Nancy Loughin has lived in Herndon for over 30 years, and she and her husband now have two sons in college. She was the Food Editor for the Herndon Observer Newspaper for 27 years, and was a regional correspondent for the Fairfax Journal newspaper for 23 years.  She was the editor and judge for the Observer's annual Recipe Contest, testing all the recipes in her home kitchen, and published an annual cookbook of winners for 16 consecutive years. Those cookbooks won awards from the Virginia Press Association.