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Odd advicewww.curbly.com Friendly and spunky, the design blog and catch-all curbly.com shows us what’s cool in the design world without the Martha Stewart sweetness or the more-mod-than-thou tone of other design sites. Recently spotted on curbly: a roundup of the best furniture currently for sale on craigslist, real estate advice based on the errors of […]

On fire

In a city neighborhood minutes from Downtown, photographer Billy Hunt occupies a spacious, woodsy oasis: trees surround the 175-year-old house he shares with his wife Jocelyn and their 16-month-year-old son, William—so many trees that if you squint, you could almost think you were deep in Nelson County. “Every room is an addition,” Hunt says of […]

Chef smart

Marisa Catalano is sitting pretty. Not only does she help run the upscale Italian wine bar enoteca—an opportunity she calls “priceless” for a 29-year-old culinary school grad like herself—she lives in an apartment with a killer view of Carter Mountain, Charlottesville and the hills beyond. When she moved here from New York a year and […]

Ground Rules: The big freeze

Albemarle County straddles the foothills and the piedmont, from the soft blue mounds of Afton to the mellow plains east of Charlottesville. This tricky topography makes many different pockets to catch first frosts. City folk retain more heat than those of us in the country and can eke out a longer season, but sooner or […]

The frog’s prince

Jim Chang is your typical reluctant neighborhood association president—he took over the job “by default,” he says. You know, somebody’s got to step up and organize the annual neighborhood potluck. Oh, but if only Chang’s job were that glamorous and fluffy. No, figuratively speaking, when Chang was the last Meadows resident to shout, “not it” […]

Room for ideas

I like my kitchen—just not for the same reason most people like their kitchens.Let me explain. My first memory is of being hoisted onto a kitchen counter and sitting there with my legs dangling while my mother’s arm, like a bar on a ski lift, kept me from falling. I think she was talking on […]

Death and destruction

“The Virginias and the Carolinas are a sort of weird nebula for disasters,” says Christopher King, who was intrigued by nearby historical remnants while growing up in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Let your walking do the talking

At some point this week, George Martin will take a walk in Virginia.  He’ll walk upon the curvy macadam roads, take in the skyline of trees that will soon begin to change colors. His walk will be brisk. His strides will be paced. Martin will need to conserve his energy. That makes sense, considering that […]

Get it right

Fresh figs are almost a forbidden pleasure, considering that they’re one of the most expensive fruits on the market. If you’re only going to sample a few this season, be sure to ravish them like they deserve on your first tasting: Stuff them into your mouth, unadorned, and let the juice stream down your face […]