Charlotte mayor, council and school board elections for 2011: results and research

You can get direct election results from the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections from today's mayor, council and school board races later tonight. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. and results will start showing up almost immediately.

Figuring out who to vote for in the 2011 elections is a little harder. You can check endorsements at The Charlotte Observer. The League of Women Voters has an extensive PDF voter guide that includes candidates for towns in Mecklenburg County.

Try getting your sample ballot from the board of elections before you hit the polls.

Here's a list of more places you can research candidates in the Charlotte elections:
NCvoterGuide.org, from UNC-TV and the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
Charlotte Observer school board candidate profiles.
Charlotte Observer city council candidate profiles and positions.
Charlotte Observer mayoral candidate profiles and positions.

For the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board race, Lisa Hundley has withdrawn for health reasons, but her name will still appear on the ballot.

Memories of the Plaza Midwood entry into the Gingerbread House National Competition

A couple of years ago, neighbors from Plaza Midwood invited my daughter and a large group of friends to a mountain house weekend, with the goal of building gingerbread houses for the National Gingerbread House Competition, held in the Asheville area. The competition continues this year, with houses on display through Jan. 3, 2010, at the Grove Park Inn at 290 Macon Ave. in Asheville.

This team had an amazing support staff of moms, plus an architect dad with an old friend who was a chef in New York. I can’t remember where the group placed in the competition, but I will always remember the fun they had and the amazing creations they made.

Ingredients included Mike and Ike candy, Wheat Chex, pumpkin seeds, pretzels of various sizes, peanut brittle, chocolate mortar for chimney bricks and perhaps licorice. There was more, obviously, including a huge helping of creativity.

Check out their work. I hope it gives you some ideas for the holiday season to come. And like the architecture? Visit Don Duffy Architecture.