It's an exciting April Fools day around here! The Contractors have arrived and I see chunks of old deck streaming up the driveway like a line of worker ants, carrying away the old. The lumber truck has arrived and offloading the new wood to rebuild. I can barely contain myself! And this is only day one! #LakeJames #LifeisGoodCabin #VacationRentalRenovations #LakeLife #ShowingTheCabinSomeLove #2019SeasonKickoff #LakeSide #RememberYourWhy

If you own a vacation rental, when you finally get an open stretch of time at the place, it's never to relax. It's to fix, improve or attack a project that's on a super long, never ending list. Ours, I can't even see the end of, it's so long. On the one hand it's fun to have the freedom to just jump on a new project and see where it leads. Its another when you never take time to smell the flowers. Last year when we took our first solo long vacation at the house we spent less

[This is a series of year end posts about our year in review] It's been a big year for growth. And I am proud of how we have done and how far we've come. Learning lots of things. I am working on making us independent of VRBO/AirBnB/OTAs (online travel agents). What the heck does that mean, you say? The big boys are a monopoly. We can't get access to the first page of google as they have bought up all the online keywords. Despite diligent SEO optimization of the website and co

[This is a series of year end posts about our year in review] You can never go home again. I found that's true. I tried to see if things were the same. They weren't. Things always change. You can't stop it. So when we stayed at the house before we bought it I made a laundry list of things I would change. I could see from the guest's view. I didn't want to lose that perspective. So I kept lists. Lots of lists. It's hard. I am the marketer, advertiser, researcher, booking agent

[This is a series of year end posts about our year in review] The Lake. We wandered down the path with kids streaming out in front. Squealing with anticipation. It's a carolina blue sky. Big puffy white clouds. Birds are singing. Slight breeze off the lake. It's gorgeous. We round the bend and see it. Or don't see it as the case may be. The cove. The cove is nearly completely blocked. By a tree. The neighbors tree fell. Into the cove, crushing his boat house and dock. I had p

[This is a series of year end posts about our year in review] So began the obsession. I poured over listings. I looked and looked. I googled. I researched. I read. I called. Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor were best friends. I could tell you how long a house was for sale on the lake. I knew when a new listing would pop on within hours. I was a woman possessed! Then I found a house that looked like it ticked all the boxes. And it was for rent! What better way to look at a house th

[This is a series of year end posts about our year in review] It started in 2015, we were invited to stay with my brother and his family on Lake James. I was 8+ months pregnant with our last child. Unwieldy is a term I would use for my condition. I waddled more than walked. We stayed in a home with gorgeous views of the mountains and right out on the main part of the lake. There was a small sandy area where I could beach myself in a chair and watch the kids play in the clear

Can you feel it yet? The crickets chirping, bull frogs croaking and the lightning bugs blinking slowly in the humid heat. Every year school lets out and within the first few days of their SUMMER, regardless of the actual date, I ask the kids what is on their summer bucket list. There are some doozies but as the years roll by, faster and faster, the lists have become more fine-tuned and targeted. It’s neat to see what the kids have on their mind to give themselves the Best. Su

The origin story. John and I started searching for our little slice of life many moons ago. We purchased a camp in upstate NY, in the Tug Hill area. Not much to look at but it had running HOT water and at that time, that was more than enough. We spent lots of time there tearing up the trails on ATVs and building some of the largest bonfires I have ever seen. A 10 foot wide fire pit begs these kinds of challenges. John was more than up for the task. :). Soon family discovered