I'm not 100% certain I started a new Christmas tradition for my family yesterday: we went to the movies for the first time on Christmas Day. I was expecting huge crowds, and was pleasantly surprised our movie theater was not very crowded. This was the 3D version, and it was spectacular. Whether you have read the book or not, it's definitley worth the admission. I should know, I really ended up paying twice, since I bought my tickets on Fandango, but didn't print them out....oops! http://www.lifeofpimovie.com/ 12/25/2012

I remember the fun of Christmas Eve, the anticipation of opening the presents, the fabulous meal, and seeing all my relatives. We were permitted to open just one present on Christmas Eve, it was my mother's tradition for us. It was fun, and usually held us over until Christmas morning. What are your traditions on Christmas Eve? Do you have matching pajamas and watch Christmas movies? Would love to hear other's Christmas Eve traditions! 12/23/2012

If you have finished all your shopping and have some extra time this holiday season, or want to reach out to someone less fortunate than you, this handy list of holiday events specifically at the Jacksonville Beaches (Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach) is just for you.  Whether it's helping feed homeless people, or ringing the bell for the Salvation Army (something I do every year, complete with flashing antlers) you can still find an outlet for your excess energy and time! Merry Christmas All! Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/community/shorelines/2012-12-22/story/holiday-events-beaches#ixzz2FoxGNXRQ 12/22/2012

Amazingly, last night was my first ever ugly Christmas sweater party.  If you search online for ugly Christmas sweaters, you will find a boatload, some with hefty price tags.  I opted to ask someone to borrow a sweater,and while it was not hideous enough to win, it was a vintage Casual Corner extra large, with shoulder pads.  It was a great time, overall, and here is my outfit:        12/15/2012

  Our local Adventure Landing is hosting their second annual Winterfest, including ice skating, and a snow slide. I got to do the snow slide at a Chamber of Commerce event a week ago and it is fun! Winterfest runs through January 13, 2013.  Adventure Landing is located at 1944 Beach Boulevard, just east of the ICW Bridge on the right hand side.      12/14/2012

Real Estate in Jacksonville Beach - December 2012 from http://www.homesjacksonvillebeach.com There are currently 2023 active homes for sale in Jacksonville Beach. The average listing price for Homes in Jacksonville Beach during the month of December is $457,395. The median list price in December for single family residential and condo/town home properties in Jacksonville Beach is $279,000. The typical home for sale during the month of December in Jacksonville Beach is a 3.51 bedroom, 2.61 bath home built in 1997. To break down pricing further we can look at price by bedrooms in Jacksonville Beach. During the month of December a 3 bedroom homes average for sale price is $310,078 while a 4 bedroom homes average for sale price is $522,085. The 5 bedroom homes are listing for an average of ... 12/10/2012

I managed lunch with a good friend and prior buyer in Jacksonville Beach, FL, at a place I had never been to before: Ashe's Tea Room & Boutique. Nestled in a quaint area of antique shops and other small restaurants, it was a nice, relaxing spot. They have full afternoon tea service, and their menu is simple, but delicious.   Here is the neighboring table complete with serious china tea cups. I had the spinach salad with red wine vinaigrette, and chicken salad half sandwich, for $8.95 plus a blend of bamboo & coconut milk tea, which was fabulous!   12/06/2012

This is the Rialto Bridge, over the Grand Canal from my recent trip to Venice. We crossed this bridge many times during our stay there, and it was amazing to see first hand how physical life is in Italy. Our apartment was an effective 6 story walk up, and when you include the steps over not just this bridge, but the others, we believe we walked about 20 miles over the entire trip.   12/01/2012

In Venice, we had the chance get to our destinations via the vapperetto, which is essentially a water taxi.  Convenient, most of the time. You can purchase a one day or multi day pass, our 3 day pass was 35 Euros, and we used it to get to our apartment, over to Murano and back, and to the train station.  Our ride back from Murano, we were diverted to the wrong destination, which turned out to yield a fabulous sunset photo which I posted. I don't have any vappertto pix, per se, but do have some pix of the gondoliers that went down the canal past our apartment:            11/29/2012

Local Real Estate Trends Jacksonville Beach Real Estate Listings 11/29/2012

Home Sales in Jacksonville Beach, FL Improving. Our local board of Realtors®, Northeast Florida Board of Realtors® just released statictics regarding single family and condo home sales for the month of October. Results are very positive. Compared to 2011, the average sales price increased by almost 10% from $232,000 up to $255,000. Last year homes averaged 113 days on the market but this year the trend is down to only 85 days a 25% decrease. Great news for sellers! Unfortunately for the buyers who are so interested in our beautiful area, the homes available went down to 209 from 324. This has resulted in homes selling frequently for more than or close to asking price and multiple offers being common. If you are interested in selling, now is a good time for a quick sale and if you are a... 11/29/2012

If you live near or around Jacksonville Beach, FL, I have some great information for you about a park called Wingate Park. This park consists of sixteen acres of 1 girl's softball field, 2 adult softball fields, 2 football fields, 2 t-ball fields, and 2 little major league fields. Adjacent to all of these wonderfully maintained fields is my favorite, Paws Dog Park. http://www.pawsparkjaxbeach.com/parkinfo.php This was four years in the making and due to a tremendous support from volunteers. It opened in 2005 and is the first FREE city-sponsored dog park opened in Duval County. It is located off of the south side of Penman road. There are two parks there, one for large dogs with a large retention pond fenced off in the center and a separate small dog park just to the south of the large d... 11/28/2012

Two of us managed to find Harry's Bar, an inconic bar/restaurant in Venice, and while priced a bit on the high side, we could not resist having a drink and some croquettes (complimentary) while there. They have an amazing array of older B&W photos that show some of the changes that have occured over the years.   Above is a picture (sorry, fuzzy) I took at the bar. Apparently, there is a seating system, and the heavy hitters sit downstairs, while the upstairs is considered akin to Siberia; maybe we were lucky, as we were at the downstairs bar.         11/27/2012

I just arrived home from my Italian Thanksgiving trek late last night, right before midnight.  It is so nice to be back, to our own homes, our own beds, and I can't wait until I take a long hot shower this morning in my own bath. We had a great time, and created some great memories, but dang, it's good to be back in the USA! Here is a picture of the fresh off the boat scallops at the Rialto Market - wish we could have a market like this in Jacksonville Beach, FL !     11/24/2012

  Ok, so still learning the iPad, and how to blog and insert photos....our travels across Italy (trains, planes, vaporettos, & bus) landed us in Verona for Thanksgiving. The top photo is of the "implements" I received for my lunch which looked more like I was going to conduct surgery (please notice the high end looking "spork") for my lobster Thanksgiving feast in the bottom photo. Today we train to Milan in preparation for our flight home Saturday....     11/22/2012

As the Italian adventure continues, we traveled to Murano today, and missed our vapporetto stop on the way back, due to a schedule change (we were not informed, for the record), and managed to catch this shot, which I LOVE the colors in - this will be one I get put on canvas and displayed as a memory of a fantastic trip!     11/20/2012

On Friday I was officially told that I would be listing several homes for a local custom home builder. After checking out the partially build home that will become our model home to see what the staging needs would be, I realized that the home lends itself perfectly to the coastal theme that I've specialized in for the last several years.  A few weeks ago, I started photographing local area hotspots to use as my art and I'm very excited to actually have them turned into massive posters that will be professionally framed to create a gallery in my staged listings.  I've never used my own photography in my home staging jobs and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they turn out in big print! 11/18/2012

Property in Jacksonville Beach - November 2012 from http://www.homesjacksonvillebeach.com There are currently 2131 active homes for sale in Jacksonville Beach. The average listing price for Property in Jacksonville Beach during the month of November is $449,558. The median list price in November for single family residential and condo/town home properties in Jacksonville Beach is $276,446. The typical home for sale during the month of November in Jacksonville Beach is a 3.50 bedroom, 2.60 bath home built in 1997. To break down pricing further we can look at price by bedrooms in Jacksonville Beach. During the month of November a 3 bedroom homes average for sale price is $316,078 while a 4 bedroom homes average for sale price is $516,291. The 5 bedroom homes are listing for an average of ... 11/14/2012

The Jacksonville Beach Mayoral Race between Charlie Latham and Penny Christian continues - seems the difference between the two is 49 votes, which is 1/2 of 1%, and automatically triggers a recount. The recount is being conducted this afternoon at the election center, at 5200-2 Norwood Avenue (not close to the beach), and is open to the public.  11/13/2012

Five more reasons to live in Jacksonville Beaches, FL. I have already written five really, really good reasons to live in Jacksonville Beach, FL. There are probably five million more but for now here are five more. 1. We have some pretty spectacular festivals right on the ocean at the downtown amphitheater, well attended and always have some very good vendors. (I have been a vendor in the past). 2. You can find a condo right on the ocean for under $200,000. OK there is only one but there are several for under $250,000. 3. Convenience to a National Football League stadium. (Yeah, don't rub in the fact that we almost haven't won a game this year. I am confident that Shahid Kahn, the new owner will rectify that next year. He is shrewd and a very successful businessman, not prone to being a... 11/12/2012