Our friend Ella, the Chandler at the Louisiana Ren Fest As we are mid way through October, and now booked every weekend ( yahoo! ), I wanted to focus on November.  As it stands, we have two weekends available, the 10th and the 24th (which is the Saturday of Thanksgiving Week...also, available).  November begins one of my favorite events and honestly, I can't believe how close we are to it, to not take advantage of it...The Louisiana Renaissance Festival.  Every weekend though December will transport you to a simpler time.  Enjoy some ale and a turkey leg while you take in a show, buy handmade goods, and watch your kids play carnival style games.  Find out more at http://larf.org . Also, not to be missed...Small Business Saturday on November 24th.  No one does Shop Small better than Ponchatoula!  All merchants, including my shop, Nest Interiors , will participate in a rally day for independent business.  If you stay with us through Thanksgiving, I couldn't think of

Did you ever practice the exercise "trust falls"; the one where you fall back blindly, hoping the person, you may or may not even know, will catch you before you fall to the ground? I was never a fan the couple times I attempted it...but that feeling was exactly the same feeling I had once our first guests checked in.  We had panicked so hard about getting it ready, stocked, super clean...we never thought about how it would feel for our guests ( strangers! ) to be in our home stay! I'm happy to say we survived, our place survived...everything was more than fine.  In fact they were too good!  You could barely tell anyone had visited; they even made the beds! And like that, we have our first 5 star review!  And as our next guests check in today, I'm feeling a lot better.  I know it will get easier and we are booked EVERY weekend this month, so I'll have lots of opportunities to fall and trust my guests have my back...and will come back! Mom said it would

My son's expression sums up what we hope all our guest experience when they stay with us!  We had a busy weekend finishing up last minute to-do's.  We are officially open for business now and 3 out of 4 weekends are booked in October! A lot of people wanted to know what the kitchen looked like and what it included.  It took a while to complete partly because it was our staging area and then we refinished the floors.  But, as you can see, it includes a table with antique chairs (that table expands to fit 6).  The kitchen is a full kitchen with all the basics to feel at home. Snacks and instant breakfast items are stocked.  And, of course, there's coffee...Community Coffee, a new Orleans favorite.  Tea, pumpkin spice hot chocolate and bottled water are also stocked! The next most asked question was about what the bathroom looked like.  As you can see, it's a full bathroom with fluffy towels, and extras like shampoo, conditioner and body wash. And a few extr