Hello from A & J Villas,

It's been a while since I've updated this page and the entire site for that matter. It's not that there isn't a lot to tell but time has gotten away from us lately. That's true even if the events of September 11th didn't happen. The events of that day and the days, weeks and months to follow will bring changes to all our lives and our hope is that those changes will lead to a better life for all of the world. Julie and I have been touched by the events, thankfully not losing anyone we knew or loved. Julie's company lost two floors in the Trade Center as well as an entire building. As everyone was leaving the city that day, I was driving in to get to work at ABC News to cover what is certainly the biggest story I've ever been involved with. As you may have heard the media now seems to be a target of these or other terrorists and ABC has now been visited by Anthrax. Although this is a serious problem it is difficult to contract in the forms that have been sent to the media. I have been tested and the results were negative.

Now onto A & J Villas. The transition from summer to winter has gone well and now the real work will begin. If you check with the renovation page, you'll see that we've begun the first major update of The Plush Chamber (Apartment 2). The ceiling is down and we've begun removing the paneling. The kitchen cabinets and appliances are next in the weekends to come. We hope to complete this as soon as possible but no matter how long this takes, you will be greeted with a substantially different place next season. We will update the renovation page whenever progress is made.

As Julie and I travel we try to take ideas from places we visit back to A & J Villas. We did this with the book of menus in each apartment as well as the paperback books we make available for your enjoyment. We also try to add things that we would like to find in places we visit such as the Brita water pitchers that we have in each apartment. We are always open to hearing your suggestions on how to make your stay more enjoyable. We now have a new page called suggestions where you can suggest anything you think of for A & J Villas. Also, as Julie and I have talked about the renovations we'll make, we realized that it just doesn't seem fair to have a name for apartment 2 and not apartment 1. You can go to the suggestions page to give us any ideas you might have for a name.

An important reminder about making reservations for next season. I urge all of you who stayed with us in 2001 to book as early as possible as others might want to change their weeks or expand their vacation time. For those of you who are new to A & J Villas please feel free to go to the waiting list page and we'll notify you as soon as we know the status of the week or weeks you want. The waiting list will be on a first come first served basis so don't delay!

Julie and I appreciate you visiting us here in cyberspace and in the real world of Wildwood Crest.

See you soon,

A.J. and Julie