When you live in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida, the holiday season is not signaled by a nip in the air but rather by something much more magical and festive.  Something that lights up the night and tickles the fancy. Something that draws neighbors from Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra, Julington Creek and other places both near and far.  It’s the Nights of Lights of course, which turned on the switch this past weekend and set historic downtown St. Augustine a twinkle just like it has for the past 17 years.  In fact its the mild winter evenings in St. Augustine that make the Nights of Lights so inviting.  Strolling downtown’s cobbled streets, walking along the Matanzas Riverfront near the Bridge of Lions, browsing boutiques and enjoying the cafes under a canopy of sparkling white lights is sure to put anyone in the holiday spirit.  Nights of Lights shines on St. Augustine every evening until January 31, 2012 and is a great evening outing for family and friends visiting from out of town. 

Here are some other festive events happening in and around our St. Augustine golf course community:

I visited the World Golf Hall of Fame this week and was lucky enough to have Director of Exhibits Andy Hunold give me an “insiders” tour. View the video and you can take the tour along with me.

First of all, I had no idea that the flags right outside the Hall of Fame represent the countries the members are from. It’s an impressive display that sets the stage for what’s to come inside the World Golf Hall of Fame.  I was also not aware that our St. Augustine golf course community is home to the only sports hall of fame in the world with an IMAX theater. If those things are not news to you, then how about this one…Did you know there have been over 50 exhibits displayed in the Hall of Fame to date? Pretty impressive, right? 

The Hall of Fame currently has 136 members. These members are made up of both players and contributors to the game. The process of induction is depicted just inside the Hall of Fame. It really helps to understand how difficult the process of selection is. There are five criteria – the PGA TOUR ballot, International Ballot, LPGA Ballot, Lifetime Achievement Ballot, and Veteran’s Ballot. Andy does an excellent job of explaining the induction process in the full length video.

It seems like everyone around our St. Augustine golf course community is always looking for ways to give back throughout the year, but especially during the holidays! There are many ways to get involved and help out in Jacksonville and St. Augustine, but we have an event happening right in our own neighborhood that we can all take part in. Davidson Realty and the Village Chiropractic Center of Florida are teaming up to bring you a very fun event that will be sure to get you in the mood for the holidays.

Come to Davidson Realty, Inc. on Thursday, December 1st at 7 pm to make your own one-of-a-kind holiday wreath and benefit the Ronald McDonald House at the same time!  Interiors Revitalized will be present to help you create a beautiful, unique wreath that will become part of your holiday tradition for years to come. For $30 per person (all to Ronald McDonald House) you can create your wreath, enjoy festive drinks/snacks, and listen to Christmas music. And, don’t forget to put a bid in on one of the amazing silent auction items.

From his arrival to World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida 12 years ago, Denny Kompare has invested countless hours in making our community the best it can be. In fact, Denny was the first President of the Turnberry Homeowners Association and has volunteered in our St. Augustine golf course community in a variety of ways over the years.

Denny was one of the first residents of Turnberry when he retired to the area with his wife Joanne in March 1999. Sadly, Joanne passed away from Ovarian Cancer in April of this year. Denny’s son Douglas, a Personal Chef, lives with him in Turnberry.  They share their home with a Yorkie, a Cockatiel and a Senegal Parrot.  “It’s an amusing menagerie” says Denny.  In addition Denny has two lovely daughters, Denise and Desiree, who live in New Jersey and Virginia respectively.

Perhaps it was the worldly appeal of the name “World Golf Village” that caught Denny’s attention.  “I retired as the Director of International Business for Union Carbide,” said Denny.  “We had offices in 42 countries and I can count at least 60 countries I’ve traveled to over the years. My favorite part of the travel was interacting with people of all nationalities, cultures and traditions and enjoying all  of the differing cuisines”

A proliferation of self-help styled books has blanketed the market – a seemingly endless stream over the past three decades. They come from all corners of the globe. They are offered by everyone, from respected educators and esteemed writers to redeemed born-agains and stand-up comedians. Some are pithy and densely written while others are light and breezy. Many are worldly-based and of late, many are personal, somewhat vain and narcisstic exposes. I think the most educational ones are those that reveal life-lessons gained through real-world experiences – both good experiences and bad ones.

One common theme that jumps out from any thumb-thru of this genre is that you should always follow your bliss and find your passion.

The question is – how in the heck does one find their passion? Where do you start looking? Where do you go? Do you go it alone or take along your friends? Will it be out there to be found? How will you know it when you find it? Are there any short-cuts to take? How much time should you plan on looking? What do you do once you find it? Will any of the process be blissful? Are you lesser of a person if you can’t find it? Have you failed your destiny without it?

Simple-mindedly, I always thought you were born with an inner, innate passion – and that some folks were and some weren’t. This conclusion can be easy to reach when you consider a child-prodigy or an athletic prowess – one whose never-ending practice and all-consuming attention to their craft defines their being. If this is so – where does it leave us “regular folks” – those of us that try out all sorts of things along our life’s travel-path?

According to a new Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll, most baby boomers would like to retire somewhere close to family, medical care, a warmer climate and convenient to services and amenities. However, the economy has waylaid their plans. In fact, 60 percent of boomers said they lost money during the recession as a result of workplace retirement plans, personal investments and real estate all taking a hit. Many baby boomers reported they expect to stay where they are given the economy. Seventy-three percent said they planned to keep working into their retirement years, up from 67 percent in a March poll.

A population some 77 million-strong, baby boomers are comprised of the generation born between 1946 and 1964.  Boomers who plan to or want to move when they retire seek the following: a smaller place (40%), be closer to medical offices or hospitals (39%), live in a different/warmer climate (30%) or switch to a more affordable house (25%). Fifteen percent said they planned to move to be closer to family, and 10 percent wanted a city with more services.

What if an apartment just isn’t for you? Well, at Glenmoor you have options! Choose between apartment, cottage, or patio home living with five unique apartment floor plans and six spacious home designs. You can choose the space you need with floor plans of one, two, or three bedrooms.  Even assisted living has private rooms and bath. This is your retirement dream and Glenmoor is happy to help make it a reality!

Combine those comfortable living options with an incredible location and you’ve got retirement made! Glenmoor is located on Florida’s First Coast in the heart of our St. Augustine golf course community (World Golf Village). Take advantage of the special pricing for Glenmoor residents on our two renowned golf courses or if golf isn’t for you how about a short trip to the city of St. Augustine?

My neighbors and I have a joke that we never leave the hood.  I was just thinking how true that statement is. I can give you so many reasons why we don’t “need” to leave our St. Augustine golf course community. Although each neighborhood within World Golf Village has unique characteristics, the overall feel our community is cohesiveness and full of activity. Whether it’s an annual get together like the barbeque at the Swim and Tennis Center this Saturday or the annual 4th of July parade at Glenmoor, the young, old and everyone in between are always getting together.

But it is not the annual activities that I find keep me close to home. Whatever your interests are, surely you can find a group to join or start your own like the Turnberry Walking Club. A great feature of the Swim & Tennis Center is that our pool is heated, so even though it’s starting to get cooler, the Water Aerobics group can keep exercising Mondays through Saturdays at 9 a.m. If you are interested in taking tennis lessons – lessons are available! Or join the Ladies Tennis group; they meet on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We even have a King and Bear Fit Camp which is a boot camp class that meets Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays on the green. Zumba Gold classes are on Saturdays and Yoga on Mondays. Obviously we have golf lessons, too!  Can you tell we have it all?

To conclude our three part Energy Star series, we had Frank Cirillo from Providence Homes and Michael O’Donoughue with Jacksonville Building Science give us a behind the scenes look at the testing of Energy Star Homes. Frank explains that Providence Homes uses Michael to verify that their designs meet the Energy Star criteria before a homeowner moves in. The three tests they conduct are very interesting and important if you want to save money!

Michael tells us in the video above that these energy tests are required to insure that the homeowner has a tight house, their ducts don’t leak, and they have even distribution of air. He then demonstrates the blower door test, the duct blaster test, and the room by room load calculation with a flow hood. The blower door test detects how much air is being drawn out of the house and measures how tight the house is and the duct blaster test determines how much air is coming through the ducts in each room. The flow hood shows the air flow coming out of all the supply grills and back into the return grills, which is a unique test to Providence Homes. So, not only does Providence Homes take the time to teach us all about Energy Star they also go above and beyond with more testing for their customers!