It’s roasting like Riyadh, muggier than Manila and the rain only seems to arrive via a tropical storm wind that also has a thing for snapping trees and yanking down power lines.  Not exactly the time of the year when you’re just dying to get outside and toil on your little patch of heaven.  But [...]

My historical approach to exercise can best be described as intermittent.  Particularly now that I’m starting to encounter the nagging injuries that come with the crappy little gift basket that is turning 40.  So anything that makes getting a workout easier and faster is welcome.  Working with a personal trainer (in my case Chad Cirri) [...]

So you’ve captured your must haves (postcard #1), found an architect (postcard #2) and whipped up a set of plans that would make Frank Lloyd Wright himself get a little misty.  Now you’re ready to shop your plans and dive into the really deep end of the home addition pool – picking a contractor.  Given [...]

It’s spring and the mosquitos aren’t quite bat size yet here in our happy little swamp.  So a quick hitter on grilling.  Not exactly core to the mission of the site but this is self-publishing, who’s going to object, the editor?  After my circa 2000 Weber died, I recently splurged on a Big Green Egg [...]

Back to the series on the big process of adding on to your house.  In Postcard #1 I talked about nailing down a clear “must-haves” list so you can stay on course through all the slings and arrows of this typically year long process. Now on to the Architect phase.  Lots of different choices here [...]

Another good local resource to share is the growing collection of Alexandria/Del Ray blogs recently summarized at a good one from this blogging bunch, gwslepthere.  In addition to the ones listed here, I also like the helpful health related info at the blog from Neighborhood Pharmacy. Lots of different topics covered, missions pursued, but in [...]

Finally, after almost 10 years of banking relationship bliss, it happened to us.  A banking nightmare.  One that took our relationship with a big bank to the brink and had us shopping around and wanting to join the anti- big bank movement.  But one that ended up restoring some of our faith in a well [...]

If you’re like my family (3 wee ones), you likely go through milk at a voracious clip.  Which means you can’t keep enough in the house, have heavier, clunkier trips to the grocery and invariably hit the store at the moment they’re out of the brand you like. We took a swing at these hassles [...]

A sure sign that middle age draws nigh? You don’t think twice about getting a professional to do a small renovation update project that just a few years ago you’d have done yourself in a Del Ray minute. That’s just what I did over the holidays and it was awesome. Sometimes finding high quality help [...]

When we were doing our addition (two story job with new kitchen and master) a while back, oh how I wished for some credible context on the blizzard of decisions we were making, the big chunks of dough we were committing, the long term relationships we were entering into. So now that we’re done and happily ensconced in [...]