10/02/2026
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and each year I pause to reflect on my own journey.
For over seven years, I have been living with advanced breast cancer. Through a series of hormone and targeted therapies, my cancer has remained controlled, without significant progression beyond the disease present at my original diagnosis. During those years, I have been blessed to continue living an active, productive life and doing the things that matter to me.
As I begin my seventh year, I am now on a new treatment regimen that is working well to control the cancer. Like many cancer treatments, however, it comes with its own challenges. One of the side effects of my current medication is its effect on the way my body regulates glucose, so blood-sugar monitoring has become a new part of my daily routine.
Because the effect on my glucose levels can be unpredictable, even planning an ordinary day has become more challenging. I may feel perfectly well one moment and then need to stop, check my glucose, eat something, or adjust my plans the next.
That kind of uncertainty does not fit easily with the way Holly House has operated for the past fourteen years, especially with the demands of early-morning breakfast service and the responsibility of being fully available to guests.
For that reason, Holly House is not simply closing its doors. Rather, we are changing the way the business functions and allowing some of its parts to move in new directions. The traditional full-service bed-and-breakfast model may be winding down, but Holly House itself is not disappearing.
We are exploring a simpler lodging model while also making room for several other parts of Holly House to grow.
Pretty Prism’s Boutique is a place to choose from a curated collection of accessories, small treasures, and distinctive finds, then combine them into a personal gift designed to brighten someone’s day.
Sunshine Line is my curated clothing line, inspired by my own journey through treatment and by the difference comfortable clothing can make when simply getting through the day takes effort. The collection features garments made only from non-synthetic fibers, chosen with comfort, ease, and dignity in mind.
Couch to Chic is our easy-wear clothing collection, carefully selected from garments I have found, built around a simple idea: in three easy steps, you can go from sitting comfortably on the couch to being ready to step out in public.
Benevolent Vessels is our ministry of encouragement, and its beginning is very personal to me.
During one of the more difficult health seasons of my life, as I was preparing to face six weeks of radiation treatments twice a day, my youngest daughter, Holly, brought me a box. On the outside it said, “No words, just hugs.” When I opened it, another message waited inside: “Life is tough, but so are you.”
Inside were simple gifts of comfort — a soft shawl, a tea bag, a beautiful mug, a candle, and other little things chosen simply to make a hard day feel gentler. None of them were extravagant, but together they carried a powerful message: Someone loves me. Someone is thinking about me. Someone cares.
That feeling stayed with me and became the inspiration for Benevolent Vessels — thoughtfully assembled gifts meant to carry that same message to someone else who may be facing illness, grief, loneliness, celebration, or simply a difficult season.
And yes, you will still be able to stay at Holly House. Reservations can still be made by calling Don directly, or through Expedia or Booking.com. The difference is that Judy will no longer be serving the traditional full breakfast course by course.
Instead, guests will have use of our newly renovated guest kitchen, where they can prepare breakfast at their own pace. Homemade muffins or another baked treat, coffee, juices, and fresh fruit will be available, while guests have the freedom to enjoy breakfast when and how they wish.
Guests will still be welcome to enjoy the spaces that make Holly House feel like Holly House — our music parlor, library, dining room, Pool Table Liberty Room, and porches. And, of course, Don and Judy will still be here to welcome you.
In many ways, this feels less like an ending and more like a redirection. The goal is to preserve what has always mattered most about Holly House — hospitality, creativity, service, and care for others — while allowing the way those things are expressed to change with this new season of life.
The hospitality remains. The morning routine is simply becoming a little more flexible for all of us.
