NextFab Returns With Annual Gift Guide

Just In Time for Small Business Saturday

Philadelphia, PA (November 2019)

– Start checking holiday gifts off your list with

Nextfab’s 2019 Holiday Gift Guide

, filled with local, handmade products, perfect for

Small Business Saturday

. NextFab operates locations in South Philadelphia, Downtown Wilmington, Delaware, and NextFab’s new 30,000 sq.ft. North Philadelphia location will open in Spring of 2020. NextFab is a network of membership-based makerspaces that provide access to tools, technology, education, events, and services for makers. With a new location in North Philadelphia opening soon and its fundamental mission in driving artisan entrepreneurs in building their business, this Gift Guide showcases the talent of many of those already successful and budding artisan entrepreneurs. NextFab’s members have a wide range of products that showcases their creativity and craftsmanship. This year\’s

Gift Guide

is divided into six categories.

38 local makers

are included in the guide that provides a little something for everyone. The categories are:

In The Kitchen:

Handcrafted kitchen items from local businesses such as

Pellegrino Cutlery

and

Ben Doar Studio

aspire to provide you with high-quality affordable items. The Gift guide features customizable kitchen items from

Destined Goods

that are a daily reminder of life’s best moments. From customizable travel mugs to tumblers,

Mark Brandon

provides buyers with the ability to commemorate milestones.

Home Goods:

Featuring home good items,

The Fox and Sun

make customizable farm-house style signs that are personable to your home. The high-quality affordable signs are available for purchase online. The Gift Guide also features local makers such as

Marsau Botanicals

Plaid

, and

Untitled_Co

Children:

Between

Pal Socks

and

Twee Made

, these two makers have cultivated gifts that children will love. Former Philadelphia preschool teacher,

Kate Leibrand

, created Twee Made to focus on a child’s mental health and physical growth. Leibrand designed the sidewalk chalk with eco-friendly ingredients to help children stimulate artistic ability and to encourage imaginative thinking.

Jewelry:

Jewelry makers like

Cody Heller

and

Idol Light

craft their jewelry pieces directly in NextFab space. The guide also features affordable unique jeweler

Kpellé Designs

. The jewelry line made for women to feel inspired and empowered within their cultures.

Small Gifts:

With the passion for the art form of hand lettering, Lauren Gagliardi Kelley created

Girl Holding A Pen

. The unique handcrafted products started with stationery and invitation designs but now offers small personalized home items. It’s not always about the size of the gift. The Gift Guide also includes small gift ideas from

Philly Phlights

Loma Living

, and

Techcharge

Custom Furniture:

DNL – DSN

features custom commercial and residential furniture by Dan Saldutti. Saldutti created DNL – DSN in 2012 with a mission to find a solution to every problem by using creativity. This section also features custom furniture like

Design Studio 312

and

Marc DiGaimo Design

To explore the Gift Guide and see all the companies featured please visit:

https://nextfab.com/blog/2019-holiday-gift-guide/

“At NextFab, we believe in local artisan entrepreneurs and our team dedicates itself to helping more people to make things for themselves – and to feel empowered, to create new art, new products, and new businesses. With the opening of our new North Philadelphia space, we will be able to do that at an unprecedented level.”

Evan Malone, President, NextFab

The working space gives the opportunity for makers to craft innovated creations and incredible stories within the NextFab community. With the new North Philadelphia location opening, this gives NextFab the ability to expand their impact reach. Not only does the

Gift Guide

provide exposure for craft makers and online businesses within the local community it provides everyone a chance to “shop local” and support these local entrepreneurs.

Anyone can enjoy the access to NextFab features by becoming a member at

Join

. Stay up to date on what is happening at NextFab by following them on

Facebook

Twitter

, and

Instagram

. NextFab can also be found through #NextFabMade. Explore the creations and ideas that were created at NextFab for the 2019 Holiday Gift Guide at

https://nextfab.com/blog/2019-holiday-gift-guide/

. This Holiday

Gift Guide

is filled with incredible stories and projects that were created in the NextFab community.

For media inquiries, please contact by email at

HannahVendetta@PhillyPRGirl.com

About NextFab

Founded by Dr. Evan Malone in 2009, NextFab provides professional services and is dedicated to supporting small-scale local manufacturing. The network consists of membership-based makerspaces that allow local community members services to fabricate their needs. NextFab owns and operates three locations in the mid-Atlantic Region that provide access to tools, technology, education, events, and services for makers.

Philadelphia CBP Seizes more than 20,000 Counterfeit Oral-B Toothbrush Heads from China

Release Date:

November 27, 2019

PHILADELPHIA

– U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 20,400 counterfeit Oral-B toothbrush heads recently in Philadelphia that were destined to an address in Delran, N.J.

CBP officers seized 20,400 counterfeit

Oral-B toothbrush heads in Philadelphia

November 7, 2019.

CBP officers initially examined the air cargo shipment October 1 and detained the shipment as suspected counterfeit consumer goods due to poor packaging and questionable quality. The shipment contained 1,200 10-pack and 2,800 3-pack toothbrush heads marked with the Oral-B brand name.

CBP officers worked with CBP’s Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising

Centers for Excellence and Expertise

, the agency’s trade experts and verified through the trademark holder that the products were counterfeit, and seized the shipment November 7.

Counterfeit toothbrush heads pose a serious health threat to consumers, as do all counterfeit healthcare products. Counterfeit brush heads are manufactured in unsanitary facilities with substandard materials that may sicken users or cause bleeding to a user’s gums or mouth, and structural defects may cause the brush head to detach and potentially choke users.

The products, if authentic, would have a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $95,600.

“Customs and Border Protection will continue to work with our trade and consumer safety partners to identify and seize counterfeit consumer goods that threaten American shoppers, such as these potentially dangerous tooth brush heads,” said Casey Durst, Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “CBP urges consumers to protect themselves and their families by purchasing authentic health and hygiene products from reputable vendors.”

CBP protects businesses and consumers every day through an aggressive

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program

. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people.

On a typical day in 2018, CBP officers seized $3.7 million worth of products with IPR violations. Learn more about what CBP did during \”

A Typical Day

\” in 2018.

In fiscal year (FY) 2018, the number of IPR seizures decreased by 333 seizures to 33,810 from 34,143 in FY 2017. The total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, had they been genuine, increased to nearly $1.4 billion from over $1.2 billion in FY 2017. Read more

2018 IPR Enforcement Statistics

As a result of CBP enforcement efforts, ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested 381 individuals, obtained 296 indictments, and received 260 convictions related to intellectual property crimes in 2018.

CBP\’s

border security mission

is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. Please visit

CBP Ports of Entry

to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.

Learn more about CBP at

CBP.gov

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation\’s borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with securing the borders of the United States while enforcing hundreds of laws and facilitating lawful trade and travel.

All-American Joseph Domanico Named League Performer of the Week

TROY, NY (11/26/2019)– Following an All-America effort at the NCAA Championship Meet, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete Joseph Domanico of Haddon Township 08108 and Haddon Township High School has been selected as the Men\’s Cross Country Performer of the Week by the Liberty League, it has been announced.

A senior captain, Domanico earned All-America after leading Rensselaer to a school record 10th place finish at the Division III Championship. He was 17th in the field of 279 finishers to pace the Engineers, who recorded their first top 10 finish.

He was in 124th place after the first 1K (3:08.1) before moving up 76 spots to get to 48th place at the 3K mark (9:15.0). A 3:23.7 split put him in 47th at 4K (12:38.7) before he advanced 18 spots into 29th at the 6.4K mark (19:58.3). A final kick of 4:50.9 brought Domanico into 17th place overall with a time of 24:49.1 – the first time he broke 25:00.0 in his college career. He scored 14 points, which was the best total for any competitor from a Liberty League school and second from a squad from the northeast. The All-America certificate is the first of his career.

Rensselaer, which entered the meet ranked 16th in Division III, has now competed in each of the last four national championships and six in total. It was 13th in 2018 and 2016, 14th in 2017, 17th in 1996 and 33rd in the nation in 1975.

Founded in 1824, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is America\’s oldest technological research university. For nearly two centuries, the Institute has been a driving force behind breakthroughs in engineering and science in virtually every arena-from transportation and infrastructure to business, medicine, outer space, and cyberspace.

As it approaches its bicentennial anniversary, the Institute continues to define The New Polytechnic, a new paradigm for teaching, learning, and research that uses advanced technologies to enable fresh collaborations across disciplines, sectors, and regions, in order to answer the global challenges of our day.

NJ American Water Invests $470,000 in Somerdale Infrastructure

CAMDEN CITY, N.J. – NOV. 2019 –

New Jersey American Water

will replace approximately 1,800 feet of aging water main in Somerdale this fall. The company will upgrade the 6-inch water lines with new 8-inch ductile iron main along North and South Hilltop Avenue from West Maiden Lane to Ogg Avenue. The project also includes replacing two fire hydrants and installing one new hydrant as well as replacing 42 utility-owned service lines along the pipeline route.

This $470,000 investment will continue to advance water service reliability and increase water flows for household consumption and fire protection in this community. This improvement is part of New Jersey American Water’s multimillion-dollar initiative to accelerate the

renewal of water infrastructure

that has reached the end of its useful life in more than 100 communities across the state.

New Jersey American Water’s local, qualified contractor, Pioneer Pipe Contractors, will begin work the week of December 2 and expects to finish by the end of the year, weather permitting. Work hours will be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Work outside of these hours is not anticipated unless required to maintain project schedule. Final street restorations will be completed in the spring of 2020.

For the public’s and workers’ safety, traffic restrictions and/or alternating traffic patterns are likely to occur during work hours. All emergency vehicles and local traffic will be allowed access during construction. New Jersey American Water values the safety of its workers and advises drivers and pedestrians to take caution in the vicinity of work sites.

About New Jersey American Water

New Jersey American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 2.7 million people. For more information, visit

www.newjerseyamwater.com

and follow New Jersey American Water on

Twitter

and

Facebook

About American Water

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 7,100 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to more than 14 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit

amwater.com

and follow American Water on

Twitter

Facebook

and

5 Pieces of Essential Equipment for a New Dental Surgery

(Gloucestercitynews.net)(Nov. 29, 2019)–A surgeon is only as good as their tools, and this also goes for a dentist. When opening, upgrading or launching a new dental surgery, it’s vital that you first have all the supplies you need to provide excellent care for your patients.

Your skill and technique might be top of the class from all your training and qualifications, but if you don’t have the necessary tools to make use of those skills, they will all go to waste.

Before you open your new dental surgery to the public, make sure you have these essential instruments and pieces of equipment at hand.

X-Ray Equipment

Some dental treatments require an insight that you cannot get by eye, which is why you need to

invest in X-ray equipment

. Digital X-rays are much more efficient and less harmful than traditional X-rays; there is a lot less radiation which makes it safer for both the dentist and the patient. What’s more, instead of waiting for X-ray images to develop, you can access them immediately on a computer.

Sterilization Equipment

Maintaining sterile equipment and a sterile environment is vital for good quality care and for the health of your patients. If your equipment isn’t sterile, it can pass on contagious germs and infect multiple patients. There are multiple types of sterilization equipment that you will need throughout the office, including but not limited to:

Dental instrument washers & dryers

Dental sterilizers

Sterilization is essential; even if your other equipment and instruments are of excellent quality. If they aren’t sterile, you won’t be providing excellent care.

Curing Light Units

For treatments like veneers, specialized instruments and equipment are required for the procedures. If you plan to offer cosmetic teeth treatments, you will need a wide range of instruments specifically used for these types of treatments.

One of these instruments is a dental curing light

that will become essential for any procedure that involves materials that need curing by light.

Dental Operatory Lights

To be able to see all the way into patients’ mouths, you will need a strong dental operatory light. When you have a good view of the patient, you can provide more accurate and tailored care for the current condition of their teeth and their mouth.

Cabinets

While cabinets aren’t directly correlated to patient care, they are correlated to how well you perform as a dentist. Organization is key when you have a lot of instruments and equipment in the office. Having cabinets will allow you to organize and store all the essential equipment you need so that you can access it with ease when you are treating a patient.

Reaching for an instrument and knowing exactly where it is, looks much more professional than taking a long time to look for it and wasting the patient’s time.

—

Whether you are starting a new dental office from scratch or updating one that’s already running, it is important to remember the essentials before anything else.

image courtesy of unsplash.com

Action Wellness Honors Three “Friends For Life”

Action Wellness to be Presented with Pioneer Award by Center for AIDS Research at UPENN

PHILADELPHIA, PA (NOVEMBER 2019)

– Every year, Action Wellness observes

World AIDS Day

in partnership with

AmeriHealth Caritas

. On December 1, as a part of their annual campaign

“Action Heroes Wear Red”

, friends and supporters are asked to wear red, or a red ribbon, on this day to raise awareness for World AIDS Day. This day is an opportunity for people to unite in the fight against HIV and to commemorate those who have died from AIDS-related illness. In 2017, according to the CDC, there were 1.8-million new cases of HIV in the United States. Action Wellness refuses to let this disease take over, and is dedicated to raising awareness in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Since 1991, Action Wellness has recognized individuals who have made a very real difference in the lives of people living with HIV and other chronic illnesses by giving them their highest honor: the

Friend for Life Award

. On December 4, Action Wellness is hosting the Friends for Life Awards event at

Yards Brewing Company

. The award ceremony is set to honor NBC10’s Vai Sikahema, Yard’s Brewery’s Tom Kehoe and London Grill Owner Terry Burch McNally.

Vai Sikaehma has done an outstanding job in raising awareness for those affected by HIV through his work on

NBC10

and

Telemundo62

Tom Kehoe, Owner of

Yards Brew

ing Company

, has been supporting Action Wellness for years by creating Action IPA. Every year the sales of Action IPA benefit Dining Out For Life. Dining Out For Life is Philadelphia’s largest dining fundraiser in which participating restaurants donate 33% of your food bill back to local HIV/AIDS service organization.

Terry Burch McNally has been supporting Action Wellness since the first year of Dining Out For Life. Fairmount’s London Grill (which is now closed) has been one of the few restaurants that have been with Dining Out For Life for the last thirty years.

Through their work, their vision, and their philanthropy, these three individuals have made a very real difference in the lives of people living with HIV and other chronic illnesses.

Finishing out the week on December 6, Action Wellness Executive Director Kevin Burns will be accepting an award on behalf of the organization. It is the Pioneer Award from the

Community Advisory Board of the Center for AIDS Research

at the University of Pennsylvania. The award is part of the Red Ribbon Awards Ceremony which is held each year in commemoration of World AIDS Day, and recognizes the tireless efforts of our local heroes in policy, research, community, faith, youth leadership and more. The Penn CFAR CAB has developed partnerships with several programs from the School District of Philadelphia showcasing the work of youth around the city and creating the space to continue the work of HIV activism and education.

For media inquiries and/or interview requests, please contact

Molly@PhillyPRGirl.com

About Action Wellness:

Action Wellness is one of Pennsylvania’s largest AIDS service organizations. It is committed to helping people living with HIV and other chronic illnesses. Its services include: medical case management, a range of health screenings including HIV testing, treatment as prevention, prevention education, supportive housing, and volunteer services. Services are provided at five Action Wellness locations and at more than 30 host sites throughout the city of Philadelphia and in Delaware County. Action Wellness currently serves over 4,000 clients annually through the efforts of 400 dedicated volunteers and over 100 professional staff working together to sustain and enhance the quality of life for the diverse community it serves.

About World AIDS Day:

World AIDS Day

was founded in 1988 and is the first ever globally recognized health day. There are an estimated 30,000 people living with HIV in Philadelphia and an estimated 37.9 million people living with HIV globally. Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 3 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

Avoid Holiday Shopping Scams

Don’t Fall Victim to Online Schemes

‘Tis the season for holiday gifting, and many shoppers will go online this time of year to find the best deals on popular items. But the sellers you buy from may not be what they seem.

According to the FBI’s

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

, thousands of people become victims of holiday scams every year. Scammers can rob you of hard-earned money, personal information, and, at the very least, a festive mood. The two most prevalent of these holiday scams are non-delivery and non-payment crimes.

In a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods or services they find online, but those items are never received. Conversely, a non-payment scam involves goods or services being shipped, but the seller is never paid. In 2018 alone, the IC3 estimates that non-delivery and non-payment scams together affected more than 65,000 victims, causing almost $184 million in losses.

Similar scams to beware of this time of year are auction fraud, where a product is misrepresented on an auction site, and gift card fraud, when a seller asks you to pay with a pre-paid card.

The IC3 receives a large volume of complaints in the early months of the year, suggesting a correlation with the previous holiday season’s shopping scams.

Always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.

Do your part to avoid becoming a victim. These simple tips from the IC3 can help you look out for scammers during the holiday season or any other time of year:

Always get a tracking number for items purchased online so you can make sure they have been shipped and can follow the delivery process.

Be wary of sellers who post an auction or advertisement as if they reside in the U.S., then respond to questions by stating they are out of the country on business, family emergency, or similar reasons.

Avoid sellers who post an auction or advertisement under one name but ask that payment be sent to someone else.

Consider canceling your purchase if a seller requests funds be wired directly to them via a money transfer company, pre-paid card, or bank-to-bank wire transfer. Money sent in these ways is virtually impossible to recover, with no recourse for the victim. Always remember that anyone who asks you to use one of these forms of payment might be a scammer. A credit card is generally the safest way to pay for an online purchase.

Avoid sellers who act as authorized dealers or factory representatives of popular items in countries where there would be no such dealers.

Verify the legitimacy of a buyer or seller before moving forward with a purchase. If you’re using an online marketplace or auction website, check their feedback rating. Be wary of buyers and sellers with mostly unfavorable feedback ratings or no ratings at all.

Avoid buyers who request their purchase be shipped using a certain method to avoid customs or taxes inside another country.

Be suspect of any credit card purchases where the address of the cardholder does not match the shipping address. Always receive the cardholder’s authorization before shipping any products.

Always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.

If you do become the victim of a holiday scam, contact your bank immediately. You should also inform your local law enforcement agency, and file a complaint with the IC3 at

ic3.gov

Resources

FBI, This Week: Holiday Scams

Cancer linked with a more than doubled risk of dying from stroke

Credit: Getty Images utah778

Newswise — People living with or beyond cancer are more likely to die from stroke than the general public, according to new Penn State research, and certain types of cancer may boost the risk

even more.

Researchers at

Penn State College of Medicine

found that compared to the general population, people who have or have had cancer are more than twice as likely to die of a stroke, and the risk increases with time. Additionally, cancers of the breast, prostate or colorectum were the type most commonly associated with fatal stroke.

Nicholas Zaorsky

, assistant professor in radiation oncology and public health sciences, said the

results

– recently published in Nature Communications – may help physicians identify patients at risk for fatal strokes.

“Previous research has shown that most cancer patients aren’t going to die of their cancer, they’re going to die of something else,” Zaorsky said. “A stroke is one possibility. Our findings suggest that patients may benefit from a screening program to help prevent some of these early deaths from stroke, as well as help identify which patients we could target with those preventative efforts.”

According to the researchers, cancer is the leading cause of death in the United States, with stroke being the fifth leading cause. But while institutions like the American Heart Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network provide separate guidelines for stroke prevention and advice for people beyond cancer treatment, there is little guidance for preventing strokes in people who have or have had cancer.

Zaorsky, a member of the

Penn State Cancer Institute

, said he and the other researchers were interested in identifying those at the highest risk of stroke to help future prevention efforts.

The researchers used data gathered from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. SEER includes data about cancer incidence, survival, treatment and age and year of diagnosis, and covers 28 percent of the U.S. population.

For the current study, the researchers used SEER data on more than 7.2 million patients who had been diagnosed with invasive cancer – cancer that has spread beyond the tissue in which it originally developed – between 1992 and 2015.

The researchers found that out of 7,529,481 cancer patients, 80,513 died of a stroke. Males and females had equal chances of dying from a stroke, but those diagnosed with cancer at a younger age had a higher chance of a fatal stroke.

Additionally, they found that among those diagnosed with cancer before they turned 40, most strokes occurred in people treated for brain tumors and lymphomas. In patients diagnosed with cancer above the age of 40, fatal strokes were most commonly associated with cancer of the prostate, breast and colorectum.

Zaorsky said one explanation for the increased risk could be that many people who are diagnosed with cancer are in a “prothrombotic” state, which means they are more likely to form a blood clot.

“That blood clot may then go to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism, for example, or cause a stroke if it goes to the brain,” Zaorsky said. “In general, it’s an underlying theme and risk factor for a lot of cancer patients. And because certain cancers like those of the prostate, breast and colorectum are some of the most common cancers, that could also help explain that high association.”

Brad Zacharia

, assistant professor of neurosurgery, said another explanation may stem from the effects of certain types of cancer treatment.

“We can speculate that a subset of cancer patients are receiving chemotherapy or radiation treatments that may have a direct effect on the blood vessels to the brain and could increase stroke risk,” Zacharia said. “This may be particularly true in patients with brain cancer.”

The researchers added that future studies could help pinpoint mechanisms and further establish the relationship between cancer and strokes.

Ying Zhang, Penn State; Leila T. Tchelebi, Penn State; Heath B. Mackley, Penn State; and Vernon M. Chinchilli, Penn State, also participated in this work.

About Penn State College of Medicine

Located on the campus of

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

in Hershey, Pa.,

Penn State College of Medicine

boasts a portfolio of nearly $100 million in funded research. Projects range from development of artificial organs and advanced diagnostics to groundbreaking cancer treatments and understanding the fundamental causes of disease. Enrolling its first students in 1967, the College of Medicine has more than 1,700 students and trainees in medicine, nursing, the health professions and biomedical research on its two campuses.

A Guide to Preparing Your Home for the Holidays

(Gloucestercitynews.net)(Nov. 29, 2019)–The festive season is rocketing into view and, as all grown-ups know at this time of year, that means more work, more guests, more mouths to feed and more joy and laughter to nurture. The festive period is full of fun for your close and extended family, and visiting friends, but it’s also a time during which your home will be sheltering more heads than usual – and as such, it’s an important time to be prepared for. In this handy guide, you’ll learn how to best prepare your home for the holiday season in order to make your Christmas as wonderful and carefree as possible.

Seating Arrangements

Your first task is undoubtedly simply to understand how so many more people arriving in your home will find places to sit, talk, socialize, make merry, and – most importantly – eat. If you’re unable to find enough chairs for all the guests you’re expecting, you may wish to hire some more from a local furniture warehouse, or else buy some second-hand from local furniture stores. Meanwhile, make sure you know how to cater to everyone who visits. You may wish to invest in some

elegant furniture

for your new arrivals – in order to provide seats, beds, couches and tables for everyone who’ll be attending your home this Christmas.

Cleaning and Tidying

With a host of guests due to arrive in your home, there is the usual cleaning and tidying to undertake in order for you to present the home interior that you want to promote to your friends, family, and guests. Go around your home

fastidiously to clean each and every corner

– and be especially careful to hide or secure some of your more precious belongings: Christmas is a time of indulgence, and those who’ve had a little too much cherry may find themselves breaking items that you’ve left out.

The Kitchen

Hands-down the most important room in the house during the festive period, the kitchen will require some work before your guests begin to arrive. You need to make sure that everything’s clean, and that you have enough plates, knives, forks and cooking accessories for some of the feasts you have planned. It goes without saying that you should also check the food in your fridge, and stock up on meat, dairy and beverages to keep you ravenous and excited guests happy throughout the duration of their stay.

Festive Touches

With all the preparation out of the way in terms of seating, sleeping and cleaning, it’s time to add the flourishes that can make your home sparkle and gleam with the

red-and-green festive feel of Christmas

. Whether that means hanging stockings and mistletoe, heaving a Christmas tree into the main room, or adding little cutlets of ivy and holly to your mantelpiece, this is the final stage to decorating your home in the anticipation of a festive frolic with all your closest loved ones this festive period. Decorate in order to luxuriate in a truly Christmas-themed interior this holiday season.

Prepare your home for the festive season with the four tips outlined above – guaranteeing all of your guests a merry, wonderful time!

images courtesy of unsplash

Coast Guard closes search for missing kite surfer near Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, N.J. (Nov. 29, 2019)-—The Coast Guard has closed the search for a missing kite surfer near Ocean City, New Jersey, after the missing individual called and reported themselves to be safe, Friday morning.

Coast Guard Station Atlantic City watchstanders received a call from 911, notifying them of a kite surfer reportedly wearing all black, seen drifting out to sea after falling off a kiteboard approximately 500-yards off Corson Inlet, at around 3:20 p.m., Thursday evening.

At approximately 10 p.m. this morning, the missing kite surfer contacted Sector Delaware Bay watchstanders to inform them that after his kite malfunctioned, he had cut it free and used the board to paddle ashore and return home.

Involved in the search were:

Air Station Atlantic City MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew

Station Atlantic City 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew

Station Cape May 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew

Ocean City Police Department members

New Jersey State Police helicopter aircrew

Coast Guard members searched an area covering approximately 550 square miles over a period of 16 hours.

\”This case highlights the effectiveness of the interagency search and rescue system,\” said Petty Officer 1st Class Alex Castonguay, a watchstander at the Sector Delaware Bay command center. \”Cases like this also illustrate the importance of labeling your kayaks, canoes, kite boards and other recreational marine vehicles, so that in the event they are lost, or you are missing, we can reach out to contact you or return it.\”

-USCG-