I just snapped up Diane’s FANTASTIC new e-book, Making a Great Blog, and I am happily reading it. And I just got to a very sweet surprise, a mention of Bead Simple, among all the other fabulous bits and pieces decorating Diane’s clear, thoughtful and inspiring advice — she works in so many lovely things, from vintage buttons to necktie quilts, as examples and colorful flourishes within her information-packed chapters.

Yay Diane! Find out more in Rachel’s thorough review post, and get your own copy here.

Rachel also wrote a wonderful post this week highlighting some of the amazing things up for grabs as part of the new online auction to benefit Baby Ike…

so be sure to check out the whole vast and varied collection of over a hundred items if you’re interested. People have been so generous in donating and I love the mix of crafty pieces, vacations, cupcakes, massages, candles and even an Obama quilt (!) among many, many other great things.

And around here I am happy that we planted our first mini-round of vegetables this week!

I put in Red Russian kale, snap peas (with trellis in progress, made from old yardsticks), collard greens, and cabbage so far. And I moved all of our herbs in containers from their spots far and wide to one friendly hangout right next door.

And of course we have the

playoff games to look forward to, too!