Western Mass Homes Lesley Lambert

Lesley's Life

A Video from The North Pole!

Santa Claus with a little girl
Image via Wikipedia

This is so cool, I just had to share. My friend Diane Haley Brooks, a real estate agent in Templeton, MA shared this on her blog this week.

A visit to the Portable North Pole site will guide you through a series of questions about your child that will be used to create a video from Santa! You can add pictures of your child and even have Santa give some reminders about behaving at the holidays.

I made one for each of my daughters and they were amazed that they got an email video from Santa. The video included a GPS demonstration showing his sleigh route to Westfield, MA and details about their age, grade in school and more! My kids loved seeing their name, picture and information in Santa’s book. Here is one that I made for my six year old, take a look and then give it a try!

Merry Christmas!

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Amazon.com or the Grinch?

So, every year I do the bulk of my Christmas shopping online and most of it is usually with Amazon.com.

This year I placed what I consider to be a large order of holiday gifts right after Thanksgiving.

Some items came right away, but I noticed most of the big gifts for my kids were missing. Last night I contacted Amazon.com and was told that the items were assumed “lost in transit”. If they knew they were lost, why wasn’t I notified?

This video explains further: (be sure to watch the second and third videos below this for the update, too)

So, I spent a loooong time on the phone with Amazon this morning and here are my follow up thoughts on the matter:

So, I am left to conclude that either Amazon isn’t reading Twitter or they simply do not care:

A Dickens of a Day Off in Westfield, MA

I have lived, worked as a REALTOR and studied at Westfield State University in Westfield, MA since 1988. I like it here for so many reasons, but I realized yesterday that I don’t get many days off to enjoy it as I would like to.

Yesterday serendipity brought me to the “Dickens’ Days” festivities and I immersed myself into the best that my city has to offer.

I started by popping into the craft fair at the YMCA. As soon as I stepped in the door I was greeted by a lifelong friend of mine (and past client), Jeanne, who was selling her beautiful wreaths.

Walking through the fair there were lots of expected wares, but many unusual, as well. Everyone was in a great mood and smiles were a staple. After purchasing some crystal snowman earrings for my daughters I found a table selling locally produced goat cheese. This was the yummiest chevre I have had in a long time and at a super affordable price, too. I will be visiting their farm store for more very soon!

The holiday stroll included many other stops throughout town and I prioritized a couple that I had been wanting to visit for some time. The first was the bead store in town where I bought a few supplies for a project and the second was a wine shop called the Grape Crusher.

Located very close to Park Square Realty in Westfield, MA, I had been meaning to look into this store, but hadn’t had the time. I am very glad I made the time yesterday. Locally owned by a very friendly family, this shop specializes in carrying wines and micro brews that other stores in the area may not have. There was a wine tasting and as I sipped my wine and chatted with the owner I admired their wine gift baskets and noticed they had customized six packs of wine for a super reasonable price. These bags feature six pre-selected wines that normally sell for $10 and up. The bags run between $37 and $50 making them a great deal!

Following this lovely visit I stopped at “My Favorite Things” a consignment/vintage/antique store on Elm Street and then headed to The Tavern to treat myself to lunch.

As I parked for The Tavern I noticed that The First Church had a boutique and I decided to take a peek. After perusing the boutique I sat in on a few songs by a youth choir….wonderful stuff for putting me in a Christmas spirit!

Off to a late lunch at The Tavern where they have a toy train going around their tree above the bar area. I love the atmosphere in the bar, which is the historic post office building and retains most of the original architecture.

Later that evening Morriss and I headed to the Westfield Theater’s version of “A Christmas Carol” which featured our good friends Kelly and Tom Galanis. The production was very well done and Tom and Kelly had wonderful featured roles that they performed winningly.

All in all it was a wonderful day in my beloved Westfield, MA filled with the warmth of the holiday spirit. I am grateful for this day and for allowing myself the freedom to follow the Holiday stroll. The organizers of “Dicken’s Days” should be very proud of the spirit and pride they bring to the residents of Westfield, MA.

Building Houses in Western MA: for Fairies!

I happen to have extensive new construction experience in Western Massachusetts, including managing the marketing of new construction subdivisions in Westfield and working as General Contractor and assistant to the carpenter on one of my own homes. I was glad of this experience when my daughters and I decided to build fairy houses this past weekend.

Inspired by a new Tinkerbell movie in which a little girl creates a fairy home and manages to capture Tink, my girls and I embarked on a creative adventure to build our own fairy houses.

Using cardboard boxes we fashioned the house and roofing, cutting open a door. We then went foraging in the woods for items that a fairy might enjoy, such as pine cones, birch bark, twigs, leaves, grasses and acorn tops. Using these items we created tables, chairs, beds, curtains and even a hat stand!

Once created the houses were placed in the garden and entry welcome stones were added along with bridges over tiny moats. All told my girls spent hours on the project and were very intent upon making their homes just right for the fairies that might stumble upon them.

The day after placing the houses in the garden the girls went outside right after breakfast to see if fairies had visited. An animal or even the wind had managed to knock a few things about and my girls took it as a sign of the houses being occupied. I decided to play along with their joy over the visit and last night added “pixie dust” (glitter) to the houses to infer that a fairy had shaken the dust off their wings when they entered.

The girls are now totally convinced in the existence of fairies (hey, they COULD be real) and I did a bit of asking about to see what people thought fairies would like in their homes or leave behind.

A close friend researched it for me and came up with the fact that fairies do not like iron. They love chocolate and sparkly things.

I think I will encourage the girls to leave an M & M in the houses to invite the fairies to visit further. I am still looking for suggestions as to what a visiting fairy might leave behind besides glitter….any ideas?

Now I am sure there will be a few of you that will think I am awful for fibbing to my daughters, but we are having so much fun and I want them to stay young for as long as possible. I feel magic all around me and am the first one to shout out “I do believe in fairies” when I watch Peter Pan. This project was a wonderful bonding event and a great chance for us all to be creative and share a wonderful story.

Edited to add:
Based on the recommendations of friends on Facebook and Lorri-Anne in the comments below I am fashioning a Christmas gift of books on Fairy Houses, field journals and garden statues for the girls.

Happy Holidays from your Western MA REALTOR!

The holiday season is a happy, although hectic time of year in Western Massachusetts and beyond. I want to make sure to send my wishes for the very best the holidays can bring your family this year!

As we move into 2011, it is my honor to be entering my 23rd year as a real estate agent in Western Massachusetts. At this time of year, I enjoy reflecting back on my clients and spend time thinking how they might be enjoying the holidays in their home. Although we don’t always have time to see one another, you are in my thoughts always and I am only a phone call or email away if you want to say hello!

Happy Holidays and thank you for your friendship and business. I appreciate our relationship.

I hope you enjoy this video as a virtual holiday card from my family to yours!