July 2011: Another man’s treasure

Just five years ago, Darryl Smith couldn’t picture himself as a homeowner. A renter since college, he’d enjoyed being able to pick up and move when he got tired of the place. Cut to last Christmas, when he and roommate Alex Wear, a carpenter at Builder Beast and Alloy Workshop, began renovating his Monticello Avenue […]

Small bites

One local bakery is preparing to change hands. According to Craigslist, a spot with “growing retail sales as well as established wholesale accounts” is on the market for $130,000. Trouble is, it’s unclear which bakery it is. Here are the context clues: The ad mentions nearby soon-to-open professional offices and retail spaces, and says the […]

BYOB is now A-O.K. in VA

 As of last Friday, wine drinkers have another cellar to choose from when dining at a restaurant: their own. The newly passed “Corkage Bill” allows restaurants with liquor licenses to serve a wine brought by a customer for a fee set by the restaurant. Legislators see BYOB as incentive for consumers to dine out in […]

Front and center

My conversation with Julie Hamberg starts with a diction lesson. “Am I reaching you in Louisville, Kentucky, today?” I ask.

“Yes, but Loo-wa-ville,” she says. “Loo-wa-ville. You have to swallow it a little bit more.”

July 2011: Rental Rescue

 In first grade, I grew a bean sprout the size of my hand using nothing but a dry bean, a wet paper towel and a plastic cup. Needless to say, when a renter says “I can’t garden in my apartment,” I don’t buy it. Whether because of space restrictions, a landlord with two brown thumbs […]

July 2011: Adapting to change

 For most of us, the car is essentially our second home. We spend time in it every day. We keep our stuff in it, carry keys to unlock it and log countless hours looking at the world through its windows. But that’s only because of where our first home is located in relation to work, […]

July 2011: Real Estate

 Falling in love makes people do foolish things. Falling out of love, however, can be a calculated business transaction—at least in real estate. What happens to a homeowning couple’s largest asset when they file for divorce? “It will always depend on the couple’s financial situation,” says Tanja Milanovic, local real estate agent with Roy Wheeler […]

July 2011: Your kids

 Corinna Coffin’s high school diploma sits in a place of prominence on the fireplace mantle in one corner of her tidy, bright room. Various athletic awards and team photos surround this new addition to her display of accomplishments during her time at St. Anne’s-Belfield School. Framed family photos, mostly of Corinna and her brothers as […]

July 2011: Your Kitchen

 No vegetable has a perfect reputation, and zucchini—the summer’s most abundant cucurbit —is no exception. From the moment the weather warms in June to the moment nighttime temperatures plunge in October, the zucchini is omnipresent for the farmer, the shopper, and the eater. Is a zucchini a squash? Yes—the immature fruit of a squash plant, […]