Salem may be a geographical neighbor to the City of Roanoke, Virginia, but they are very much separate cities with separate identities. Salem is a college town (Roanoke College) with a small town feeling. It has a beautiful downtown where you can get a great meal at one of the many restaurants or purchase your own fixin's at the Farmer's Market. Plus, the larger shopping opportunities in Roanoke are just minutes away. Affordable Corporate Suites of Salem has a unique history. It sits on what was once the largest amusement park in the region, Lakeside. There are still small pieces of the wooden roller coaster visible. There is shopping conveniently located and a golf driving range next door (so bring your clubs!). Our fully furnished suites include all utilities, HDTV with HBO and DVD player, phone service and free high-speed Internet. Weekly housekeeping provides your towels and linens. The separate bedroom has a queen-sized pillow-top bed and large closet. The kitchen has dishes and full-sized appliances.

There are laundry facilities on site. All locations are smoke free. Refest Bobo of Tallahassee, FL: "This is my second stay with Affordable Corporate Suites and both locations, Salem and Overland Drive management was fantastic. This trip was over the July 4th holiday and traffic was horrible. I was traveling with my 8 year old granddaughter and had reservations for Friday and Saturday night. Due to traffic issues, we could not make it on Friday and did not make it until Saturday afternoon. I was afraid to drive over the mountains on Interstate 81 so late at night so we had to spend the night in North Carolina with relatives. I told Jean this just to let her know but not expecting her to not charge for the reservation like most chains would have done. I will use Affordable Corporate Suites the next time I am in town. I was not able to get by the office and Jean  took my credit card information over the phone after my stay and had arrived back at home. It was like staying with a relative.

I love Affordable Corporate Suites and the employees that work there are wonderful!!!” Robin S., from Hillsborough, NC: This hotel is my go-to place to stay whenever I am in the Roanoke/Salem area! The rooms are neat, quiet, well appointed, and Debbie ensures everyone is happy with their room. She is also the person to go to for finding places to eat, things to do, and unusual places to visit in the area. I return almost every year and wouldn't miss an opportunity to stay here. Leilani from New York says, "We were very satisfied with the apartment location and staff. Would definitely stay here again." John Heitz, from Delray Beach FL: “My wife and I stayed at the Salem location for a month. Debbie made our stay very comfortable. She is very customer oriented. We will definitely stay there on our next visit to Roanoke and will recommend your hotel to others.” Bill from North Carolina says, "Always enjoy our stay!" More than just a room - everything you need to be productive or just kick back and relax.

Apple Picking Time is Here!CHICAGO — The 56th installment of a series in which artists send in a photo and a description of their workspace. Want to take part? Submit your studio — just check out the submission guidelines. Affectionately referred to by a friend as the “scriptorium,” my studio is a small room in my bungalow. Tires For Honda S90I work off my father-in-law’s drawing table (from the 1920s or 1930s), surrounded by cherished objects and images of inspiration. Venetian Blinds HkWith pencil in hand and music on my iPod, I blast out of the boundaries of this space and into a realm of artistic transcendence.Where To Buy Hotel Quality Blackout Curtains Pinned to the wall are my inspirations: Mahatma Gandhi, Joris Hoefnagel, Jan van Eyck, Johannes Vermeer, Albrecht Durer, Hieronymus Bosch, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Dirk Bouts, Petrus Christus, Master of Flemalle, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Quentin Massys, Hans Holbein the Younger, Vincent van Gogh, Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt van Rijn, mascara de la dualidad (Tlatilco, Estado de Mexico), the Book of Kells

, Tinariwen, The Incredible String Band, Micky Mantle, Kiki Smith, Arthur Dove, Peter Fonda as Captain America, John Singleton Copley, “Dikika” Australopithecus afarensis, Matazo Kayama, Maruyama Okyo, Giuseppe Penone, Jesse Clark, Harry Smith, Simen Johan, George Caleb Bingham, Lucian Freud with baby fox, NRBQ, Gautama Buddha, Jane Rosen, Homer the Cat, Carlos Estrada-Vega, William Willis, Randy Exon’s painting class 1982, William Morris, Matsubayashi Keigetsu, Van Morrison, George Harrison, Rick Danko, Brian Wilson, and Sufjan Stevens. My studio is the basement of a rented house. The space is small and the ceiling is low. There’s a toilet and a sink under the staircase, so I don’t have to leave much. Time and space is shifted between two-dimensional and three-dimensional work, on the floor, at the table or on the walls. I have a 6ft x 7ft and a 6ft x 9ft wall, so that often determines the size of the largest work (up to 5ft x 9 ft). I live where I work so I can work all the time.

Each piece is developed gradually. I work flat on paper, mylar, or unstretched canvas to be rolled up, and all sculptures are made to be dismantled. Everything is stored in the attic until exhibited. My influence is my hometown, my region, and daily life, and it’s all right outside of the studio door. My studio is located in a very busy part of Manhattan, but it is set back from the street just enough to make it a wonderful and relatively quiet cocoon. For me, it is perfect for working, reading and hopefully thinking. It is not very large as studios go. It is what is referred to in New York City as an “alcove one bedroom apartment,” but there is space for me to paint on large canvases and still have a few separate areas for other projects. This includes room for a large monitor for my work on digital photographs and photo-collages. What my studio lacks in space, it makes up for in time. It is one flight below where I live which makes it possible for me to come and go without a second thought.

This photograph shows a little of my homemade wall-sized easel on the far wall and a corner of a painting in progress. My worktable and painting materials are on the left. I founded the art-o-mat® project  in 1997. Most of the machines that I have converted and have been created in this corner of my garage studio. The large work table and a lawn mower were the only things in this basement when I bought the house. It is now very full and dirty. The vise and power strip are pretty much used daily. Illy cans hold various vending parts that are either new or raided from machines that have been scrapped. Tools are housed in an old vending machine that has been gutted and repurposed into a locker. The dull green wedge-shaped thing sitting on the floor is called a “butt box.” This was given to me by my neighbor who retired from Bell South (the phone company). These boxes were used by technicians who worked on the “whatever they are called” locker things on the side of the road.

Phone repair techs would sit on these boxes for easy access to their tools, wires, parts, etc, and the box served as a seat. In the background there is a mid 90s Arctic Racer ski video game that players drive with their feet. The TV (monitor) is also wired for cable. When not virtually skiing, I enjoy watching (aka: listening to as background noise while working) Globe Trekker, antenna TV, X-games type stuff, or Football. I normally only look up when something exciting happens. My studio is located in the old Alexander Smith Carpet Mill, an expansive historic landmark building just north of the Bronx, where I live. It truly is a great space to work in, with huge windows that let in this amazing light all day long. The wood floors are always covered with scraps of paper. The walls are lined with outdated books, album covers, boxes of found paper, magazine clippings, etc., that I use to construct my collages. There is always this amazing flow of energy that allows me to be focused and inspired.