We're Moving!

View from my bedroom

The Pool!

Wilimington Plantation Condos
or "The Old Sheraton" as many people still call it!





The Fountain



It's a little chaotic around here because we're moving - AGAIN! We found a great new home on Wilmington Island in Wilmington Plantation. We are going from 3,000 square feet to 1500 - watch us go green and save money, yet still live in a beautiful place!

Please visit my Savannah RealEstate blog.....

And wish us luck with the move!!!

Find Environmentally Friendly Electronics Recycling Centers Locally

Do you try to de-junk a little before the holidays? I did today, in part because of Christmas, and in part because we'r emoving soon. I found we had several electronics items, which my son had put in a "dump" box. I told him we don't take electronics to the dump; we recycle them, donate them, or give them away. I took a box to Good Will and took our plastic milk jugs and old newspapers to be recycled.

You might enjoy this link, to help you if you're de-junking or moving:

Find Environmentally Friendly Electronics Recycling Centers Locally

Thanks for dropping by!

Kim

Christmas Greetings from Wilmington Island

Christmas List

A quick trip to Barnes and Noble today to pick up a copy of Heart of Darkness for Ben was all it took to get my head filled with Christmas ideas!

Robbie sent me a text from college last night, asking what I wanted for Christmas. Creating a Christmas list for your kids is easy if you have your iphone with you!

So, here goes, Robbie and Ben, Mom's Christmast list:

Going Home by Harriet Evans

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Savannah's Little Crooked Houses

And an Uglydoll!

I know, the last one's a little out there, but I just want one!

So, what's on your list?

Run Dan Ran Helps Savannah Family in Need, and Asks You to Help, Too!

The following is reprinted with permission from a letter I received from my friend Dan. Dan is just the kind of caring person who would not only read about someone's misfortune and say, "oh, what a shame," but he would actually DO SOMETHING about it. So, please read the following, about a family in Savannah who recently fell victim to a fire...

On November 14th, a family of ten in Savannah lost their home & possessions in a fire. The plight of this family impacted me greatly. Gosh, can you imagine this happening to you or someone you know well? Times are hard enough as it is and something like this happening a week before Thanksgiving day and Christmas time is just brutal. I feel so sad for this family. I thought, what can we do to help this family out? I could comfortably give them $50, $100 but that's about it. How far would that take them? Not very since the parents have 8 children.

So, on Friday, November 24th I responded to a post that WSAV reporter Tuquyen Mach made on her Facebook page about this family. I asked what I could do to help them out. Ms. Mach quickly responded that the family was in need of food and clothing. She also provided a phone number for the family.

On Saturday, November 25th, I called the phone number and a lady answered the phone. I told her who I was and that I would like to help out in whatever way I could. This lady, Mrs. Tyson, said that they could really use some food and clothes. I asked her the sizes of clothes and the gender and she gave me a list. I told her I would do whatever I could to help out and she was very thankful.

That Saturday evening as I hung out with my family roasting marshmallows & making s'mores in the backyard I thought about the Tyson family again and my heart began to heart for them. I asked God what I could do to help them out and minutes later the idea of getting local runners involved in a race to raise money for this family in need came to mind. I thought about it some that night and on Sunday morning after running the Talmadge Bridge with a couple of friends I presented the idea of getting family and friends to sponsor their "runners" for an upcoming race and donating that money to the Tyson family before Christmas. The two friends that were with me, Marc Bigbie and Sarah Bland, liked the idea and we talked about it for awhile. It soon became clear that the race to shoot for should be the Reindeer 8k Run on Saturday, December 17, 2011.

So, here's the deal...

If you would like to be involved in this as a runner please do the following:

• register for the Reindeer 8k that's taking place on Saturday, December 17, 2011.
• download the runner sponsor form: <SponsorForm> (you may have to right-click & choose "save link as" to download).
• please contact family and friends and ask them to sponsor you for the upcoming Reindeer 8k race. Please remember that any amount is better than nothing. These are tight times for many. So, if you can get lots of people to make small donations it will add up fast and will not be such a burden on one person or family.
• After the race hit your family and friends for the pledges they made to you and get a money order for the total that you collected. Please email me the amount of money you collected and I'll contact WSAV to see if we can have all of the money handed to the Tyson family at one time while televised. Let's have the money ready to be given to the family by December 22nd. You can make the money order out to "Mr. & Mrs. Tyson". Please hold onto the money order until I speak with my contact at WSAV.
• If you do not mind, I will post your name and the amount you collected along with your sponsors on this website. If you prefer not to be noted please let me know & I will not post your name. I figured having each runner solicit family and friends will make this process a bit more transparent than asking people to send the money to some back account that they have no idea is legit or not.
• If you would rather donate food and clothing rather than money then please look at the list below of the Tyson children ages and sizes. The family said they needed food and clothes. They have little children, - so, perhaps donate toys as well.

The ages and sizes of the children are listed:

1. 1 year old boy: 2g/3g
2. 3 year old boy: 5t-6t
3. 8 year old boy: 6-7 pants, 5-6 shirt
4. 10 year old boy: 10 pants, 7 shirt
5. 12 year old girl: 17-18 pants, medium shirt
6. 14 year old boy: 20 pants, large shirt
7. 17 year old girl: 5-6 pants, small shirt
8. 18 year old boy: 33-34 pants, extra-large shirt

I do not understand those sizes listed above. I just jotted down the sizes as Mrs. Tyson stated them to me. Hopefully, you know all about children's sizes and stuff.

Mrs. Tyson said that the donated stuff could be sent to the following address:
Ms Wanda Ward
806 E. Park Ave
Savannah, Ga. 31404
912-323-0348

So, I appeal to all of you that read this blog, please help this family have a very memorable happy holiday season by taking up this cause and contacting family and friends to sponsor you as a runner for the Reindeer 8k or by donating money, clothes, food to the Tyson family directly.

If you do not feel like helping out this family, you still should consider doing this race as it is for a very worthy cause. All race proceeds go to support sexual assault victims, their families and friends and to provide prevention education for all ages.

Helping out your fellow man is our duty as God's children and just plain good for the soul.

Do not hesitate to contact at all should you have any questions. Either leave a comment at the bottom of this blog or email me at: dlh14255@gmail.com.

Many, many thanks for all.

All the very best to you and yours.

Happy Holidays!

peace,

dh

12/05/2011

Link to wsav article about this family's plight: Family of 10 Trying to Start Over After House Fire

http://danlhernandez.com/2011/12/05/3256/
--
Dan Hernandez


http://danlhernandez.com/

Fresh Market

Today was the Savannah Bridge Run. I know a lot of my friends ran and I'm sure they enjoyed it, or didn't enjoy it, as it us pretty hard to run up the Tallmadge Bridge!

I, on the other hand, woke up, popped coffee into the Keurig, and got some paperwork done.

I made some more brochures for my listing at 18 Hopeland Drive, an adorable bungalow on Savannah's Southside. I then made a few calls for Jon and Lisa, my clients who are looking for a house on Tybee to use as a getaway, and to put in a rental program with Mermaid Cottages.

Later I headed out and got to see Dimpy for a little bit when I was at her old house on Hopeland Drive. She stopped by to pick up mail and couldn't stay long, because she was getting ready to have a big party at the new house I recently sold them on Live Oak Way. They seem to be loving all that extra space. It's a beautiful house.

After dropping the brochures off at Hopeland Drive and taking care of a few things there, I headed down Abercorn to Williams-Sonoma and Fresh Market.

I didn't find what I was looking for at WS, but did pick up a 20 percent off "Friends and Family" coupon that they were handing out. I told them I had just sent my parents and siblings their gifts from WS online, and wished I had the coupon then!

The past few years I have picked out one nice gift from Williams-Sonoma and sent the same thing to each family - my parents, my sister Linda and my niece Emma in Maine, my brother George and his family in Connecticut, and my sister Kim (we step-siblings are both Kim) and her family, also in Connecticut. It has simplified my Christmas shopping a lot.

I love knowing a beautifully wrapped gift of nice quality will arrive in time for the holidays with a gift card from me and the boys. Last year our gift was a panini maker, which everyone seemed to love.

What do you do to simplify your gift-giving?

After WS, I popped into Fresh Market to pick up a delicious chicken Caesar wrap for a late lunch. I also picked up my favorite Dilly Cucumber salad, a pound of tuna salad, and a pound of Asian pasta salad. I knew we were out of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, so I picked up a bottle if that, as well.

I discovered plenty of nice Christmas food gifts there, so stop in and have a look around when you are out and about. You might want to send someone Savannah Coffee Roasters coffee, for example, or give a friend a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. Do they have Savannah Bee honey at Frsh Market? I'm not sure. I found lovely skin pampering gifts for my sons' girlfriends, and very cute wicker baskets to put them in.

Fresh Market also has nicely decorated balsam wreaths. I would have picked one up, but unfortunately I didn't see them until after I had checked out.

I did not stop at Nadeau this time, because I knew I'd want to spend a long time in there, and I didn't really have the time.

Tonight Ben came home from his trip to Atlanta where he picked up THREE awards he won - a Gold Key, a Silver Key, and an Honorable Mention for films he made while at Savannah Arts Academy. I am very proud of him!

Robbie is busy studying for his upcoming exams at UGA. We can't wait for him to be back home for the holidays! He's done a nice job of getting through the first semester of school, which is a challenge for any freshman in college, I'm sure. I am very proud of him,

Happy holiday shopping, everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

New Listing on the Southside

(Scroll to the bottom of the blog to turn off the Georgia songs)

Take a look at this beautiful 4 bedroom home for sale on Savannah's southside. This home is convenient to Armstrong and St. Joe's.


Take a look here: Virtual Tour - 18 Hopeland Drive

18 Hopeland Drive, Savannah, GA 31419

Enjoy living on Savannah's southside in this beautiful one story brick home in a great neighborhood. This home is very convenient to Armstrong Atlantic State University and the Savannah mall. Very nice split floorplan with three bedrooms on one side of the house, and one bedroom on the opposite side for a total of four bedrooms.

The great room has very high ceilings giving a spacious feel to the rooom. The wall-to-wall carpeting is in excellent condition and has just been steam-cleaned.

Enjoy cooking in your sunny new kitchen with convenient laundry room nearby and easy access to the two car garage.

The master bedroom is large and has a pretty view to the fenced in back yard. There is ample storage space in the two closets, so get ready to unpack and get organized!

After all that moving, you'll want to enjoy relaxing on the nice-sized screened-in porch which overlooks the lovely back yard. The back yard has fruit-bearing trees so you can get your antioxidants right from your own back yard!

This home is move-in ready and waiting for new owners to fall in love with it!

Call Kim Banks for a private viewing today. 912-655-3404.

nadeau....furniture with a soul

(this pic compliments the Nadeau Savannah website, www.http://furniturewithasoul.com/store.php?location=savannah)

nadeau...furniture with a soul

If you've got a beach cottage to furnish, I've got one word for you... Nadeau!

I discovered Nadeau the other day after I popped into Williams-Sonoma. To my surprise it's been in Savannah for three years. You might miss it when you run into Fresh Market, as I had. Nadeau is next to Francesca's.

Apparently Nadeau started in L.A. and has shops in Charleston, Austin Texas, and several other locations throughout the U.S.

Best part about Nadeau? The prices! Check it out when you get a chance! I think you will love it.

Located on Savannah's Southside, here:

Savannah

5525 Abercorn St. Suite 50
Savannah, GA 31405
(912) 355-5944 tel
(912) 355-5998 fax
savannah@nadeauimports.com

Mon - Sat: 10am - 6pm
Sun: 12pm - 5pm

Rocking Weekend in Savannah!

Our Tybee house is booked this weekend, as is every other house, room, hotel, motel, and inn throughout Savannah. What's happening? Just as the fabulous Savannah film festival winds down, the first ever Savannah Rock 'n Roll Marathon will be in high gear. Can you imagine? World-famous Victory Drive bedecked with marathon runners keeping pace not with their iPods, but with live rock bands - it's going to be so great!!! So grab your running shoes (or grab a Savannah Go-Cup!) and join the fun !

City Market - A Savannah Marketplace Mecca to Discover When You're Too Pooped to Look at Any More Real Estate!

When we moved to Savannah ten years ago, City Market was one of the first places my family discovered. We used to take the kids to Belford's for a mini night on the town (if you can call going out with the kids a night on the town!) Once we discovered Belford's, we became unadventurous creatures of habit, going back to that same restaurant again and again, because it never failed to deliver the perfect combination of great atmosphere and delicious food.

Belford's is housed in an old brick building in the Savannah historic district. In nice weather, we'd sit outside for fantastic people-watching and an icy cold beer. There was always a great mixture of tourists and locals, with the tourists usually outnumbering the locals. If it was too hot, we'd sit inside where the ceilings are nice and high, and the tables aren't all jammed right next to each other so you never feel claustrophobic. The food was consistently delicious and the atmosphere lively and fun.

Here's a link where you can read more about Belford's in Savannah's City Market and take a look at the menu.

If you go to Belford's or any of the many restaurants in City Market, you can wander around after dinner, popping into the various upstairs galleries. Then you can catch a horse and carriage ride through the historic district. You'll feel like you've gone back in time when you see all the beautiful old homes and perfectly laid-out squares that make up Savannah. Enjoy!