A few weeks ago, Dorothy and Duke West invited me into their home to see their lovely and skillful fall decorations. While I was there, they told me that their decorating specialty would actually come a few weeks later, when they would put together an outrageous party display for Halloween. I was excited when they invited me to…

We promised tours of two gorgeous trails that you cannot miss during the peak of Reston’s fall foliage. Last week we featured a path along the water at Lake Audubon. It has been so fun to hear from some of you who’ve explored that trail since then! I’m really glad that many of you enjoyed it….

The bounty of summer is long gone but fall brings its own special harvest to the table. Squash is in full-force right now at grocery stores and farmers markets. These nutritional power-houses are packed with vitamins and fiber. They can be used to lighten-up recipes by replacing starches such as pasta and potatoes. They can also be the…

Now that the days are getting chillier, it’s the perfect time to discuss some of the softest and coziest winter accessories I’ve encountered. Meet Jerilyn Paladino, a regular vendor at the Reston Market on Saturdays at Lake Anne Plaza. She operates a company called The Alpaca Girl, which specializes in stylish, handmade garments made of alpaca wool…

An art professor taught me years ago that we should look at art without reading labels. Don’t let captions tell you how to respond to artwork, he said. I see the merit of that viewpoint, but personally I prefer to hear what an artist has to say about his or her inspiration. To me, artists’…

Whether you are hosting a Halloween party or just prefer to drink alone — in the dark, in a haunted mansion — these ghostly (ghastly!) concoctions will definitely send a chill down your spine. We dusted off the grand tome of classic cocktails and picked three that will impress your friends… or send them into a spiral of madness.

It’s bivalve season! Huh? you ask. Months that end in an ‘r’ are commonly believed to be the best months for oysters, mussels and clams. Cooler waters have less of an occurrence of algae blooms which can lead to high levels of toxicity in bivalves. These shellfish also spawn during warmers months and don’t taste as…

Modern Reston has been featuring some of the talented artists at the Reston Market. Next in our series is painter Mina Karimi. Mina is a DC-based painter with a bold, colorful style of painting mixed with silkscreened photographs. She creates artwork that highlights several local landmarks, such as DC  street scenes, logos, and maps. Her style is…

Someone like me isn’t supposed to be excited about Markoff’s Haunted Forest. I’m one of those people who cowers behind pillows during scary movies, and would be more likely to watch the Sound of Music in the first place. Yet I was the one urging my husband and friends to go. My husband eagerly agreed. My friends were too scared….