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The sign outside the front door was handpainted. Not the first clue it was going to be awesome.

While the conference days were really laid back and the schedule was flexible, the event was extremely well-planned and executed. You could tell the organizers worked hard to make everything special and comfortable for us. Well, as comfortable as you can feel in a room full of people you don’t know. I did my best to be social, but it was also nice to retreat back to the Greenville crew now and again.

Greenville has a really talented web community (many of whom are part of CoWork, where Andrew works). In spite of the small size of the conference (there were about 250 attendees), there were a good number of Greenville designers and developers there. Serious kudos to these (and others) who are putting Greenville on the map when it comes to quality web.

Speaking of quality, check out these pillows in the hang out area.

Our friends Mark and Paul gave a demo of their project Coursebook.

Andrew wearing his name badge. Us being somewhat anti-social.

A couple things I really really loved about this conference:

· Each attendee was given a name badge that had a custom bio written by the organizers. I have no idea how long it took Chris and Cameron to research and write these, but you can’t make things much more personalized than that!

· The speakers weren’t announced beforehand, which might have been a drawback for any other conference. But considering the rave reviews from last year and the quality of everything else, I didn’t think twice about it. It was actually really refreshing to sit down, not knowing what was coming next. I hope to share more about the content of the presentations and discussions, but for now I’m still processing everything.

· This conference was all about bringing the social media connections into the real world. Which means there wasn’t free internet. From the event email:

“Like last year, we will not be providing Internet access at the conference. We see this as a feature, not a bug. You’re of course welcome to use your fancy phones and other devices that can talk to the Internet without our help.”

People still used their phones and computers to access the internet, but in a crowd of heavy Twitter users, I thought it was relatively rare. Real conversations were taking place and most people were engaged during the presentations, not surfing the internet or busy tweeting profound tidbits. 

· Both lunch and dinner were provided for us on all three days of the conference. What I loved most about this is that we were introduced to even more great local Brooklyn food without even leaving the building. Personally, my favorites were the sweets. Pies from One Girl Cookie and unbelievable cookies from FattyCakes.

After this, the bar for conferences has definitely been set high. I took notes, and left inspired to make my corner of the world a better place.

a walk in the park.

It’s been way too long since Andrew and I had our photo taken, so last weekend we headed to some of our favorite Downtown spots with our new friend Katie Stewart. Katie is a writer and photographer who moved to Greenville not too long ago, and we had lots of fun hanging out in Greenville’s downtown parks together.

I picked out two of my favorite photos to share here, but you can see more at Katie’s photo blog.

If you need photos taken, I definitely recommend Katie! Her rates are very reasonable and we felt comfortable enough to be ourselves with her, even in front of a camera.

My favorite part? Seeing how well she captured how much fun Andrew and I have together.

a parade of goodness.

Here’s a glimpse of the wonderful things we brought home from Indie Craft Parade last weekend. I had much more time to shop this year and it was wonderful! Along with these goodies for us, we bought several gifts I’m really excited about (but can’t share of course). Here’s what I can show you:

Clockwise from top: port wine caramel sauce from Sweeteeth / fingerless gloves and a cozy cowl by erin elizabeth (I’m so much more excited about these than I look!) / stitched cards from Common Thread / handmade collar for Riley from Tree Parlor / owl ornament from Once Again Sam*

Not pictured (but things I can still share): leather clutch from Sew Few / bag with leather handles from lightnest / grey braided leather bracelet from Happylooks / What if Greenville poster from Shed Labs

*I know this photo is blurry, but I could barely get a clear picture of the owl since Riley thought it was a toy for her and kept trying to eat it in one gulp. I love they way they’re looking at each other here!

hello, goodbye.

I can hardly believe the Parade has come and gone. This year went even smoother than last, and I enjoyed it more than I ever expected I could. Stress levels were way lower — maybe since we knew a little more what to expect — but I suspect it had more to do with the number of amazing volunteers we had. Somewhere between taking shopping breaks, I realized that all the work I put into Indie Craft Parade is probably for myself!

I love this event through and through. It’s a combination of all the things I love — art, craft, design, Greenville, new friends, good food. I feel so privileged to work on this with Erin for months and months, and then watch all the pieces come together in a single short weekend.

The booth where I spent most of my money, by erin elizabeth

I have lots more to say and purchases to share, but for now — if you missed Indie Craft Parade this year, you can see photos of the artists and their work in our growing Flickr pool. I hope these images can communicate even a little bit of the inspiration that was Indie Craft Parade!

It’s time.

The extended silence over here means The Parade is about to happen! Festivities officially begin tonight at 6pm, but we’ll be busy all day with setup and preparation. My shopping list is growing by the day and I can not wait to see what all the artists have been working on!

If you come out this weekend, look for me in the lobby at the Indie Craft Parade booth and Andrew upstairs at the Parachute booth (#12)!

We are lucky to have so many people who are as passionate about Indie Craft Parade as we are. A big special thanks goes to my Mom who has spent countless hours making  tiny felt flags, stuffing swag bags for vendors, and just being all around event support. She doesn’t believe me, but I really don’t think we could have done it without her.

for the love of Greenville.

Greenville’s Saturday Market

We spent a lovely morning at the Saturday Market. Ran into friends, picked up some corn on the cob, peaches and peppers, then stopped for a shake at one of the local coffee shops.

Have I mentioned how much I love my city? I love it for so many reasons. One of these days we hope to live in the heart of downtown, where we can walk or ride our bikes to work and to the market on Saturdays. But for now, we drive in each morning, walk to lunch here and there, and dream about not buying so much gas.

Andrew and I met at college here in Greenville, and our first order of business after graduation was to move somewhere else. Anywhere else. We felt like we’d done our time here, and we were ready to move on. At that time, we only knew life here in the context of school.

But we ended up staying because jobs and housing opened up, because no other leads  panned out, and basically, it looked like God was paving the way for us to stay here.

Our view of Falls Park during this year’s Easter picnic with family

Now — six years later — we love Greenville more than we ever dreamed we could. It has become our home. Our lives are different and better because we’re a part of this city. It’s comfortable here, and for a while we wondered if that was a bad thing. But even in the past few months, we’ve realized it’s a good comfortable — a sense of belonging, not complacency.

We also love sharing our city with friends and family from out of town, and I’m thrilled that more and more people are discovering how wonderful this place is. In the past few weeks, Greenville has received quite a bit of national media attention, including one especially lovely article that I wanted to share with you. So much of it resonated with how I feel about my hometown, especially this quote:

If you don’t have time to check out all these links, please take time to at least bookmark the article for later. It’s a beautiful story about our city.

Greenville in the news: our story on NPR / voted #1 micro city of the future / Forbes 13th best place for young professionals / FOX news story / Garden & Gun article

you’re invited.

It’s time for more Indie Craft Parade news! We are about a month (eek!) away from the main event, and this time we’re planning to kick things off with a Friday night VIP Gala. I am so excited about this addition to the event, and you are invited!

As if Indie Craft Parade isn’t cool enough by itself, this VIP Gala adds a whole extra level of specialness. Tickets for the Gala are $25 each, and ticket holders get a first look at all the artists work, as well as a chance to win some of the amazing handmade goods. There will also be food, drinks, music and a few artists demonstrating their crafts.

Indie Craft Parade is still free Saturday and Sunday, but if you were scared off by the crowds or the lines last year, the VIP Gala is where you want to be. Tickets are limited, so reserve yours today. We’d love to see you there!

Just a note: This VIP night allows us to keep Indie Craft Parade going year after year, and continue to keep costs low for our artists, so consider investing in the Greenville arts community in this way. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

a wedding.

This weekend was filled with wedding festivities for my brother, which means all kinds of wonderful things: Seeing family, some of whom I haven’t seen since my own wedding, six years ago! Introducing the family to Riley. Picking wildflowers for the rehearsal dinner.

Hunting for Mice on Main with nieces and nephews. Visiting the Army/Navy store with the boy scouts in the family. And having a good excuse to dress up.

The fun continues today with a trip to the Upstate Children’s Museum with niece and nephew, a trip I may be more excited about than they are! I’m so grateful to live in a place like Greenville where there are all kinds of fun things to do and share with out of town family!

last call.

Tomorrow night at midnight, the application period for this year’s Indie Craft Parade will close.

If you’re an artist yourself, make sure you get your application in for a chance to exhibit at this year’s event! And/or if you have a few favorite artists whose work you love, make sure they’ve heard about this opportunity. Anyone in the Southeast can apply!