Real Estate Dealings from the Ground Up Residential real estate often comes in two varieties: move-in ready and do-it-yourself. In the former, the house is usually available for occupancy shortly after close of sale. Yet some clients prefer to work literally from the ground up, by locating and buying a ...By Cathy Dausman
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Digging Deep-Gardening with Cynthia Brian "I couldn't wait for success ? so I went ahead without it." ~ Jonathan Winters
It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. And, oh, how happy we are all! As those of you who have ...By Cynthia Brian
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Stylish Solutions Ah, January - the perfect time for resets, clean-outs and editing. I love the month of January from a design standpoint. Last year, we wrote about the deep clean (see the Jan. 14 Lamorinda Weekly article "Stylish Solutions: The Intrinsic Nature of Deep Cleaning and ...By Ann McDonald
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Pink Flamingos Not Included Long gone are the old days of plopping down a double-wide trailer and sticking a couple of plastic pink flamingos in the ground out front. Today's built-to-suit homes have clean lines and customizable features.
By Chris Lavin
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Feng Shui Recommendations for the Coming New Year Many of us put festive touches in our homes to ignite the passionate blessings of the holiday season and to help express the love, generosity and gratitude we feel toward others, but you can also use this time to borrow from other traditions to keep focused on what is ...By Michele Duffy
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Cynthia Brian's Gardening Guide for January "All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happy New Year! How many times have you voiced this well-versed exclamation in the past ...By Cynthia Brian
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Digging Deep-Gardening With Cynthia Brian "With our thoughts, we make the world." ~ Buddha
My first gardening calendar was published in 1993. I had worked with a renowned photographer for over 18 months shooting fabulous photos ...By Cynthia Brian
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Stylish Solutions Since the holiday season is in full swing this month, I wanted to address the issue of cards: what to do with them, where to put them, how to display them, and most importantly, how to preserve and recycle them at the same time. Each season, I think the holiday card ...By Ann McDonald
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Water, Water Everywhere: A Cautionary Tale Lamorinda Weekly writer Cynthia Brian left her house last February on a family vacation and returned to find "a nightmare."
A relatively minor pipe repair gone awry upstairs leaked and ...By Cathy Dausman
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Cynthia Brian's Gardening Guide for December "I look upon the pleasure we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life." - Cicero
It is hard to believe that the holidays are already here. Wasn't it just ...By Cynthia Brian
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Feng Shui Tips to Warm Up Winter Months How do you create holiday glow in your home? For many, it starts with a personal commitment to glow from within. Even in winter, our hearts and minds should be like bamboo: flexible and pliant, not rigid and frozen. Bring fiery, passionate warmth inside with loving ...By Michele Duffy
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Recent Rain Small Respite for Drought-Stressed Trees Mother Nature has been a tease. One good rainstorm - even a few claps of thunder - and she figures that is enough. She is even going to give us a few more little showers in the next couple of weeks, but after four years of holding back, it is of little use to thousands ...By Chris Lavin
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Cynthia Brian's Gardening Guide for November "The small but intense pleasure of walking through dry leaves and kicking them up as you go ... they rustle, they brustle, they crackle." - Vita Sackville-West, "Walking through Leaves"
By Cynthia Brian
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Stylish Solutions If your mailbox is anything like mine, the holiday catalogs are starting to pile up. All sorts of non-essentials and beautiful gadgets, luxuries and luminaires - colorful trees and goodies. I love it. There is a wee bit of decorating stress, however, that comes with ...By Ann McDonald
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Walking to School We all heard the stories growing up: "Don't complain about it! I had to walk 10 miles uphill both ways to get to school when I was your age, through 10 feet of snow!" For many Lamorinda parents, carpooling and hauling kids in the early morning hours is part of the ...By Chris Lavin
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