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The sharing economy has hit my neighborhood, and it may hit yours, too. Notice strangers in your neighbors’ driveway? They just may be renters from online sites that offer visitors a chance to experience what it’s really like to live in Boston! Highland Park, Ill.! Santa Monica, Calif.! rather than stay in less personal hotels, inns, and B&Bs. I never pictured myself as Mary Frann, Bob Newhart’s wife in the ’70s sitcom, Newhart, in which he played an innkeeper in a bucolic Vermont village, and she was his right hand. While I love having guests stay in my house, eat my...

#1 Begin by making your own happiness a priority! What does this have to do with dating? When you’re happy, you glow. When you glow, men are attracted to you. Happiness begins inside you and is complimented by the good man you meet. Get your inner mojo fired up by finding things to do on a daily basis that make you happy. This can be as simple as buying a new book you’ve wanted, or taking a bubble bath and reading a book. It just has to make you happy. That’s all that counts. #2 Create a Single Girlfriends List. When my...

After I lost my husband four years ago, I was subjected to a barrage of questions from close friends and many acquaintances: How are you doing? Are your kids OK? How are you doing financially? Thinking about moving out of your home? What do you do on weekends when you’re alone? But the one question most often asked was: Are you dating yet? And then the questioner would be all ears anxiously waiting for my answer. I would respond vehemently, “No way,” while shaking my head “No” vigorously, smiling politely, then changing the subject. I lost my husband all too soon. Meltdowns several...

On a dark summer night, Beamer wearing all black—turtleneck and Eileen Fisher (baggy) pants, an oversized pair of sunglasses that covered most of her face, and a midnight black knit stocking cap pulled down to her nose that made her look like the senior version of a cat burglar, rented a Mini Cooper and drove the 250 miles to Sam Tate’s gated community. She waited for someone else to open the gate then followed fast and entered his million- dollar modernist condo complex. She parked, checked the door, which hadn’t been locked—he was always so confident, walked gingerly across his...

Everyone says paint is the easiest change artist and cheapest in your decorating tool box. It’s just paint, for heavens sake. That may be for the folks at Farrow & Ball, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, and all the other paint companies that mix colors so effortlessly, debut a new paint color or two every year, and get to stay up all night drinking wine at focus groups and coming up with clever monikers–Bunny Gray, Heartthrob, Lucky Green, to name just three. However, don’t think for one second that selecting a paint color is an easy magic bullet. It can be a...