Want to learn secrets of Richmond’s top interior designers and home-improvement experts? Tips and tricks of the trade will be unleashed Thursday at the second annual Day of Design, sponsored by the Richmond chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association. The event will be held at the new Sierra Hotel at Short Pump Town Center from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When: First heat starts next Sunday at 7:45 a.m. behind Short Pump Town Center, 11800 W. Broad St.
  Cost: $15. Participants receive a race T-shirt, a medal and refreshments.
  Registration: Tomorrow is the last day to register. Visit http://www.novaswim.org or go by NOVA at 12207 Gayton Road. Up to 3,000 participants will be accepted.

Work has begun to transform two former Circuit City stores in the Richmond area into locations for consumer-electronics and appliance retailer hhgregg. Indianapolis-based hhgregg will open two stores by Thanksgiving.

With lighted columns in the lobby, a second-floor terrace complete with swimming pool, and high-end lighting in the halls, the new Hotel Sierra seems more like a boutique hotel in Manhattan than an extended-stay lodge backing up to a Dick’s Sporting Goods. But the latter is exactly what it is. The Hotel Sierra is at the rear of the Short Pump Town Center, across the walkway from the Baker’s Crust Café. The hotel, which opened about two months ago, will hold an invitation-only open house on Thursday.

Among the 59 families in Hanover County’s Royal Glen neighborhood, 13 had kindergartners starting school this year. When one of those 13, Reese Klauer, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January, the community galvanized around her. Neighbors built a wheelchair ramp for her house, because surgery to remove the tumor left her temporarily unable to walk.

Homemades by Suzanne is once again serving in downtown Richmond. The Ashland-based restaurant, which was the center of the election world late last year when it was visited by Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, started serving lunch last Monday at The Colony Club at 10 E. Franklin St. The company operated a shop on South Sixth Street between Main and East Cary streets between 1990 and 2000.