Giving Tuesday

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Giving Tuesday is not just a day, it’s a movement!   This global day of giving is being celebrated on November 29th, and was created to unite us in kicking off the charitable season and to get more engaged by donating time, money, a gift or just the power of your voice.  Interested but not sure where to start? You can search for ways to get involved on their main website or check out some of our favorite nonprofits that are always in need of support to keep doing the amazing work they do.  

Serve Your City – This Capitol Hill based nonprofit creates essential learning opportunities for at-risk District of Columbia students through innovative programming such as alternative sports (swimming, rowing, tennis), art, financial literacy, after school tutoring and college preparation with the help of passionate volunteers, community organizations, and academic consultants.  There are many options to get involved or donate to this unique organization that is helping to change the outcomes of local youth who are most in need.  

Rural Dog Rescue – This local rescue group is dedicated to saving the lives of dogs in shelters who are often overlooked and most at risk of being euthanized such as the hounds, the black dogs, the seniors and those with medical needs.  There are many donation options and RDR is always in need of volunteers who can foster and help with events. And of course if you are looking to adopt a new furry family member, this organization is a great place to start your search!  

Capitol Hill Restoration Society – Founded 60 years ago to help preserve and protect the historic neighborhood’s architectural and residential character, it is now the largest civic association on Capitol Hill, and one of the largest in the District of Columbia. CHRS continues to play a key role in maintaining the integrity, history and appeal of the neighborhood which has been a diverse community for more than 200 years, and is always in need of volunteers to assist with their annual house tour fundraiser and other events, write for the newsletter and provide website support.  

Small Business Saturday!

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It may be tempting to get caught up in the hoopla of Black Friday madness or want to check out shopping deals from the comfort of home on Cyber Monday.  But please don’t forget to support all the wonderful independent businesses by getting out there for Small Business Saturday on November 26th!  Many of your local shops will also be offering promotions, and it’s a chance to enjoy the fun of chatting with store owners, running into neighbors and getting some real one of a kind finds.  Here’s a few ideas if you’re feeling stuck.  

Hello, books anyone? – Of course we highly recommend a trip to Capitol Hill Books (as in, if you haven’t been, you must go), and also suggest checking out our friends at East City Books to search for amazing gifts for all those readers in your life or just to treat yourself during this stressful season.  

Exercise lover in your life? – Sustainable brands of clothing and gear from Summit to Soul, a class pass to Be Here Now Yoga or a giftcard for a massage from Freed Bodyworks.  

Pets are people too? – Howl to the Chief has a large selection of goodies for dogs and cats as well as giftcards that can be used in the boutique or for services such as grooming and pet sitting.  

Kiddos? – Labyrinth Games & Puzzles is newly expanded and full of exciting gift ideas for kids (and adults) of all ages.  

Home is where the heart is? – Fragers Hardware and Garden Center is a good place to scope out both practical and interesting gifts, and Hill’s Kitchen literally has something for everyone who likes to cook, eat, drink or entertain. (and who doesn’t?)    

Thanks, You!

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It’s the perfect time of year to be thankful. Now, we here at Bookstore Movers do advocate being thankful year round, but we can’t help but get all wrapped up in the holiday season–ha. Wrap. I, for one, am a huge holiday fanatic. I’d like to present, unabashedly, an incomplete list of what we are thankful for:

-Coffee: We wouldn’t be here in the morning without it. Quick estimate in the morning? Thanks coffee.

-Delicious meals: Just in time for Turkey Day! Whether you have traditional stuffing (yum) or mofongo (yuuuum), delicious meals are a huge perk of the season

-That there’s not Christmas music playing in the office: Apparently some people just aren’t ready.

-That I’m not at the office and can play Christmas music: They can fight me.

-Holidays: I’m a sucker for them. Fall and winter are rife with holidays! Halloween? Done. Thanksgiving? On that. Christmas? Of course! Hannukah? For sure! New Years? The best! Tres Reyes? You better believe it! You just watch my holiday flow.

-Friends and Family: This answer is on every thankful list because it’s always true, and we have so many friends and family to be thankful for here. Some of us are lucky enough to be working with their family through BSM. Others are even luckier that they aren’t working with their family. In either case, we are always working with our friends, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that.

-Our clients: You make this all possible. This is not an exaggeration. Our clients, especially our repeat clients, not only give us work for one day, they spread the word through reviews and referrals that allow us to gain more work. Not only do they trust us with their moves, they then trust us with their friends and family by suggesting us to others, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

You give us the opportunity to deliver turkeys and Christmas trees to families, to help schools move books, and to get out in the community in general and do some good.


We appreciate everything you do. You allow this local company to exist and flourish. So, thank you. Yes, you, with the bright eyes and perfect hair or lack thereof! We’re thankful for you this year, and we hope you’re surrounded by good food and great friends, with a grateful heart and a full stomach. You deserve it.

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Welcome to the Hill!

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Thanksgiving is a time when many of us have a more heightened awareness of all we have to be grateful for, and prioritizing giving to others.  The Bookstore Movers family spreads generosity all year long by regularly donating time and resources to many, many great causes that benefit our local community (as I write this we have crews out delivering trucks full of turkeys that will go to deserving people and families for the upcoming holiday, and next week those same trucks will be making Christmas tree deliveries for a local school fundraiser).

So it is not surprising that November was the kick off month for our new Welcome Packet.  Thanks to the power of collaboration, all BSM clients moving onto the Hill (our original neighborhood stomping grounds, the home of Capitol Hill Books and where our roots run the deepest) will now be receiving a folder filled with materials and promotions from some of our favorite independent businesses and nonprofits here in the neighborhood.  So for customers new to the ‘hood, we’re providing a great kick off point for places to check out for local services, shops, classes and volunteer work.  As a small business, we are committed to supporting other small businesses and nonprofits, and it’s only fair that in the season of giving we share with new residents some of the many resources that make living on the Hill enjoyable and unique.  And for those of you not living on the Hill, it’s an open invitation to come visit our quirky village, and also to make similar commitments and collaboration efforts wherever you do call home.  

Thanks, Hill Rag!

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Thanks to local Capitol Hill realtor Heather Schoell for entrusting Bookstore Movers to provide the type of top notch industry expertise that her monthly column in the Hill Rag “Real Estate Matters” is known for! In addition to providing a high quality service for our clients, BSM takes pride in being able serve the local community and partner with other like minded people, businesses and organizations in this mission, and are grateful that we had the opportunity to connect with Heather and offer some practical moving advice for this month’s readers.  The Hill Rag is an incredible resource for a variety of information and we congratulate them in recently celebrating their 40th anniversary. Check them out online, go directly to the rest of our blog for more moving specific tips and other relevant relocation related information, or our estimate form to schedule your next move!

Best Books to Hold Up Furniture With

Wobbly table? Chair too short? Buying new furniture can be expensive and stressful, and old furniture often holds sentimental value. If you insist upon keeping furniture, since you don’t yet have money to fix or replace the piece, worry not!  There are options! Do you have an excess of very bad books? (No judgment!) Let’s look at some books that can help you with a furniture emergency!

Old Textbooks–Weighty, expensive, and now obsolete. You kept this thinking you’d look at it every now and again and keep the knowledge fresh in your mind.  Now it mocks you from the shelf and you can’t even remember what class it was for. It’s way too late for buyback, so it’s essentially a $200 reminder that school…happened.  These books are great at propping up furniture to make it taller.

The Twilight Series/Fifty Shades of Grey–No explanations needed. This is a safe space. These books got big and we all let it happen.  Use these books to stabilize a wonky, wobbly table–just point the book spines towards the wall or something so no one has to know you were part of the problem.

That Best-Selling Novel You’ve Been Meaning to Finish But You Never Finished It and Now You Don’t Really Remember the Beginning and You Don’t Want to Start Over Completely– This novel is best for covering dents, holes, or scratched paint! Prominently display the book in front of whatever cosmetic issue your furniture has. Just read the summary on Wikipedia like everyone else on earth does (source: have been in a book club before).

How-To Books for Hobbies You Never Got Into– Have a hobby of collecting books for new hobbies and interests, but not interested enough to actually work hard for it? No problem!  Take those Woodworking and How To Weld books and duct-tape them directly to the furniture you meant to fix. There. Don’t you feel so much more accomplished?

Hopefully, this will help with any issues you have. For any other major issue, the solution is simple: grab a book, whether it’s good or bad, open it, and place it directly in front of your face so that the issues are obscured! Problem solved.

Children’s Books About Moving (Starring Characters You May Recognize)

If you have small children, you likely spend a good deal of time every night reading to them. If you do already, great! That’s additional time spent together, both opening your kids mind up to new information and fostering a love of reading.  If you don’t, you may want to start, since reading is a good way for both you and your child to wind down and relax at the end of the night.

Here at Bookstore Movers, we do encourage reading of every kind (Hi, welcome to this blog!).  If you are moving, you may looking to find books to read to your child to get them accustomed to the idea of moving. I’ve gone ahead and found a couple books about moving with characters you may recognize.  Hopefully, if these are icons you grew up with and loved, it’s just another memory you can share with your child.

While researching children’s books about moving, I found a plethora of books that teach children either about the physical process of moving or discussed the feelings surrounding moving.  There are a ton of resources for a parent, so don’t hesitate to visit your local library or bookstore to look for yourself.  I narrowed it down to three books that I would have loved as a child. Two of which, it turns out, were favorites of my older sisters’ when they made the move from Puerto Rico to the United states–which means these books are available in multiple languages as well.

The first book on the list is a character much, much beloved by older generations. If your children aren’t familiar with him, I 100% endorse finding every episode and bringing back the pinnacle of children’s television.  Fred Roger’s book series are like his show–educational, encouraging, and captivating.  Moving, from his First Experiences Book Series, is a great book. The book is going for a hefty price online, so you’ll want to hop to used bookstores and libraries for this one (and hey, while you’re at it, why not for all of them?).  This book chronicles the entire journey, from the child first learning about the move to the end of the move.  It answers questions you may not even realize that your child is thinking of.

Whether or not you think you stemmed from an alternate universe, you’ve likely heard of the Berenstain Bears. Their book on moving, The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day, is about Brother Bear and his parents as they move into their well-known tree house.  This book focusses on his worries about his move and making new friends. It’s less explanatory than Mr. Roger’s book, but clearly more cartoony and bright.  Children will relate to Brother Bear and his fears, and you can go to sleep wondering if it was Berenstain or Berenstein.

Our final book is a classic that you may not have specifically read, but would definitely recognize the style of.  A House for Hermit is a picture book by the iconic Eric Carle.  The story focuses on a hermit crab who outgrows his shell and finds a new one.  He decorates his new home and makes friends, but eventually needs to move once more.  Not only will this book show children how to deal with things like moving and growing up, it will also teach them a bit about marine life as well. The artwork, as always, is abstract and beautiful and will keep your kids captivated.

In the end, there are countless children’s’ books about moving, and a great deal of them star characters you know and love.  From Sesame Street to Clifford, Alexander to Little Critter, you’ll find a ton of familiar faces on the pages. So get comfortable, grab that last glass of water, and settle in with your loved ones to teach a little about moving and learn a lot about your family.

And for the record, it’s Berenstain.