I'll use the term "recipe" loosely in this instance, as it's more of an assembly of ingredients. But this bite sized morsel is elegant enough for fancy occasions, and has even served me well on a Friday night with a few friends. I was first introduced to it by my baby shower co-hostess, and have been in love ever since.

Ingredients:

• Package of store bought individual phyllo cups (found in your grocer's freezer section)
• Wedge of good brie cheese
• Jar of fruit preserves

Directions:

Get started by opening the boxes of phyllo cups,...

Photo Credit: Charles & Hudson

This got me to thinking about my full "Top 10," and what the list might look like. So I went ahead and put the whole thing together. You'll notice this list isn't high on the "fancy" scale, doesn't typically cost a lot, but includes a whole lot of utility. I hope it's helpful in finding a tool or two that you need to round out your must haves.

1. 25' Tape Measure

It's hard to do a significant project without a tape...

If you'll recall about a month ago I mentioned the wires, wires, everywhere and how we ultimately needed to do some work to make our Internet connection better. We're signed up for 27 Mbps / 7 Mbps business service with our local provider, but we've been seeing fairly slow upload speeds and moderate to significant packet loss. This equates to this website running very slowly, since we host in a very DIY fashion. 

We had hoped having our provider replace the drop from the tap on the pole to our house would help alleviate the issues we were seeing, but the new wire seemed to be doing little to boost the quality of connection. In fact, I...

It's hard to choose just one thing in particular that I'm most looking forward to about the space, but in the top five has to be a functional and generously sized, luxurious glass shower (complete with tile that doesn't make me want to vomit and grout not filled with mold). I mean really, who in the 1980s really thought this was a good idea to inflict our home with the various tile selections we've had to endure? 

But I digress. As we work through our future bathroom layout, utilizing the sophisticated space planning tool of a paper napkin and crude sketch, it has become clear that the shower will be generous (about four feet wide and just under six feet long, complete with an in-shower bench to use up some of the awkward...

Right in the center of town, I've heard these homes referred to as "Three Queens for Three Sisters." As legend has it, a wealthy merchant in Alexandria had three daughters. As a gift to his daughters and their future husbands, he decided to build three nearly identical Queen Anne Victorian home's on land he owned. His thought was simple, give his three girls similar homes so they won't fight, but give each home their own slightly distinct look, because each girl is an individual. Most importantly, keep them all close to home, so he could keep an eye on their husbands.

Today each retains many of the original details that make the homes stand out in my mind as very unique finds in Old Town. from the detailed ornamentation on the roof lines, to the crown detail masonry just below, each home is intricate...

The next step in our process was to draw up some good plans and get to building these long overdue windows. I went through several drafts of "plans," each one a slight evolution on the prior, and before I cut the first piece of wood I put together a concept drawing of what the various size and shapes of the windows will be.

As I mentioned in the last post on the subject, I want to treat this as a frame that will be mounted...

Looking back, we wish we would have taken so many more "before" photos over the years. In the time prior to our blogging days we weren't quite as concerned with documenting the change. Now our keen eyes and convenience of always having a decent camera handy (thanks to smart phones) have allowed us to capture the various changes in our neighborhood as they happen.

Recently we had the enjoyment of watching as a neighborhood landmark we were concerned might ultimately be lost was thankfully resurrected over the course of several months of diligent effort.

When we look back on our move to the DC area in 2000, we fondly remember driving down King Street as we discovered Alexandria for the first time. Old Town is such a different place from the suburban landscape...

Personally I see nothing wrong with boxed cake mixes or store bought frosting. They're a huge time saver, and often an inexpensive way to create a tasty dessert. But recently, after years of store bought exclusivity, I've gained some comfort with venturing out on my own, making complex cakes from scratch, as I did with last year's Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, and even perfecting a simple buttercream frosting, like when I made the cherry almond vanilla cupcakes recently for a friend's birthday. With these experienced under my belt my approach to cupcake creation has become an equation involving time and effort necessary/available and desired end result.

Knowing that I'd be juggling hostess duty, which means making the other party food as well as whipping the house into shape, I opted...

Today, this building is now a collection of small stores and apartments on the upper floors (although Wendy and I have long admired this home and have dreamt of turning it back into a single residence). It's three doors/windows on the first floor are quite tall, wide, and very atypical for Old Town. It feels far more like a house you'd find in a more southern city.

Though the home, built in 1817, is quite jaw dropping on its own, the thing Wendy and I have always been enamored with is the carriage passage to the right of the main building.

Again, more typical of a southern style city mansion, this passageway with its hanging gas lanterns and classic moldings lead you to what was once a private "piazza," and to the rear...

One of the single biggest challenges when considering DIY home improvement is actually not the lack of skills you have as an amateur, but more typically it's the lack of knowledge pertaining to where you can find good quality and reasonably priced materials. It's not an aspect of home renovation I initially considered when beginning our journey, but it's a fact that Wendy and I both learned very quickly. For most DIY homeowners, this does not come as a surprise and will most likely be met with quite a few head nods.

With the rather recent introduction (we're talking the last 20-30 years) of "big box stores" like Lowes and Home Depot, many people feel, and the marketing would lead you to believe, that they have pretty...

Actually, ever since we removed those old triple track storms in 2005 I've been in my planning stages to build us some custom wood storm windows. I'm not going to call myself slow (I'll leave that to Wendy), instead i'll go with "thorough."

I've discussed my various ideas and approaches with everyone from neighbors to contractors, and almost everyone says, "Why not just replace your windows?" I usually either stare blankly until they leave the room, or if I'm drinking something I try to do a good old fashioned spit take in their face, it makes for good renovation comedy. 

Honestly, we've never even once considered window replacements for the original windows...

These pretzels are a snap to make, and require just three ingredients: white chocolate chips, a bag of pretzels (in this case I selected oversized classic pretzel twists), and sanding sugar (optional).

I started with a double bag of white chocolate chips, placing them in a microwave safe bowl. In 30 second increments I microwaved them, stirring until the chocolate was melted and smooth.

I prefer this approach of melting the chocolate to that of using an improvised double boiler. I've had an issue with the chocolate seizing up mid melt on the stove top,...

Yep, I'm talking about the Rice Krispies treat lollipops we briefly mentioned in the wrap up post on the shower. Today I'll walk you through the steps involved in creating these little delicious balls of goodness just in case you'd like to try it for you next event. (Pssst, any given night of the week easily counts as an event if you're looking for a good excuse.)

The idea behind this dessert is simple -- put a twist on something classic and make it stand out with a unique presentation.

This recipe starts...

After deciding on the new purchase, we stuck the chairs in the small trunk of our Ford Mustang, drove them home, then walked the ten or so blocks back up to get the table. Too large to fit in our car, and without ZipCar or friends that had a truck or SUV, we carried the large and awkward table back to our house (after taking several rest breaks along the way). There's no way we were going to pay for shipping for such a short distance.

Wendy excitedly assembled the table in our backyard, carefully making sure to use the right screws and parts.

Wow, it's amazing how new everything looks. Ah, memories! 

We had our yard...

In the frantic run-up to the actual event, we had already completed a pretty extensive list of chores to clean the house and bring the backyard up to snuff. Alex was a machine as he worked through the list I created for him, which luckily freed me up to concentrate on all of the party specific details we needed to tackle.

The overall goal of this whole endeavor was to concentrate on a classy and classic baby shower theme with a dash of cuteness, but nothing too over-the-top "BABYish." Simple enough, right? For me, this meant a calming mix of colors to lay...

Sunday was P-Pay, or BS-Day (Baby Shower, duh), or in other words, the day that 20+ individuals arrived at our home to celebrate the impending arrival of our good friends' first born. Grandparents-to-be flew in from out of state, and a great assortment of close friends, family, and acquaintances gathered to party in style. 

Though a truly grand time was hopefully had by all, I'd be getting WAY ahead of myself if I didn't fill you in on all of the laborious chores we needed to knock off of our list before we could get to the fun stuff and make this infant-to-be's first official party a reality. Just to get the house in shape for guests, Alex and I had hours of work ahead of us. We had a list of flowers to plant, an ivy jungle to tame, neighbors' garbage to organize, a broken pond pump to repair, and much more. But let...

We had lovingly cared for these plants, beginning our relationship with the utmost devotion, having planted them amid a torrential downpour.

We nurtured them through the long, hot summer months of 2012, ensuring their ideal level of hydration, and somehow managing to keep them safe from the harmful footfall of passing pedestrians and canine rain showers.

But by spring this year, as we alluded in an earlier post, things weren't looking too bright for our feathery friends. 

Richard Pratt in A Treasury of Early American Homes (New York: Whittlesley House, 1949) referred to the house as "one of the choice examples of early American elegance in the United States." Beyond the large and impressive masonry residence the home also retains its original brick coach house.

This home has quite a bit of historical significance and is recognized in the National Register Historic Places. It is documented in writing by George Washington that he and Martha dined at this residence and were close acquaintances with the home's builder, Benjamin Dulany. 

Though we've personally never been inside the house, the Library of Congress has several photos from the 1930s-1960s that highlight the original and intact interior. 

more]]>