after ringing the very cool&huge gong-like doorbell and being greeted by their two dogs bella&bebop, susan&bill welcomed my girlfriend&i into their quite lovely and incredibly artistic home. upon entry you make your way down a stone-scattered path that is lined w/ plants&succulents of all shapes&sizes! to the right is susan's art studio where she showed us the progress she was making on a series of prints she had been working on—upstairs is the guest suite, which we'll get to later. bill took over the tour of the premises at this point and susan proceeded to focus on her printmaking. around the bend a bit is the hot tub where bill gave us a quick rundown on proper tubbing. after that he showed us the garden. wow! let me just tell you, their garden is maintained and manicured to the t! down below on a lower terrace is ANOTHER garden solely for edible yummies that bill takes much pride in and it shows! they're growing all sorts of stuff to get down in the kitchen with which is very, very, very cool. [[ side note: hopefully you're lucky enough to get a special delivery straight from their kitchen during your stay! susan brought up some stuffed mushrooms that were SO GOOD. ]] we finished the garden tour and set down our things upstairs where both susan&bill were gracious enough to spend almost 10 minutes breaking down how everything functioned from the keurig to the curtains. once the in's&out's of operations came to a close susan&bill disappeared back downstairs and the beginning of a most relaxing weekend was underway. there was a gas grill on the deck that worked wonders whenever we needed to prepare meals as well as a microwave and mini fridge for any&everything else food related. i brought my favorite kitchen knife but the suite had plenty of wares 'n things. the bathroom was quaint yet modern&fully stocked w/ toiletries + clean towels for the spacious standup shower. the bed in the suite was very comfortable for two. from the bed if you opened up the large double doors to the back of the room you could enjoy the fresh air while looking out into the aptos trees for maximum relaxation! susan&bill were extremely hospitable for the entire duration of our stay but also let us come&go as we pleased. if we ever needed anything susan was most times downstairs chipping away at her 10,000 hours or bill could be spotted&flagged down while tending to the garden—it was the perfect balance of presence + privacy.