Brandon Nelson
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Archive for the 'NW Way of Life' Category
Search Multiple Areas At Once on Craigslist
Craigslist is one of the most visited websites on the web. And for good reason: You can post and browse ads for free, pick up great deals on everything from high end Bellingham real estate to almost-full bottles of anti-freeze. (My buddy Tyler actually sold such a bottle!)
But Craigslist is limited. Severely limited, in my opinion, because you can only search one area at a time. No problem if you’re looking for that bottle of anti-freeze in Bellingham. But what if you can’t find what you’re looking for locally, and you’re willing to pay for shipping or drive to pick it up, and you want a fast, simple way to search other Craigslist areas far and wide?
Well, good buddy, you’re in luck! A couple friends of mine just launched www.Craigz.com and you have GOT to start using it. It’s simple… you just set the search’s epicenter and radius of choice, input the item or service you’re after, and click ‘Search!’
Not only does it pull ads from far and wide, but it throws up a thumbnail of the items with photos — further speeding and simplifying your search for the anti-freeze. They’re also working on auto e-mail alerts so when your item hits the market, you’re the first to know.
Check it out. Next time you’re itchin’ to shop on Craigslist… log on instead to Craigz.com!
Comments: Please leave a comment.Birchwood Park Photo Shoot
Bellingham is inundated with awesome parks and playgrounds, and having a two-year-old with boundless energy is the only reason we need to keep exploring them one by one!
Yesterday, we checked out Birchwood Park and were TOTALLY impressed. This newly renovated playground’s got all the features a kid could want, including climbing wall and cable ladder, multiple slides, monkey bars and more.
There’s a full basketball court, a beautiful timber-framed picnic shelter, and a field big enough for soccer or ultimate frisbee. And it’s all surrounded by an impressive array of native landscaping run through with benches and chairs.
If you are overtaken by the urge to explore, you can drop right down the trail to Squalicum Creek Park below, complete with a full baseball diamond, sledding hill, and community garden.
Bring the family or your pet or a book — and a cooler full of food – and make a day of it. We’ll be going back for sure!
Enjoy the photos below…
Comments: Please leave a comment.
Sudden Valley’s Lake Louise
Just inside Gate 2 of Sudden Valley is one of the more picturesque lakes in Whatcom County: Lake Louise. There’s a 1+ mile walking and jogging path encircling it (with just a little bit of road frontage on the north end), that we use year-round for relaxing walks or multi-lap runs. It’s also flat and wide enough to use the B.O.B. jogger with Hayden riding along.
You could kayak on Lake Louise, I suppose, but it’s almost too small for that, unless you were more of a floater. Best, in my opinion, to leave it to the ducks, beavers, eagles, frogs, deer, herons, osprey, geese, and fish to enjoy. Nearby Lake Whatcom has plenty of beaches where you can launch a kayak or take a swim.
There are condos, single family homes, even a real estate brokerage on the shores of Lake Louise. As far as waterfront real estate goes, being on Lake Louise may be just a bit more affordable than waterfront on Lake Whatcom, but it’s rare that anything comes up for sale on ol’ Louise. The last waterfront-ish sale (still set back off the lake, with the walking path between the house and the water) was in March of ‘07. The house went for $920,000 .
The next time you’re looking for a pleasant place to visit, give Lake Louise a try. And be sure to say ‘Hi’ to all the critters.
Comments: Please leave a comment.Ten Little Bulldogs
In 2009, my friend and colleague at RE/MAX Renay Daniels announced that she was working on a kids book. This is something I’ve dreamed of myself time and again over the years (maybe everyone has?) and I was excited to watch Renay go through the creative process.
I’ll never forget the day she came into the office with a box of her first edition, hot-off-the-press, hardcover copies of Ten Little Bulldogs! She had a million-watt smile that lit up the whole building. I bought a book of that first box and had Renay sign it to Hayden, and I brought it home to him that night.
Hayden LOVES books, and he especially loves books featuring dogs and counting. That’s what Ten Little Bulldogs is about, a progression of more and more bulldogs in adorable settings like sticking their heads out of a giant pumpkin, on a wilderness campout, in a local Bellingham playground, and loaded up in a bathtub ready for sudsy scrubbin’!
Aside from being a joy to read, the book supports the Children’s Miracle Network of children’s hospitals. Treat a young person in your life, and help support Renay and the Miracle Network at the same time, and order a copy of Ten Little Bulldogs. And Thanks in advance!!!
Comments: Please leave a comment.No Artist Required
This morning I snuck out of the house for an early morning paddle on Lake Whatcom. As I walked my boat to the water at the Sudden Valley Marina, I looked east and was struck with the view shown here. Paddling westward first, by the time I turned around the colors were gone. The realization of why I SO love Sudden Valley, though, happens to me about 100 times a day.
Sehome Arboretum Natural Bridge
Yesterday, while I was out previewing houses, I took a quick drive up to Sehome Arboretum above the WWU campus. On this windy, popular-with-runners, uphill road to the trailhead, I passed beneath this natural bridge of heeled-over trees.
Once again, the simple, natural beauty of Bellingham had won me over, and I was out of the car with the camera.
Wherever this weekend takes you, may plenty of nature’s simple, beautiful things delight you!
Comments: 1 Comment »Lake Padden Polar Bear Plunge!!!
It’s a Bellingham New Year’s Day tradition. It takes place at high noon, at the swim beach in Lake Padden’s west entrance. It’s not for the meek or the faint of heart.
But if you partake, it’s guaranteed to set you on a course of pure prosperity for the year — or at least a path of high adventure!
Enjoy!
What’s White and Green and Surreal All Over?
Last weekend, not 2 minutes from my house in Sudden Valley, I was awestruck at the suns rays streaming across a field of frost-covered plants and trees. The entire area glittered like it was covered in diamonds.
I whipped the car off the road, grabbed my camera and tripod, and spent the next half hour just looking at the ice and shooting these photos.
The thing is, Sudden Valley, and all of Bellingham and Whatcom County for that matter, throw these sorts of opportunities at you every day. Downtown, mid-County, beach, forest, park, backyard, stadium, and on and on.
If I could replicate myself a dozen times over, all I’d tell the other 12 of me to do is go around photographing this beautiful place we call home. And still, it’d take the army of me’s countless lifetimes.
Enjoy!
If you do ONE THING before the end of this decade…
New Year’s resolutions are easy. They’re out there in the future. What takes real commitment is NOW! Fitting in that ONE THING you’ve been meaning to do before the end of THIS year. Heck, this DECADE!
This is it: Today is El Dia Ultima! Better get ‘er done!
Need an idea? The one thing you can still do this year, this decade, that will have the single biggest impact on everything you want to accomplish in 2010 and beyond — whether it’s real estate related, adventure related, investment related — doesn’t matter.
There’s ONE thing you can still pull off between now and midnight, that will pay dividends BIGTIME. It’s the same thing my brother told me to do yesterday when I called him to whine, basically, that I was busier than I knew what to do with and needed another 24 hours in the day to get caught up.
Three little words: “Make a list.”
That’s it. Make a list. Here’s the key: a WRITTEN list. What do you want to accomplish in 2010? Write it down. Keep it simple, bullet-point it, stick it on the ‘fridge when you’re done or put it in your sock drawer. But do it, and be sure it’s written!
I’m not woo-woo in the slightest sense, but for three years now I’ve been making annual lists of goals and for some cosmic reason, by writing it down, the likelihood of reaching them increased by 10-fold or better. It’s weird but true.
Good Luck with it! And Thanks for helping make 2009 and the whole past decade unforgettably BRILLIANT for the Nelson family. Now let’s charge together into 2010 with our fists in the air, smiles on our faces, and written lists of goals in our sock drawers!!!
Comments: Please leave a comment.Climbing the Walls!
Not all home improvements fit into the category of “increased re-sale value.” The main thing is whether they add to your enjoyment of the home!
On that note, allow me to introduce Hayden’s indoor climbing wall. It cost less than $75 in materials and took a few hours to assemble.
- I bought the climbing holds on eBay for a buck-forty a piece, including the special nuts and bolts for mounting them.
- The 4×8 sheet of 5/8 ACX plywood came from Lowe’s for about $25.
- So did the 3 2×4x8 studs to add rigidity. They were about $10 total.
- I used some foam pad to prevent wall chafe, and a heavy duty eye bolt with a strap as a back-up anchor.
- Heather added the flashing LED lights and horn for motivation!
Hayden LOVES it! Check out these moves…
