While sitting on the tarmac at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in a snowstorm this past week, it once again dawned on me how fortunate and grateful I am to be living in Santa Barbara; paradise of the West…and if I needed any reinforcement to solidify this notion, all I needed to do was to look out the window to see the blizzard in progress and the de-icing trucks working tirelessly on our plane.

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We may all have different reasons why we love Santa Barbara and one of mine is the excellent theatre that this town provides.  The moving performance this evening, at the Ensemble Theatre Company, was extraordinary.

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Several years back, “This Old House” came to Santa Barbara and selected my good friend, Jan Winford, as their project. Her Arts & Crafts bungalow at 1616 Grand Avenue has received the Santa Barbara Beautiful Award and has been featured in several architectural books.

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Ever wonder about Montecito’s beginnings? The name means “little mountain,” and a popular story about the city’s birth dates back to 1850.

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I was very excited to see the article in the Wall Street Journal titled, ‘How Green is My Realtor’. So were a lot of other people I know, seeing that 4 people e-mailed it to me and 3 copies were placed on my desk at Village Properties. I am so proud that the EcoBroker program is getting press and more and more agents are signing up for it across the country.

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Santa Barbara is very dog friendly! I would love to list four of my favorite places to take my dog “Chasey.”

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I, along with Village Properties agents Elaine Abercrombie, Billy Mandarino and Joshua Ramirez, spent Wednesday morning, February 20th, sharing stories about our jobs and insights into our careers with students at San Marcos High School. After a morning breakfast and enthusiastic welcome from the school administration and event organizers, we dispatched to classrooms where we spoke to four sessions of students.

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Last night we (Elizabeth Wagner & DeAnn Bauer) hosted another great Green Drinks event here in Santa Barbara. The location was the Pierre Lafond Bistro on State Street which was a perfect location and many thanks to Anne Marie Costura for setting up the event. Farmer’s Market customers and vendors were bustling by outside, a TV free zone inside with great lighting and art welcomed our 40+ guests throughout the evening. Plus the food was delicious, all organic and made by executive chef, Josh Keating formerly of the Clift Hotel in San Francisco.

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Village Properties is the exclusive affiliate in the Santa Barbara area for Christie’s Great Estates. Recently Christie’s released a report that surveyed the real estate market in multiple regions of the United States. As Christie’s GE exclusive affiliate, we’ve reprinted that survey here for your benefit. It provides an interesting picture of the national market. Enjoy. (more…)

Michael Blackwell, formerly of the San Ysidro Ranch, has been tapped to become the new Executive Chef of Ty Warner’s Montecito Country Club. He has been quoted as saying that the menu changes will be toward bringing local fresh ingredients into play. There will be new signature recipes, with an emphasis on healthy choice entrees.  Michael has worked in Europe as well as New York before coming to Santa Barbara.