cephalopods. Try and resist the cute, I dare you!

Schedule:

There’s always lots more stuff at our booth than you can find on Etsy, so come out and see us. We’re applying to all kinds of art shows in the mid-Atlantic, and if you know of one, we’d love to hear about it.

Here’s where you can find us through April:

March 27 – Tooth and Nail show – 11 am to 7 pm – Velvet Lounge – Washington, DC

April 17 – Fool for Art – 10 am to 5 pm – John Tyler Community College, Midlothian campus – Midlothian, VA

(If you’re paying attention, this is the same day as the next Saturday Stroll. There will be artists at Quirk; however, this event was already on our calendar, so we’ll be at this instead. No reason why you can’t hit up two fabulous art shows in one day, even if we can’t!)

April 18 – Spring Bada Bing – 11 am to 4 pm – Plant Zero – Richmond, VA

If you’re not in and around Virginia, just wait until May! We’ll be doing lots of traveling up and down 95, so stay tuned for those shows.

And finally:

Want to keep in touch beyond our newsletter? Follow us on Twitter, fan us on Facebook, and keep an eye on Flickr.

Happy Spring y’all!

-Phil & Meghan

That said, there’s always room for improvement in the kitchen. The pantry is usually in good shape, but Phil’s been baking a lot lately, so it’s starting to get a little out of control. Most notably, I hate our spice cabinet. It’s a long, skinny, but relatively deep cabinet. If you want a spice you have to reach in, around, over and behind things to get what you want. Not the most efficient use of space.

I spent a couple hours today pulling everything out of the cabinets, wiping it all down, and then putting back only what is fresh and edible. Here are my before shots:

Pantry - Before

Pantry - Before, closeup

Spice Cabinet - Before

And here are the after shots:

Pantry - After

Spice Cabinet - After

Spice Cabinet - After, closeup

I’m REALLY happy with the spice cabinet. I only threw out about 6 bottles of stuff, but who knew there was all that space hiding in there? I didn’t intend to line everything up against the wall, but it works well. You can see everything, and can easily get to what you want.

I still need to do the fridge clean out. Maybe after dinner…

Ingredients:

3/4 c dried lentils

1 sweet potato, cut into bite-size chunks

6 slices bacon, chopped

1 c red onion, diced

3 or 4 garlic cloves, diced or crushed

2 c broth (we’ve used up to 4 c, so you can play with this volume)

spices to taste: we like salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin. You can also use 1 tsp dried basil and 1/2 tsp dried oregano (per the original recipe)

Jasmine or basmati rice, cooked

Instructions:

Rinse lentils and pre-soak if desired. We usually pre-soak for about 1 hour, which makes them softer and cooks quicker. If you don’t pre-soak, add more broth and extend the simmer time later in the recipe.

While lentils are soaking, toss sweet potato chunks with olive oil, and season if you like. Roast until soft in 375 degree oven (approx 35-45 mins).

Place bacon into a sauce pan. Once the fat has rendered out and the bacon has crisped up, add the onions and garlic. Sautee for 5 or so minutes, or until you can’t stand how awesome it smells any more.

Stir in lentils, broth, sweet potatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the broth picks up a luscious stew-like consistency. If I can survive the amazing aromas a bit more, I like to let it cook longer to get hearty and thick.

Serve over rice.

Options:

chopped spinach, diced carrots, diced celery (if you’re into that sort of thing), chopped tomatoes

Really – go to town and add anything you like. I can’t imagine a veggie that wouldn’t work, and any meat would probably work too. Obviously, just take out the bacon to make it a vegetarian meal.

Serves 4-6, if you don’t eat the whole darn thing yourself.

Tonight I will conquer the “I need to do something” monsters that chase me around. There are plenty of “somethings” to be done, I just have to pick what they should be.

Okay, world?