New Wilton Woods Listing

6108 Stegen Drive, Alexandria, VA  22310     $560,000

Wonderful new listing coming this week.  It's on a nice street, near Metro, nicely maintained and updated.

The market is strong with low inventory, and this one should be very appealing to buyers! 

Spring is coming!

Hard to believe that we just had snow. . . again.  You can see the daffodils sticking up out of the snow.  I think we've finally hit spring now.  Love the daffodils in the garden and in the house.

I don't like to cut many daffodils from the garden, so I just go to the Safeway and buy about 5 bunches of them, stuff them into a MacKenzie-Childs vase, and then it feels like spring.

You can see MacKenzie-Childs black and white plates on the kitchen wall.  Now I love their new parchment color in the enamel ware.  Bob gave me this vase for Christmas.  Love it. 

Coldwell Banker Ad

Check this link to see the new Coldwell Banker ad--I think it has a nice tone.  This spring selling season here in Northern Virginia should be strong--great interest rates and demand is strong because of low inventory. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dqHZojW7Q

Favorite Books of 2012

My Favorite Reads of 2012:

-  The Art of Fielding - Chad harbach
-  The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett
-  Defending Jacob - William Landay
-  Calico Joe - John Grisham
-  Tell The Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
-  The Light Between the Oceans - M.L. Stedman
-  Where'd You Go Bernadette? - Maria Semple
-  The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe
-  The Submission - Amy Waldman
-  Expats - Chris Pavone

A Little Fall Cleaning

We had the house and the screened porch and decks power washed recently.  It was long overdue, and what a difference it made.  I used Andy from Silverstream (703-929- 6759)

The porch looked so big when all my "accessories" are removed.  I could stand to do a little editing out there.  Love this space!!

Christmas 2012

We had a little snow the day after Christmas--just enough to make it feel like the Christmas Season is here.

It was another wonderful Christmas.  Courtney & Chris were here, and we celebrated both Courtney's and my birthdays.  Our annual Christmas party was fun, and it's always so good to see neighbors and friends.

We open gifts on Christmas Eve (as my family has always done) at Linda's house.  Lauren and her 4 kids makes it very fun--toys for everyone!  Matthew was even home this year, and it was so good to see him. 

On Christmas Day, Bob makes Mother's Norwegian meatballs, and Linda and family come over here for more Christmas cheer.  Lauren's twins are 10 months old, and my house is definitely not babyproofed!  Nyla and Noah are fun, and they are such good babies. 

Christmas at the Kennedy Center

Irving Berlin's White Christmas is playing at the Kennedy Center.  I always loved this movie, and it was such a joy to see it on stage.  Courtney & Chris and Linda went with me to see it, and we all got in the Christmas spirit quickly. 

I also had tickets to The Million Dollar Quartet at the Kennedy Center.  It was absolutely so much fun to see.  Great music from Carl Perkins, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Louis.  Go see it if you like that music era.  It was fabulous! 

Almost Thanksgiving

My one and only gardening responsibility at my house is the front flower box.  It was not fabulous this summer--just didn't water it enough or pay enough attention to it.  Busy real estaste season for me.  So, when Fall came, I just added these metal sunflowers (which require no watering at all).  I got these at The Cottage in Leesburg last year, and I still like them. 
Then I asked Bob to hang some wooden pumpkins on my little fence (also from The Cottage).  Cute enough to  keep through Thanksgiving. 

Cleaning out the dryer vent

This is something we haven't done here - ever!  When I had the house power washed this fall, the contractor said that my dryer vent looked full - meaning that white fluff was comiing out the exterior vent. 

So, I went to Angie's List and found a dryer vent cleaning special.  Right A Way Duct Cleaning, 1-888-541-5585 came out today and cleaned my dryer vent.  It has never been cleaned--that would be 25+ years of drying clothes.  They said that I did have quite a lot of lint in the vent.  And, yes, I have always thought that we are good at cleaning out the little lint catcher in the dryer. 

I knew somebody once who lost her house in a fire as a result of the a fire in the dryer vent.  So, think about it - maybe a dryer vent cleaning could go on your "to do list". 

November 2012

Another very good movie was Flight with Denzel Washington.  It was a very entertaining plane crash, but the story is really about substance abuse.  A very well told story.  Go see it!

Over the weekend I listed a house for sale which I had sold only two years ago.  I thought it was a terrific house then, and I still think it's a great one.  Lots of interest already--should sell quickly.  The market is moving quickly with multiple offers on many houses. 

6118 Beech Tree in Wilton Woods, $621,000.  It's a beauty!

Fall 2012

I'm behind in my blogging, so here I go. 

Movies:  Loved ARGO, Perks of a Wallflower, The Sessions

Books:  Read John Grisham's new book, The Racketeer.  His books are always a good read and a pleasant diversion.

Also reading Nelson DeMille's new book, The Panther.  Once again, I always enjoy his CIA-type books.  Of course, now that the CIA and its leader is in the news, it makes it even more interesting.

Photos above show my Mother's table which I moved to my remodeled bedroom space.  The drop-leaf table was in Mom's house for a lot of years.  My sister, Nancy, had it in her house in Minnesota and then she didn't need it anymore, so she shipped it out to me.  It's nice to have one piece of furniture from my family's past house. 

The End of Your Life Book Club

The title of this book may give you pause in choosing to read this book, but I thought it was a such a good read.  It's the true story of a mother and her son who read books together as they go through the diagnosisand treatment of her cancer.  The book talks about so many books that I had wanted to read and some books that I'd never heard of before.  It's a book club of only two members, and they have brutally honest conversations as they discuss books. 

It may not be the book for everybody.  If you love to read, you will like this book.

Charming new Listing

Love the look of fall at my new listing.  This house is so nice--located right across the street from Clermont Elementary School - 4400 Arcross in Alexandria 22310 - $456,000.  It's hard to find nice houses that are on one level, and this is a good one. 

Fall is in the Air!

I loved this chandelier from Country Living Magazine--that big pumpkin is too cute! 

Also, saw a great movie yesterday - ARGO, directing and acting by Ben Afleck.  The audience actually clapped at the end.  Go see it! 

Movies: The Master

I read that this movie was fabulous - a four-star movie.  It has great actors.  I saw it yesterday, and it did not meet my expectations.  I could not recommend it.  I thought about walking out of the movie, but I thought the great part must still be coming. 

It's funny about movie reviews.  I take them with a grain of salt.  Jon Stewart interviewed the director, and he never once said that he liked the movie--used words like "great writing".  Charlie Rose said that people either hated it or loved it. 

My next movie is "Argo" - great reviews.  Hope it doesn't disappoint. 

Nice new listing in Alexandria

Just listed this house in Stoneybrooke.  It's a great example of how to prepare one's house for sale.  They ordered the POD, cleared furniture and stuff out of the house, and now have it showing beautifully.  Jan staged it and gave them suggestions for clearing out.  A professional opinion really helps in getting ready for market. 

The front door was painted black, and Jan suggested Benjamin Moore Gentlemen's Grey--it really gave life to the exterior.  So pretty. I bet it will sell fast.

Beach Reading

August vacation is over, and I read lots of books.  One of my favorite reads was Where'd You go, Bernadette?   Funny and entertaining. 

Other favorites: 
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Girl Gone

I love reading on my Kindle when I'm on the beach, but I really love reading on my I-Pad when I don't have to worry about the sand.  Lots of good reading time on the screened porch.  I've also discovered Words With Friends--playing scrabble online--so fun. 

One less tree in Huntington Forest

We had a large Bradford pear tree cut down yesterday--hate to see a tree go--especially since I live in "Huntington Forest".  We lost one branch during a storm, and we wanted to save the tree.  However, our neighbor did not like our pear tree approaching his property.  After receiving a letter from his attorney (yes, that's correct), we talked to an arborist at Bartlett Tree Experts, and he said that if we just trimmed the side of the tree that approached the neighbor's property, the tree would be unbalanced and subject to future damage.  We always had our trees trimmed professionally and wires installed to strengthen branches (especially the Bradford pears) so that they could last as long as possible.  They created a nice border between our house and the neighboring property. 

Because I spend so much time on my screened porch, I loved the privacy that tree provided.  Now it's gone.

This is my view now:  instead of nice greenery, I see the neighbor's deck.    Not so private.

So, my next project will be to create some privacy.  Because our porch is up high off the 2nd level of the house, it will take a tree some years to get there.  We do have a little skinny maple tree there that might grow better now that the big pear tree is gone--time will tell. 

Tree Houses

I just watched a DVR of the Sunday Morning Show on CBS.  They did this wonderful segment on tree houses.  Wouldn't it be fun to live in one?

I've always called my screened porch a tree house.  It's surrounded by trees, and it's up in the air.  Heavenly!

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

It was Mother's Beach Trip in Rehoboth last weekend.  Linda, Verna, Gretchen and I were off for fun in the sun.  We've done this trip for more than 20 years, and none of the us has ever missed the trip. 

Great cool weekend--the beach was so windy at the shoreline that we had to wear coverups most of the day.  The lifeguards were busy plucking people out of the waves.  Great fun! 

Our two new favorite restaurants were:  Cilantro on Rehoboth Avenue and Salt Air on Wilmington.