Re:Fresh Re:Design, I have an eye for your style!

FALL IS ALMOST OVER...

The opportunities for "yardplay", also known as yardWORK are almost over. Some of the most important things that can be done to prepare for the next great spring and summers' curb appeal start right now!

Start with leaf removal. Whether by blower or rake, they need to go. A beautiful blanket of yellow leaves soon becomes an ugly blanket of brown mush under a dusting of snow. Not very attractive to potential buyers.

Leaves become harder to remove the longer you wait, and if the snow comes and buries the leaves, it also dooms your grass.

If you are putting your home on the market, now or in the future, rake your leaves now, to ensure that you will have a lawn to show off when the season is right.

Here's a tip for Colorado folks putting their home on the market, as we head into a season when you cannot keep fresh flowers outside: Take cuttings from your evergreens, i.e. spruce, cedars, firs, even junipers and shove them into the soil of your outdoor pots. Mix the varieties of greens, for more texture and color. Stand the spruce cuttings tall, and allow the junipers to drape. They will stay fresh looking for months!

You are Invited!

Open to ALL STAGERS!

The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) the Trade Association for Professional Home Stagers
has announced that November is Home Staging Awareness Month.

RESA along with IRIS and ASHSR are National Co-Sponsors of
Home Staging Awareness Month The meetings will focus on the Staging Industry, creating standards,
ethics and the wants and needs of the Professional Stager.

This event is OPEN TO ANY AND ALL HOME STAGERS
regardless of experience, education, affiliation or accreditation,
but you MUST pre-register, by clicking here, or contacting
Cheryl Marantino, Facilitator

Here are the details:
When: Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Where: Mimi's Cafe, North Powers

Time: We have a private room from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
There will be time to get to know one another from 9:00 to 9:30
We will begin our Round Table promptly at 9:30
and likely end at 12 noon, allowing 30 minutes to "wrap up"

Cost: FREE, except what you order from the brunch menu that will be provided

In doing the research to make sure that EVERYONE was included I have found almost 70 , YES, 70 Stagers with a presence on the web in Colorado Springs! Please join your peers and share in this
first ever Colorado Springs Round Table event!

The Date has been selected: Tuesday, November 18th

The Time has been arranged: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Place has been reserved: Mimi's Cafe on North Powers

There are lots of little details to still be announced, but the main part is done, and I look forward to meeting lots of new stagers!

Invitations will go out by the end of the week, but if you are a stager in Colorado Springs and are interested in attending the RESA SIF Round Table Event, Please let me know!

A group of around 10 stagers have been getting together semi-regularly here in the Springs, for longer than I have been here. This is a chance to join the group, regardless of training, certification, affiliations or membership, for fun, food and lots of information. We are lining up sponsors that will have good information, about topics of interest to all stagers. I am on the hunt for fabulous door prizes, and counting the days until we can all get together!

Please contact me at cheryl@refreshredesign.com or call 393-3729 for information as it happens!

We decided, sort of last minute, to go visit family on the Western Slope, leaving Saturday afternoon. This was our view from the dashboard as we went through the Eisenhauer Tunnel. The High Country got a very nice dusting of snow Saturday afternoon and evening, but it wasn't much fun to participate!

We stayed in Rifle, and went to Grand Junction the next morning, (both old stomping grounds for us), and I shot pictures as we drove along, through the windows. For the Front Rangers, who have never ventured over to the Western Slope, to borrow a phrase from the Texans, "It's like a whole other country!".

We returned today, coming back through the Glenwood Canyon, (the next photo), and then taking the scenic route through Minturn and Leadville, (another hometown for us) which is the photo of the beautiful mountains.

Leaving Leadville, we headed on Hwy. 24 through South Park, (yes, there really is a South Park!), where the deer and (can you see the tiny antelope?) play!

If you haven't been out and about in a while, I highly recommend it! We had a quick 48 hour trip, but feel like we were gone a WEEK!

Everyone is familiar with Colorados' famous quaking aspens. Traveling over Vail Pass in the fall is to see a mountainside that is usually shades of dark green, turn sunshine yellow. If we have a good season, it will then turn brilliant shades of orange and red. I have lived in Colorado, mostly, since 1980. I am awed at the fabulous place I get to live, and love every season here, Especially the fall. This afternoon on my walk with my hubby, I took along the camera, to catch some of what makes me love this place so much. We don't just have yellow leaves, we have red berries...

and because much of the state has a high desert climate, we have lots of cactus. This photo was from my walk today, also.

Of course the familiar evergreens of every variety grace our mountainsides, valleys and towns.

Are there any colors that cannot be found in nature? The colors in the deciduous trees below were not changed, but saturated. I would even contend that sometimes Aspen trees look flourescent at their peak!

GET OUTSIDE, TAKE A HIKE!!!

Suggested Musical Selection: Autumn Leaves by Percy Faith