Blog By Knight » Travel

An Open Letter to Those People Seeking to Take Advantage of People Suffering from the Oli Spill

judi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:38:52 +0000

Dear Stephanie, Regarding your question,

Do you have any specials on your Navarre Beach house due to the oil spill ?

I imagine that you don't have any idea how much it costs to keep a house at the beach. We were just getting back on our feet after having to rebuild our little gem of a gulf front townhome after it was completely destroyed by hurricane Ivan four years ago. The upkeep is enormous yet we can't sell because the values have fallen way below what we have into it. Just this summer we had a nearly full reservation calendar where the rentals actually covered the mortgage for that month. The cancellations have been tough especially since the beaches are beautiful and though there have been a few tar balls, ten people come to scoop up each one from the sand the moment it hits. I'm just sayin' that when you write and ask for a discount at a time like this, you are basically trying to get yourself a vacation on the suffering of others. I am sure you can find someone desperate enough to take anything, but I welcome you to take the high road and come stay at this amazing beach and pay the regular, very reasonable price to support those of us who are yet again, in the midst of a terrible crisis. It's your choice, but it all comes back to you. Navarre Properties is our property management and you can make reservations and check the availability on the Navarre Properties web site page. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you will find the reservation calendar for our unit.

Love Letters to my Loft

Judi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:34:16 +0000

Recently, my loft was featured on the Apartment Therapy blog . They asked me about the inspiration for my use of color and I said,

How To Make Yummy Granola

Judi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:04:54 +0000

Having a Bed and Breakfast in our Loft calls for getting creative about making breakfast. During the week, we serve a continental breakfast with cereal, bagels, coffee, juice and fruit. On the weekends I might do shrimp and grits, vegi scrambles, cheese grits, or the regular standby, bacon, eggs and toast. Duane has got it down now and makes the weekend breakfast when I have to be somewhere bright and early. One thing I like is to make homemade granola. For myself, I make a not-cooked version with

Recycled Clothing takes on a new meaning

Judi — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:32:41 +0000

Here is an outfit I found for Myrna Perez, proprietor of the cute little Fruteria and cafe, Lotta Frutta on Auburn Ave. Kind of a Caren Miranda shops at Target look. And Here is one for the Dene who worked without rest on the Obama campaign. Called the voter swing coat, it is made of voter registration posters (hanging on the wall in the photo) cut into half inch wide strips and woven together. There are plenty of other options for all of your peeps here on this site Recycle Runway!

Back to Reality

Judi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:46:54 +0000

As much as I like to think differently, I am not a good traveler. I always feel a bit discombobulated to be out of my stomping grounds. I'm not quite as bad as the Accidental Tourist but almost. I had such high hopes of blogging and uploading photos and texts regularly while I was at the Inauguration. Didn't happen the way I had imagined. I got a few texts off to NPR and friends actually said that they saw them which was cool. But from the start circumstances conspired against me. I didn't bring my laptop since Duane brought his Mac Book but I did bring my Christmas i Phone and my camera so thought

Inauguration Diary – January 20

Judi — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:58:28 +0000

6:00 AM - Duane stealthily got dressed and left for work doing the camera and wiring over at Lafayette Park where a lot of network anchors were set up. 6:30 AM Claudia and I got up and felt pretty good about going to the mall with the crowds. We put lots of layers on plus woolly hats and socks and I felt like a little kid in a snow suit. Weather says it is 20 degrees and should warm up a bit with the sun out. 7:30 AM We decided to head over to the Washington Monument as a large indicator of exactly where

Inauguration Diary January 19

Judi — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:59:52 +0000

8:30 AM - Joe took Claudia and I to the Airport. ( its nice to have nice friends). 9:45AM - We're at the Atlanta airport, Claudia gets out her guidebook and I take out my iPhone. Its a race between new and old school to see who finds a great place for lunch once we get into DC. She thumbs through her book and I give Urban Spoon a shake. Et voila, we both come up with Matchbox, a little bar restaurant on H street in Chinatown around the corner from where we were staying at the Renaissance Hotel. Claudia called and made reservations. I called that round a tie. 1:00 PM - Took the

Bed and Chocolate Martini

Judi — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:11:04 +0000

One bad thing about having a Bed and Breakfast is that I have to get up and fix breakfast for people. I really don’t mind too much except that I am pretty spoiled by Duane. Everyday that we don’t have guests, Duane gets up and makes my coffee and brings it to me in bed. [...]

Artists in Residence

Judi — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:39:22 +0000

I am having a lot of fun running the The Urban Oasis Bed and Breakfast here at 130 A Krog Street in Atlanta. I am not your typical Bed and Breakfast proprietor. First of all, I don't take just anyone, anytime. If someone calls at the last minute wanting accommodations, I sweetly say, Oh, I'm so sorry we don't have any availability for tonight. Or if they call with some attitude or weird situation, same response, "no room at the inn". But we have had some really great guests and actually none that were not great in their own way.

Wedding at the Urban Oasis

Judi — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:19:35 +0000

My friends Mickey and Jackie tied the knot Saturday night, here at the Urban Oasis. Jackie's Mom, Kathy and Dad, Jack and her Aunts and Uncles also stayed here for the weekend. Back in the fall, when Jackie and her mother went looking at event spaces, Jackie told her that she knew of a great warehouse loft space that did weddings. But I think a warehouse space didn't exactly fit her mom's pictures of the setting where Jackie would get married.

Ganja Queen, Her Pot or Not Her Pot?

Judi — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:07:49 +0000

That is the question. I was scrolling through the list of on-demand HBO documentaries to find something to watch late last night and narrowed it down to one called Ganja Queen and another about child kidnapping in China. Duane's chose Ganja Queen so we watched the story of Schapelle Corby, a 28 year old Australian woman who was arrested and tried for smuggling 4.2 kilos of marijuana into Bali in a boogie board bag.

Five item must see/must do list for Buenos Aires

Judi — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:02:03 +0000

My friend Joe is off to Argentina on the Fourth of July. There are a bunch of us who are very envious. He asked me to give him a list of the five places on my Buenos Aires must see/must do list. So here goes: 1.San Telmo Street Fair on Sundays. On Sundays they block the streets off and vendors come and have a flea market kind of thing in the square and on the streets surrounding the square in this quaint old neighborhood. They had stalls with old vintage cameras and one of vintage record players some with the horns and everything. There were really interesting items I don't usually see around here.

Eames Stamps at the USPO

Judi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:00:01 +0000

Eames stamps are now available at the Post Office. I don't know why I am so excited. I rarely write letters so mostly I put wonderful stamps on my bills and such. I really hope that someone appreciates them as much as I do sending them. I guess really all that matters is that it makes me smile on my way to the mailbox.

Bed and Breakfast Loft Style

Judi — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:02:41 +0000

I just got my new pictures of my B&B bedrooms which were recently taken by Jim Moss who runs the reservation service Bed and Breakfast Atlanta. The rooms look so great that I want to stay there. Oh but, I already live here.

Reserve it Now!

Judi — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:49:22 +0000

I just got the sweetest letter from one of my Southern Breeze beach house renters. The good news was they loved staying there. The bad news, their year old baby ripped one of my coffee table books.

Looking Super

Judi — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:16:07 +0000

Danneman's is now painted and the old furniture has been purchased by Bobby at the Pizza place down the street, so it is mostly cleaned out. Grant and I started bringing in and arranging all of our treasures . It's pretty funny that we are both obsessed in the same way. We arrange things and then have to stand around and admire it. We even went back over there tonight. I had gone to Home Depot and bought two palms for either side of the front door. Grant met me over at the building to help me get them out of the car and bring them inside. But truth be told, we both just wanted to see how it looked at night and congratulate each other on how great it's looking.

Pinot Noir for Horacio

Judi — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:46:11 +0000

After Michael and I got gas and were on our way we passed by a sign for Pinot Noir Grapes. Before I had left Atlanta, Horacio our Argentine, Tango instructor and wine connoisseur was waxing on about Oregon Pinot Noir so we pulled into the little Wy'East winery and had a wine tasting. Well I say we, but really Michael watched me taste the wine since he isn't 21 quite yet. I bought Horacio a bottle of the good stuff, the one that was made from the grapes of the old vines.

Running on Empty

Judi — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:58:56 +0000

Sunday, Michael wanted to drive out to Mount Hood so we got together late morning and headed out. I had the rental car which I had picked up with a full tank of gas at the airport and I thought I would never be able to use all of it in five days. I was very wrong since I spent the majority of each day in Portland getting lost and driving all over hell and back. That is the bad thing, the good thing is that I did learn my way around the entire city.