1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

We have a great show for you today.

As we get out and experience the Michiana area, we're headed up to New Buffalo where there's a new place that just recently opened that's mixing Michigan with France.

We're also going to find out about a special music in the park that's happening real soon.

Courtney has that up in Three Oaks.

Well, today we are over in Three Oaks, Michigan, and music in the Park has already kicked off.

Happening every Saturday, all summer long, all the way up until the beginning of September.

They are offering free concerts and I have my new friend with me, Martha, who is going to be performing in one of the upcoming performances, which I'm really excited about because you guys get to perform on a particularly special day.

Yes we do.

Julyfourth.

Yes.

July 4th.

That's amazing.

Okay, so you have to tell me about this because I came in a little bit earlier and I saw some of your band practicing together.

You guys sound amazing.

Your ensemble.

It's a jazz ensemble, right?

Weird jazz?

Yes, a very eclectic.

A little bit of sophistication, a little bit of worldliness.

We're going to be touching upon numbers that kind of are continental a little bit.

Oh, okay.

We're we're doing some absolutely gorgeous bossa nova.

And for these now I'm accustomed to singing in Italian, French and German.

Oh my God.

And a little Sanskrit once.

But but for these they're Portuguese.

Really?

Bossa nova?

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

Antonio Carlos Jobim and I am learning Portuguese along the way.

You are?

Yes.

It's the most beautiful romantic language to sing.

And they were written in this language.

So I have made it my my little goal to sing in the in the original, in the original language, I love that.

We just were talking to one of our other organizations here recently, and we talked about that, how you have to translate it first to help you really feel that emotion.

Now you have an operatic background to write.

Can you talk to you about that?

How did you get these two worlds together?

So this is an enigma.

But yeah, it's true.

So I'm a classically trained artist, and I have been singing mostly in the United States and internationally.

Wow.

I was.

Where's the where's one of your favorite places?

Italy.

I performed in Italy.

I was the grand prize winner of the International Bel Canto, and I was sent there.

And I love the Italian people.

I love to sing in Italian.

And I was working with the mystery of La Scala.

It's it's an unbelievable opportunity.

Oh, I can't even imagine.

So.

Yes.

Opera.

How did you hear jazz?

Yeah, it's a very.

I will try to segue this opera and then musical theater and a session singer.

So in Chicago, you've heard me, but you didn't know it because I'm one of the PaRappa Papa.

Are you serious?

So I kind of.

Yeah.

I can you kidding?

So I've kept a low profile on my studio.

Singers?

Yeah, on my studio music.

But I'm very proud.

Three of my my TV commercials.

One, Cleo.

So I was kind of a good luck charm for some of my producers.

And they told me from day one that they could hear the smile in my voice and the warmth.

So when I sing, the warmth and the smile seem to peak the interest of producers.

And I sang for many years, and so I could do, I could do pop and I could do opera.

And then I was in a Broadway show for three years, The Phantom of the opera.

Yeah.

And the other thing that I had discovered that I could do, there was an audition for how Leonard Publishing.

Now, if it sounds familiar, it's the largest music publisher and distributor in the entire world.

Oh, wow.

And they had a blind audition once in Chicago.

Blind?

Meaning they couldn't see you, but they would hear you.

Sure.

And they loved the clarity of my instrument and the tone and the.

My diction is very good.

And you still bring that into your performances now?

Today.

Now, I know you guys have been working together.

You're fairly new bringing this group together.

What are you looking forward to in bringing your ensemble to the music in the park?

Oh my gosh, I feel that I am so at home with this type of literature.

And I was introduced by Garth Taylor, the founder of the School of American Music, for for this type of literature and jazz.

Yeah.

And we were really blessed to open Jazz Fest 2025 last year at the Acorn, which was a fundraiser for for the school in Garth's honor.

So yeah, I love to communicate.

I love to express through artistry, through my music, and I feel like I am feeling that off of you now.

And I can't imagine seeing you perform and how the communication of music, how it translates to others.

Right?

Yes, I love it.

I love it's a very deep form of communication and I feel things.

If it's a highly emotional piece, I must work through it independently for a while so that I don't become overwrought with emotion because I, you know, I love to impart the message of the song to my audience, and I go into kind of a different aura while I'm doing.

I love it.

Well, this is going to be so special to have you guys here.

July 4th, you guys get this fantastic celebration, part of the 250th celebration too.

When does the performance happening that day?

630.

Okay.

And it's free and open to the public.

People are encouraged to become a little early.

Okay.

And it is outdoors.

It's outdoors.

So do we can.

And park so in the Three Oaks Pavilion.

Yeah.

And so when you bring your own chairs, you can bring a little picnic if you want.

And there's a little theme going through or a light motif going through our, our set list.

Oh, and it's kind of the theme of fire and flame, which is a great prelude to the fireworks that are really happening a little, a little after you enjoy the music.

Wonderful.

Well, can we maybe hear a little sample from you guys just to take us on out?

I think we could do that.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

Martha, it's such a delight.

You.

I waited till I saw the sun.

Don't know why I didn't come.

I left you by the house and find.

Don't know why I didn't come.

I don't know why I didn't come.

When I saw the break of day.

Wish that I could fly away.

Instead of me in the sand.

Contained teardrops in my hand.

My heart is drenched in the wild.

You think on my.

Forever.

Well, it is summer, and in summer we like to go to the beach and we can do that in New Buffalo.

But we can also stay here.

And there's a fabulous new property called Petite Acres, and I have my new friends with me, Gina and Justin.

This is your brainchild.

You guys just recently opened this beautiful space.

You got to tell us all about it.

There's so much here to do, but there's also tons of property that people can rent here, right?

So much to do.

I mean, I could talk all day about everything you could do in Harbor Country, but at Petite Acres, we have 16 buildings on property.

We're standing in front of Chateau Astor, which is our 40 700 square foot event space.

Okay.

In front of us, we have the Great Lawn, which is a 2300 square foot lawn where we can host things like ceremonies and dinners and yoga and, and, and and anything else you can think of.

And then there are 12 homes on properties ranging from one bedrooms to four bedrooms.

Okay.

There's a gym, sauna and a cold plunge.

Oh, and two years.

And this is kind of, you know, the wellness component to it too.

Right.

Let's talk about that because I saw that you guys have a lot of activities.

There's yoga on the lawn.

What made you come up with that idea to include wellness into the property, or do you want to take that?

Sure.

I love it.

So there's a lot of things that we've thought about from a wellness perspective.

So Gina's first job that she launched herself was called a Sweat Life.

She's still running that.

It's a health wellness media business.

And so we always wanted to include wellness as part of the retreat aspect that's kind of bring people outdoors and experience, especially after Covid.

And so we built the gym.

So it's very versatile.

It's not like a hotel gym.

You have to get a real workout in there.

There's there's turf.

There's weights and squat racks.

Yeah.

And then we have the sword and the cold plunge to kind of bring it all together.

But the whole space is meant for gathering.

So we thought it was a great way to meet as a central point.

And was that the original?

I mean, how did you guys even come to this idea for Petite Acres?

Do you want to give the a little bit of the short version of the long, really hard?

Yeah, it's really hard because it's a did you have a dream?

And this is what it looks like literally had a dream.

I yeah, I had a recurring dream starting in 2020, but that was a dream of me on a farm.

And Justin and I had to start thinking about what we actually wanted.

We did not want a farm.

Neither one of us knows how to farm.

So there's no animals, no animals here.

We wanted the conversation of it, though.

We talked about goats, but I lost that fight.

We started thinking about more space, what we wanted to see for our friends, what we wanted to create in the world, and a space to gather was really at the heart of that.

So you'll see that in everything we've built here.

It's built around groups.

It's built around gathering.

That's why all of the buildings are structured in a loop, so that we're sort of in this communal space.

But after that, that dream, Justin and I started thinking about places we've gone that we love and wellness resorts that we've been that are much larger, that we we thought it could be great to size something down so that you could take the whole place over.

And then the French inspiration.

Yeah, we got to talk about that because that's pieced out throughout the entire property.

Yeah.

Talk about your 40th birthday trip.

Oh, sure.

Age me right away.

Sorry.

Come along with me on that journey.

So.

Yeah.

So everyone's in their 40s.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, yeah, we took a trip for my 40th, went to Paris first for the French Open, which was awesome.

But the root of it all came from Bordeaux.

We stayed at this incredible vineyard called The Source that called alley with all these cottages and wellness.

And you saw the Michelin star restaurant, and the chef came out, clipped his herbs from the local garden and were like, okay, like, this is magical.

And this is I'm like, Jean, is this what you've been thinking about a little bit?

Click, click.

It's like yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

And so we came back home after the retreats and the experiences reached out to some of our friends in the real estate market, connected us with Tammy Grayson, who's a realtor out here in Southwest Michigan.

She said, I have the exact spot you need to come to.

We walked to the property we saw.

We're like, I don't quite know.

It's all wooded, a single family home.

But she mentioned it was fully deeded for commercial use.

Oh, well.

And we said, well, we started.

Alarm bells went off.

Yeah.

I learned that you also used a lot of the nature within it still.

That was the key of it was like, we love the trees.

We said, how can we make this work?

So then we went back to a friend of ours who's a landscape architect and started mapping it all out.

And then it kind of, yeah, we made some good friends and then we kind of like started, started morphing into what?

This.

And Gina still had her garden that she wanted.

So we have an eight bed garden.

I did get a garden.

It's actually getting planted this Wednesday.

Yeah, herbs, vegetables and flowers.

And there will be a greenhouse and they'll be able to use it for our cocktail program eventually.

For chefs when they're doing dinners.

It's going to be really fun.

Now you guys are just fresh into this.

We just opened this month.

Correct.

What has been the biggest thing that people have said to you?

What are they most excited about this property?

I think the way it feels when you come on property because our our attention to the trees, our attention to the landscaping in partnership with Mariani, which used to be Arcadia, has been really important to us.

And I think it really sets the tone for the property.

We're seeing nature all around us.

We've recently just planted wildflowers among the suites on the property.

The accommodations, you'll see those wildflowers take off.

So I think first thing they notice is nature.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and I see it, and it's beautiful.

I want to head into those spaces.

So can we start going in?

What?

Can we do that?

Yeah.

Let's take a walk.

All right, let's do that.

Okay.

So this building is four bedrooms.

Correct?

It's Mason foxglove.

And there's a unique story between how you decided to name all of these.

Right.

So Mason is the French building, and foxglove is the local plant.

So you'll see that kind of pattern mixing it all together, bringing it back here to Michigan, I love that.

Yeah, Michigan meets France is the whole vibe of the property.

I'm down for this.

Let's head in.

You ready?

All right, let's do it.

Okay, so we'll head to the right and you'll see our living room here.

Oh.

Soft seating in our living room.

Kitchen.

Living and dining here.

Paper is beautiful.

We can't stop when it comes to wallpaper.

I've noticed the wallpaper as we were walking around before we started filming, too.

That's unique to you guys too.

We worked with a company called Fine and Dandy Company for all of the wallpaper across the property.

So you'll see lots and lots of wallpaper, at least in every single building.

And the windows are beautiful.

They're nice and open.

There's a lot of light in here, too.

All right.

You'll notice with all of our homes, nine foot ceilings, even in the cottages and tons of windows.

So you feel very airy, and you feel that there's a lot of space, regardless of size of the house.

That's very cool.

Let's take her upstairs.

All right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Part of this space is really.

You want people to relax while they're here, too?

This is this is a great little zone for it.

Yeah.

I mean, I have my own pretend library here.

Yeah, right.

Another dandy wallpaper.

Yeah.

We have so many patterns.

And what we really love about this space two is we're going to host a lot of weddings.

It's one of our key areas, especially over the weekends.

You take over the full property.

All the units become part of your wedding block, and it's a big celebration with your family.

And the coolest part is out of this window, you get to see the Great lawn where your family and friends are gathering for the ceremony.

It's a great first look.

Moments, great areas to kind of hang out and take it all in.

And it's great to because if you're not in the wedding but you don't want everybody seeing everybody does.

Everybody can look out their window.

You can have your cocktail up here by yourself and just just stay there.

I love that.

But yeah, just just tons of space and different things put together, like the wallpaper and the purple room fabric.

This is a crowd pleaser too.

This purple washed the color washed room really has done a number on our design.

You guys even have robes in here.

And you can buy some of that stuff on your website, right?

Yeah.

So every bedroom on the property has hooded sweatshirt robes.

Justin works hard on those.

Yeah.

They also we got those.

Yeah.

To encourage use of the sauna too.

We love our sauna.

If you'd like to see that, I would.

Let's go do.

Let's head to the gym.

Okay.

Let's do that.

Perfect.

Oh, my gosh, this gym is amazing.

What a great space.

I think it's 1400 square feet.

And we really wanted it to feel like your best workout, even when you're on the road.

I think I'm going to get really strong while I'm here.

Exactly.

I definitely could.

Yeah, yeah.

We wanted it to feel like you're working indoors.

Outdoors.

So you noticed arboretum wallpaper spanning the entire space, the huge windows with the trees.

I did a treadmill workout the other day, and it was amazing.

I love that it's lovely.

And we also have Sonos in here.

So if you're working out, you could play your music and it plays the root really on an iPad.

And then you could do like a group exercise from here to.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

We've done with Prana Life.

We do a free workout every Wednesday.

And is that open to the public?

It's open to the public.

You can find.

Let's talk about that too for a quick second, because you guys do have some events that are happening that aren't just for the residents staying with you.

Correct.

Yeah.

So a big a big tenant of what we've created at Petite Acres is southwest Michigan's backyard.

So we want to be a place where you can go and find things to do.

That's why you'll find things here, like the complimentary Yoga on Wednesdays in partnership with Prana Life.

You'll find things like our upcoming 4th of July holiday hoopla.

Oh that's exciting.

Which is dinner in a show.

It's inspired by Catskills theater.

So you'll find that on the website to.

And we'll continue adding to.

We're partnering with Grainer Farm to bring Abra, their acclaimed cookbook author and and head chef for a tomato cooking class.

Okay.

And that's not just for the people who are.

Not just for the people who are staying here.

I love that you're kind of making it more of a collective space, if you will.

Yeah.

And we're also working with the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber Foundation and the Michigan Economic Development Committee to do a fundraise for this space.

Okay.

So if we raise $7,500, they match $7,500.

And then that money all gores goes towards free community programing.

So we want to do movie nights here all throughout the year indoors and outdoors for families.

Want to do networking sessions with Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber.

So we want to make this a space that people love.

Your guys's brains.

Like this is great.

This is a great space.

All right.

Let's go head out to the next session.

Yes.

Of course.

I want to see if this.

Okay.

So just outside of the fitness gym area.

Oak studio, studio Oaks.

More.

Oak Oaks.

Yes, that's basically Cedar.

You guys have a whole entire sauna.

Can I go in?

Yeah.

Give it a big tug.

Oh my God.

And it is warm.

It's warm.

It's warm.

It's chilly day today.

This is great.

It's got a ton of space in here to up to six people.

Yeah, it's a 6 to 8 person summer.

We like it for six people, though.

Okay.

In this cold plunge, a cold plunge.

Yes, I know it's a huge thing right now.

Very.

And people like to get icy.

Yeah.

Recovery is key.

It is.

Okay.

So you could do contrast.

You can go from cold plunge to the sun.

Is that beneficial on your body?

It is beneficial.

You're going to be here to tell me that stuff.

Yes, I will, of course.

Yes I will.

When I come, stay.

All right.

Perfect.

Yeah.

And then a nice hook for your robes right there.

Yeah.

So just, you know, friends to tell us.

They tell us, you know, great friends and love this.

Yeah.

So I started a walking path.

You guys have overflow parking here, too, which is great for the larger events that you might host.

Like.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And then you get this incredible reveal as you're walking up to this beautiful.

So the guests that are staying, that aren't staying on property when you're coming up, these 32 steps have no idea what's up here.

I see this though.

We just going to talk about this.

Yes.

This is a year.

This is a year.

Yes.

We have two years on property.

They're amazing for breakout spaces.

You can host a small meeting.

You can host a dinner or drinks or game night or so.

You don't even have to do it in your room.

You can actually.

And this is part of the process.

You have to rent that additionally.

So if you're here for a corporate retreat or a wedding, these come with it.

If you're staying on property, we can arrange it for you.

You're like, I want a massage with my husband.

We're celebrating our 20th anniversary.

We can do that over here.

That extra special?

Yes.

Because one is going to be called dusk and one is called Dawn.

And dawn is going to be, like, more meditative.

Okay.

Pillows on the ground, floating chairs.

Dusk is going to be more kind of cigar lounge.

So kind of have both different sides.

Yeah.

So it's going to be a lot of fun.

Once they're all fully built out.

But please don't smoke cigars in there.

Yeah.

And we head into this beautiful space.

And I love that you guys have nature growing here.

We're still in processes.

It's going to look different by next year.

We will have wildflowers growing around us.

So perennial.

I love native wildflowers.

So bring my EpiPen.

Yes.

Bring your people.

Are you allergic?

To be.

They won't want you.

They want the flowers.

All right.

Perfect.

This is one of the cool little huts, too.

This is one of the smaller ones.

So it's like a one bedroom.

It is a one bedroom.

It's 425ft².

It's still a lot.

It's a lot.

It's going to feel pretty expansive.

We go in.

Let's go in.

Okay.

So you'll notice the color scheme.

I'll go after you, but you'll notice the color scheme.

If you don't know a coral bells flower.

Is this a pullout couch?

This is not a pull out couch.

We want you to come or sleep.

It's a fantastic couch.

It's a lovely couch.

That's interior design.

Kitchenette.

Everything holder for light breakfast.

We love the appliances that Marcy Blanco, who is our interior designer, selected.

So, Marcy, first of all, is a mad scientist.

So she paired all these patterns and colors and rugs and textures.

Yeah.

And you were saying, like, each of the spaces here kind of has a different feel to.

So can I, can I head come on in.

So this is this is a king, isn't it?

This is a king size bed at the heart of this home.

It really gives you another.

Another fine and dandy.

Her name is Titania.

If you're curious.

And vintage stuff too.

Yep, yep.

Vintage desks are in both of our one bedrooms.

We have stuff in the primary home based on facts.

Love kind of wanted to tie it all together.

Yeah.

And then our beautiful.

Our bathrooms all have different tile patterns too.

So there's a little something different.

And so you can come here every weekend and say somewhere different different countertops.

And let's talk about that.

How do people rent any of these spaces.

So you can find the homes on Petite Acres.

Okay.

If you're attending a corporate retreat or a wedding, it's a part of the room block.

But we'd love for you to.

And they would need to contact you guys directly to make something like that.

You can make the whole for a wedding.

Yes.

Contact us directly and we can get you in here.

We'd love to host your wedding or corporate retreat, but also for stays.

You can book directly on Petite Acres.

Com.

Oh, that's great to know.

The property is managed by Anchor Point, which is a local, and they're amazing.

So they are the folks who are making all of these beautiful cleans happen.

The Kerns making sure you get your codes and your inbox on time too.

I love that.

All right.

Let's head on out.

All right.

Okay, now we are in the event space.

And this is where a lot of magic happens, especially with the the entire property where people are coming together.

This is great for those larger scale activities, but this is the focal point I have to say.

Like you walk into the room and you see this beautiful piece and it goes entirely with the French theme.

So let's talk about where this piece came from, because this is just incredible.

It looks vintage, but this is actually original.

Not to the space, but it is an original.

Correct?

Yeah.

This is 18th century from a French cottage and we had it boated over from Europe.

Then it went on a train from New York and then a truck from Chicago.

Oh my gosh, it's 3,600 pounds of limestone.

You could actually see some of the burn marks from the 1800s and 1900s that are in the fireplace itself.

How did you even find something like this?

You know, when you have you have you have you have the friend, you have the friends that just have incredible vision.

And I think she tells a story of she's like, I found this thing.

I know they're going to think I'm crazy, but I'm going to send it to them anyways and see what happens.

Really?

We're like, yes.

Let's see what we can see with this.

But it stands ten feet tall.

It's like you said, incredible focal point.

It's actually a working gas fireplace.

There it is.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it kind of blends everything together.

We see a lot of celebrations happening in front of your flowers on their candles underneath Christmas.

I see that a lot of fun space here.

I love that.

No.

Are you guys open year round?

Is that the intention?

We do intend to be open year round.

So the property is bookable.

Okay.

If you want to come, stay with us in January.

I think the sauna would be incredible.

That's a great idea.

Yeah, that time of year.

So come out here and make it like a, I don't know, Scandinavian wonderland.

Yeah, I like that now.

There is so many things to do here.

There's also a bar over there.

But we have to talk about the collaborative process that made this all come together, because I know you guys have the friends and the people who made this all happen.

Yeah.

So for us, Jean and I know where our strengths and where our weaknesses are, right?

And we also know that we should work with experts and let them do what they know how to do best.

And so we reached out to local general contractors.

We reached out to local architect Brooks.

Our GC is Holiday Construction.

Our landscape architect is Arcadia, now Mariani, all local to Michigan and their local region.

That's fantastic.

And so it was great to pull them in because they knew what could grow here.

They knew what could build here.

They knew what would fit.

And that was really critical to us.

And they worked really well with the with the local governments.

They work really well with the local city councils.

And so really that team, not only was it local and we love to feed into the local economy, but they also work really efficiently with the local government too.

I love all right, let's go check out the bar too.

Oh, sorry.

No.

Go ahead.

Oh, no.

I was going to say a big shout out to the city of New Buffalo.

Honestly?

Yeah, they helped us a ton.

And it's not just us saying it because we're here and we're doing it.

It literally like they helped us pave the way to be able to do this.

And they are very collaborative.

And that's something that we were really thankful of and some of we've really enjoyed about the whole region is just people want to work together.

Yeah, coming from Chicago, it's a breath of fresh air and a ton of fun.

Let's go.

Cheers to that.

Oh, let's do that.

Yeah.

Okay.

This bar is beautiful.

So what are we serving today?

We are serving a dose of positivity and good vibes for very first wedding this weekend I love I'm so excited for you guys.

I know we're kind of still at the end of the construction process.

And this is so exciting.

Your first wedding.

Talk about what that means to you guys.

In the grand scheme of putting this whole process together.

We're we're so excited.

It's I mean, it's such a special moment to be a part of, and we're so excited to see it come to life, to see this whole property alive, people getting ready for their weddings on the grounds that first look on the grounds, it's just I can't wait.

I'm excited for you guys.

So again, website where people can find information about how to have a retreat, how they can rent any of the houses here.

Petite acres pe tight acres.

Com.

All right.

Thank you guys so much.

Thanks for showing us the entire space.

I hope you guys have the opportunity to come out.

I'm excited for some of the other public events to that you guys have going on.

So people can kind of get a feel for what the place feels like and hopefully take some time to spend your weekend here.

Come see us.

Yeah, it's all on our calendar.

All right.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Well, that's it for this week's show.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Remember, if you come across really cool things while you're out experiencing Michiana, let us know about it on Facebook.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

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