(Photo Courtesy of The Today Show)

Propety Will Surely Fly Off The Shelf Thanks To The Today Show : )

CONGRATULATIONS to The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation for making The Today Show this morning! Focusing on destinations suitable for children, The Ritz-Carlton is perfectly suited to accomodate you and your little ones. They can swim in the infinity pool, take a train ride around the property on The Linger Longer Express, go kayaking/tubing/skiing on the lake, and every night from 8 to 10 roast s'mores by the lakeside campfire compliments of the hotel.

5 Fun Family Getaways For Spring Break

Once you've visited you're sure to want to come back. And Kudos to Natalie for pronouncing Lake Oconee (o-co-knee) correctly!

Check Out This Awesome Video!

I promise, I promise the wedding posts will stop. Very soon. I just couldn't not show you this video because every one of us here on AR can appreciate the importance of great photos and great videos no matter what your line of work is. Dustin Blake of Indy Productions is one of the premiere videographers in the country. This fella gets flown all over the world shooting film(s) for people. We were soooooo blessed to have been able to work with him for our wedding. Like literally, the stars aligned all across the board on this one. Below is what I like to call a tease of our video to come. Having this to hold on to will far out last the frozen (yet delicious) top layer of cake sitting in our freezer.

Greensboro Ga - Margie + Drew - Goodwin Manor Wedding from Dustin Blake on Vimeo.

If you or anyone you know are ever in any need of special videography whether it be for work, wedding, or what have you, call this man. He travels and he is worth absolutely every single penny.

Ritz-Carlton Lodge Package Deals For Lake Oconee Food & Wine Festival.

This year’s 3rd Annual Lake Oconee Food & Wine Festival is being held at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation. So the hotel has put together package deal(s) to accommodate those who are planning to attend the event or for those hotel guests who might be looking for something fun to do while in town! Click the link(s) below to find out more.

1-Night Lake Oconee Wine & Food Festival Package

---or---

2-Night Lake Oconee Wine & Food Festival Package

With nightly room rates for that particular weekend starting at $319 and individual tickets to the Festival costing $60, the package deals are a great opportunity to get in on this fantastic event and save yourself some cash if you're going to be staying at the hotel anyways.

I went last year and still to this day I dream about the white chocolate bread pudding bananas foster served by Aubri Lanes, located in Milledgeville. I cannot even begin to describe to you it's goodness!

This year the food will be provided by the following:

Gaby's By The Lake

Georgia's Bistro

Linger Longer Steakhouse

If you are just interested in tickets to the Festival you can purchase those online or by calling (706) 453-9243. The Lake Oconee Food & Wine Festival is organized by Gatewood Schools and all proceeds from the event go towards benefiting the schools academic and enrichment programs.

Get Up, A Get On Up-Eliminating Inefficiences In Real Estate. I have a feeling that what I deemed my biggest "inefficiency" for last year might initially raise an eyebrow or two when you first read it. While many will probably say they took to some form(s) of techonology in order to eliminate inefficiencies in their business, I, in fact, had to step away from them.

I began working in Real Estate in December of 2010. I'd had a Facebook account for years, Myspace had come and gone, Twitter was beginning to take off, texting was my biggest source of communication with friends, and blogging was the "it" way to do business. In planting my real estate roots I dove headfirst into all things Internet and fortunately for me, having grown up around computers, it was easier for me than some. Wait a minute, I take that back. It wasn't easy. It was damn hard work. TIME CONSUMING. Hours upon hours of work every single day. I created a Facebook business profile, I started a blog, I started another blog, I built a website, I joined Active Rain, I tweeted, etc, etc, and on top of that maintained listings on over 10 different sites. Sound familiar to any of you? I'm sure it does. Recognition for my work took some time but before long my phone was ringing with people on the other end saying, "I can't Google Lake Oconee Real Estate without your name popping up everywhere." I was asked to do presentations on Social Media at meetings and functions around my area. Finally those hours in front of the comptuer were starting to pay off.

Funny thing was though...when I went to give those presentations on social media, by then I'd been in the business for 6 months and no one at these functions really knew me. They knew my name, they knew my face, but they hadn't the slightest clue who I was once that Coldwell Banker name tag came off. I had internet presence out the wazoo but I had no presence in my community.

That had to change. All things internet was keeping me from getting to know the people and businesses in the town in which I lived. So what did I do? I became an Ambassador for the Greene County Chamber of Commerce. I started attending Third Thursdays at Bank South and Loan South. There I get the chance to meet and mingle with the people I'd turn to in order to help a Buyer get a loan or the woman who set up my checking account. I became a member of a local YPN (Young Professionals Network) and started attending monthly socials where I was able to connect with Realtors from several surrounding counties. I volunteered when Extreme Home Makeover came here to build a home for a local little girl who is now a small town hero. New businesses where I live often host After Hours in an attempt to introduce themselves and their product to those in the community. One of my duties as an Ambassador for the Chamber is to attend these but I enjoy going to them even when I'm not required. I recently met a guy and we bonded over a mutual love for sailing and have since gotten together with our spouses for dinner. Would that have happened had we both not been at that event? Who knows. And now he knows I'm in real estate but he also has a sense for who I am. These are just a few of the ways I've found to feel more like a part of my community.

There is a balance that has to be obtained in order to do this job well and be an asset to those who choose to do business with you. What's important to one client might not be the most important thing to another. One might prefer an Agent who is well known in town, another will want one who will focus more on the Internet side of marketing their property. The most important to me is, that regardless of their needs, I want to be able to meet them. So now I give equal amounts of time to all of the things listed above!

Everyone has them, they're nothing to be ashamed of, so click below and tell us an inefficiency you've encountered at some point and time and what you did to change it. Eliminating Inefficiencies In Real Estate-A Contest

Durhamtown Plantation 5K Zombie Race. Registration has come and gone, all Zombie slots have been filled, but it's not too late to go and watch! This afternoon at 1:30 Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point is hosting Run For Your Lives, a Zombie infested 5K Obstacle Course Race. Similar to the Mud Race, contestants will run 3.2 miles, which would be a challenge in itself for me, all the while encountering 12 man-made and natural obstacles like rope climbs and pools of "blood." Meanwhile bloody zombies will be all around them chasing after their "health" (i.e. The flags on the runners belts). Lose all their flags, they are out of the race.

Afterwards the Participants, Spectators, and Zombies all join together for the Apocolypse Party to throw down in true Zombie style!

Today marks the start of 11 different stops around the country so if you don't live in Georgia, check out any of the following locations to see if there is a Zombie Invasion headed your way sometime this year!

Massachusetts Minnesota Indiana Colorado Washington

Missouri Pennsylvania So Cal Maryland Texas

Who would have thought, right? Must be a good time though because there isn't a single location that doesn't already have more than 50% of the racer slots filled. So don't waste any time signing up!

You can also check out Run For Your Lives on Facebook.