Good morning!

This is going to be another activity-packed day.

Good morning on May 27th!

It's another great day in Southeastern North Carolina as we head into Memorial Weekend. Consider that the only time you can ever get anything done, whether it's work or play, for yourself or others, is RIGHT NOW!

Cool modern twist on an old-timey style 'hood - Shelmore in Brunswick Forest

There's a cool new village called Shelmore in the gigundo planned development Brunswick Forest in Leland, North Carolina. There are 18 floor plans available with at least 3 possible elevations for each. Right now there are 6 furnished models to tour.

All Shelmore homes will be Craftsman style with front porches with swings, rear entry garages, white picket fences with entry arbors. Very much a turn-of-the-last-century small town look. Prices are in the high $300s to mid $400s. As usual for Brunswick Forest neighborhoods most everything one would want is standard (granite, stainless steel appliances, lots of crown molding and cool woodwork, hardwood in living areas, tile in baths, carpet in bedrooms, tile showers . . . it goes on and on.

I rode out to Shelmore yesterday on my bicycle to see what was happening during the first weekend it was open to the public. Plenty of pleased and interested people were there looking around, drinking lemonade, and dancing the shag under a special tent.

Check out these photos of street views of Shelmore. Looks like it's going to be a very cool place to live and still have access to all the Brunswick Forest amenities.

Of course, if you'd like a personal tour, please give me a call. I'm a REALTOR, after all, and that's what I do. I'm nuts about Leland, North Carolina as a place to live, work, and play.

If you like to know more about Shelmore, give me a call anytime at 910-297-8753, e-mail me at BruceBrown@SeaCoastRealty, or Tweet me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BruceBrownNC .

Leland and North Brunswick's 3rd Week on WWAY Cape Fear Pride

What were Rhonda Norris, Executive Director of the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce and husband Greg Norris of Entergy, Inc. doing last evening? As you can see below (Rhonda's the blond, shorter one and Greg's the guy with the glasses and big smile), they were at a Business After Hours.

Last evening was week 3 of WWAYTV3's Cape Fear Pride series focusing on Leland, Belville, and the North Brunswick area of Brunswick County in southeastern North Carolina. The crowds at the Friday evening Business After Hours in conjunction with WWAY's on-location evening news get larger each week. The Business After Hours are sponsored by the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce and this one was held at Mary Ann Sauer's Accent on Framing frame shop.

The assembled crowd at these events usually includes plenty of familiar faces as well as new folks who live in, do business in, or are just plain interested in what's going on in the booming Leland area. Below are Mark Kovall of Communities in Schools, developer and NBCC Board Member Jeff Harvell, photographer, bit-part actor, and BMW racer Greg Darrow (what a guy!), and Leland Mayor Walter Futch.

Steve Pagley, the tall guy in the middle with the cool L.A. hat on (it stands for Land of Abundance), is the owner of Antonio's Pizza and Pasta Restaurants and catered the event.

Frank Bullard, the guy on the left in the shot below, is the proprietor of Bugsy's Cigars.

George Allen, WWAY Media Consultant on the left, provides a nice frame for Fat City Cards' Marge Brown and Conspeco's Marilyn Darrow.

In the photo below WWAY Evening Anchor Ann McAdams (back to my camera), Reporter Margo Gray prepare for a news segment while the ubiquitous George Allen looks on.

Eula Dyer of Necessary Marketing is in the foreground talking with George as the team continues to prepare.

Steve Pagely poses with event hostess and frame shop and gallery owner Mary Ann Sauer

Below are George Patterson of Mulch & More (looking left), Bernadette Hayes of N2 Publishing, and Justin Williams of NBM Magazine.

A whole buncha folks.

Another bunch

So it was yet another successful Business After Hours for NBCC and a great 3rd week segment for WWAY's Cape Fear Pride series. Next week wraps it up with a Business After Hours at the Belville Town Hall (or near it anyway) on Olde Waterford Way in front of Waterford.

Where Exactly Does the I-140 Extension Go Between 421 and 17?

I've recently answered inquiries from other REALTORs about where the next state of the I-140 extension (Outter Loop) will actually go. This matters immensely to real estate agents and more especially to buyers and sellers in the area, none of whom want surprises down the road (so to speak).

So here's the official map :


And if you can't read it, here's the link to the NCDOT Map the Brunswick County section of the Route 17 Bypass.

When you look at the map, the sections labelled B and A are what are important - the remainder of the bypass, the sections labelled CA, CB, and CC have already been completed.

Section A, which links the end of I-140 from Route 421 to 74-76, will be the first completed, breaking ground in 2009. The next section, Section B on the map will follow and connect I-140 from 74-76 to US 17 (as you can see it's just east of the intersection of 17S and 87 North).

There is one last section of I-140 that's not represented on this map. That section will (theoretically) extend from 17 to the proposed Skyway Bridge that is planned to cross the Cape Fear River to connect with Independence Boulevard in Wilmington. We'll keep our fingers crossed for the Skyway Bridge, but we won't hold our breath (it's not a mixed metaphor if you keep it in the same species, right?).

If you'd like more info on these road projects that effect southeastern North Carolina, especially the northern section of Brunswick County, feel free to e-mail me at brucerbrown@yahoo.com or call my cell phone at (910) 297-8753. If I can't answer your question I'll try to find out or at least point you in the right direction.

New Years Day 2009 at Wrightsville Beach

Each year since Marge and I moved here at the very end of 2003 Marge and I have gone with Pepper to Wrightsville Beach. Most years the temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s. Today it was a bit more brisk, with the temperature only about 39 when Marge took this shot, but it actually felt a bit warmer. As you may be able to see in the background, there were plenty of people on the beach wearing only jeans and sweatshirts.

I wondered at first if I'd even send off my annual e-mail (0r now blog post) to family and friends about being on the beach in January in North Carolina when it was admittedly chilly as it was today, but then I glanced at the weather in other parts of the country and decided the point would still be made. Our daughter lives in West Hartford, Connecticut where the high is predicted to top out at 21 degrees and our elder son Richard and his wife Megan celebrated New Years Eve with friends in Montpelier, Vermont, where the high temp for the day is predicted to reach 7 degrees (when I checked earlier the wind chill factor was minus 20 degrees!). Even our son Peter in San Francisco will only enjoy a relatively balmy 54 degrees today but it was supposedly to be cloudy, so 39 and sunny on the the beach sounds pretty good.

Here's wishing everyone at healthy and prosperous 2009!

Sea Coast and the North Brunswick Chamber Threw a Party and Santa AND Elvis Came!

Thursday night's North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Christmas party was a lot of fun. Sponsored by Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Realty, State Farm Insurance, and Bugsy's Cigars, for the benefit of the attendees and for Manna Ministries.

Approximately 90 people attended the event, but Santa and Mrs. Claus came early and stayed till the end, which was a real treat, even for Santa who soon doffed his cap and coat and chilled with the peeps.

At one point Santa helped NBCC President Peggy O'Leary hush the crowd, which was only partly successful, given the energy and excitment in the room. Santa had already taken off his coat.

Santa also conferred and posed with NBCC Board Member and Social Committee Chair Laura Patterson. Laura's committee planned the party (note: Ms. Claus was second-in-charge).

Sponsor Franklin Rouse and Kate Lucas from State Farm had a strong showing at the party.

As did Sharon and Frank Bullard of Bugsy's Cigars, another sponsoring company.

Board member and NBCC VP Victor Pearsall and his enthusiastic wife had a great time.

As did Erin Alderman of Nationwide Insurance and Daztech's Jon Spetrino,

jingle-writer, illustrator, and livewire Dean Powell,

and a whole passle of other folks. In the photo below I recognize Dan Cameron and his wife Sharon, and Michael Wright.

Entertainer J.R. Therrien kept the music playing and the entertainment level high. He appeared as a 50s bebop musician, Roy Orbison, and as Elvis:

J.R. and fellow entertainer Madonna played for the crowd and serenaded many individuals. Here he's singing to CBSCR agent Brenda Freckleton's husband George

Sea Coast Realty had a good contingent in attendance and we partied. As Platinium Sponsors of the event we are strong supporters of the Chamber and its mission. We also like to dance. Below are Joan and Peter David and Brenda and George Freckleton. And they weren't just hugging, they were dancing! Joan David never stopped moving all evening. I hadn't met Peter's wife before, but she loves to dance!

Sea Coast Leads Manager Denise Kinney talked with Broker Jean Costello and her husband Jim Costello, a commercial real estate broker with Coldwell Banker Sun Coast.

Jean and Jim also hit the dance floor.

During the whole event, in the back of the room, Ava Grace Williams just snoozed. Newly born daughter of NBM Magazine publishers Kristy and Justin Williams, Ava Grace was dressed for the occaision but is saving her energy for when she can hit the dance floor herself.

Santa, sans coat and hat, watched the whole thing with a twinkle in his eye, saving HIS energy for next week.

To All Our Friends in the Northeast - Sorry About Your Weather!

We've heard in the last two days that our daughter's in-laws in New England are running their backup generator for power and our elder son's mother-in-law has been without power for four days and is lucky to have an efficient wood-burning stove. So, for all y'all without power, just wanted you to know we're thinking of you. We hope you're safe, warm, and dry and, please, do something to turn the weather around before we travel north for Christmas, OK?

It was forecast to be cloudy with a high in the low 60s here today, but as you can see from this quick shot of Marge and Pepper I took when I went home for lunch and a short walk in Meadow Park at Brunswick Forest, the sky is sunny and it certainly felt like it was in the high 70s.

Do take care, folks. And remember we're only a one day drive south.

Brunswick Forest BB&T Ribbon Cutting

The first building up and running out of the ground at the Villages of Brunswick Forest is the newest branch of BB&T. Today's ribb0n-cutting ceremony was well attended by residents, members of the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce, Brunswick Forest Realty management and staff, and of course BB&T local and regional employees and officials.

BB&T's mobile banking E-Bus was on hand as a demonstration of the bank's technology.

Part of the ceremonies included presenting a $2,000.00 check to The Unity Group in support of the Annual Christmas Festival.

The sun was shining but it was a bit nippy as the assemblage awaited the moment of the actual cutting. After a few words BB&T managers, the ribbon was cut and everyone went inside for a luncheon by Groucho's Deli.

North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Gearing for Growth

What do you do if you're a forward-thinking Chamber of Commerce in the fastest growing section of one of the most-moved-to counties in the United States? In today's demanding high-tech, high-touch, high-speed world you probably oughta be doing a complete review of your mission, vision, services, service delivery systems, and marketing.

With 322 companies on the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce rolls today, our membership is growing at a rate of more than 20% per year. We need to focus on, well, pretty much everything as we cope with and prepare for continued rapid growth.

Several NBCC board members, along with representatives from many other greater Wilmington-area nonprofit organizations, are participating in workshops and programs on Board Governance: Intentional Structures and Processes run by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's Department of Public & International Affairs. This program is an informative, structured approach to operations, organization, and most of all strategic planning.

At last night's Board of Directors meeting we focused on marketing. Several volunteer member of the NBCC Marketing Committee made presentations and discussed our 90-day plan for upgrading our website and Internet-based information access and delivery. In the photo below committee members Steve Bon, Bob Jenkins, and Greg Norris presented website design and access concepts.

Local jingle writer Dean Powell (of interplanetary fame, BTW) played a song he wrote and produced for use as a radio commercial (complete with unidentified Chamber luminary voice-overs) and talked about the impact of a jingles and songs. (He never did get into the stickiness of echoic storage, but that's why songs stick in our heads, and why they work - stimulus we hear persists much much longer than stimulus we see (aka "iconic storage"), which further explains why you can remember a song quicker than a logo.)

In the photo below the ever-dapper Dean Powell (you can tell he's a friend, right?) made an animated point to the assemblage.

When the marketing committee finished their presentations, the board conducted a regular meeting. Much is going on this year and we're all excited and trying to stay focused in this sugar-laden holiday season. Below NBCC Board members Earline Kroll and Connie Reeves discussed on-going projects.

Laura Patterson and Tony Vlach talked about the upcoming NBCC Christmas Party (it's on December 18th at the Magnolia Greens Golf Course club house, y'all - call 910-383-0553 for details and tickets!) while in the background Dean Powell got an early start on the next agenda item.

Just in case you wonder if we got away with consuming delectable dietary delicacies . . . nope, we didn't. We lined up for massive quantities of carbohydrates, mostly in the form of simple sugar Christmas desserts, though in truth someone snuck in some protein, which also rapidly disappeared.

So we conducted business, we listened and watched some presentations (we'll remember what we heard longer than what we saw, correct?) and we ate. I'd call that a good meeting - what about you?

Holiday Oyster Roast at Brunswick Forest

Anytime two big white tents are set up in front of the Brunswick Forest Welcome Center you can pretty much count on a party going on. In this case on Sunday, December 7th, it was a Holiday Oyster Roast - that's the way we do it in North Carolina because, after all, December is an "r" month so it's oyster-eatin' time!

More than 500 residents and guests RSVP'd for the event and it sure seemed like most of them showed up, even though the weather was uncharacteristically chilly. So we put on our woolies and our fleece and lined up to eat!

The Welcome Center Sales staff was on hand to serve food and generally make everyone feel, well, welcome!

Inside the two tents, with condiments, napkins, and shell buckets on hand, guests used complimentary oyster shuckers to open the tasty mollusks as well as gift hand towels to towel our hands. Below Carl Antos shows how it's done.

A disc jockey was on hand for lively continuous music but the non-food highlight of the celebration was a surprise visit by Santa and Mrs. Claus who came to welcome the children and their families.

The celebration was a good time for all and much appreciated. Brunswick Forest Welcome Center - you keep on throwing parties and we'll keep on coming. Thanks!

Oh, yes, and if you're reading this and wondering what it might be like to live in Brunswick Forest, please do give me a call at 910-297-8753 or e-mail me at brucerbrown@yahoo.com - I'd be honored to be your buyer's agent and help you learn all about this fine community.