Discover Spring Texas
Sundays in the Park
November 2nd, 2008 categories: Parks and Recreation
With our weather being near perfect, this is one of my favorite times of year to live in Spring Texas. We have very little rain and low humidity. And the temperatures hover between highs of 75 - 80 degrees with lows of 55 - 60 degrees.
The real estate market is also slower, providing Rick and I an opportunity (ie.. not the usual “don’t have time” excuse) to enjoy the beautiful weather. So with no more excuses, I decided that next Sunday, we were going to have a picnic lunch and enjoy a couple of hours in one of our many Spring Texas parks.
I am ashamed to admit that I drive by our parks numerous times a week but rarely do I make the time to visit them. Well, that has now changed. For the last 3 Sundays we have packed a lunch and headed to a different park in the Spring Texas area. We have picniked at Meyer Park, Collins Park, and now Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens.
With each park containing different amenities, its hard to say which park is the BEST park. I think it really depends upon which activity you want to do at the park.
If I wanted to play or watch soccer, I would definitely choose Meyer Park. Meyer Park has 26 soccer fields and on a Sunday afternoon the fields are a buzz with activity. We did notice that finding a parking spot can be a little challenging during the 2:30 - 3:00 pm time frame which is between soccer games. Meyer Park also has wonderful paved trails for bike riding, roller blading, or just walking your dog.
If you are a fisherman, you will want to check out the park’s 3 acre lake that is stocked with fish. Since I am not much of a fisherman or a fisherwoman for that matter, I did not do any fishing. But I did enjoy walking around the lake and watching the turtles sun bathe. The picnic tables are plentiful. As we had more difficulty deciding upon the ideal one than actually finding one.
View photos of Meyer Park.
If I wanted to watch baseball, I would choose Collins Park. Collins Park is home to the Spring Klein Girls Softball League and has 5 softball fields and 4 baseball fields. Games were taking place on each of the baseball fields the Sunday we visited the park. Numerous gatherings and birthday parties were also taking place in the park. I was particularly envious of one of the gatherings. Because I smelt the most lip smacking barbecue chicken and the sad part was I was not invited. Instead I had to be content with my cold sandwich from Jimmy John’s. Jimmy John’s makes a good sandwich but it didn’t smell nearly as good as that chicken.
View photos of Collins Park.
Today Rick and I picnicked at Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens. We liked the picnic areas of Mercer the best of the three parks. The tables were located at the edge of the woods and provided us with more of a rustic woods setting than a park setting. If that makes any sense at all. After lunch, we went exploring the trails. The trails are non-paved and well marked. So we did not have to leave a bread crumb trail to find our way back.
We decided to take the trails to the Bald Cypress Pond, the Oxbow, and the Hickory Bog. The Bald Cypress Pond and the Hickory Bog both have benches which we used to sit for a while and take in the scenery. That is until Rick said we had to go because he was getting eaten by mosquitoes. He wore a short sleeve shirt while I on the other hand wore a long sleeve shirt. Next time we go to Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens to walk the trails, how much do you want to bet me my husband will be wearing a long sleeve shirt?
Which park will we be at next Sunday? I don’t know yet. But if you want to join us give me a call at 281.804.8626 and we will meet.
If you want to view Spring Texas homes next Sunday, we can do that too. But we will have to wait until 2 pm because I am enjoying my Sundays in the Park until then.
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Spring Texas Neighborhoods profiles UPGRADED!!
October 20th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Along with the announcement of the makeover to our Spring Texas real estate website, we promised to deliver additional enhancements. Today, we are making good on those promises with a relaunch of the Spring Texas Neighborhoods section.
Our profiles of Spring Texas Neighborhoods has always been one of the most popular and most liked section of our site. But we wanted to make it even better. So we asked our customers and the overwhelming response was add MORE, MORE, MORE PHOTOS and make them BIGGER.
In addition to adding MORE PHOTOS, we have made the following enhancements:
- Ability to view photos in a gallery
- Ability to click on thumb nail photos and view BIGGER photos
- Ability to view photos as a slide show
- Updated descriptions with the information on the latest school ratings and TAKS scores
We love the upgraded functionality and additional photos. Hopefully you do too!!! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
Its back to work for us fulfilling our next promise which is to add more content. Next up is the introduction of a “Weekly Series” where we will profile a new Spring Texas Neighborhood. Over the next several months, our plans are to double the number of profiles we have of Spring Texas Neighborhoods.
Give us a call at 281.300.3141 or 281.804.8626, if you have a Neighborhood you would like us to write a profile on.
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Fish City Grill OPENS at Vintage Park
October 16th, 2008 categories: Dining and Entertainment
The other night my husband and I decided to try the Fish City Grill for dinner. The Fish City Grill is located in the recently opened Vintage Park.
All summer long we have been eagerly awaiting the restaurants (Brix Wine Cellars, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Fish City Grill, Shogun Restaurant, Mia Bella, Peli Peli, and Pizza Fusion) to open their doors for business in the Vintage Park shopping village. Currently Potbelly Sandwich Works, Cheeburger Cheeburger, and now Fish City Grill are all open.
Fish City Grill is the first restaurant to open in Vintage Park’s Piazza. The Piazza was designed to be reminscent of an Italian shopping promenade with dramatic landscaping and fountains to be enjoyed by diners dining al fresco.
About the restaurant ….
My first impression of the interior of the restaurant was “this has a warm cozy feel”. In addition to a small bar with pendant lighting and a couple of TVs, are 10 booths and 10 tables. There was sufficient room between the booths and the tables to carry on a conversation without the diners at the next table hearing every word.
About the wait staff …..
The wait staff were friendly and attentive and seemed to enjoy their jobs.
Their uniforms included black Fish City Grill t-shirts. Printed on the back of the t-shirts was the phrase ”Due to intense wine thoughts all thoughts are temporarily grounded” or “If you are drinking to forget please pay in advance”.
About the food …..
Since it was our first time dining at Fish City Grill we asked our waitress for a suggestion. Our waitress said she didn’t eat seafood so the dish she recommended on the menu was the Louisiana Pot Roast. My husband and I thought this was a bit odd because why would anyone who does not like seafood work in a seafood restaurant?
That left us on our own for selections so we decided on some starters first in order to give us more time to consider the menu options.
The Fish City Grill started us off with a FREE sample of their Oyster Nachos which is a speciality of the house. We each received a tortilla chip with a fried oyster that was topped with chipotle tarter sauce and pico de gallo. The only improvement this dish needs is a replacement of the tortilla chips. They were round, lacking flavor and distracted from the fresh flavors of the other ingredients.
Off the Starters menu we ordered Fried Pickles, crisp dill slices served with ranch dressing for $4.59. I tried my first fried pickles about 5 years ago at B.B. King’s restaurant in Memphis TN and immediately fell in love with fried pickles. The Fish City Grill served us an enormous platter of thin and crispy pickles that we would definitely order again.
For our entrees, I chose a house salad with Blue Cheese dressing. I probably should have chosen something else but after all the fried pickles I really wasn’t very hungry. The salad was fine just “nothing to write home about” as my mother would say. It was crisp, fresh and a decent size for the $2.99 price.
My husband chose the eight piece fried Oyster Dinner that was served with apple cider slaw and new potatoes for $8.99. He said his food was “Great” and he did finish the meal without any assistance from me. He thought the new potatoes could be better and not so plain if they were kicked up a notch with some Cajun or Old Bay seasonings.
Next time we are going to order off of the Daily Chalkboard Specials and maybe try something that’s not fried.
Check out the Fish City Grill for yourself and let us know what you think by coming back and posting your own review in the comments section below.
Fish City Grill is located at 110 Vintage Park Blvd Ste Q Houston TX 77070. Their phone number is 832.717.4742. If you would like to view Fish City Grill’s menu before you go click here.
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Spring Texas Real Estate website gets a makeover
October 13th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
With the help of our new friend, Jim Cronin, and his colleagues at the Real Estate Tomato, our Spring Texas real estate website received a MAJOR makeover. A mere cut here and a tuck there would not do. Instead we went all the way back to the drawing board and took a clean slate approach.
Based upon the feedback from our clients and readers of our blog, we knew what we needed to build. And it was a blogsite. A blog that provided fresh articles on real estate, schools, property taxes, and local happenings in the Spring Texas area. And a website that provided easy and multiple ways to search for homes, save favorite searches, receive email alerts of new listings, and had in-depth profiles of Spring Texas Neighborhoods with lots of photos.
We are THRILLED with the new look and functionality. But you be the judge. Drop us a quick note or comment on this post and let us know if the makeover was a success.
But we are not done yet with our makeover. We have several additional enhancements and content scheduled to be implemented within the next couple of months. So if you like what you see ….. STAY TUNED. Because it is only going to get better.
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Night at the Pearl Fincher Museum
October 7th, 2008 categories: Arts and Culture
Last night, Tim Novak, Executive Director of the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, hosted Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors “Night at the Museum”. Approximately 30 of my fellow Realtors and myself took advantage of a wonderful opportunity to learn about the ONLY Fine Arts Museum outside of the Houston Museum District.
The Pearl Fincher Museum which officially opened its doors on March 29th, 2008 is located in a 10,000 square foot facility that previously housed the Harris County Cypress Creek Library. The Museum’s current exhibit on loan from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts is African Gold from the Glassell Collection.
The exhibit which runs through November 2nd consists of objects made by Akan artists living in Ghana and neighboring Cote d’Ivorie. Ghana was once known as the Gold Coast and gold was used as a basis for trade. The works of art in the exhibit date back to the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of my favorite pieces was the bracelets that the Akan artists produced in the shape of watches for decorative rather than functional purposes. They were worn by men and women and displayed wealth and symbolized the power to control time.
The idea that someone thought they could actually control time amazed me because I gave up on the notion that I could control time a long time ago.
My next favorite collection of the exhibit were these weights. They are brass castings used as counter - balances for weighing gold. I have always been intrigued with items used in the exchange of goods and the currency of other nations.
The exhibit contains numerous collections and excellent descriptions on the pieces and their importance to the people in Ghana.
The Museum’s entrance fee for the exhibit is only $3. Where else can you get this level of entertainment for this price? After all it costs more than $3 to rent a movie these days.
Thank you, Tim Novack for hosting our “Night at the Museum”. The Pearl is a “top notch” Fine Arts Museum which we are lucky to have rght in our own Spring Texas backyard.
Will I be back for another visit? ….. Absolutely!!! When? …. Sometime between November 22, 2008 and March 29, 2008. During those dates is when the Museum’s next exhibit of 17th and 18th Century Paintings from the Sarah Campbell Balffer Foundation will be on display. And I truly enjoy viewing European paintings.
But don’t you wait for a formal invite to visit the Museum. Go now and discover for yourself the Pearl Museum. It is ……. a real “Jewel”.
The museum is located at 6815 Cypresswood Drive Spring Texas. To learn about the museum’s hours of operations and its upcoming exhibits visit the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts website.
Read also:
- The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts opens in Spring Texas
- Pearl Fincher Museum hosts student art competion
- Discover the Centrum
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Fall in Spring Texas
October 5th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Fall in Spring Texas sounds a little weird doesn’t it? But what should I expect when my city is named after a season.
Photo: taken at Plants for All Seasons
I grew up in the Midwest and Fall was one of my favorite seasons. I use to marvel in the beauty of the leaves as they changed colors, I enjoyed walking in the woods and listening to the rustling of the leaves, and the distinct smell in the air of burning leaves. These were the sights, sounds, and smells that told me Summer was over and Fall was here.
In Spring Texas, there are signs everywhere that tell me its Fall. My calendar says its October, stores are having sales on their Fall clothing lines, the local nursery is stocked with pumpkins, the newspaper is loaded with advertisements for Fall Festivals and the real estate market is slowing down.
But it doesn’t feel like Fall to me. Our temperatures are still in the mid 80s with the night lows being in the 60s. I am still wearing clothes from my summer wardrobe and I have not reached for a sweater nor a jacket yet. And my yard still requires mowing which it usually does until November. No matter what the signs say around me it is not Fall to me because it just doesn’t fell like Fall.
I have lived in Texas for 14 years now and although I do still miss the Falls in the Midwest I will not be moving back any time soon. Because I know that after Fall comes Winter and Winter in the Midwest means bitter cold, snow, ice, and bone chilling winds. While Winter is Spring Texas means NO snow, rarely ice, lots of sunshine, and average high temperatures in the mid 60s with lows in the mid 40s.
I LOVE Winter in Spring Texas. Even Winter in Spring sounds weird.
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Why I love underground power lines …..
October 1st, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Power lines …. Above ground or underground …. it’s not something I gave a lot of thought to. That is until recently. After Hurricane IKE blew through Houston and the Spring Texas area knocking out electrical service to 93% of CenterPoint energy’s customers, I had some time in the dark to ponder power and its delivery systems.
When my husband and I purchased our home almost 5 years ago in a newer subdivision in Spring Texas, we did not say “we only want a home with underground power lines”. We did not like the “look” of above ground power lines, but if the house matched our other desires we would be happy to call it “our home”. The house that we wound up purchasing was on an interior lot and it has underground power lines.
Besides not having to look at the power lines, I never gave any thought to the benefit of underground power lines until Hurricane IKE knocked out our electrical service. I consider us to be one of the lucky homeowners because our power was restored by CenterPoint energy around 8 pm on Day 5 post-IKE. As of yesterday on Day 17, CenterPoint energy still had 114,000 customers without power with the cause being damage to transformers and lines serving individual homes.
Damage that was caused by fallen trees and thrown debris to above ground power lines. Now would we still be in the dark if our home has above ground power lines? Who knows?? What I do know is I love power and the modern conveniences it supports such as A/C which is why I LOVE underground power lines.
Next time we are in the real estate market for a home will underground power lines be a “must have” criteria for our home? Probably not. But if our next home DOES has above ground power lines, I will be buying a generator.
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A return to partial normalcy after Hurricane Ike
September 17th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Around 3 am in the morning of Saturday, September 13th, I was awaken by the sound of Hurricane IKE roaring through our town of Spring Texas. I was not able to return to sleep the rest of the night as the sound of the howling of the wind and the beating of the rain kept me awake. The whole experience felt as if I was on a dingy in rough seas because the rain fueled by the wind made it sound like waves were crashing against my window panes.
Our electricity was knocked out around 1:30 am Saturday morning but the water, gas, and my land line were all still working. Later in the day, cell phone service went down. During hurricane Rita’s descent on our area, our electricity was only out of service for about an about which made it possible for us to receive the majority of our news updates by watching the weather channel.
Not this time. With no power, we called our family members in other states for updates on the location of the storm. We did have an additional and unexpected source of news. Somehow during the mist of a hurricane, the local paper, our Houston Chronicle was able to be safely delivered to our front yard. By the end of Saturday, hurricane IKE passed but not first without making its presence known.
We live in a community that was established within the last five years and as such the majority of the trees are 25 feet or smaller with the average size being about 12 feet tall. Thus the damage that was felt in our subdivision was minimal as it was limited to down tree limbs and some newer trees were left standing at a 45 degree angle.
The older more established communities in the Spring Texas area received major tree damage with some of the trees causing significant damage to the houses they fell on or went through and older property line fences were completely knocked down. Billboards were split in half, traffic signals went out along with the electricity, and pieces of fiberglass signs were scattered across the roadways.
Over the past couple of days, I have gained a new appreciation and thankfulness for the comforts afforded to me by electricity. The comforts of electricity to run washing machines, microwaves, ovens, televisions, dvd players, hair dryers, curling irons, computers, garage door openers, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and lights.
Things Living without electricity has taught me:
- kids do still ride bikes when they don’t have their video games, television programs, and cell phones to distract them
- having a candlelight dinner with your spouse is romantic
- that board games can be fun even when played by candlelight
- you can run a laptop computer off your car battery and watch a movie in your car … updated version of drive-in movie
- fish will last several days if it has been cryovac packaged
- new meanings to the phrases “Bad Hair days” and “Wasting Daylight”.
- chirping birds can not be heard over the low and loud hum of generators
A small level of normalcy has returned to my life today, September 17th. Our real estate office’s power was restored along with its phones, Internet, and email. And it feels so good to be writing a post again. These last couple of days without Internet and email service has thrown me into an unfamiliar world. Countless times over the last couple of days, I instinctly turned on the light switch when I entered a room. Nothing happened of course but it reminded me of how easily it is to take electricity for granted.
It will be days and weeks before the power is completely restored. Our home is still (5 days later) without power as we are just 1 of 1.4 million CenterPoint customers that are in the dark. Within the next week, CenterPoint predicts to have service restored to 50% of their customers. I hope their estimates are right because the sooner we can get service restored the sooner our lives can return to normal. I am one of the fortunate ones who will be able to return to a normal life.
Not all people will be able to return to a normal life as they will be forever impacted. My heart and prayers goes out to all them. The families that have lost loved ones, priceless (non-replaceable) possessions, and their homes because of the hurricane IKE.
School districts in the area including Tomball ISD, Cy-Fair ISD, Spring ISD, and Klein ISD have cancelled classes for the week of September 15th - 19th. They hope to re-open for classes on September 22nd but no official announcement has been made yet.
September 18th - UPDATE:
Last night around 8:10 pm, the electricity for our subdivision of Louetta Lakes was restored. You would have thought we all had just WON the lottery based upon the clapping, yelling, and cheering that could be heard through out the neighborhood. After living without electricity for 5 days and now being able to walk into a room turn on the light switch and it actually comes on was THRILLING!!!. Its probably one of those things that “you had to be there” to fully understand and appreciate. We tend to consider electricity as an ordinary everyday item until we don’t have it. When the electricity was restored, it was boosted from an ordinary to luxury status. We became the “haves” of electricity instead of the “have nots” of electricity. Especially considering that 58% of CenterPoint electricity customers are still “have nots”.
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Potato Chips, Ho Hos, and Ike … oh my!!
September 11th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas
All day today, my husband and I have been making preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Ike in Spring Texas. I am sure we are probably like a lot of other residents that wait until there’s a high probability that a Hurricane is coming our way before we prepare. Today was that day and the Hurricane … it’s name is Ike.
First decision of the day is do we pack up and leave or do we stay? If we lived on Galveston Beach or closer to the coast, it would be a more difficult decision for us. But in Spring Texas, we are located about an hour and 15 minutes from the coast. Far enough from the coast not to experience storm surge so we are staying. After all the old adage is “Run from water and Hide from wind”.
We are going to be on the dirty side of Hurricane IKE which means we are going to get dumped on with rain along with experiencing winds gusts that are projected to be 85 miles an hour. Not an ideal environment to be journeying out to a restaurant for meals which means we need to stock up on FOOD. We didn’t need a lot of food but enough to make it through at least three days and the food was to be non-refrigerated.
Out my husband went in search of food. Looking for food the day before a Hurricane is projected to make land fall is similar to foraging for food out in the wilderness. You have to take what you can find and be happy with it. What did my fearless hunter of food bring home? Potato Chips, Ho Hos, Potted Meat, and Bread. My only question was “Potted Meat? What in the heck is Potted Meat?” With shopping crossed off the list, next action item to tackle was Gas. 
As soon as I saw the line of cars six deep at the gas station, I knew I should have headed the highway warning signs of “Storm in the Gulf Fill your tanks”. But nobody was going to tell me when to buy gas. I was going to buy gas when I was good and ready and not a minute before. So I patiently waited my turn in line, hoping that after filling the tanks of the trucks and SUVs before me there would still be gas left for me. I was relieved when it was my turn and I was able to pump enough gas to fill my tank to the rim.
Next on my list was to take care of some business. I needed to go by all my vacant listings and secure the For Sale signs that had my name riders on them. I did not want to make the local news because my real estate signs took flight and crashed through someone’s front window. In my head I could already hear the sound bite “Freakish accident occurs because local Spring Texas Realtor does not secure For Sale sign. I called the sellers of my other listings and asked them to help me not be on the news by putting the For Sale sign in the garage until Hurricane Ike has come and gone.
With my running around tasks now complete I headed home. Home to decide what to prepare for dinner. It would be a rather easy decision because iIt was going to be the most expensive item that was in our freezer. With the high probability that we are going to lose power over the next couple of days, we are going to feast like Kings and Queens instead of having it perish.
Over the next couple of days there will be no real estate business to transact. Everything will be at a stand still. What we will be doing is watching the weather channel for hours and hours while eating potato chips and Ho Hos.
Stay safe and be smart. And If next time you see me I look a couple of pounds heavier, I want you to know that it is NOT my fault. Its all Hurricane IKE’s fault.
Hurrican Resources:
- The Weather Channel - what I will be watching
- Houston hide from the wind - projected wind speeds per zip code
Oh one last thing, if you need to get in touch with me over the next couple of days please call me at 281.804.8626. Do not email because our Prudential Gary Greene Realtors corporate office has shut down our servers beginning at 7:00 pm on Thursday. Hopefully they will have our email servers back up and running on Monday September 15h.
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Spring Texas Homes #14 for Affordability
August 8th, 2008 categories: Discover Spring Texas, Home Buyer Information
In its latest issue, Money Magazine, announced the “Top 25″ cities where homes are affordable. And coming in at #14 on the list of affordability is Spring Texas homes. With an annual median family income of $74,298 and a 2007 median home price of $131,005, its easy to understand why the residents of Spring Texas enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.
Often I receive calls from potential Spring Texas homebuyers asking “What’s wrong with the house that you have on the market for $155,000?” The answer is nothing’s wrong with the house. Its just our market prices.
Or the other question is “Why are all the houses so cheap?” The answer is a two-part answer. First, the Spring Texas real estate market has not experienced the huge price appreciation that other parts of the U.S. has keeping our housing very affordable. Second part, the reason why we have not experienced large price appreciation is because of land. We still have plenty of land and the developers are building lots of new construction homes on it. The fresh and plentiful supply of homes coupled with a balanced demand has kept our home prices affordable.
Read also:
- Spring TX Real Estate Market Reports
- Top 20 Reasons to Live in Spring Texas
- Is Spring Texas a good place to retire to?
If you are thinking about relocating to Spring Texas and have a few questions give us a call at 281.300.3141 or 281.804.8626. We would be happy to tell you about why we call Spring Texas “home” and help you find your own house in Spring Texas to call “home”.
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