Wow! We can’t even begin to fathom that we are already at the end of Week 2 of our Win A Beach House for a Year Sweepstakes! AND, only 5 weeks from today, we will be announcing the finalists to win a fully-furnished Seabrook Beach House free to use for a whole year!

Yup, you read that right. At the end of the contest, we’ll select 5 finalists whom we’ll invite to Seabrook for a grand finale to be aired on King 5 Evening Magazine on May 16! Stay tuned for more details on the finale right here on the Seabrook Blog.

As promised, in today’s blog post we are giving away not ONE, but TWO 2-night stays in one of Seabrook’s Luxury Washington Coast Vacation Rentals.

Fortunately, unlike the Favorite Things to do at Seabrook contest which required US to choose the winner, we have two 100% random winners for this week’s prizes!

So, without further ado, please join us in congratulating RENEE DAHLGREEN and ELIZABETH LANGDON!!

Renee and Elizabeth will receive a 2-night gift certificate valued at $500 each! The best part is, they will both be able to pick which Seabrook Cottage they would like to stay in and when they would like to come to the beach!

Thank you to everyone who submitted answers during the first two weeks! We look forward to a lot more excitement to come during the next 5-weeks. While we contact the winners so they can claim their prize, don’t forget to log in the contest website on Monday for round 3 of the Win A Beach House for a Year Trivia Questions!

Each year, hundreds of memories frozen in film are submitted to the Seabrook Photo Challenge. This year, the competition was tougher than ever before! We had over 300 pictures submitted for this year’s Photo Challenge and, of those, 13 images were handpicked for the Seabrook 2012 Calendar!

Each photographer of the winning pictures will receive a $100 gift card to the Mill 109 Pub-Restaurant. Additionally, the cover picture winner will get a free beach cruiser bike – a well-known trademark of Seabrook’s lifestyle.

Ladies and gentlemen…drum roll please…we present to you the 2011 Seabrook Photo Challenge Winners!

The Cover Page

(Photo by Mandy P.)

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Have you ever dreamed of owning a spectacular beach home that was also environmentally sustainable? That is exactly what the Hassler family was looking for when they created Windswept, a beautiful oceanfront home nestled into Seabrook’s Northwest Glen Neighborhood.

This stunning property was carefully planned to not only be an incredible beach retreat, but was also designed to be energy efficient, use less water than a traditional home, provide a healthy indoor environment, and protect the outdoor environment both during the construction process and for the life of the home. With all this in mind, Windswept was recently awarded LEED Certification at the Silver level – becoming the second home at Seabrook with LEED certification!

LEED is an acronym that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance “green” buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides homeowners and contractors with three different levels of concise framework used to identify and implement practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions.

Here in Washington, there are less than 150 homes that have attained either the Silver, Gold, or Platinum level LEED Certification. Until recently, only one of these LEED Certified homes was located on the Olympic Peninsula; Seabrook’s very own, Evergreen Cabin. Now, Windswept has joined the Evergreen Cabin to become the second home at Seabrook and the first oceanfront home to attain LEED Certification!

Windswept is a relaxing and sophisticated beach home that is committed to environmental stewardship and social responsibility. It is also a vacation rental property available to rent for your next beach vacation!

Visit Windswept’s Cottage Rentals website to find out more information on the home amenities, pictures, availability, and more!

Anne Simpson, a Bellevue Realtor and Seabrook homeowner, visited Seabrook for a weekend and ended up finding a place that truly felt like home.

As a self-proclaimed “beach person,” Annie, as most people call her, grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan before moving to the West Coast. Although Annie has happily lived in Bellevue, WA for many years, she was almost surprised to feel an immediate connection with Seabrook. “It was the first place to really feel like home since I left Michigan,” says Annie of the budding new beach town she found on a work retreat in 2007.

With an easy 2 ½ hour drive from home, no ferries to wait for, and a welcoming small-town atmosphere, Annie quickly realized that Seabrook was a place she would be able to enjoy often and would feel safe visiting alone. Although she had thought that she might end up in either the San Juan Islands or perhaps somewhere on Hood Canal, after only two visits Annie knew Seabrook was a place she wanted to be a part of. “You’re not just buying a house at Seabrook,” says Annie, “you’re becoming a part of a real community.”

Although she can often be found enjoying the company of good friends around town or the sunny front porch of her cottage “Sea La Vie” with her dog Rex, it is the excitement of learning how the town is growing and changing that Annie most looks forward to on her visits to Seabrook. While there were only 75 homes in Seabrook when Annie first fell in love with this seaside village, she has watched it grow to nearly 180 homes and businesses.

“There is a vibrancy and excitement about Seabrook that is hard to find,” says Annie. “The adventurous spirit that contributed to creating Seabrook has really set the tone for something special here. There is always something exciting going on and something new to see! Besides…where else can you be a part of building a town?”

Ever since its release, our Lily Walk neighborhood has been immensely popular among buyers and Seabrook Cottage Rentals guests!

Even now, after all 17 homes have been gobbled up and the neighborhood is completely sold out, people are still interested in finding out more about these lovely beach homes.

That is why our design team has been working long and hard on implementing a similar neighborhood to Lily Walk in other parts of Seabrook. In fact, we are all but ready to release our brand new neighborhood, Madison Lane!

Madison Lane will be a neighborhood outfitted with similar house styles to those found in Lily Walk and will be a little closer to the center of town and the beach.

If Lily Walk & Madison Lane aren’t your style, then get excited for our other upcoming East Main neighborhood, Madison Lane’s “Seabrook Avenue” neighbor. For more information on Madison Lane and East Main cottages, stay tuned to the Seabrook Blog. A big announcement is coming soon!

Don’t want to wait? Then check out Seabrook’s Front Street Townhomes – incredibly priced and situated just a stone’s throw away from the beach and retail district! This is the best way to be super close to the ocean without buying an oceanfront house!

Many of you have probably witnessed all the growth Seabrook’s experienced lately. If you haven’t yet, browse our available vacation rentals and pick your favorite beach cottage!

In the meantime, we’ve prepared a slideshow of the latest Lily Walk progress…enjoy!