I can’t believe it’s that time of year again.  Santa is scheduled to officially arrive in Bellaire, Texas on Thursday, November 29, 2007.  He usually arrives on top of one of the fire trucks.  I suppose that’s because we don’t usually have snow for his sleigh.  This annual event, Holiday in the Park, is great for family fun and to kick off the holiday season.  My family has attended and participated in this wonderful neighborhood event for many, many years.  We always see people we know and end up having such a good time.  I hope you can make it this year.  I look forward to seeing you there.  Food and some of the activities have a cost, but the admission is free. Our Keller William’s office distributes helium balloons to all that want one.  This year Holiday in the Park will be located at Condit Elementary from 6:00 to 8:30 P.M.

The 26th annual home tour in Bellaire, Texas will be held in the spring of 2008.  The proceeds of this tour benefit the Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center ( http://www.naturediscoverycenter.org/).  The Bellaire Nature Discovery Center provides hands- on learning experiences for children and adults.

We’re now in the planning stages for this tour.  I’m searching for six(6) homes to be on the tour.   We’re looking for a mixture of homes . . . older, remodeled homes, new or recent construction homes and any style home.  It is important to allow people to see the dramatic changes that the city of Bellaire is undergoing.

Would you like to volunteer your home?  Do you know of a home that you think would be an interesting or intriguing home to be shown on the tour?  If so, please contact me for further information.

I greatly appreciate any suggestion.  Thank you very much for your time.

WE HAVE 4 GORGEOUS HOMES OPEN TODAY.  EACH ONE IS READY FOR YOU TO MOVE INTO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  OUR TEAM MEMBERS EACH LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU AND HELPING YOU WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ON THESE INDIVIDUAL HOMES.  PLEASE VISIT THE HOMES IN HOUSTON AND BELLAIRE LOCATED AT:

1945 HADDON – HYDE PARK – 4/3.5/2 TOWNHOME – 4066 SQ. FT.(BUILDER) – $749,000.

1702 WOODHEAD – HYDE PARK – 4/3.5/2 TOWNHOME – 3720 SQ. FT.(BUILDER) – $718,000.

4313 BETTY – BELLAIRE – 4/3.5.2 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE – 3528 SQ. FT. (BUILDER) – $725,000.

5310 MAPLE – BELLAIRE – 3 0R 4/3 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE – 2752 SQ. FT. (APPRASSAL) – LOT IS 105X180(18,900 SQ. FT./SURVEY) – $675,000.

WE HOPE YOU ENJOY VISITING THESE HOMES.

  HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

My sister-in-law sent me an email this morning with the attached picture,  It reminded me that each and every one of us does need to STOP or at least SLOW DOWN and to be THANKFUL for all that we have been given.  I wish you and yours a fabulous and happy Thanksgiving celebration!!!

Log cabin magazines, floor plan books, internet, trade shows, log companies, email, book stores, owners of cabins, builders . . . it is unbelievable how many places there are to look for the perfect plan to build a log cabin.   I guess I just never realized that many people were interested in building a log cabin.  Wow . . .I was wrong!!

I think I own every log cabin magazine that has been published in the last couple of years.  I’m not talking 10 or 20 . . .I’m talking at least 100 without going in and counting them.  If a floor plan book had a log cabin plan in it anywhere (even if it was just one), I probably own it too.  Looking at log cabin plans on the internet was fabulous.  It kept me up into the wee hours of the morning almost every single night checking out every room size, the location of the kitchen to to family room, any wasted space, locations of windows, etc.  I emailed or called every log cabin company that I could find asking them for information on their stock plans.  I now have crates of those advertising materials.  I called log cabin owners to find out their pros and cons of building their log cabins and what they would do differently if they could do it over again.  I spoke to builders to find out what their thoughts were about building and some of the best plans for our area of the country.  The wealth of information is OVERWHELMING!!

I poured over all the information I had time and time again.  My husband told me I was obsessed . . .and I was.

We started looking at building a cabin around 1500 square feet.  I thought that would be pretty easy. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! There were things that needed to be taken into consideration for the intended purpose of the cabin. My husband, Jim, and I wanted our two daughters to bring their friends . . .and eventually their husbands and children to the cabin.  Therefore, we needed space for all of us that would eventually be staying there at any one time. We wanted our parents to visit and for them not to have to climb stairs.  We wanted a kitchen that was slightly out of the way, but open to the dining and family rooms so that the “cook” never missed out on anything that was going on.  It had to have a loft overlooking the family room and a fireplace and a lot of windows for the tremendous views and on and on and on.  Of course, we wanted to be right on the water so the “great bass and catfish fishermen” could throw their poles in from the deck whenever they wanted.

Our 1500 square foot cabin GREW.  Before we knew it . . .it was a large home. The dream cabin grew to become a dream log homewith over 3000  square feet . . .and that didn’t include the covered wrap around porch.  It needed to have 4 bedrooms (two up and two down), 3 bath rooms, the over-sized family room, a dining area, a breakfast bar, the loft and the covered wrap around deck.

The log cabin was supposed to be our dream come true and I began wondering if the dream was going to burst because of the size , the amenities it would have and the cost to build it. (I’ll talk about the cost approach in one of the next blogs concerning the cabin.)

I continued reviewing plans with the intent to find something similar to what we were dreaming about.

Well, I’m going to try and make this l  o  n  g  story a bit shorter.  I had actually seen my dream home in the first log company book that I had seen.  It needed some tweaking, but I really, really liked it.  Figures, huh?!?!?!  My husband would have liked to have saved the hundreds of dollars spent on magazines and books.  BUT,  you have to understand . . .I had to make sure it was the right plan for us.  That’s one of the reasons why I had to keep looking.  The other reason I had to keep looking was because it was going to cost a lot more to build than we had budgeted for.  I didn’t realize dreams had to have budgets to come true.

I guess I better stop here for right now.  It’s late and I need to tell you the next step in my next blog.

Anyway, if you want to know more about our dream cabin, or need information on the continued log home development at Artesian Lakes in Romayor, Texas . . . I am here to help you.

It’s so nice to say officially that I have a Lars Bang home listed in Meyerland, a subdivision in Houston, Texas. 

At our two hour open house yesterday at 4815 Braesvalley we had 16 sets of people visit this Mid-Century Mod home.  That’s impressive!

We’re looking for the perfect buyer for this beautiful home.  We have fabulous comments from people when they’re viewing the home, so hopefully it will sell soon.  The homeowner is sick about having to leave it, but she knows someone will appreciate it as much as she does.

We now have a copy of the original plans drawn by the famous architect, Lars Bang.  If you would like to see them in a large scale, please contact me and I’ll arrange for you to see them.

Someone just asked me where Artesian Lakes is located.  It is actually in a town named Romayor, Texas.  Since very few of you probably know where that is . . .I’ll describe it’s location in more detail.

I live in Bellaire, Texas which is very close to the Houston Galleria.  When I drive to Artesian Lakes I get on the freeway from the west side of the 610 Loop and get on 59 North.  I exit in Cleveland, Texas and get on 787 to get to Romayor(about 18 minutes).  The whole drive takes about 70 minutes from the Galleria . . .if you’re not in rush hour.

I still can’t get over the fact that in about an hour or so I can be out of the hustle and bustle of the big city life to a serene, heavily wooded area of East Texas on the edge of the Big Thicket.  THe lakes are beautiful.  One of the first things I do when I get there is to get my pole and do a little bass fishing.    The birds, racoons, squirrels and other wildlife are fabulous to watch.  Occasionally, I’m lucky enough to see deer.  The country style dirt/gravel roads winding in and out around the lakes and trees actually lead me to the tranquil retreat that I so often desperately need.  It’s peaceful!!!

Of course I’ll continue blogging about this area since this is where we have started building “Our Log Cabin Dream”.

If you would like more information on this fabulous area, please contact me.  I have vast amounts of information available for your use.