A bit of a change up...

You might have noticed that I changed up the blog a little bit. Okay, maybe you haven't noticed because you're here for the first time but I've decided to fully embrace the fact that blogging/writing about real estate is boring. It bores me and clearly from comments (and lack of comments) I received from other people that reading about real estate bored them too. After all, if you REALLY want to read about real estate you can just pick up the newspaper (and get depressed), turn on the news (and get even more depressed) or watch HGTV (I'm going to save my comments and thoughts about HGTV for another post).


Don't think that means I'm not interested in real estate. I am. I still want to sell your house and I still want to help you buy a new one. I pay attention to market trends, I like talking about how best to stage a house, Ilove my clients and closings are really cool (Marc says they're the best part and I do like the shoes, clothes, ballet lessons, lacrosse sticks and food provided from the income) but I'm pretty sure that there are better sources for information about current market trends and how to stage your house. In fact, that would be my other website (Or, be a friend of Bluegrass Sotheby's International Realty on Facebook -- Kelley and Riley in our office post all that great stuff up there all the time.)

So, unless it's really pertinent real estate info that you won't find anywhere else or a really funny real estate story like the time I showed the house that had the Tyrannosaurus Rex mounted head, you won't find it here. From here on out, At Home in the Bluegrass is really about being at home in the Bluegrass (or about being at home in my minivan).

The weird dream I had last night...

So, last night I had this crazy dream that did NOT include bicycles.  In my dream, I was 44 years old (hmmm...seemed pretty realistic) but was living in an attic apartment in New York.  My apartment was quite small and, in fact, it was so small that I couldn't stand full upright in it.  I had to hunch over because the roof came in at an angle and even at the highest peak I couldn't quite hold myself up straight.  Suddenly, in my dream I realized that I was living in New York, I was single with no children, had a really lame job that contributed nothing to the betterment of the world and I hadn't been to any cool parties with even a B-list celebrity.  

About that time the crickets in my iPhone started chirping that it was time to get up and start the day and I awoke with the realization that as un-cool as it is to live in your home town, go to the same church you've been at your whole life (thanks for pointing that out, Elizabeth C.), my life is really fun, rewarding and full of great adventures and very special people.  I'm certain I would have cried if you'd told me 20 years ago, I'd grow up to be a Realtor living in Lexington but I can honestly say it's all pretty darn good.

Uh-oh...more later...have to go drive a girl to ballet and pick a boy up from golf. 

6 Friends Cafe

I just had the best lunch.  It was so good that I can't wait to tell you about.  I can't wait to go to lunch with you there again. 

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a little drive down Woodland Avenue next to Woodland Park (the one with the pirate ship pool and the skate park, you non-Lexingtonians) AND voila! there's a new little cafe opened up in one of the old Victorian homes along that stretch.  It's so cute with tables on the covered front porch and on the patio in front.  Word on the street is that it was opened by two friends (but they have some other friends, hence the six in the name) and they are serving up the nicest little crepes and paninis.  And, what I mean when I say "nice" is delicious combinations of meat and cheeses and spreads and stuffs like kalmata olives, pine nuts, pesto, gouda cheese, bacon, pear, apple.  Ooo la la and the sweet crepes?!?  Chocolate, coconut, hazel nut, more fruits, yummy yummy.  I barely looked at that side of the menu though as I was too entranced by the savory flavors.  But wait, there's more!! if you clean your plate they have a whole case of gelato.  Vibrantly colored purple and pink and chocolaty gelatos.  Oh my, I'm going back (on my bicycle next time) for gelato!!  What a little jewel of a spot.  All of the crepes and sandwiches are named for friends, par example, I had the Alexis crepes (grilled chicken, feta, kalmata olives) but was very tempted by the Lilly Panini but don't ask me what was on that.  All the meals come with those yummy Mrs. Vickers chips in great flavors like sea salt and vinegar -- now those are chips that are with the calories. 

Okay, who wants to go to lunch with me tomorrow???

Legacy Trail...Again with the biking...And WEG

Lexington's new Legacy Trail officially opens Sunday, September 12.  This is just the first two phases as the third phase linking the Northwest side with the Downtown East End has yet to be built but at the completion of the full trail  you'll be able to ride or walk 12 miles from the east end of downtown's new Isaac Murphy Memorial Garden -- think almost Bell Court area if you don't know what I'm talking about -- all the way to the Kentucky Horse Park.  For WEG, this means by the time the fun begins, you'll be able to bike to the Horse Park and park your bike for free as opposed to the $20 per car fee to park next to the horse park.   

written last Friday but only posted this morning...

I feel a little ill this morning.  Maybe more than a little ill.  I've been feeling this way since August 11 when I dropped off Mary Rollins at high school.  Actually, I think this has been coming on since the last day of eighth grade.  All in all, I think I've been pretty accepting of my children growing up -- I was only a little misty on the first day of kindergarten and slightly nostalgic as she went off to middle school.  I've always said I like me children more and more as they've grown up but I confess that high school has thrown me for more of a loop than I ever expected. 

I've been trying to narrow down the root of my angst and I think it started when she came home from orientation to tell me she only knew about 3 or 4 kids at most in each of her classes which doesn't seem possible since half of her middle school transitioned to Henry Clay.  Of course, I guess that's only about a quarter of her freshman class so I shouldn't have been surprised, but still I had this idea that she'd be with all of her sweet little friends that she's known since I dropped her off last week at kindergarten whose parents I know and who I used to read with in 2nd grade and I was their homeroom mom...

Or, maybe it was looking at the boys soccer team players who looked decidedly like a men's soccer team as they were practicing that stressed me out. 

It could have been yesterday's comment, "you know those boys I walk past on the steps into school in the morning, Mom?  They're all smoking."  Snappy mom, said back "Did you tell them it's bad for them."  Quick-witted girl says, "I will tomorrow.  Maybe I should take them my DARE hand-outs.."

Maybe you should funny girl. 

But, I digress.

Monday she told me about the fight in school along with the Language Arts class lesson on why it's bad to kill yourself.

Or, her friend's story last week about sitting next to a girl in Debate class he thought was just on the heavy side until she grabbed her stomach and said, "Oooh, it kicked!"

Or, today in the drop-off line, looking over at the 17-year old boy/man in the BMW SUV next to me wearing his football jersey, needing a shave, checking out those three cute freshman girls walking past the smoker-boys.

I guess this is the time where as a parent you hope you've done the right things or at least packed some of the right stuff in the baggage they carry through life.  For today though, today's one more day that she doesn't have a boyfriend, that she loves school, and is thinking that it would be fun to have an American Girl Doll tea party with her friends to relive the good old days.  Maybe I'm starting to feel a little better after all. 

Facts & Oberservations about Lexington

Fact Number 1:  It is officially only 30 days until the start of the World Equestrian Games.  If you don't live here, that probably doesn't seem like a big deal (actually I live here and while I hate to say it I'm not sure it seems like a big deal). 

Fact Number 2:  The Wall Street Journal had an article on the best and worst markets to invest in real estate.  Lexington was ranked as number 5 on the BEST markets.  Pretty cool.  The worst markets are in Florida and Las Vegas.  Imagine that. 

Fact Number 3:  School starts too early in Fayette County.

Fact Number 4:  Horse Mania is back and well underway. 

Observation Number 1:  Over the last 6 months, I have noticed more and more bikers (not the motorcycle kind) riding the streets of Lexington.  These aren't just the usual plethora of neon Lycra-clad ectomorphs who speed by on their racing bikes heading for country roads doing Lance Armstrong impersonations.  Those people have been around for years.  What I'm seeing are normal folk on bikes with baskets, wearing backpacks and actually using their bike as an alternative means of transportation!  Some of them are college students but many of them appear to be from the ranks of the gainfully employed.  It's so cool!  Even kids are out riding instead of being driven.  Will found his freedom this summer on his bike and has ridden to school and spend whole days meeting up with friends and roaming Chevy Chase in his throw-back 1950s lifestyle.  It's true functional and practical biking that includes dining at the counter of Wheeler's Drugstore or Graeter's Ice Cream and then heading over to Wyatt's pool or to throw some smoke bombs in our backyard.  I'm part of the biking revolution too, as I have have tried to make all of my mini grocery trips and around Chevy Chase errands on my bike.  In fact, I think Mary Rollins and I rode somewhere nearly everyday this summer doing virtually all of our grocery shopping by bike. 

I'm seem to be writing about biking a lot lately, don't I?

The end of summer hours

MR & Friend at Gray's Arch

Hi all.  Summer ended.  Last Wednesday.  Children back to school.  Back to work at a more normal pace.  Oh well....it ended all too soon so I'm going to write my state representatives that they need to pass the Save our Summer legislation that mandates that school may not start before the end of August.  I've actually written them before but just not lately. 

Here's a farewell to summer picture of last Saturday's hiking adventure at Red River Gorge.  Technically it's from after school started but it was 94 degrees so it still sure felt like summer...

Lakehouse this weekend, anyone??

Bike Lexington...

I started this posting last Thursday to be exact and had a variety of different names for it.  Like...

Why we live inside the Circle...

Or, when the boys are away, the girls will play...

So many different title thoughts for a fun-filled day in the Bluegrass.  When you get all your work done in the morning and the boys of the house are off to other various points and the girls are left alone.

Nothing beats a morning started with a good 3-mile run, a little bit of real estate (really a closing would have been the best but I'll settle for a listing appointment) and an afternoon spent with your favorite teenager.

Here we are setting off for an afternoon bicycle adventure on empty stomachs.  Mother and daughgter (taking the photo and refusing to be in a picture) committed to boosting our local economy and saving the environment at the same time.  Equipped with a wallet, a gift card, a reusable shopping bag and my handy bike basket, Mary Rollins and I are ready to hit the road. 

First stop...Le Matin (a.k.a.  Zuni).  I'm certain that I've blogged about Zuni before --  My favorite European-style bakery and cafe.  On this particular charmed afternoon, my favorite table (and as it turns out Mary Rollins' favorite as well) was available. We arrived chez Zuni just in time for a torrential early afternoon thunderstorm but lucky for us the awning of Zuni proteced our bikes perfectly and we could keep an eye on them from our front and center window seat.  And, of course, Lexington being what it is, we had kind offers of rides home from other diners worried about our having to ride in the rain.  But confident that the storm would pass in good time, we enjoyed perusing the menu and deciding on delectable desserts to follow our meal. 

Mary Rollins declared that multiple desserts are acceptable when one bikes to lunch.   I think we can safely say that she does NOT have an eating disorder.  Here we see the infamous Simply Chocolate and a Peanut Butter Fudge Torte.  Can you have too much chocolate?  Not if you ride your bike to lunch! 

And clearly, we are trying hard to be members of the clean plate club.  Waste not, want not.

Our thunderstorm ended just as we licked the last crumbs from our plate. I wanted to buy a baguette so that we could re-enact Fou de Fa Fa from Flight of the Conchords but Mary Rollins indicated it was time to go and she would find the baguette embarrassing. 

Next stop:  John's on South Ashland.  (Please note, it's also embarrassing for your mom to document a day with iPhone pictures but I gave in on the baguette.)  John's, like Le Matin, has a lovely awning perfect for bikes if the rainstorm might return.  I love John's.  I love the shoes at John's and I love the clothes they now sell at John's. I love that the old manager from Laura Ashley now works at John's and remembers baby Mary Rollins and my Laura Ashley-loving sister.  I also love the great packable dress I bought at John's that fit nicely in my bicycle basket.  Fortunately, there was room for it since I hadn't bought the baguette!!

And off we go again, pedaling down High Street, waving at my office over Starbucks!  Hi everybody!  Past Woodland Park and arriving at Calypso -- Mary Rollins' most beloved of all Lexington boutiques.  Calypso is probably worthy of its very own blog post.  Run by a twenty-something graduate of UK financed by her dad, Calypso opened a couple of years ago in the eclectic Woodland Park shopping area.  Filled with adorable (and affordable) dresses, tops, bottoms and vintage cowboy boots that can only be worn by the young (not to be confused with the 40-something young at heart), Calypso is the ballet girls' favorite store.   Here you can find the perfect dress for Cotillion or the ideal dress for shopping in New York.  It's even more perfect when you have brought along both a gift card from your birthday AND an AMEX-carrying mother.  I noticed several combinations of cool-looking girls and not-quite-as-cool-looking mothers shopping there.  Apparently, mothers are a good accessory to take shopping with you when your fourteen.  Baguettes, not good accessory.

And finally, a quick trip into The Black Market, our other favorite boutique around the corner from Calypso.  Not quite as affordable but fashionably fun.

As much as I love all the wonderful places we've travel to and visit on a regular basis, sometimes there really is no place like home. 

About the summer...

And summer hours.  I'm loving them.  Really.  Now don't get the idea that I'm not working but let's just say that things are a little more relaxed so far in the month of June!  I have harvested the infamous thistle patch in the side yard and reclaimed the land that I've been trying to pass off as part of my neighbor's yard.  I'd hate to have people think those were my weeds.  The dogs are back on their summer morning walk regime.  I was told by the vet that Cleo, aka The Fatness, was a bit plump.  Summer schedule allows for both running in the morning AND a dog walk.  We'll see if she slims down.  If not, we're resolved to the fact that she's a lot cuter when she's fat even if she sometimes makes funny pig-like noises when she breathes.  Can you have sleep apnea when you are awake?

What's the most fun though is having MR and Will home.  Mary Rollins has been at ballet the last two weeks but Will has had two weeks of nothing but playing with friends.  I felt badly about his current lack of activity (as I may have previously mentioned)  but I do believe that children with nothing to do lends to the development of their creativity.  In fact, just this morning Will asked if he and his friends could use the glue gun. 

Ummm....why?

We're making air-soft grenades?  Where's the aluminum foil?

About 20 minutes later, I heard an "Oh Crap!" in the backyard.  I was assured all was well by a boy holding a box of matches and another boy with a handful of bottle rockets. 

And, a minute ago, I saw three 12-year old boys dragging a big plastic wagon across the backyard. One of them has a shovel.  I wonder if I should be worried as I just picked them up from watching the new A-Team movie.  Apparently, it was THE BEST movie any of them had ever seen.  I'm having flashbacks to a little Williamson family incident where my brother pistol-whipped me after watching Wild Wild West. 

Oh...Will says he was just getting the shovel to put it back in the garage. Huh?  (I think I might suggest they play XBox.

Next week, we're going to Holiday World on Monday for Will's birthday party (I'll have to tell you about Holiday World if you've never been) and then Will's going with some cousins to our Tennessee lakehouse.  Mary Rollins was invited to go too, but for some reason, she was really excited about being home alone.  Without any 12 year-old boys. I can't imagine why. 

For Transy friends (and family)

This is really for Transylvanians.  I loved it. 
for Transylvanians

Summer hours...

Mystery Falls en route to Rock Bridge

It's official.  Summer is here and I am now on summer hours.  Last day of school was Thursday and also, I am the parent of a high schooler.  My golden year of two children at the same school is over.  Sigh.  It was so nice while it lasted.  I suppose when Mary Rollins and Will are both in high school it'll be all different as they won't need me/my transportation quite as much anymore.  Sigh.  All good, all good though.  Teenagers and almost-twelve year olds are really fun.

To celebrate summer hours, I'll be taking two boys (Will and Wyatt N.)  to Red River Gorge tomorrow all while working from my iPhone and Mary Rollins goes to Ballet Summer Intensives.  Then it's back to work the rest of the week but I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's summer hours.

Also, I'm open to suggestions for fun things to do with an almost-twelve-year-old boys who do not want to go to baseball camp, take tennis lessons, golf lessons, batting lessons or go to ballet summer intensives.  Any suggestion that does not include the playing of XBox 360 is welcome.

Lexington Herald Leader Reader's Choice Poll now out...

A past client and friend alerted me this morning to the poll for the 2010 Lexington Herald-Leader Reader's Choice poll.  And, of course, one of the items is your favorite Realtor.   I was actually voted #2 the year before last!  Whether you live near or far, you can offer your opinions on many of your Central Kentucky favorites, be that me or not!  To vote, click on the above post title link or click on the link below.

 Lexington Herald-Leader Reader's Choice