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It’s a big job, but Jordyn Clark is used to playing Santa Claus to the foster children in Sumner County, Tennessee. Clark, the owner of the hair salon Studio 1:9 in Gallatin, spends her holiday season collecting Christmas gifts as part of a project she calls “Fostering Hope.” With help from Sumner County Court Appointed Special Advocates, Clark puts up a Christmas tree in the salon and decorates it with an ornament for every foster child in the county....

With their jewel-toned plumage and high-energy acrobatics, hummingbirds are some of our most fascinating garden visitors. As they zoom by, you’ll hear the distinctive whir of their wings beating up to 90 times per second! Some hummingbirds become bold enough to hover just feet away from you to investigate why you’re in their gardens. Because of their super-fat metabolisms, hummingbirds eat once every 10 to 15 minutes, visiting between 1,000 and 2,000 flowers per day....

Bridge-hounds, rejoice. The Breaks Interstate Park in Virginia and Kentucky is getting what will be the largest pedestrian bridge in North America courtesy of a generous grant up to $433,000 from The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, as WJHL News Channel 11 initially reported. Additional funds from other sources amounting to $326,000 have also been given to the park for this project. “The Breaks Interstate Park Commission is extremely excited to see this project coming one step closer to fruition....

“While they are relatively thin (consistent with most non-American hotels), that does NOT sacrifice softness nor absorbency (very surprisingly),” one happy reviewer shared. BUY IT: $11.04 (orig. $24.99); amazon.com The comfort and quality of the towels aren’t the only reasons they have glowing reviews: Their quick absorbency is also impressive, shoppers attest. Many say that although the towels look thin, the terry cloth fabric absorbs water and liquids without any dripping....

Back in September of 1996, Cumberland Island had a secret. They were playing host to a top-secret wedding and no one was going to be caught spilling the beans. A week later, the story finally broke—John F. Kennedy Jr. had married Carolyn Bessette in a private ceremony in the island’s tiny First African Baptist Church, filling the church’s eight pews with family and friends and no media. They held the reception at the historic Greyfield Inn, the lone hotel on the secluded island, seven miles off the coast of Georgia....

It seems odd now to think we’d never really thought about what happens to any crumbs or broken-off pieces of bread at the bottom of the toaster until recently. It was just assumed that they all merely disappeared or that a toaster fairy came in the cover of night to collect burnt sourdough bits. We certainly did not suppose that there was a hidden compartment underneath the toaster collecting all sorts of unmentionables for, sometimes, literal years and years....

Three generations of the Presley family were in attendance for a special screening of Elvis at Graceland over the weekend. The King’s ex-wife Priscilla, their daughter Lisa Marie, and Priscilla’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, united to watch the long-awaited biopic at the crooner’s legendary home in Memphis, Tennessee. The forthcoming movie, directed by Baz Lurhmann and starring Austin Bulter as Elvis and Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker, received rave reviews from the family....

Just because your towels aren’t falling apart with holes in them yet, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in some new ones. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to tell which towels you should turn into kitchen rags, and which ones are okay to keep using. “Extending the life of your towels always starts with treating them with love,” explains Janet Wischnia, founder of American Blossom Linens in Thomaston, Georgia. “You should always make sure to clean your towels because they tend to absorb a large amount of dirt and oil from bodies, and can harbor a lot of germs....

When it comes to holiday decor, there’s no shortage of dos and don’ts. Of course, they’re all just opinions—do buy a real tree, don’t put your decor up too early, do take it all down promptly. The list goes on. When it comes to timing and style, it should be about what makes you happy. But when it comes to safety there really are a few dos and don’ts to take seriously....

We’ll say it: cleaning floors is not exactly our idea of a good time. You have to sweep or vacuum, move the furniture, lug out a bucket of water, and scrub scrub scrub until the linoleum shines. The best thing you can say about it is that it burns calories and that it makes your house feel so much fresher. But what if it turns out you were doing a bad job and somehow making your floors worse?...

If you’re looking to make a show-stopping spring dessert, we have quite a few recommendations for you. We love desserts that emanate sunshine, which is why you’ll find so many bright, citrusy treats on our spring tables. From Luscious Lemon Bars to Lemon-Vanilla Pound Cake with Lavender Glaze, these cheery desserts will liven up any party. Quite a few of our favorite lemon dessert recipes get an extra-elegant boost of citrus from lemon curd....

We have just the recipe for Kelli Drury of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who wants a melt-in-your-mouth delicious beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner. Herb-and-Potato Chip-Crusted Beef Tenderloin has a crunchy, flavorful crust that helps keep the meat moist and tender. Serve it straight up, or with sweet, tangy Cherry Chutney and crumbled blue cheese for a lavish holiday entrée. Herb-and-Potato Chip-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Makes 6 to 8 servings Hands-on time: 40 min....

Over the years, Andrew Lloyd Webber has brought us some of the most beloved musicals in the biz, and lately the prolific composer has taken to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to spread joy beyond the walls of the theater. He’s bringing his songs directly to the people who love them by sharing videos of himself playing his tunes on the piano. The first post in the series includes a set of photos of Lloyd Webber and his pet dog alongside the caption, “With us all spending a bit more time at home, which ALW musical number would you like to see Andrew play?...

In recent months during the coronavirus outbreak, we’ve all tried to find new activities to make the most of all the extra time we’re spending at home. Some of us have turned to taking virtual tours from museums. Some of us have been giving our garden or windowsill plant collection more TLC. Some of us have discovered a new obsession with online learning platform MasterClass (Judy Blume on writing for younger readers?...

The city of Atlanta welcomed a new bronze sculpture of civil rights icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday. The installation, titled “Hope Moving Forward,” is located at the intersection of Northside Drive and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive near Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The 12-foot sculpture is part of the city’s MLK Innovation Corridor Project. It is the first of seven installations commissioned to honor the legacy and global influence of the Atlanta native....

As the days get longer and warmer, we Southerners are instinctively drawn like moths to a flame to our summer activities with friends and family. Mingling and celebrating these hazy, lazy, summer days where the sunshine seems to last forever is one thing that makes living in the South so special. Be it a music festival on the banks of the Mississippi river, a friendly competition on the beach volleyball court, or just a pool party with all of our friends, shared joy is a part of the fabric of our Southern lives....

There will never come a day when the discussion—er, argument—amongst Southerners around how to make the best cornbread comes to a definitive close. Some choose the baking dish, while others stay true to the cast-iron skillet. Many herald the addition of browned butter, while a small faction remains adamant about throwing in sugar. However, the one thing that everyone can agree on is that cornbread is always welcome on the table....

Grocery shopping today looks a lot different than it did, say, five years ago, let alone a decade ago. While giant grocery vending machines, grocery delivery services, as well as online grocery options have all given grocery shopping a face-lift, there is still a common goal linked to grocery shopping in the past as well as the present: saving money. Due to recent food and gas price upticks, many are trying to save on their weekly food bill while still buying items they love....

I do not suffer fromanalysis paralysis. When I toured this house, I knew it was the one," says Melissa Smrekar (@melissasmrekar) of the 1930s cottage she purchased in her hometown of Dallas. A born storyteller (she writes and performs comedic essays), Melissa let her personality take center stage when decorating the interiors. “Because I work in the arts, I think of this place in a cinematic way,” she says. “My house is my own movie set....

I stumbled upon the town of Franklin, Tennessee on a rather gloomy day after a two-and-a-half-hour drive with my parents in tow. I was frazzled and a little bit disappointed, thinking the day was a bust because of the heavy rain. But my mood immediately shifted when I stumbled upon this vibrant yellow box stationed near Franklin City Hall. I’m no stranger to the Little Free Library; in fact, just last year, I would ride my bike down the street and thumb through the book collection curated by my local community....