Vacation homeowner tip: Guestbooks

I really like it when vacation rentals include a Guestbook for their guests to write in during their stay. Whether guests keep it short and sweet or write about all the good memories during their stay - it's a great personal touch.

Farmers markets

We love visiting the local farmers markets at the beach. Today we visited the Ocean City Farmers Market. It is located on Asbury Ave by the Tabernacle (5th).  We loved the wide assortment of fruits, vegetables, baked goods and craft vendors. We have many friends in town that have stands so we were happy to see them. Here are some of my favorites:

Ocean City beach tag designs

Our friend Ashley's
jewelry

Tony Bologna has the best
flat bread pizzas

Personal notes

There is something so special about a personal hand written note. In the days of email, yelp and other online review websites, some may think a personal note may not count.  We are so honored to receive these notes. Thanks so much!

Twisties

After an eventful day in the office, we decided to head out to Twisties in Strathmere for  glass of wine and to admire the bay front view.

Twisties is definitely off the beaten path for those visiting the shore.  There is no need to dress up. They have a good little indoor bar with a jukebox full of great songs.  It is the perfect spot to go to after hitting the beach for the day.   They have a few slips out back too for those that have a boat.

Outside at one of the 3 tables at Twisties.

Gillian's wonderland with grandpa and baby

After a few deliveries we enjoyed part of the afternoon on the Ocean City boardwalk. My parents were  down for the weekend and wanted to check out the rides at Gillian's with the baby. We has a great time on the carousel and the train. The train went above the whole amusement park. We had a great view of all the rides in our future.

Just a recommendation for vacationers: please being a lock for your strollers and use it when on rides. We provide locks with our strollers cause you never know.

Great day for deliveries

Summer is off to a great start with Relax deliveries and pickups. Today we had orders going out and coming back in pretty much every town we provide our services.

Our rental items are excited to be on vacation!  I was excited to be out doing deliveries and making beds. Our favorite request for this week was definitely to deliver flowers with one of our bed making houses. The office looked so beautiful and was so fragrant right before we delivered them to the vacation home.

Let us make you relax on your next vacation.  Please visit www.relaxconcierge.com to make a reservation.

First day of summer

Today is the official first day of summer. You couldn't ask for a better day at the Jersey Shore. The weather is spectacular. We kicked off the season with our first team meeting. It was nice to get everyone in the same place at the same time. It was a very productive meeting. We covered topics including the Relax history, last summer stats and how to make 2013 another great summer. We look forward to having more more meetings like this.

New Feedback is In

Here's what one of last weeks vacationers wrote:

"Prompt delivery, great packaging. We appreciated that the linens and towels arrived before we did and that you delivered them up to the 2nd floor unit where we were staying.  Thank you for this wonderful service. We travel from Ohio and had 4 kids with us. The minivan was stuffed as it was; I don't know how we would have fit in towels and sheets as well. "

We love to get good feedback.  Let's be honest though. There are times; however, that we can and do make a mistake.  We make every effort to make our guests satisfied with their experience.  We are available to help resolve any issue that may arise during your stay. 

Sand castle, Apple, Brigantine and Flooding

Yesterday afternoon was pretty action packed. We had a pickup in Brigantine so I figured it was a good time to also get one of our office Macs to the Genius Bar since we are only getting busier and busier every day until the end of summer.

The Pier at Caesers in Atlantic City has an Apple store so we headed there. We planned to check out the new Margaritaville restaurant too after we saw some great pictures from our team members of Jimmy Buffet himself there last week.

After dropping off the Mac, it had just started to rain so my sister and I decided to save Margaritaville for a sunny day.  We were excited to find that the International Sandcastle Contest was going on right outside of the Pier and since it was just drizzing we decided to check it out.  It was the perfect opportunity to walk around and check out the amazing talent.  It was also a great photo opp for the baby to pretend he made one of the castles with his new sand toys.  

From there, we went to Continental for a super late lunch.   After living in the Philly area for a few years,  I miss Continental and head there any chance I can get.

The Mac was finished about 2 hours later.  On the way home we didnt realize how bad it must have been raining.  That must be a casino thing:)   While driving through Margate we came up on some of the worst flooding I've ever experienced.  We were on an one way narrow street with no other option but to continue.  The water was definitely up to the wheel well and other SUVs around us did stall out.   We were fortunate.   Here are some suggestions should you ever be driving in a flooded area.

Lunch at bongo

Ocean City is known for their boardwalk foods like fries, burgers and ice cream. After awhile it becomes a bit too much especially when you live there. 

We enjoy some of the more healthy dining establishments. Bongo at 11th and Bay is one of them. The restaurant is bright and cheery. The food is just as bright and very good.

It may be a bit off the beaten path since its not in the shopping district or boardwalk area. It's worth the trip:)

Fathers Day

Father's Day at the beach is always so much fun. This was our first Father's Day so we definitely had fun deciding what to do. We attempted to go to breakfast at surf cafe but the baby chose to take his nap right before we left. That was fine by me cause I was able to get a cup of coffee at who's on first and then focus on orders for the upcoming week.

We had a great lunch at mikes seafood in sea isle. It is my husbands favorite (and mine too). It's perfect for kids too cause its supposed to be messy. We went at a great time 3 pm so we didnt need to wait in line. We are now off to continue the celebration in stone harbor  right after we complete a drop off. 

Perfect day for the beach

For those headed down the Jersey Shore today, it is a perfect day to enjoy the beach. It looks like its gonna be a decent week too!  For those vacationing this week - we are happy to be spending his gorgeous day doing deliveries!

  For all those headed home, we hope you had a great trip. Mother Nature owes you one! We hope you had many restful nights on our linens and with our equipment rentals.

Ocean City Chamber Meeting

It's been some time since I've been to an Ocean City chamber meeting. With an infant at home, it was hard to attend the winter meetings. I was happy to attend today's meeting at The Flanders  with some members of our team.

We were very fortunate to sit next to Andrew Fasy from NJ Realty. Andrew has also been very involved with the OCNJ Cares project.  OCNJ Cares has assisted many homeowners and businesses following Hurricane Sandy to get back up and running.  Ocean City looks so wonderful thanks to the many volunteers from OCNJ Cares.

Mayor Gillian was the guest speaker.  He spoke about many great things that will be happening this summer in Ocean City.  We can't wait!  

Great evening for the boardwalk

It's the perfect time of year for families with young kids to visit the Jersey Shore. Most schools are still in session. This makes it great from a cost and crowd perspective to vacation.

We took a stroll on the Ocean City boardwalk this evening.  It was full of strollers, wagons and kids.  While busy with activity, it was definitely not as crowded as it gets during the peak Summer weeks.

If you'd like to make your trip more enjoyable - consider renting a stroller or wagon from Relaxconcierge.com

LBI Megan in Ocean City

It's nice to get together with some Relax friends before the season really gets underway. We caught up with Megan over the weekend in Ocean City.

 Megan is an expert on Long Beach Island. She knows all the good places to check out and knows pretty much where each Lbi town begins and ends.Note: if you arent very familiar with Lbi this can be a challenge since rarely marked and there aren't any natural borders like bays separating towns.  

This summer Megan will be spending lots of time in Ocean City with friends;)  we caught up at Jon and Pattys over

A veggie bomb omelette and wrap. The baby joined us and made sure to make his presence known with lots of chatter and floor drop/pickup games. Last time the baby was there he slept through most of the meal. Times have changed for sure! I definitely recommend them for good food in Oc and as a kid friendly

Spot. They do get busy so go early.

It's all in the detail

We take pride in our attention to detail. It is evident in when you receive a special delivery from us. We are also so proud to have a storefront at the Jersey Shore. We make every effort to make it beautiful. Despite the rain today, we made the most of it and planted flowers. 

Relax Mentioned on PrimeRates Blog!

http://www.primerates.com/blog/kids-men-and-money/2013/06/06/thinking-of-renting-a-vacation-home-heres-what-you-need-to-know-part-2.html

Relax was mentioned on PrimeRates.com in their post about vacation home rentals. The post discusses affordability and useful information about renting. They included a link to our site. Thanks for the shout out!

Donut Week?

Donut day was celebrated on June 7th. I didn't  get to partake in the festivities that day but I hereby declare it donut WEEK. In celebration of this, we went to Browns Donuts this morning in Ocean City.  I'd love to say we will celebrate at our other favorite donut destinations but ill never be swimsuit ready. 

Here's some other favorite spots:

Scone Pony

Muellers

Ferrara Lbi

Aversas

Dots

Mallons

Delivery Saturday

Saturdays are our busiest days for deliveries and pick ups. I'm glad to be back out in the field to do some of the deliveries and make some beds. There's something about pulling up to the delivery addresses. Most of them are somewhat unique. Maybe it's the view... Or the doormat... Or the house style... Each home has its charm. 

Today I am back wearing my relax tank top! It didn't quite fit last year cause I was really pregnant. Here's to a summer of getting in shape!  This week I only did first floor deliveries but I am so ready to carry bins up to the second floor rentals!

Rainy day at the beach

Tropical storm Andrea is bringing some rain to the jersey shore today. It's definitely a soaker but rest assured you won't melt in the rain. Rainy days at the beach are often great.

Rain, rain go away

My family has been known to always have rainy weather during their yearly vacation. We never really had to worry about getting burnt. It's actually gotten better since I got married and changed my name:)

Some vacation suggestions:

Buy a puzzle

Go to the movies

Visit the local museum

Do some arts and crafts - try a pottery studio like Glazed Over or Potomac Bead Company in Ocean City.

Go shopping

Make dinner

Play a board game

Growing up we once drove from cape may to Baltimore to visit the aquarium due to the rain. I'm not recommending that. Way too far! There are many other aquariums closer in NJ that are great to check out instead.

Caesar Anyone

We've always loved checking out new places in our delivery towns. During our pickup yesterday I decided to show the baby just some of the excitement of Atlantic City.  He can now say he's been to a casino! We stopped by Caesars to walk through the floor and hit up the stores. He just loved the lights in the lobby and on the gaming floor. St threshold he was most impressed with the water show. It was so cute having him jump and clap to the music. From a shopping mommy standpoint - many good stores are still there... Yes it's not the same but it is still great for the beach. While I didn't buy anything but Starbucks for myself - I did pick up many cute outfits from Janie & jack and some take out from Continental.

Brigantine

I love going to Brigantine to drop off and pick up our rental items. Many spots have beautiful paths to walk through to get to the beach. Here's one of our delivery locations. This beautiful spot on the southside was untouched by Sandy. On the north end they are working on a nourishment project to repair the beaches.  

Baby's first ride

Yesterday was a great day at the shore. The weather was great! 

We headed up to the Ocean City boardwalk in the late afternoon after working for a few hours in the office.  Our first stop was Playland for a ride on the carousel.  It was the first ride for the baby. He loved it! So did my husband and I. Now I totally understand how our friends w kids can spend all day at the rides. Too fun.  Little does this kid know we can go to the rides all summer. Next ride: the train! 

It's that time of year

It's that time of year for deliveries "to" the store. While we are normally sending out orders "from" the store we have been receiving lots of shipments of new inventory. We look forward to providing even more customers with more of our premium rental items and services.