I'm Living Your Dream Life

by Michele Cozzens

This is the personal memoir of Michele Cozzens, the story of young couple who gave up their professional jobs in a major city to move to the woods in Wisconsin and run a resort and disc golf course. Written after their first ten years of operation, chapter titles "How Did We Do It?" "The Vision;" "The Job;" "Frequently Asked Questions" (questions resort guests ask week after week); "Meet The Neighbors;" "People Can Be Jerks;" "Staff Infection;" and "My So Called Dream Life."

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Michele VanOrt Cozzens is anticipating the release of her sixth book, How-to Achieve Your Dream Life: Start-up Advice From a Successful Innkeeper (McKenna Publishing Group). She is the author of I’m Living Your Dream Life: The Story of a Northwoods Resort Owner, The Things I Wish I’d Said, A Line Between Friends and It’s Not Your Mother’s Bridge Club. (McKenna Publishing Group). Irish Twins is her third novel. She is a former newspaper columnist and, along with her husband and two daughters, is the owner/operator of Sandy Point Resort and Disc Golf Ranch in northern Wisconsin, where they spend their summers. The remaining nine months are spent in Tucson, Arizona, where their daughters attend school. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization HerBeware, which is dedicated to educating the public about the potential dangers of unregulated herbs found in dietary supplements. Profits from book sales have gone to this cause and to Breast Cancer Research.

Reviews

[Mike Prochot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having spent a lifetime visiting family resorts in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, I can tell you that it is often discussed what a dream life it would be to own one. Michele sets us straight and lays it all out in this book. We get an insiders look at what it is like to be the owner of those wonderful getaway's that we flock to in the summer. Truly it is no picnic, but like everything else, it has it's moments.

A lot of fun and obviously a labor of love. Well written and an easy read.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recently stayed at a fantastic B&B in Washington State that has me thinking about a future life owning my own B&B, so of course I'm reading everything I can get my hands on to learn more. This memoir was written by a former journalist, which makes several spelling errors not only distracting but also truly egregious (e.g. compliment instead of complement, one of my pet peeves). She also exhibits a certain amount of harshness towards neighbors and guests that seems surprising for someone in the business of pleasing people. It's unclear how much of her story is relevant to what I may want to do in the future but it was a quick read and gave me some things to think about. I'm pretty sure that I won't be owning a resort like theirs, though.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Years ago we considered purchasing a northwoods campground. Kind of glad now that we didn't. Still this sounds like somewhat of a dream life. Hoping to visit their resort next year.

[Theodore Raser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an article about Sandy Point Resort in Discgolfer magazine a few years back. The book was mentioned in the article and I tracked down a copy. I only recently took it off the shelf and read it. A lot of the book was about the pitfalls of owning and running a small resort. It would have been interesting to learn more about how they built the disc golf course but the book was interesting and I enjoyed it. Over 20 years have passed since the book was published, and I only wish an expanded updated version were available.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about living a dream.