It may seem challenging to make your guests feel at home, but the key is a little hospitality, a welcoming persona, and, if you want, a few extra touches here and there to make your guests feel special. Here are our tips for being the perfect host for your overnight guests. General Hosting Tips Tidy Up the House Thoroughly clean the house. Use this visit as your motivation to get everything in tip-top shape and off your to-do list....
King cakes honor the Epiphany (it’s the start of Mardi Gras) and are actually filled pastry rings, frosted and bedecked in traditional royal colors of green (faith), gold (power), and purple (justice). Fans fall into two camps, preferring either the denser, Danish pastry-style, or the light, tender brioche version. Loyalties divide even further when it comes to the fillings, which range from basic cinnamon and sugar to cream cheese, fruit, and even praline....
Before the rainbow of colors of confetti showered down on the superstar quarterback hoisting the Lombardi trophy above his head for his first Super Bowl win ( or the second), and before the Nationwide commercials that had him singing alongside Brad Paisley, Peyton Manning earned household name status as a Tennessee Volunteer. Manning’s football career truly took root on the field at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, each Saturday of the season during his four years as a University of Tennessee student....
To visit a landscape of unbelievable natural beauty, set your sights on Pisgah National Forest, Western North Carolina’s 500,000-acre wonderland of waterfalls, rivers, and hundreds of miles of scenic trails. It’s a destination for outdoor adventure all year round and offers up acre after acre of unforgettable views. Located a short drive north of Asheville, Hendersonville, and Brevard, the park is easy to access and breathtaking to experience. The USDA Forest Service describes the forest as “a land of mile-high peaks, cascading waterfalls, and heavily forested slopes....
For anyone late to the party, it’s full-fledged summertime in the South. As in, the humidity is thick, the gnats are swarming, and many peach cobblers are baking. One of the quintessential activities to do during summer in the South is the classic porch hang with a porch drink and your best porch crew. It might feel counterproductive to step outside the air conditioning, but Southerners will do anything in the name of a crisp glass of vino and a little bit of gossip....
The Fourth of July holiday is nearly here, which means you’ll undoubtedly be paying a visit to a backyard BBQ or two this week. And sure, you may think you’re a master chef because you can form ground beef into the perfect patty and flip it like a pro over the hot coals. But, there’s one major mistake every novice chef appears to be making when preparing their meat: Salting their burgers too early....
When you’re taking on a kitchen renovation, there are so many decisions to make, and so many options to consider that it can be easy to just go with the popular choice. After all, it’s popular for a reason, right? One kitchen element that definitely has a clear MVP at the moment is the backsplash. If your mind immediately thought of subway tile, you know exactly what we’re talking about....
Hey, hands off! You might think air drying curly hair is a no-brainer, but there is one pitfall that should be avoided at all costs, but it’s hard to do. We’re talking about keeping your hands off your drying spirals. You know that feeling when you’re getting a manicure and suddenly have the most aggressive itch that must be scratched on the tip of your nose? Trying not to touch your hair while it air dries is a similar phenomenon that’s enough to set one’s eye-a-twitch....
Poppies, as beautiful and unique as they might be, are also known for being quite rebellious at times. Not only do they tend to wilt quickly after being cut and placed in water, they also can take a long time to fully open up and display their colorful personality. However, there’s a trick that florists and flower enthusiasts have been known to use in order to stave off poppy flowers’ finicky attitude, and it only takes a couple extra minutes while arranging your vase....
As a third-generation treasure hunter, Jaclyn King has collecting in her DNA. “I remember standing in line at 6 in the morning to hit an estate sale when I was 7 years old,” says King, whose grandmother and aunt owned an antiques business. “I learned so many valuable things and grew to love it.” The Dallas-based mom would go on to parlay her antiquing bug into a career as a decorator....
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been streaming Spotify on overtime during the long months of hunkering down at home, with plenty of Dolly Parton tunes and more than a few podcasts. (In need of a new favorite? Check out our Biscuits & Jam series.) Now, we’ve got one more reason to hit play on the popular streaming platform: In a new episode of The Drop-In, country crooner Tim McGraw surprised health care workers working on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis at Virtua Health in New Jersey....
Memories might collect as fuzzy visuals in our heads, able to dance in and out of our subconscious like ballerinas traipsing across the stage on their tiptoes during a Christmas performance, but it’s the sounds and scents that bring the blurred edges of those pictures into focus. They become especially clear when recalling our fondest holidays of the past: the smell of sugar cookies wafting from the oven and the clink of ornaments coming together like toasting glasses of mulled wine....
I say the same mini prayer every time I put on any white piece of clothing: “Please, no spills today.” Usually, my clothes escape meals unscathed. But occasionally, pizza or pasta sauce makes their way onto my white jeans, and I rush home to begin the stain-removing process. Bleach had been my go-to stain remover, until this past week when mysterious stains appeared all over my white jeans. The culprit was dye from other light garments in the wash load that bled onto my pristine white jeans – rookie mistake....
“Mashed broccoli” and “mushy broccoli” are not the same thing. One is a delicious and nutrient-packed side dish for a weeknight meal, and the other is a kitchen mistake that should be avoided at all costs. Our trick to perfect mashed broccoli is to sweat the broccoli pieces—cooking vegetables in a small amount of oil over low heat—for a few minutes before steaming it in just the right amount of liquid to prevent oversaturation....
Have you ever heard of the southern flannel moth (Megalopyge opercularis)? Maybe you’ve seen one, but didn’t know what it was. It has a very distinctive look. So if you ever come across one, you definitely won’t be able to miss it. But you should definitely avoid it. The larval form of the southern flannel moth is unique looking as well, and it goes by many names: furry puss caterpillar, tree asp, and woolly slug....
There’s something so equally funny and comforting about the fact that many classic Southern salads—specifically the ones we serve at elegant affairs such as ladies luncheons, baby showers, and Easter brunches—contain ingredients that seem, well, quite un-salad-like. We’re talking about canned pineapple, condensed milk, Jello packets, frozen whipped topping, and copious blocks of cream cheese. Salad where? In the dusty recipe cards that divulge the secrets of the coconut-laden ambrosia salad, mayonnaise-topped pear salad, and partially congealed strawberry-pretzel salad, there is an even more elusive and unexpected salad known as “Pink Stuff....
Your dog is in the yard on doggie patrol when all of the sudden he lets out an “Awooooo.” It’s a high-pitched, long-winded tone the whole neighborhood can’t help but hear. Did he just howl? Howling is an evolutionary holdover from wolves, explains Amanda Nascimento, head of Integrative Veterinary Medicine and Research at NHV Natural Pet. It’s how wolves communicate with one another in the wild. Some breeds like huskies, malamutes, beagles, and coonhounds may be more apt to let out a howl....
There’s a tiny chapel in Semmes, Alabama, that’s built to hold a whole lot of love. Gary Smith constructed Chapel of the Fields on his property at Loblolly Farm in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. The 14.44-square-foot structure measures 40 inches by 52 inches and holds two standing people. It is being billed as the “smallest church on Earth.” “She’s little bitty,” Smith told AL.com. The current record for Smallest Church in the World is held by a chapel in Spain that is seven square feet larger than Chapel of the Fields....
More than ever, plants and flowers bring us a sense of comfort. Whether it’s simply watering a basil, thyme, and oregano potted herb trio on our kitchen windowsill or spending time in our backyard garden getting our hands dirty in the soil, it’s a joy to turn away from technology for a precious few minutes—or if we’re really lucky, a whole afternoon—and spend some time connecting to the natural world....
HGTV superstars Ben and Erin Napier have been talking a lot about cleaning these days. As part of their new partnership with Swiffer WetJet Wood, the home-reno whizzes have discussed everything from how often they clean their hardwood floors to, most recently, how their four-year-old daughter Helen contributes to the family’s daily chores. “Helen, her big thing is dishes—she clears the table,” Ben told SheKnows. “She helps empty the dishwasher.”...
