I confess...Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa, CA beckoned me so I played hookey (hookie? hooky? You know what I mean!) yesterday afternoon. The late summer weather was a perfect 78 degrees and it was just too nice to stay inside and work, so I jumped in our ’65 VW convertible and headed over to glorious Spring Lake Park in Bennett Valley.       Spring Lake is one of my favorites of the 46 inspiring regional parks in our magnificent Sonoma County parks system and it is almost within walking distance of my home in Santa Rosa.  Situated in Bennett Valley, there are numerous hiking trails, a great family picnic and swim area at the Lagoon, bike trails, playgrounds, boat launches, horse trails, overnight camp grounds and of course the lovely Spring Lake. This park is typically filled with lots... 09/06/2011

Summerfield Villages in Bennett Valley is an intimate planned unit development (PUD) of 37 units, built in 1989.  The homes are townhouse style, attached single family residences.  They are frequently mistakenly listed by agents that don't know better as condominiums, but they're not condo's.  As an owner, you own the land your residence sits on, and the rights to the sky above the unit (nobody can build a bridge over your home without your permission or tunnel under your home).  This makes the residences more valuable.  For more information on the differences between condominiums and townhouses click here: Condo or townhouse. First, lets start off with Summerfield Villages location.  They are located on Summerfield Rd in the heart of Bennett Valley.  They are within a mile of one of t... 04/04/2010

California and Arizona Home loans will be up to 95% LTV Soon! Good news for California and Arizona home buyers! Starting February 22, 2010, mortgage insurance companies are easing up on their guidelines on conforming home loans! Homebuyers can put 5% down on conforming home loans again! It's about time! This is a good sign for the real estate market in California and Arizona. You can now buy a home without having the more restrictive FHA guidelines that usually scare home sellers from accepting an FHA loan offer. There are a few restrictions to consider, here's the list: All buyers must have a 720 Fico score or higher Owner Occupied Only Single Family or Condos only Debt to Income ratios can not exceed 41% for all LTVs over 80% This is a nice turn of events for both home buyers and home... 02/11/2010

I was doing some research this morning about real estate and came across this site I thought you might like to know about. It's a consumer oriented website created by the National Association or Realtors. I don't have time to explore the site today,but will check it out soon. If anyone has tried the site out, feel free to leave some feedback. Thanks! http://www.houselogic.com/ 01/12/2010

This morning, I couldn't find words to post anything on my blog, so I decided to read instead. Well, as usual, I will go from one article to another to the next and back to something else that interests me. Today was not exception, I started on AR, went to CNN, over to facebook, turned right on blogger and jumped over to twitter absorbing articles and opinions until I ran into this video on youtube. It's about having more fun in life which is exactly my motto for 2010 and beyond. So, I thought I would share it in hopes the video will inspire others like it inspired me today. Enjoy! If you can't see the video, the link is here.   01/12/2010

Here's my New Year Resolution Dance for everyone from the Sonoma County Wine Country in Santa Rosa, CA! These moves are amazing! When I was 18, I could dance like this, but at 40, the body just doesn't move like this anymore. If my real body could do this, I would video tape myself! LOL! Happy New Year! This is also my last post for 2009! Yeah! See you in 2010! And a one, and a two... For those of you who are using Firefox, here's the link: http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/mljJnvwtQtFyZIJd I'm not sure why the video doesn't work on firefox through AR?   Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today! 12/31/2009

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to have more fun with life and everything that it holds. I'm also going to make a major attempt at sharing this joy and fun with everyone I know including my new friends here on AR! So, to kick off the year, I would like to share this wonderful photo I found. It's a perfect visual that sums up my goal for 2010 to be carefree, boundless, fearless and fun! . BTW- is that two thousand ten, or twenty ten? ;-) Enjoy!   12/31/2009