The fun part of the stores at Serenbe is that each one is a great expression of the shop owner.

Goodes is a quirky, hip lifestyle shop created by former Serenbe resident, Sandy Furrh. Sandy has a great eye for that odd piece that she then refashions into a light fixture or piece of furniture.
The store is filled with little treasures and wonderful pieces of art, some by Serenbe residents.

A great place to find a lovely accent piece for your home.

Growing up in a restaurant was quite an interesting experience. And as this was happening in the sixties, my childhood was obviously very unconventional.. Most families in my neighborhood were the typical 1960’s family- dad went to work, mom stayed home, etc.
So to have both parents working was not the “norm.” 

But, the women in my family were never “normal” women.They had worked for generations due to many different circumstances so I always thought women worked.

When Mother bought Mary Mac’s in the 60’s, the restaurant sat 50 people. I do not know how many she served in those first years but as business grew and she continued to take over the next shop front in the building on Ponce de Leon (there were 3 or 4 others), the restaurant grew to 375 seats and she was serving 2000 meals a day at the height of business! That’s a lot of turnip greens and fried chicken.

Back to those early sixties. Remember, this was the South and segregation was a major issue in Atlanta. Sit ins were happening in other restaurants. In what I feel was one of my mother’s most wonderful and courageous business decisions, she instructed her waitresses that they would serve African Americans. As she said, “their money is the same color.” She proceeded to tell them that if they had a problem with this then they did not stay at Mary Mac’s.

This set a foundation for Mom’s “dining room” being open to all which created a fascinating place for me to grow up and experience life.

The past two days has been very busy and exciting. Shopping at the America’s mart in Atlanta for furnishings for our new Nest homes. The model home has now begun. How exciting to see building begin again in Serenbe.

The frame of our new model home is beginning to go up. The planning has begun and now the hunt is on to get it furnished just perfectly.

I have lots of pictures to post of great finds from the mart and plan to post tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Here are pictures of our official winners from the holiday contest.

the Fitzgerald family

the Nevins family

the Newell family

the Reed family

Last night a group of us all got together, loaded up in one car and drove to see the Christmas lights in the area. Our night began at this house in Peachtree City. We were amazed! And if the lights weren’t enough, it was all synchronized to music playing on the radio. How do people come up with this?…. and how long would this take?

Our adventures continued to see three other houses, one known as the Gaddy house. This house is famous and sightseers from all around drive through to see the lights. Unfortunately no pictures from me on this one but would you believe they even have a small ferris wheel at their house.

Every blow up imaginable, characters from Disney, Winnie the Pooh, Wizard of Oz and Snoopy. Two more houses added to our night before we ended our evening with waffles and hash browns at Waffle house.

We are excited to announce Serenbe’s first annual Christmas decorating contest.

Here are the details:

To enter, simply decorate your front porch or balcony by December 20. Serenbe friends (non-residents) will serve as judges, and the winner and runner-up will be announced on the Serenbe Style & Soul blog on December 23rd.

The winner will also receive New Year’s Sweets from The Farmhouse!

Happy Holidays, and happy decorating!

We are excited for over 300 Farmhouse reservations for tomorrow.

Prep day today…..a kitchen island stacked full with chocolate bourbon pies, sweet potatoes galore, turkeys with molasses pepper butter, creamed corn, apples diced, cornbread baking, delicious green beans, and best of all….. wonderful staff and family together……. makes for a perfect holiday.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!