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Open House
Open House: What Are Your Thanksgiving Plans?
This Thursday, friends and family will gather to socialize, give thanks, and stuff themselves silly. Whether you're hosting or putting in a guest appearance, there's always a lot of preparation and work that goes into every Thanksgiving gathering.
This year my husband and I are driving from Berkeley to Whidbey Island, off the coast of Washington, to stay with his family.
Open House: How Do You Dress Your Thanksgiving Table?
When it comes to the Thanksgiving table, how you dress it is often as important to the hostess as what food sits upon it. Over the years, I've seen family members fuss over table settings, switching out placemats, rethinking china sets, and shifting floral arrangements.
I admit that I'm known to fuss over my Thanksgiving table as well.
Open House: What Was Your Most Successful DIY?
For crafters and DIYers, a few failures are par for the course. That's part of the reason why successful DIY projects are such a coup. I've had my share of successes and failures, and I'm currently in the middle of one of my more ambitious projects ever.
Open House: How Are You Celebrating Halloween?
Whether you've been planning your costume or party for months, or are stuck for last-minute ideas, you should definitely get out there and celebrate tonight! At my house, we'll be waiting on trick-or-treaters (or trying to) and then heading to a friend's party in San Francisco for the evening. I still haven't decided on a costume, but I'm sure I can whip something up at the last minute.
Open House: Have You Ever Lived in a Haunted House?
Back in college, I lived in a creaky, spooky Victorian with three housemates. One February night, when all three of my housemates were out of town, I heard creaking on the stairs outside my bedroom. The creaking wasn't random — it sounded like footsteps.
Open House: What's Your Home's Pet Policy?
My husband and I share our house with two dogs, which means a lot more vacuuming and dusting than nonpet people experience in their homes. We try to keep things tidier by keeping the pups off of furniture. However, they have full run of the house, hang out in every room, and even keep us company while we're cooking in the kitchen.
Open House: Least Favorite Fall Chores
Once the season turns, it's time to compile, and check off, all of those necessary Fall chores. From sweeping out gutters to raking up leaves, there's no end to the tasks that need attending to. My least favorite Fall chore is actually scheduling appointments with handymen and carpenters.
Open House: Are You Throwing Any Fall Parties?
Every October, I love to invite a few friends over for a pumpkin carving party. It's a great excuse to reconnect with friends, and who can resist the fun of carving images and faces into a pumpkin?
Another friend of mine, who's an amateur mixologist, loves to throw a Halloween-themed cocktail party right around Halloween.
Open House: How Do You Decorate For Fall?
I love Indian corn wreaths. When I was a kid, I remember visiting my grandmother in the Autumn and marveling at the dried cobs of Indian corn she'd grown in her garden. The kernels were all so fantastically colored.
Open House: What Are Your Friends' or Family Members' Weirdest Cleaning Habits?
The other Saturday, when the hubz and I were cleaning the house, he turned to me and yelled over the vacuum, "Do you ever vacuum the sofa?"
"Yes, of course," I yelled back. At this point, he picked up the vacuum and ran it over the sofa.
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