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Welcome to our blog!

Barrie Real Estate

We are the Burlington Team - Rob, Greg, Glenn, Brandon, Norene and Caleigh - of Re/Max Chay Realty Inc., Brokerage and this is a blog for people living in the Barrie area, about real estate, community events, local shops and services, and just about anything else that catches our fancy.

We hope you'll find this blog useful and interesting, and if there is ever a real estate question that you want to ask, please visit our website at www.barriehome.com, or drop us a line to glenn@barriehome.com.

Amazing find - 1950s "time capsule" home

I found a very cool article on one of my favourite blogs - Retro Renovation -about a home that came on the market in St.Louis that had been virtually untouched since it was bought and decorated in 1955!

The one-and-only family to own this home lived in the basement (which includes a separate kitchen), and kept the upstairs as a showpiece, never even using the kitchen except to cook the Thanksgiving turkey.

Have you ever seen such pristine pink tile?

The update says that the purchaser bought absolutely everything "down to the clothes hanging in the closets" and plans to keep it in its retro state. - Caleigh

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Weblink Weekends! Your desktop could use some new wallpaper

If you work at a computer regularly, then you can perk up your mood just by changing your desktop wallpaper from time to time!

If you've never changed your wallpaper, the easiest way is to right-click on the image you want (and for best results, it should be a very large image, which is essentially all "wallpaper" is) and select "Set as Background".

Here are a few links to places where you can get cool wallpaper:

I could go on forever, but I should probably get back to "real" work so I'll leave it at that and let yuou search out the wallpaper that best suits your taste and personality. Enjoy! - Caleigh

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Monte Carlo Inns opens location in Barrie

As I was driving up the 400 a few days ago, I saw the Monte Carlo Inn and pondered that I didn't remember seeing it before. Seems it's not just my terrible memory, we actually do have a new hotel in the city!

The all-suite hotel is just off the 400 at Dunlop and caters to businesspeople, featuring King Size Executive Suites with work stations and ergonomic chairs, and meeting facilities,

equipment and in-house catering to accommodate both large and small groups. For both business and personal getaways, there are also Whirlpool Theme Suites, a saltwater pool, and wedding packages offered.

The rates are surprisingly reasonable, with Internet specials starting at about $100 a night.

Click here to visit their website, which includes a photo gallery and online reservations. - Caleigh

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TATW: A weekend to remember the past

It seems there's another weekend of iffy weather ahead of us, but not all of the planned events will be a washout.

For something largely indoors, you may wish to check out the Leacock Summer Festival in Orillia. A variety of readings and panel discussions will take place at the Stephen Leacock Museum over the course of the weekend. The museum occupies the home built by Leacock in 1928, in a beautiful setting on the water and surrounded by lush gardens.

No amount of rain will deter Elvis fans from attending the 15th annual Collingwood Elvis Festival. Many of the musical acts will be held indoors; click here for a complete schedule.

If you like your history just a little older, why not visit Wasaga Under Siege, featuring re-enactments from the War of 1812. "The Grand Encampment at Nancy Island Historic Site features over 400 re-enactors opening their living history encampments to the public along with 19th century merchants, musket and cannon demonstrations, period artisans and demonstrators, roaming entertainers, live musical entertainment and much more." Click here for some amazing pictures from past years' events!

If you had planned on attending the Barrie Latin Festival this year, please note that the event has been cancelled.

Enjoy your weekend! - Caleigh

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Last week for strawberries a local PYOs!

The local pick-your-own farms are saying that the strawberries are still in fair quantity, but this will be the last weekend for picking, so if you haven't made it out yet, now's your chance.

If you missed strawberry season, never fear! Raspberries are now in excellent supply at places like Barrie Hill Farms, and as soon as strawberry season is over it will be time for blueberry picking! Additionally, most of the veggies available for picking at Barrie Hill farms come into season at the end of July, including beans, peas and cucumbers.

Even if you're not one for making pies or preserves, berry picking is a lot of fun, and a great activity for the family including children of all ages. If you want to make a real event of it, blueberry season will be kicked off at Barrie Hill Farms with their annual Blueberry Pancake Festival, this Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The event is in support of the Royal Victoria Hospital's Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre. Pancakes for a good cause, what could be better?! - Caleigh

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Weblink Weekends! Ever wonder how stuff works?

The aptly named HowStuffWorks.com is a website that's been around for more than 10 years, and if you haven't used it yet you definitely should.

You can find out everything from how light bulbs work, to how dogs perceive time to how to dispose of old paint. It's a decidedly American site (owned by the same people as the Discovery Channel), so it's probably not the best source of info for us on government and the economy, but if you want to know how to sharpen knives, it's very handy. - Caleigh

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TATW: Paint, parades and police!

Do your kids need an outlet for their creativity? The Queens Park Skateboard Park will be the site of Paint the Park Day on Saturday the 18th starting at 9 a.m., and for $10 you can bring a can of spraypaint and put your mark on the park! The event is intended to renew the appearance of the park with positive graffiti artwork and is hosted by Barrie Young People Centres.

My family is looking forward to our annual visit to the Orillia Scottish Festival. The fesitval begins and ends with a ceilidh Friday and Sunday at Legion. On Saturday, events start around noon when the 20-band parade winds it's way down Mississauga Stree to Couchiching Beach Park, where there will Scottish festivities including entertainment and vendors.

If you are up in the Penetanguishene area, there is an interesting looking event going on this weekend called the Festival du Loup. The festival is presented by the Meute culturelle de Lafontaine, and celebrates the heritage, the language and the French-Canadian culture of the Lafontaine area. The event runs all weekend and includes evening performances, outdoor family events and a family picnic. Click here for the agenda.

While you're in the area, check out Penetanguishene's Art in the Park - a two-day outdoor art exhibition taking place at the Waterfront Park. It will feature nearly 30 artists who work in a variety of media including painting, photography, mixed media, fibre arts, works in glass and sculpture.

If the predictions of rain are correct, there is still lots to do in the area. The Simcoe County Museum has an exhibit starting on Sunday that sounds very interesting. "Arresting Images" features 100 historic mug shots from The OPP Museum’s permanent collection, dating from 1886 to 1908, and never before displayed. "Visitors to Arresting Images have the rare opportunity to gaze directly into the eyes of people arrested over 100 years ago - pickpockets, confidence men, escaped fugitives, shoplifters, horse thieves and even murderers. These images are compelling, fascinating and thought-provoking."

Have a great weekend! - Caleigh

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As if you needed another reason to visit the new Marble Slab Creamery

I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about visiting the Marble Slab Creamery, which now has a location in Barrie's South-end Zehr's plaza. The prices are a little higher and the waits a little longer than, say, Baskin Robbins, so is it really worth it?

It's not a place I'd go all the time, but for the occasional treat I have to agree that it is pretty awesome. The quality of the ice cream is exceptional (made fresh on site, as are the waffle cones), and there's something about the experience of selecting your contents and watching them get muscled into ice cream on a frozen marble slab that makes it entertainment as well as food.

To make it even more fun, you can invent your own recipe, make up a cool name and enter it in Marble Slab's Create & Escape Contest!

You can also look at the ones already made up, and vote for them (or, better yet, go to the Creamery and order them!). Personally, I'm thinking of trying out the "New York, New York", invented by Meaghan from Holland Landing, which consists of cheesecake ice cream on a white-chocolate dipped waffle cone with graham crackers, strawberries and Skor® mixed in. Sounds like a winner to me! - Caleigh

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Weblink Weekends! Follow NASA on the net

With this weekend's planned launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, carrying Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, this is a great link.

The NASA website, has it's own live feed video section, which you can watch in real-time leading up to and during launches and other significant events. Click here to visit NASA TV.

UPDATE: The launch was scrubbed due to weather, and is now scheduled for Monday the 13th at 6:51 p.m. Coverage on NASA TV will begin at 1:30 p.m.

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Barrielicious is back!

Barrielicious 2009 begins today and runs through July 23rd. Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to experience an array of three-course prix fixe menus from restaurants in the area for only $20.09 per person.

Click here for a complete list of the 34 participating restaurants.

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TATW: It's Ribfest time in Barrie!!

The 8th Annual Ribfest and Craft Beer Show will take place from today (July 9th) through Sunday the July 12th.

The rib-making starts with a Celebrity Cook-Off tonight at 7 p.m., and closes with the People's Choice competition Sunday afternoon. Throughout the event there'll be plenty of local beer, ribs, pulled pork and various other treats to try. See you there! - Caleigh

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Barrie city councillors decide not to spruce up Five Points

If you've been downtown lately, it's evident that some effort is needed to improve the appearance of the core, especially the Five Points area at Dunlop and Bayfield.

I was personally disappointed to read that council voted not to invest in improving the situation, though in a difficult economy it's hard to argue with need vs. want.

Click here to read the entire article.

I looked online for a photo of the area and found the one above, circa 1948. The Wellington Hotel shown is the same one that perished in the fire last winter. So sad. - Caleigh

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Have you found any great restaurants?

I'm still not sure if anyone actually reads this (beside my friends and family, thanks guys!), but fortunately I still enjoy writing it. However, if anyone DOES happen to read this and wants to share a Simcoe-area restaurant review, we'd love to hear it!

I recently visited two spots in Barrie that I'd never been to before, and found both worthy of a recommendation.

The first is Michi Sushi & Roll at 190 Minet's Point Rd., and if I'm not mistaken it's been open less than a year. It's a very cute little place, with a wonderfully fresh and relaxing atmosphere and absolutely delicious food. My 30 seconds of web research would seem to indicate that it's a chain based in California, but I don't think that's done it any harm and in fact it seems to be a big hit in all of its locations.

I am not the most daring sushi eater, but I enjoy the basics as well as tempura, gyoza and such, and all of which were very nicely done, and available in the handy Bento box lunch. It has slightly less selection than some other Barrie spots, but the quality and excellent service more than make up for it.

Mexicanos is an authentic Mexican restaurant at 55 Dunlop St. E. It's been around for a few years now, but most people I've spoken to say they haven't tried it yet. The reviews I read were certainly mixed, but seem to indicate that it's improved recently.

We (Greg, myself and some other assorted family members) visited for the first time this week and were very pleasantly surprised. Lots to try both for seasoned Mexican-food eaters, and for those who have a harder time finding their way around the menu (the combo platters take care of that). They have quite the selection of delicious Margaritas and Mexican beers, too. The service was what you might call laid-back, but very friendly. My feeling is that perhaps super-speedy service and enormous portions are not typical in many coutries, and perhaps one ought to temper their expectations when trying different ethnic foods.

- Caleigh

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Weblink Weekends! Infoplease and Encyclopedia.com

I love Wikipedia. I love that it contains information on virtually everything. I love that anyone can contribute, making it possible for an infinite amount of information to be shared, which simply would not be possible if it were maintained solely by staff.

However, I sometimes have to remind myself that just because I read it on Wikipedia doesn't mean it's true. Much of the information there is unreferenced and unverified.

So for verified information, I like Infoplease.com and Encyclopedia.com. Infoplease has a handy menu to help you quickly access things like an atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, timelines, quizzes and encyclopedia content from Columbia Encyclopedia.

Information Please has an excellent pedigree — they have been providing authoritative answers to all kinds of factual questions since 1938, first as a popular radio quiz show, then starting in 1947 as an annual almanac, and since 1998 on the Internet at www.infoplease.com. It is owned by Pearson, the world's largest integrated education company, which also includes the Financial Times and Penguin.

Encyclopedia.com provides access to content from 49 encyclopedias like Oxford University Press and Columbia University Press, as well as 73 dictionaries and thesauruses with definitions, synonyms, pronunciation keys, word origins and abbreviations.

Whatever resource you choose, just remember that Wikipedia is great if you are curious about a subject, but if you need information you can quote with confidence, it shouldn't be your first choice. - Caleigh

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Guide to Barrie and area public libraries

One of my personal pledges to save money and support local community services is to use my library more. I've always loved the library for kids' books - since it's very easy to spend $20 to buy a children's book that takes only 2 minutes to read - but I've generally purchased my own books. No more!

We are fortunate to have so many libraries available to us in Simcoe County, with plans for another library to be built in Barrie's South end in about two years.

Here are the websites for many of our local libraries, where you can find locations, hours and information on programs.
Barrie
Base Borden
Clearview
Essa
Innisfil
Midland
New Tecumseth
Penetanguishene
Orillia
Ramara

Severn
Springwater
Tay Township
Wasaga Beach

Happy reading! - Caleigh

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Kids sleuth out summer fun at their local library

If you're looking for ways to keeps your children's reading on track this summer, check out your library's summer reading program.

Libraries across Canada use the TD Summer Reading Programme, and the 2009 theme is Agent 009. Agent 009 is a basset hound with a love for a good story and a good mystery. Children who sign up for the free program will read books and collect clues to help him to solve the mystery in Lady X's library.

For a guide to local library website, where you can find locations and hours, click here.

Happy reading! - Caleigh

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