Living in LoCo correspondent Val Cavalheri writes about the South Riding neighborhood and has this dispatch - from out of her area - for us today.

Inside the main building of Notaviva Vineyards (Photo by Rachael Dickson)

This past Saturday, when HGTV aired the first installment of this season’s “Dream House,” Shannon Mackey could only watch by covering her eyes and peeking through her fingers.

“I was terrified,” Mackey said.

That’s because for eight weeks starting last Saturday, she, her husband Stephen and their Notaviva Vineyards are the focus of the cable reality show. Knowing that reality shows are all about the editing process, she was concerned about how they would be portrayed to a national television audience.

Instead of inviting friends and family and having a “watch party,” the Mackeys, their children and Stephen’s mom gathered around the TV set at 7 a.m. prepared for the worst. (Yes, the show airs at 7 a.m. – so that people headed to Home Depot can get a little inspiration before hitting the store.)

Turns out, they had nothing to worry about. From the moment host Jose Marrero announced their names to the previews for the next episode, they found themselves enjoying every minute of the show.

“The things we were talking about on the series have come about,” Shannon said. “We are now living that dream.”

Even more surprising to her, however, was the range of emotions she experienced watching the more personal segments of the first episode, which was filmed between April and July 2006. In particular, seeing her son Tristan as an infant, and the shock of finding out she was pregnant, forcing Stephen to have to do it all: his day job as an event planner, running the vineyard and building a house.

Today, the Mackeys run a new business called Mesh Multimedia out of their home, while also overseeing the vineyard. Their master bedroom is still not fully finished, and they still need to search for an additional water source.

However, their hard work and appearance on the show have brought unexpected results: Notaviva Vineyards has been selected as a finalist in two categories in this year’s Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce Premier Small Business Awards. And on Sunday, the publicity of the show prompted a man to surprise his wife and bring her to the winery.

“She had seen the show and flipped out when they walked in. It was wild,” Shannon said.

“We are traditionally very private people - who happen to have had hundreds of people come to our house and who are being featured in a national TV show,” Shannon added. “Obviously, I know how it turns out, yet I’m looking forward to the next episode to see what’s going to happen.”

Did you watch the show? Let us know your impressions below.

RELATED STORY: Oct. 1, 2008 - Building of Notaviva Documented in HGTV's 'Dream House' Series