What did you do this weekend? As you drove through the neighborhood this weekend, what did you see? Did anyone say “Christmas Lights?”

That’s right, this weekend in San Ramon, California was the official – Get Out and Get Your House Lit Up Weekend.

Now the question is – Are you going to pass up this opportunity to get out and meet the neighbors? This is a perfect opportunity to walk the neighborhood, talk to a few people, and collect photos and info for a blog posting.

Here’s what you will need:

• Digital Camera
• Cell phone with camera and memo functionality (I use a Treo)
• Unique business card to hand out. I print our website banner on one side and on the other it says – “We’re walking the neighborhood and taking photos for an article on our website. We should have it up on the Internet in a couple of days. You can check it out here – www.TheHarperTeam.com (go to the blog page)."

Walk the neighborhood during the day talking to people. If their house is decorated, we’ll ask them how long they’ve been decorating their house. Are they getting more elaborate as the years go on? Do you have children? How do they like the decorations? We just chat.

If the house isn’t being decorated, we like to get people’s feel for the neighborhood. We throw a couple of block-parties every year, so most people recognize us. And of course they see our signs around the neighborhood.

When walking away from one house to the next, this is the time to make a memo about the conversation on your cell phone. Be sure to add any info you want in your database like the names of children if you get them.

When you put the article up on your blog, be sure not to pick a favorite. Just talk about the neighborhood in general and your appreciation of it and your neighbors.

At night, we’ll drive around and take photos of the house lights.

We’ll being doing this regularly for any occasion where people decorate their house. Every once in a while we see a sign in the yard saying – “It’s a girl” or “It’s a boy.” We used to just send a card, but from now on we’ll send a card and probably mention the new neighbor in one of our postings.