Today I noticed (just in time, too!) that this blog has turned one year old, when I happened across our kickoff post. Bridget and I started the blog on November 9th, and a week later, Bridget officially signed on with Elite Properties. Or more precisely, John Lockwood Associates hired Bridget with the understanding with Bridget and with her former broker that she could continue to use the name Elite Properties.

We did trail off a bit in the writing at some point, as I moved on to other projects and Bridget decided that being serially verbose was not for her. However, I think we’ve managed to make the blog a fairly credible resource, especially for Amador County, which has no other similar site that I know of. Lately we’ve gotten a huge help from Purva Brown, who is doing a great job of helping me beat back the tremendous onslaught of blogs that I keep putting up. This will be post 135 — not a bad year’s work for a side project!

To me the site is special because its beginning also serves to mark the real beginning for my brokerage, even though on paper it started in July of 2006.

Those of you that are homebrewers (called Zymurgy, go figure!) should consider coming to the HAZE club meeting at the Wine Smith in downtown Placerville tonight at 7 p.m.

HAZE stands for Hangtown Association of Zymurgy Enthusiasts and although zymurgy covers fermentation of wine as well as beer, this is a beer maker’s meeting.

This will be my first meeting. I’m going along with my husband who is one of those zymurgists. You can visit the HAZE club website here. Apparently, they taste (TASTE, not drink) homebrews and discuss recipes and share secrets to make better beer.

I rarely have trouble taking sides with most issues, but today’s article in the Sacramento Bee about homeowners upset with Placer County’s budding wineries for ruining their country living peace and quiet is just difficult for me. There is no greater proponent than me for your ability to enjoy your home in peace and not have to listen to loud music around you when you come home, but I must say I am happy to live close to wineries here in El Dorado and Amador Counties.

This story explains it all.

I’m curious, especially from a marketing point of view as a Realtor. Does “winery minutes away” not count as a positive statement then?

And if you’re a wine enthusiast don’t expect prices on wine from these parts (El Dorado, Amador, and now Placer) drop any time soon. Not with this kind of resistance.