Let’sGetGetGetTogetherTogetherYou’re Invited to Join 18 of

Tallahassee’s Top Singles AtopHotel Duval for Flirtation

and a Charity Date Auction

When Preston scott talks, tallahassee is listening

BaBy, they’ve got FireWorks

go outside and Play — and cook something, too

WEDDINGS 2011for Brides,

It’s ALL ABOUt tHE

DEstInAtIOn in our neW Weddings section!

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3501 THOMASVILLE ROAD • 850-893-4171 • www.gemcollection.com

Where TallahasseeGets Engaged!

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July/August 2011

82 Preston scottTallahassee’s most popular morning talk radio show host has a passion for community, faith, family — and doing the right thing.

88 Meet our 2011 toP singlesEighteen of the area’s most eligible singles are dressed up and ready to pair up for their favorite charitable causes at the hottest event of the summer.

155 Medical ProfilesLocal doctors share their specialties and the philosophies of their practices in this special advertising section.

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on tHe coVer ryan Dungey and Jill chandler contemplate the laws of attraction before this year’s Tallahassee Top Singles event, set for Saturday, July 16 at hotel Duval. Photo by Scott holstein

118WeddingsThree local couples share stories of their courtship and wedding days. PLUS: A special advertising section to help you plan the ultimate northwest Florida destination wedding.

contents

11442

In Every Issue 13 From the Publisher 15 From the Editor 16 Letters to the Editor 178 The Last Word

Quick Reads19 one to WatcHbe on the lookout for William Lamb’s natural designs.

20 fYiDowntown landmark hotel gets a new life as a Sheraton.

22 gen neXtoverweight can mean early puberty for young girls.

24 lifestYlecool sandals for summer’s warm weather.

150

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56 calendarLooking for some hot fun in the summertime? Look here!

64 social studiesPlaces to go, things to do … and here are the people to see.

Home & Garden149 cHecK it outceiling fans bring a “wind chill” to rooms using less electricity.

150 HaBitathow to create a lawn that will have neighbors green with envy.

Mind & Body159 in focusSkin care: it’s not just for women anymore.

160 HealtHAll about fat. And it’s not all bad news.

Dining165 first courseGive your body what it’s craving this season: a cold drink.

166 flaVorEnjoy a great meal in the great outdoors.

171 dining guideEateries around town, offering everything from a quick nosh to a sumptuous meal.

165

»248 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

Departments26 editor’s cHoiceFireworks aficionados have a blast in Monticello.

32 on tHe MoVeLeon Sinks is a great place to get back to nature.

38 giVing BacKThe Sharing Tree gives new life to our castaways.

42 PersonalitYFor decades, Sylvia ochs has brought verve and commitment to high-profile community projects.

48 HistoricitYin frontier days, yellow fever was the scourge of Tallahassee.

114 traVelExploring the natural beauty of Spain’s Andalusia region.

Events55 sPotligHtEnjoy a night of music and activities at the Swamp Stomp.

T a l l a h a s s e e 9

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10 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

PuBlIsHER Brian E. Rowland

EDItoR Rosanne Dunkelberger

DEsIGnER Saige Roberts

staff WRItER Jason Dehart

ContRIButInG WRItERs Lisa Carey, Gibby Conrad, Florence Snyder, Jack Macalevy, Lisa Fingeroot, Laz Aleman, Virginia Newman, Lilly Rockwell

staff PHotoGRaPHER Scott Holstein

EDItoRIal IntERns Brittany Barriner, Holly Brooks, Carson Demont, Alexia McKay, Terrika Mitchell, Bianca Salvant, Desiree Stennett, Janeen Talbott

tRaffIC CooRDInatoRs Lisa Sostre

salEs ExECutIvEs Lori Magee, Linda Powell, Chuck Simpson

onlInE tallahasseemagazine.com twitter.com/tallahasseemag facebook.com/tallahasseemag

PREsIDEnt Brian E. Rowland

DIRECtoR of Tim Fordyce PuBlIsHInG oPERatIons

CREatIvE DIRECtoR Lawrence Davidson

PRoDuCtIon DIRECtoR Melinda Lanigan

DIRECtoR of Linda Kleindienst EDItoRIal sERvICEs

ManaGER of fInanCE Angela Cundiff HR/aDMInIstRatIon

ManaGER of Daniel Parisi IntEGRatED salEs

aDMInIstRatoR of McKenzie Burleigh salEs anD EvEnts

ClIEnt sERvICE Caroline Conway REPREsEntatIvE

assIstant Saige Roberts CREatIvE DIRECtoR

GRaPHIC DEsIGnERs Marc Thomas, Daniel Vitter

MaGazInE aD BuIlDER Patrick Patterson

tRaffIC CooRDInatoR Lisa Sostre

RECEPtIonIst Amy Lewis

nEtWoRk aDMInIstRatoR Daniel Vitter

WEB sItE rowlandpublishing.com

July–august 2011 Vol. 33, No. 4

Tallahassee Magazine is published bimonthly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. 850/878-0554. Tallahassee Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not respon-sible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. Tallahassee Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright July 2011 Tallahassee Magazine, Inc. All rights re-served. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Partners of Visit Tallahassee and Member, Greater Talla-hassee Chamber of Commerce and Florida Magazine Association.

Subscribe online at tallahasseemagazine.com or purchase Tallahassee Magazine at Borders

Books, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Books-A-Million, Walgreens and at our Miccosukee Road office.

Proud member Florida Magazine Association

one-year SubScription $30 (Six iSSueS) (850) 878-0554

Don’t wait�—�purchase your tickets now!Last year’s event was a sell out and thisyear’s event is benefi ting 18 diff erent charities.

Tickets are $45 and include:Two drink coupons, heavy hors d’oeuvres and automatic entry to win a 3-day/2-night coastal getaway and complimentary use of a 2011 BMW 3 Series convertible from Capital Eurocars to drive there in style. Visit TallahasseeTopSingles.com for more information. And singles aren’t the only ones having fun, couples are invited too. Come support your single friends and their favorite charities!

Make sure to check out our 2011 Top Singles in this issue of Tallahassee Magazine: pg 88

PRESENTED BY PLASTIC SURGERY OF NORTH FLORIDA

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS TODAY AT TALLAHASSEETOPSINGLES.COM

July 16, 2011 | 6pm | Hotel Duval

P R E S E N T E D B Y

S P O N S O R E D B Y

The HOTTEST charity event of the summer!

11TM_JA_Top Singles 2011 1 6/22/11 9:47:19 AM

12 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

PERFECT FITFinding the

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Specializing in: On-site developer

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1953 Thomasville Road, Suite 101

850.325.1681NaumannGroup.com

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T a l l a h a s s e e 13

From the PublisherPh

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This time last year, all one heard was never-ending doom and gloom over the oil gushing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well and how it was affecting the beaches and wildlife along the Gulf Coast, including Northwest Florida.

Turning on the TV, one would see the same oil-coated bird over and over again — along with constant commentary about the oil heading toward the beaches and the expected tainting of the seafood supply.

In the end, other than a slight dusting of oil on the far western edges of the coast, Florida was mostly unaffected by the oil itself. Yet the perception that Florida’s beaches were covered with tar balls caused the bottom to fall out of our tourism-based economy. Phones rang off the hook with summer cancellations of resort and charter boat bookings and billions of dollars were lost during what is considered “the season” for our region.

By the end of summer, many coastal community businesses that directly relied on the tourism industry for their survival were destroyed or suffered major economic setbacks. And a trickle-down effect impacted many other businesses throughout Northwest Florida. While Tallahassee’s not exactly coastal, tourism is Florida’s No. 1 industry — a blow to the coast is a blow here and throughout the entire state.

The good news is BP has stepped up in a big way over the past year, pouring billions into the region’s economic and environmental recovery efforts. I have seen firsthand that it is working.

Spring Break was strong this year and many resorts are posting double-digit increases over their projections for summer reservations. Clearly, the public wants to come to Emerald Coast beaches to relax and escape from their everyday stresses.

But now we’re facing another media onslaught. Not over the oil threatening our beaches, but by high gas prices. A recent New York Times article proclaimed skyrocketing gas prices would prevent Americans from their annual ritual of loading

up the family for a summer vacation. The same theme has been repeatedly echoed in other publications and on TV.

Here we go again. The majority of tourists who visit our region in the summer drive here — and the last thing we need is another damper on what appears to be a recovering economy.

Instead of inducing fear in American families that a driving vacation will plummet them into bankruptcy, can we take a moment and put this into perspective?

Let’s do a little math. For an example, let’s take a family that lives 750 miles from Northwest Florida’s beaches or our beautiful capital city. If they drive a car that gets 15 miles per gallon, they would use 100 gallons for a roundtrip.

In the summer of 2010, retail gas prices hovered around $2.76 a gallon. For 100 gallons, the cost would be $276. In the summer of 2011, the price for a gallon is now predicted to

hit close to $4. For 100 gallons, the tab would be $400.The difference: $124. For a weeklong vacation, that amounts

to $17.71 a day.Is that really going to keep the average American family at

home, shuddering in fear under their beds? I don’t think so. If the budget is tight, eating a modest-priced dinner or lunch would even it out. Or buy one less T-shirt for each kid.

It’s unfortunate national media attention focuses so much on the negative when Americans, more than ever, need to hear some good news and be encouraged to become part of our nation’s — and our region’s — economic recovery.

The message I’d like to see? It’s time to go on a summer vacation. Get away from it all, even for a little while. Refresh your spirit and give your neighbors a little economic boost.

Brian Rowland, Publisher

Here they Go again

PERFECT FITFinding the

is what we do best!

Specializing in: On-site developer

sales and marketing Bulk Sales Commercial Real Estate Residential sales

1953 Thomasville Road, Suite 101

850.325.1681NaumannGroup.com

11TM_JA_NaumanGroupAD.indd 1 6/9/11 10:54:05 AM

14 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

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T a l l a h a s s e e 15

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From the Editor

from Dates to MatesThere’s a certain ebb and flow to everyone’s social

life. Depending on your age, you might be going to lots of graduations, or kids’ birthday parties, or football games or baby showers.

Of course, the whopper of all social events is the wedding, and when we’re in our 20s and 30s, they’re happening all the time. I went through a long dry spell once all my friends and relatives married off, but the pace is picking back up. I’ve been invited to three weddings so far this year because my peers’ children are getting to be of marriageable age. Make that four — weren’t we all invited to the Royal Wedding?

I do love a wedding. Always have. My mother was on the older end of a very large family, with siblings who were 10 to 15 years younger. Consequently, during an impressionable age, I was pretty much constantly going to weddings and their attendant festivities. I vividly remember with great fondness the decorations, chicken salad-stuffed creampuffs and other party foods, bouquet tossings, hairstyles (lots of teasing, curls and hairspray in that era) and the beautiful dresses.

Of course, I spent an inordinate amount of hours dreaming of my special day and, I have to admit, my wedding is definitely in the Top 5 Best Days of My Life. Now, I spend an inordinate amount of hours dreaming of my daughter’s wedding day. While there’s currently no groom on her horizon, she’s happy to let me contemplate whatever color schemes, floral arrangements and doo-dads I like — as long as I’m willing to pay for them.

I always look forward to the July/August issue, so I can read about and see the beautiful photos from the weddings of local brides and grooms. It’s so much fun to see how much care and attention to detail is lavished on these affairs. And all the different ways a couple gets to “I do” — from a fun New Year’s Eve bash to a family affair in the country, an elegant beach wedding to a service full of meaning and a reception touched with a little “Wizard of Oz” whimsy.

Every love story that ends in a wedding has to begin somewhere — and we’re hoping to play a little Cupid with our second batch of 18 Tallahassee Top Singles for 2011. The ladies and gentlemen featured in this issue are looking for a mate — well, at least a date — at a special event at the Hotel Duval set for July 16. A date auction is part of the festivities, so if a special someone catches your eye, be sure to join us and make a bid. It’s all in good fun and the auction proceeds will be donated to the charity of our single’s choice.

Hope to see you there.

Rosanne Dunkelbergerrdunkelberger@rowlandpublishing.com

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16 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

Letters to the Editor

We Made a Mistake …

In the “One to Watch” page of the May/June issue, Kathy Baughman-McLeod was incorrectly identified as an attorney. She leads the Public Policy Consulting group for the Bryant Miller Olive law firm, but is not an attorney.

… But she likes us aNyWayThank you for the wonderful feature in the May/June issue of Tallahassee Maga-zine! It was spot-on and beautifully laid out. I am so pleased to be in such a high-quality, well-written and thoughtful publi-cation that is such a nice reflection of our community.

BEST REGARDS,KATHY BAuGHMAN-MCLEOD

tulip trot success

This note is to acknowledge your generous contribution by publishing an article and picture in Tallahassee Magazine (“un-til There’s a Cure,” May/June 2011) for the North Florida Parkinson’s Awareness Group. Thanks to you, the May 14, 2011, second Tulip Trot was even more suc-cessful. We will continue our mission of raising awareness and education for those challenged by Parkinson’s Disease.

JANICE PEDLER

NeW Bus routiNg WoN’t iMproVe serVice

In the last issue of Tallahassee Magazine, the director of StarMetro stated that the Nova 2010 routing system would enable bus rid-ers to reach their destinations with fewer transfers than they currently must make. If you were to talk with current StarMetro customers, they would tell you it still hasn’t been proven to their satisfaction that actual trip times will decrease under Nova 2010. The time sitting on the bus(es) may be shorter, but overall transit time — including probable longer walks to/from each end of the bus ride(s), as well as an often uncertain waiting time at transfer point(s) since bus-es will not be held to ensure connections. StarMetro has traditionally maintained good adherence to schedules. Riders could depend on making their appointments for work, school and medical care because they knew the times the buses should arrive.

Bus riders will therefore be forced to spend additional time walking and chang-ing buses on streets that are “more than twice as dangerous as the national aver-age” as described in the study entitled “Dangerous by Design.”

JOHN PLESCOW

T a l l a h a s s e e 17

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t a l l a h a s s e e 19

It all began with a child’s watercolor tray and the desire to impress his girlfriend. Tallahassee artist William Lamb copied a Winslow Homer picture of a waterscape to create a gift for his wife-to-be, Margaret. Nearly 20 years later, and after a lot of “piddlin’ with water colors and acrylics,” Lamb says, “that original piece is the only thing I will never sell.”

These days he’s piddlin’ with a lot more. Out of a passion for art and the desire for a simpler lifestyle, Lamb created WM. Lamb & Son, a company that offers distinctly Southern home items, fine art and outerwear. “My

work grew from and reflects simple moments from a Southern family’s past: riding on your grandfather’s tractor or hunting with your dad on a painfully cold morning,” Lamb explains.

Reproductions of those poignant moments proved popular on printed T-shirts. Regional retailers began successfully selling Lamb’s garments last year. And Lamb, who has a background in finance management, quickly realized growth was possible.

Expanding to homewares was like “getting off the road and finding my own covey of quail.” Dinnerware has a Spode-meets-

Thomasville-plantation feel and features oak trees, quail and bird dogs. Fabrics, suitable for upholstery, lampshades and clothing, include several hunt-scene toiles and a cheeky camouflage pattern composed of game fowl in flight. “At a recent wildlife expo, people went crazy for the china and fabrics,” shares Lamb.

Lamb’s philosophy is not to let the world determine how he lives, but to express how we live in the South to the world. “Our Motto is ‘Wear it. Live it,’ ” says Lamb. “I’m selling a lifestyle.” — Lisa Carey

One tO watch » William lamb

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QUICK READS people | items | places

20 J u l y – a u g u s t 2 0 1 1

QUICK READS fyi

F or 43 years, it has loomed over the intersection of tennessee Street and Martin luther King boulevard, 12 stories tall with a distinctive de-

sign that makes it a local landmark. While it has gone through several owners

and recently fell on hard times, the building most commonly known throughout the years as the “Round holiday inn” is about to be re-born as a new Four Points by Sheraton hotel.

After a multimillion-dollar renovation to be completed by the end of 2011, operators say the building will go beyond being a place for tourists to stay while seeing the local sights and become an area attraction as tallahassee’s first hotel to be nationally leeD certified as environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

the certification works on a rating sys-tem and is a guarantee from the U.S. Green building council’s leadership in energy and environmental Design (leeD) program that the building meets, and its operators imple-ment, green design, construction, operations and maintenance.

leeD certification for existing buildings ex-amines many issues, including whole-building cleaning and maintenance and the use of chemicals, recycling programs, exterior main-tenance programs and systems upgrades, ac-cording to the council’s website. the number of leeD-certified hotels in Florida was not available, but the state estimates less than

700 hotels in the state carry some kind of environmentally friendly designation.

When completed, the hotel will feature green building materials such as renewable flooring in cork, teak or bamboo and will showcase filtered water stations around the property where guests can fill up drinking con-tainers to reduce the use of plastic bottles. the hotel will even have bicycles on site so guests can pedal around town while sightsee-ing instead of using their cars, reduce carbon emissions and make the “already beautiful tallahassee an even better place to live,” said General Manager bo Schmitz.

hotel officials also plan for a “stylish bis-tro” and full-service bar on the premises to become hot tallahassee night spots but aren’t yet ready to unveil their plans for that space, Schmitz said recently. house-made pastries will be featured in a separate coffee bar.

the building will have a Presidential Suite, 10 other suites, 164 guest rooms, 7,100 square feet of meeting and event space, property-wide complimentary wireless internet access, a fully equipped 24-hour fitness center and a year-round pool with regulation lap lanes.

originally scheduled to open during the summer, company officials want the “fin-ished product to be high quality” and have pushed back the grand opening to ensure quality standards, Schmitz said. because the project is still in the works, the actual cost

of the renovation has not been determined, he added.

About 60 employees will be needed to get the hotel up and running, but Schmitz esti-mates he will need an additional 40 within six months of opening.

the owner, Union hotel company tallahassee RllP, also owns hotels in Grand Rapids, Mich., and boulder, colo., cities with similar demographics and similar business potential created by colleges and state gov-ernment, Schmitz said. the company has been successful with renovation projects in the past, and choosing to renovate an exist-ing building here is just another part of the company’s green philosophy. the project was recently called “a great example of a success-ful conversion property that is incorporating leading-edge green standards into its opera-tions” in a hotel industry publication.

Schmitz, who recently moved to tallahassee, has nearly 20 years of hotel management experience that includes the overseeing of the hyatt Place company’s first leeD- certified property.

Joining him is Director of Sales cheryl hatcher. Formerly chief sales and marketing of-ficer for the Kentucky Department of tourism, she led that department’s initiative to market Kentucky as a travel destination. She plans to use her experience to increase the number of visitors to downtown tallahassee.

Hello, Green SheratonThe ‘Round Holiday Inn’ Gets New Life as an Environmentally Friendly Hotel By Lisa Fingeroot

blueprint for success New owners predict an Earth-friendly

sensibility and upgraded amenities will revive a Tallahassee landmark.

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W hile first lady Michelle obama’s cam-paign against childhood obesity has drawn national attention to the links between childhood weight and heart

disease, diabetes and cancer in adults, a more immediate effect noticed by doctors and nutritionists hasn’t garnered quite as much publicity.

the higher percentage of body fat found in girls today is considered to be the leading cause of girls entering puberty earlier than ever before.

“Fat is a hormonally active substance,” said Dr. larry Deeb, a tallahassee pediatric endocrinologist for more than 30 years. “People think it (fat) just lays there on the body” but it isn’t a harmless material.

in the early 1900s, “a mother would have had a stroke” if her 9-year-old daughter had started menstruating, Deeb said. over time, the average age of menstruation dropped from 18 to about 12 and then stayed constant from the 1940s to the 1980s, when it began to creep down again.

As the average age dropped, the stan-dard became weight-related, with the av-erage girl starting menstruation at about 100 pounds. the newest and most cur-rent standard for the onset of puberty is between 9 and 12 years old.

Some evidence suggests boys also are starting the years-long process of puberty at an earlier age, but they don’t seem to move through the process as quickly as girls. boys also do not seem to be as affected by weight, and at least one recent study suggests they may react in completely opposite ways — the onset of puberty may be slowed in overweight boys.

Deeb believes the hormones responsible for triggering puberty in girls are more susceptible to the effects of fat than those responsible for the same maturation in boys.

the body is not used to the quantity of carbohydrates, fats and proteins American children eat every day, said barbara Goldstein, a Wic (Women, infant and children) program nutrition educator at the leon county health Department. Goldstein, who works with many pregnant teenagers, puts the blame for the earlier onset of puberty squarely on the shoulders of obesity.

Goldstein suspects some of her 15-year-old clients may be the societal results of early physical maturity, and there is some evidence to back up that suspicion by showing a link between the early onset of puberty and earlier sexual activity. Some studies also indicate girls are more sexually promiscuous when they develop earlier than their peers.

More documented research is needed before Deeb will

speculate whether behav-ioral risks are greater among those who be-gin puberty earlier. “We will only know the an-swer to this (and also to whether these girls will have a higher rate of breast cancer) when they are all grown,” he said. “We would only be speculating.”

Deeb does, however, point out what every par-ent knows — physical maturity does not guar-antee emotional maturity. “being mature just makes you mature, it doesn’t mean you act mature,” he said.

Parents need to under-stand the difference between the early onset of puberty, which could mean the begin-ning of breast development or the growth of pubic hair, and actual “early puberty,” which is a rare medical condition called “Precocious Puberty,” tallahassee pediatrician Dr. barbara Demby Abrams said. Precocious Puberty is full-blown puberty in a child under 8 and is usually caused by the child’s internal clock malfunctioning. Victims are usually treated to make puberty stop until a more appropriate age and, in tallahassee, these children are usually referred to Deeb, who specializes in their treatment.

While Deeb can’t help much if a par-ent walks into his office with a 140-pound 7-year-old begin-ning to show the early signs of puberty, he suggests avoid-ing that possibility by starting kids early on a healthy diet and exercise. “there is not an American alive who does not know what healthy eating is,” he said. “certainly the right answer from the get-go is to be active and run and play.”

Goldstein suggests checking out websites like choosemy-plate.gov, where the USDA nutrition guide can be found as well as other nutritional information, or obama’s letsmove.gov, where parents can find more information on raising healthy children.

Experts Blame Obesity for Early Puberty in Today’s Young Girls By Lisa Fingeroot

QUICK READS generation next

“Being mature

just makes

you mature,

it doesn’t mean

you act mature.”

— Dr. Larry Deeb

Too Grown, Too Soon

t a l l a h a s s e e 23

11TM_JA_CentennialBank.indd 1 6/15/11 10:13:35 AM

QUICK READS lifestyle

Show Your Toes

Go up, up and away in these espadrilles with a high rope

wedge by Hot Gossip. $44 Cole Couture

You’ll walk like an Egyptian in these beaded sandals with the tiniest of wood wedges by

daniblack. $185 Narcissus

These unique flat sandals are made entirely of gold chains and would look equally as smashing with a flowing maxi dress or

cutoff jeans shorts. $49.99 Divas & Devils House of Style

Stephen bonnano has the perfect casual sandal for you because they’re made to order after you pick the style, leather and lacing colors,

and heel type. $125 The Grey Fox

Your best foot is fashion-forward in Viviana leather strap wedges by daniblack. $182

Narcissus

These rope-sole canvas wedges are TOmS’ take on a casual summer classic.

and when you buy them, TOmS gives a pair of shoes to a child in need. $66 Cole Couture

inspired by the ’70s, these wood-platform shoes

work well with bell-bottomed jeans or a cute floral mini. $59.99 Divas

& Devils House of Style

24 J u l y – a u g u s t 2 0 1 1

It’s the time of year for your tootsies to declare their independence from confining footwear and appear in all their glory. Whether you choose casual flat sandals or sky-high platforms, you’re going to want to make sure your feet and toenails are in tip-top shape when they’re on display this summer. the polish trends for the season are pale shades of pink, lavender and sage from oPi’s Pirates of the caribbean collection, says tammy nguyen, owner of Millenium nail and Day Spa. then, paint your toes with different shades of Shatter, a topcoat that gives your polish a crackled look. — Rosanne Dunkelberger

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Isolated in a sparsely wooded field off a barely discernable trail, the small windowless cement shed with white-stenciled lettering on its red-painted steel door clearly warned of

explosive materials inside.In the midday sun, three serious-mind-

ed individuals worked quietly and rap-idly, extracting boxes of brown-packaged combustible materials from the shed’s dim interior and carefully loading them onto the bed of a pickup truck for trans-port. The three were intent on delivering the materials to a nearby staging area, visible through the trees on an adjacent field. Here, small groups of men worked diligently, digging narrow trenches, wiring firing mechanisms and putting into place mortars, rockets and blast shields, prepar-ing for the coming engagement.

Not military recruits, would-be terror-ists or battleground re-enactors, these are amateur and professional fireworks aficio-nados, preparing for the staging of a grand finale display. Members of the statewide Florida Pyrotechnic Arts Guild (FPAG), these individuals have been gathering nearly every fall for the last 20 years in a remote farm near the Leon County line in Jefferson County for three days of fun, learning, product demonstrations, business deals, friendly competitions and spectacu-lar fireworks displays.

Participants will tell you the annual gathering — equal parts festival, business meeting and trade show — affords them an opportunity to indulge their love of pyrotechnics: handcrafting and setting off fireworks; meeting and exchanging ideas with like-minded people, some of whom

are masters in the field; acquiring new skills and techniques in the art of fireworks-making; learning about the latest products and innovations in the industry; and get-ting to see some of the best firework dis-plays anywhere.

And it all takes place in a remote, bu-colic country setting where city lights don’t mar the night skies, the explosions don’t disturb neighbors and participants are free to pitch their tents or park their RVs and camp out.

Although the three-day gathering in Monticello is nowhere near as large, old or well-known as the weeklong conven-tion that the Pyrotechnics Guild Inter-national Inc. holds each summer in the northern states, it’s not uncommon for the Monticello gathering to draw hundreds of fireworks lovers and their families from

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Editor’s Choice

Pyrotechnicians Gather to Put the ‘Wow’ in Your Fourth of July Fireworks By Lazaro aLeman

PAinting the night sky

t A l l A h A s s e e 27

around Florida, other states and even oth-er countries. And the event accounts for hundreds of thousands of dollars in busi-ness transactions and showcases some of the field’s cutting edge designs, techniques and technologies.

The pyrotechnics industry has its origins in ancient China (when a cook combined charcoal, sulphur and saltpeter to create gunpowder), and in 2009 alone generated $945 million in revenues in the United States, according to the American Pyro-technics Association. With passionate ad-herents worldwide, practitioners of the art add sparkle and pizzazz to everything from birthdays and wedding parties, to indoor rock concerts, amusement park shows and outdoor celebrations such as the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve.

At the Monticello event, one is likely to encounter notable industry figures such as Tom DeWillie, a pioneer of indoor pyro-technics and founder of Luna Tech, which once provided the special stage effects for such music acts as The Animals, Ted Nugent, Pink Floyd, Kiss and other rock bands; Jim Widmann, inventor and manu-facturer of a computerized shell pasting machine that may well revolutionize the process; and Tom Rebenklau, renowned in the industry as a rocketry wizard. Not to mention countless fireworks manufactur-ers, retailers, suppliers, industry regulators and enthusiasts from all walks of life.

Convention attendees will tell you they are learners at heart and that their creations are largely labors of love. Indeed, they will dedicate innumerable hours designing and fashioning fireworks that, if the devices per-form according to plan, will have a lifespan of minutes at best and bring them no reward other than the “wows” of the audience and the joy of knowing that they did it.

How many hours exactly? Rebenklau, who modestly describes himself as a hob-byist, but whom everyone else acknowl-edges as a master in the field of rocketry, smiled. He estimated he had spent ap-proximately 300 hours on the rocket dis-play that he was even then fine-tuning for Saturday evening’s grand finale. And what was its life’s expectancy?

“It should last about seven minutes, if all goes according to plan,” Rebenklau said.

COOKING UP FIREWORKS W.O. Bullock hand packs paper cylinders and balls using different “recipes” to create impressive displays.

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Artists in their own right, fireworks operators aim to awe and entertain with their artistry, which in their case takes the form of spectacular, choreographed bursts of lights, colors and sounds, played out against the backdrop of a night sky.

We’re talking symphonic explosions and brilliant pulses of multicolored lights that in turn set off whistling streaks, shooting stars, glittering sparkles, spinning wheels, crisscrossing streamers, cascading water-falls of fire and other stunning audio-vi-sual effects that elicit appreciative “oohs” and “ahs” from audiences. The names of the effects are descriptive in themselves: peony, chrysanthemum, dahlia, willow, palm, spider, fish, horsetail and time rain, among others.

The true art, however, lies in the tim-ing of the fuse-induced explosions and how the aerial shells and rockets break and spread their contents — actions pre-determined by the pyrotechnicians, based on the arrangements and combinations of chemicals and metals, such as oxidiz-ers, reducing and coloring agents, bind-ers, regulators and more — that they mix into each “star” or clump that goes into a cylindrical or spherical shell. The mixture not only gives each display its unique sig-nature, it also gives the entire enterprise an element of danger, which can result in dire consequences if the ingredients are mis-handled, and which explains the govern-ment’s heavy regulation of the industry, especially post 9/11.

But mix the ingredients just right (many of the formulas are closely guarded se-crets, not unlike family cooking recipes), and the result can be quite satisfying au-dio-visual feasts.

Pyrotechnicians are not unlike the alche-mists of old, except that where the latter failed to convert base metals into gold,

“We could be given identical amounts of ingredients and formulas and, like in cooking, we would still derive different effects.” — W.O. Bullock

t A l l A h A s s e e 29

pyrotechnicians generally succeed at tak-ing common everyday items such as cane, paper and strings and transforming them into results that are quite stunning and mesmerizing.

W.O. Bullock is just such an artist, as well as being a licensed pyrotechnics manufacturer and the man who hosts the FPAG fall conventions on his family’s 150-acre farm in rural Jefferson County. Be-cause Bullock is a licensed manufacturer, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives, which regulates the indus-try, permits the activity on his property.

Besides being building inspector for Monticello and Jefferson County, Bull-ock is owner/operator of Pyro Works, a Monticello-based pyrotechnics company that annually stages Monticello’s highly rated Fourth of July fireworks show and also produces shows in other north Florida communities and as far away as the Carib-bean on occasions.

Like most pyrotechnics enthusiasts, Bullock’s fascination with fireworks dates from boyhood, when his father bought him his first firecrackers and sparklers. A traditionalist, as Bullock calls himself, he likes to make his gunpowder from scratch and hand manufacture his cylindrical and spherical aerial shells (which he produces in halves), using the papier-mâché meth-od of layering one application of paper over another until the desired thickness is achieved. Extremely time-consuming and methodic as this process is — it can take weeks to make a single shell — Bullock says he finds the exercise personally sat-isfying and somewhat therapeutic, like a form of meditation.

Before sealing the halves together, Bull-ock will pack each shell with the appro-priate mix of gunpowder, chemicals and metals, using for his measurements and combinations either a personal or an in-dustry-standard formula that is supposed to assure the desired audio/visual effect. Although many formulas are secret, partic-ularly among the bigger companies, a lot of the information gets shared nowadays, especially given the nature of the Internet. Even so, the results tend to be unique.

“We could be given identical amounts of ingredients and formulas and, like in cook-ing, we would still derive different effects,” Bullock says.

He calls pyrotechnics an evolving field, and one that has certainly come far from its humble origins. Indeed, it’s that evolu-tion and the endless possibilities of effects,

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in combination with the constant innova-tions in the industry, that keeps pyrotech-nicians’ interest lively as they strive to de-velop new products and effects that define them personally or score big in the indus-try — or, at best, do both.

As in other fields, it’s often the case that hobbyists contribute the innovations be-cause they are willing to experiment, Bull-ock says. Unfortunately, it is also often the case that hobbyists don’t document their experiments, which means the results can’t always be readily duplicated.

Bullock says he is, at heart, an enter-tainer.

“I find pyrotechnics mystifying,” he says. “It’s something I enjoy doing, and I also enjoy other people seeing the fireworks and being mesmerized by them. That audi-ence feeling is conveyed to me. It’s like a singer doing a performance and getting a standing ovation. If it’s done right, every-body applauds, and you know it.”

He will also tell you that, not unlike many a stage performer, he gets deathly ill with nerves right before each show. True, he depends on a host of trained volunteers to assist him with the setup and the firing of the fireworks (the preparations alone can take a good day or more for a 30-min-ute display), but he ultimately answers for the show, good or bad, he says. And once the fireworks start, there is no calling back a mistake or doing a retake if something goes awry. At best, he may have seconds to react and correct a potential mishap, by manually overriding a particular segment in the series of preplanned and sequential firings that he controls via wires from a re-mote switchboard.

In terms of safety and error elimination, the electrical firing system he currently em-ploys is vastly superior to the old-fashioned method of individually igniting the fire-works by hand, Bullock explains. His hope, however, is eventually to be able to upgrade to a computerized firing system. Not only do computerized systems assure almost flawless performances, they also afford the fireworks operators the luxury of being able to sit back and enjoy their own shows.

For sheer spectacular state-of-the-art fireworks displays and cutting edge de-velopments, few shows can top the FPAG grand finales, where some of the best pro-fessionals in the field compete to impress and outdo each other.

A little girl at last fall’s grand finale show possibly best summed up the display: “Mama, it’s a fairyland.” n

Editor’s Choice

t A l l A h A s s e e 31Dentist Offi ce

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Remember when you were a kid, sitting on the couch on Saturday morning “glued” to the TV? Mom would come in and say, “Turn that

off and go outside and play. It’s nice out.” Reluctant to leave the cartoons, you’d let

out a deep sigh, drag yourself off the couch and go get on your bike. Though you hat-ed to admit it, Mom was right. It was nice outside. You probably didn’t come back inside until she called you for supper.

It’s still nice outside, but today we have even more distractions to keep us from

going outside to play. Statistics show the average American spends 90 percent of his or her life indoors. Hard to believe, but if you think about how we live our modern lives, you realize how true it is. We eat, sleep, work and play in climate-con-trolled environments. Our busy lives and

go outside And PlAyUnplug From the Electronics and Enjoy a Hike at Leon Sinks By GiBBy Conrad

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On The Move

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electronic distractions combine to isolate us from the natural world and make it easy to forget we are an integral part of it.

One of the advantages of living in Tal-lahassee is the abundance and diversity of publicly held lands surrounding us. Many unique and beautiful places are just a short drive from town and can be experienced in a morning or an afternoon.

A good example is the Leon Sinks site on Highway 319 (Crawfordville Highway) about five miles south of town. How many times have you driven past that little brown sign and wondered what was back there? What’s back there is a unique and beautiful North Florida wilderness area and a great place to spend a few hours outside.

The Leon Sinks Geological Area is part of the Apalachicola National Forrest. The site contains 4.7 miles of hiking trails that wind through tupelo swamps, mixed hard-wood forests and pine/wiregrass sandhills. But the main attraction is the 18 wet and dry sinkholes found along the trails. Sink-holes are formed when rain and groundwa-ter dissolve the limestone bedrock, causing the surface layer to collapse and form a hole or depression in the ground. The lime-stone bedrock beneath Leon Sinks is part of the 450-square-mile Woodville Karst Plain, which contains numerous sinks, springs and underground cave systems.

When you arrive at the Leon Sinks site you’ll find an honor box at the gate for the $3 entrance fee. Restrooms and an infor-mation kiosk are located at the trailhead. The trails, which form a circle through the property are for hiking only (no bikes), but dogs are allowed on a leash. The Cross-over Trail allows you to choose a shorter hike and still make a circle. The longer route is just over four miles. All trails are well marked with signage and color blazes painted on the trees. While there is some elevation change, overall it is an easy hike.

Going counterclockwise from the trailhead, you will start out on the Gum Swamp Trail. The first sink is the Gopher Hole, named for the gopher tortoise bur-rows that can be seen on the property. This sink resembles a cave rather than a depression in the ground. Continuing on,

TaKE a HIKE Leon Sinks offers short and longer trails where it’s possible for beginner naturalists to see several sinkholes, as well as a variety of wildlife and flora.

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On The Move

the trail goes through three marked tupelo gum swamps. These swamps are dominat-ed by tupelo trees, but there are a few bald cypresses with their buttressed bases and knees. Leaving the swamps behind, the trail starts to rise and the plants change to pines and saw palmettos. Pines dominate at the site, but there are a wide variety of

hardwoods, too. Deer tracks are numer-ous on the trails and, if you are lucky, you might spot the animals.

At the point where all three trails inter-sect on the west side of the property, there are a series of interconnected geologic features. Fisher Creek flows north to a point where it disappears into a sink, flows

under a natural bridge, then re-emerges briefly only to disappear for good at Lost Stream Sink. This spot is definitely one of the highlights of the hike.

From this point, if continuing on the longer route, you will be on the Sinkhole Trail and the topography changes to pine and wiregrass sandhills. As the trail starts

Proper Shoes

Insect Repellant

Water Bottle

Sun Protection

What to Take Proper Shoes A good pair of shoes is your most important equipment

investment. You don’t go for a five-mile hike in the woods wearing flip-flops. A good pair of walking shoes will work, but a pair of waterproof hiking boots or shoes is better. It’s not unusual to walk through some wet ground. Start out with shorter hikes and work your way up. This will give you — and your new shoes — a chance to get broken in.

Water Bottle Florida is hot and it’s easy to get dehydrated. Bring along a bottle of water and sip on it throughout the hike. Be realistic about how much water you will need. You want to have enough, but you probably aren’t going to want to carry a gallon of water around.

Insect Repellant Mosquitoes, gnats and biting flies can ruin an outdoor activity. Be prepared by carrying a repellant with you. You will hear all kinds of home remedies for keeping the bugs away like Skin So Soft or rubbing yourself with dryer sheets, but the most effective repellants are the ones that have a high DEET content. This stuff is probably not very good for your health, so don’t slather it on before you leave. Bring it with you and use it if bugs become a problem.

Sun Protection The sun can be brutal. Evaluate your exposure and prepare accordingly. If you are going to the beach or out on the water, you’ll have a higher exposure than a winter hike in the woods. Sunscreen is a must, and a wide-brimmed hat also helps.

These are the essentials, but there are other things that can heighten your experience, such as a pair of binoculars, a camera, a shell (rain jacket), a guidebook and a GPS. When you have this much stuff, you need a good daypack to carry it in — and then you have to carry the pack.

Don’t go out and buy a bunch of gadgets. Start out simple and put your pack together when you decide what you want. Remember, the important thing is to get outside and have a good time.

Sturdy Pack

Getting StartedIf you’re new to natural pursuits, you might have questions and concerns about how to prepare for an enjoyable experience outdoors. The easiest way to get started is to just go out and take a walk. Hiking in North Florida doesn’t require mountain climbing skills, you won’t have to know how to survive in a snow cave or worry about being eaten by some large predator. Here’s some advice on how to make your hike more enjoyable:

There are two common areas of concern when someone is first getting involved in outdoor activities — getting lost and encountering wild animals. While both things should be addressed, they’re not something to be overly concerned about.

Most trails in Florida’s park system are well-marked and easy to follow. Maps of the trails are available at the ranger stations and sometimes at the trailheads. If you are still unsure, look for guided hikes. Many parks offer ranger-guided hikes and there are more and more private eco-tour guides available for hire. A guided hike not only offers assurance, but also a wealth of knowledge that will enhance your experience. Another thing to consider is a handheld GPS. But your best defense against getting lost is just paying attention to your surroundings.

In spite of our isolated modern lives, many of us still have a deep-seated fear of wild animals. However, the animals to be most concerned with in North Florida are insects, not alligators, bears or even snakes. While there is an abundance of wildlife in the Northwest Florida region, you’ll learn that spotting animals is a treat, not a threat. The thing to remember in all wildlife encounters is to view from a distance and don’t be stupid. Most wild animals don’t want anything to do with humans.

As you spend more time exploring the natural areas you will become more and more comfortable. You may find that you are most interested in birds or wildflowers or trees or even reptiles. You might get involved in cycling or kayaking or photography. Or you might be content with just taking a walk and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of nature. Now that you have the basics, pick a park and get started. — Gibby Conrad

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11TM_JA_ThomasvilleTownie.indd 1 6/2/11 12:17:25 PM

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On The Move

to descend, the next feature is Magnolia Sink, surrounded by its namesake trees. Big Dismal Sink has an observation platform that extends out over its dramatic 130-foot depths and its steep, shaded banks support a wide diversity of plant species. Ham-mock Sink is located near the end of the trail. The water in this sink changes from an incredible clear blue/green to brown at different times.

Leon Sinks is just one of many oppor-tunities for Tallahassee residents to get out and spend some time reconnecting to the natural world.

The Lake Jackson Mounds site on the north side of town has a trail that goes through a very unusual miniature ravine ecosystem. Wakulla Springs has a number of trails in addition to the spring and river. The St. Marks Wildlife Refuge offers miles and miles of trails and an abundance of wildlife to observe.

These are just a few of the state and fed-eral lands available to us, waiting to be ex-plored. Keep in mind when you are visiting that it’s not a race to see how quickly you can finish. Slow down and use all of your senses to fully appreciate the experience. Use your eyes to notice the details. Stop and listen to the birds and the wind in the trees and take a deep breath of fresh air. If you are really engaged in the experience, you’ll find yourself wondering about the things surrounding you: What kind of bird was that? Why is this water so dark? What kind of plant is that and why does it grow here? When you start asking these questions and seeking the answers, you’ll have a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the environment we’re all a part of.

Leave all the electronic distractions be-hind for a few hours — you can do it. The world will be there when you get back. Go outside and play; you’ll be glad you did. n

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HammOCK SINK This is one of the sinkholes you find when hiking Leon Sinks, this one is known for its color-changing waters.

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Giving Back

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. While the third “R” of sustainable living gets the lion’s share of our green-oriented attention, the second is the raison d’etre

for The Sharing Tree, the area’s year-old reusable resource center.

Housed in a small building tucked in the farthest corner of Lively Technical Center, the community-wide effort that was years in the making collects our castoffs and gives them a chance at a second life.

Originally created to help supply teachers with materials they could use in the class-room, everyone is now invited to visit and “dig a little” for its “gems and treasures.” Those are the words of Carly Sinnadurai, The Sharing Tree’s executive director and lone employee, who is also an artist and passionate advocate for creative reuse.

“I grew up in Minneapolis, and we had a reusable resource center there,” said Sin-nadurai, who worked at that center as well as one in San Francisco, before coming to study at Florida State University. “We’d go once a week and fill up our bags with all this crazy, random stuff. My mom might have hated it, but we didn’t care, and we’d make stuff.”

All of the products offered at The Sharing Tree are donated by individuals, local busi-nesses and governmental organizations. Some are what one might expect to find — books, paper, school supplies and binders (lots of binders, so many in so many sizes that they’re usually given away for free) — while other objects, such as a giant roll of lingerie hook-and-eye closures, require a little imagination as to their reuse.

Debbie Mayewski, who teaches spe-cial needs students at Chaires Elementary,

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‘R’ is foR ReuseCastaways Get a New Life at The Sharing Tree By rosanne dunkeLBerGer

scooped up a pile of paper fans on sticks. With the application of glitter and gem-stones and the words “Mom’s Biggest Fan,” they would be reincarnated by the young-sters as bedazzled Mother’s Day gifts.

On an earlier visit, Mayewski nabbed some cardboard that could be folded into what looked like miniature pizza boxes. The children made paper pizzas, she said, put on their favorite toppings and used the slices to study fractions.

“I bring stuff here, and I take it away,” she said. “I love this place, and I’m usually at my limit every month.”

All local teachers can shop and take $20 worth of supplies for free each month. Since The Sharing Tree opened in August 2010, it has served more than 2,500 teach-ers and given away more than $150,000 worth of free stuff.

In the beginning, the facility was only for teachers. “It kind of broke my heart,

t A l l A h A s s e e 39

I had to say ‘no’ to a lot of people,” Sin-nadurai said. But since earlier this year, the general public can buy an annual member-ship — ranging in price from $15 to $100 — and shop at will, taking advantage of special incentives and events such as “Bag It Up,” where shoppers can fill a recyclable shopping bag for $5.

Sinnadurai also envisions The Sharing Tree sponsoring “workshops on how to make stuff out of pretty much nothing. What you’d normally consider trash.”

The Sharing Tree is a cooperative ef-fort of four local organizations: Leon County Schools, Goodwill Industries of the Big Bend, Leon County and Sustain-able Tallahassee.

The school system donates the building and utilities, while Goodwill agreed to pay Sinnadurai’s salary for the first year.

While a certain amount of serendipity was involved in its creation — many of its original proponents were networked and served on a recycling committee together — The Sharing Tree also owes its existence to their tenacity. Initial plans to create a countywide reuse center fell through when the economy tanked but were revived when the school system worked out its deal with Goodwill.

“It’s been cool (but) it hasn’t been a cinch,” said Bill Berlow, formerly an edi-torial writer for the Tallahassee Democrat and now policy coordinator at Leon Coun-ty Schools, who has worked on the project since its inception. Much of The Sharing Tree’s success, he said, can be credited to Sinnadurai, who he describes as “artistic, passionate and funny.” Donations flooded in on her first day on the job from FSU, which had been saving supplies; the De-partment of Revenue, which donated fur-niture after moving its office to the new SouthWood facility; and Goodwill.

“People came expecting a dank, dark warehouse. She turned a building in dis-repair that really hadn’t been used, except for storage, into a store,” he said. “If there was ever a perfect candidate for a job, she was it.”

While her inventory is ever-changing and unpredictable, Sinnadurai manages to

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Giving Back

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Shopping Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon–6 p.m.; Second Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Space is limited at the facility, so before donating large quantities or large items, such as furniture, call Sinnadurai at (850) 487-7568 or email her at carly@thesharingtreefl.org.

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Want to Donate?The items below are just a few of the things that can be reused by The Sharing Tree. For a more complete list, visit the store’s website. Donations can be dropped off at The Sharing Tree or at any Goodwill donation center (specify that the donation is for The Sharing Tree).

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t A l l A h A s s e e 41

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maintain order, with art and school sup-plies in one bright room (featuring sug-gested art projects using repurposed water bottles and paper towel rolls), another full of books and a third with office supplies, including brand new bubble envelopes and stacks of dot matrix printer paper (“Great for practicing handwriting,” the sign says.)

A huge boost came from Tallahasseean Courtney Glazer, who, after closing her scrapbooking store in Jacksonville, donat-ed leftover products, a copier and scanner, store fixtures and a sophisticated point-of-sale register system to The Sharing Tree.

Glazer had heard of a similar reuse cen-ter in Jacksonville, but was keen to keep her donation close to home. “I found out they were trying to do this here in Talla-hassee, and I was excited to donate,” she said. The gift filled two trucks (donated by a local carpet company) and was worth about $35,000.

The ultimate goal is for The Sharing Tree to become self sustaining — hence the membership fees as well as fundraising projects such as a celebrity waiter event in the spring. It’s future isn’t a done deal, but Berlow said he is hopeful. “We’re not just serving teachers anymore. It’s a great com-munity asset,” he said. “Everybody gets how good this is on so many levels.” n

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Personality

Sitting on the sun porch of her expansive home overlooking Lake Jackson, Sylvia Ochs has time now to reflect on a lifetime of amazing achievement.

She looks out on a vista that has calmed her through the years while she was in charge of so many diverse programs, people began to describe her as “the woman who can do anything.” She has blazed a trail of “firsts” in everything from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital galas to Fourth of July celebrations to the Maclay Gardens Pops in the Park to the Red Hills Horse Trials to the Tallahassee Performing Arts Center.

A workaholic of diverse talents and

enormous energy, Ochs (whose name is pronounced “oaks,” like the tree) says she is on a self-assigned “sabbatical” now. She’s taking a deep breath after all the last-ing legacies she has helped to found.

But those who know her best say she has never considered her many achievements to be burdensome, anyway. Instead, she approaches everything with her signature sense of humor and copious amounts of joie de vivre because she feels, “if it’s not fun it’s simply not worth doing.”

A woman of diverse talents and inter-ests, Ochs is known for her ability to bring people together — her imaginative sense of adventure and her determined devotion to

organizations and programs have made a lasting difference to the local community. No matter how big the program or the goal, when doors of opportunity appeared, she had the vision to open them.

“There is nothing she can’t do,” said her longtime friend, community leader Gayle Nelson. And the tall, slender Ochs lives up to her reputation. She is a pilot and former operating-room nurse. She has a beautiful singing voice and plays the piano, violin and French horn. She is a terrific tennis player and a gourmet cook. And she is a highly skilled accounting expert who has guided dozens of organizations to fiscal efficiency.

Prominent civic leader Paula Smith said

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‘AlwAys theRe when you need heR’Sylvia Ochs Leaves a Lasting Legacy By VirGinia newman

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she and Ochs have joined forces on several important community programs. Both pre-viously served on the original board of di-rectors of the proposed Florida Center for Performing Arts and Education and a long list of Junior League of Tallahassee activi-ties (both are former League presidents). “Sylvia is someone I can always depend on for her good advice, knowledge, experi-ence, complete thoroughness and dedica-tion to the task at hand,” said Smith.

Echoing the general feeling that Ochs can do anything she sets out to do, Smith said, “It would be hard to find a single phrase to describe her many talents. On a personal note, Sylvia and Gayle planned and di-rected our daughter Jennifer’s wedding and reception. It was all perfectly gorgeous.”

Tallahassee’s Volunteer of the Year in 1981, Ochs has lavished her time and skills on many groups. She has raised mil-lions of dollars for civic projects, having been on the front lines of the campaign to build a new public library, the creation of Maclay Gardens Pops in the Garden and Moon Over Maclay fundraisers, and the move of Tallahassee’s 4th of July Celebrate America from tiny Lake Ella to its incarna-tion as a Tom Brown Park extravaganza. Her interests have included the Tallahas-see Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Civic Ballet, Florida Heritage Foundation, Monticello Opera House, Tallahassee Mu-seum of History and Natural Sciences and LeMoyne Foundation.

Although the hats in life that Ochs has worn are many, her love for horses has been a constant thread woven through most of those years.

Today, her name has become synonymous with the Red Hills Horse Trials (RHHT), which she and Sallie Ausley organized in 1998. The two have combined work and wits for decades, dating back to when their daughters were in the Tallahassee branch of the U.S. Pony Clubs, Inc., and they shared hauling a horse trailer to far-flung road ad-ventures on horse show weekends.

“Sylvia is the most organized, hard-working person you will ever meet,” says

‘ImPaTIENT aND IRREvERENT’ Now on “sabbatical,” for decades Sylvia Ochs combined a fun-loving style with hard work to launch community projects such as Red Hills Horse Trials.

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Ausley. “But she makes everything so much fun, you don’t mind the work.”

The Red Hills Horse Trials, a project that was to join them at the hip and con-sume their lives for the next 10 years, came about “like a lightning bolt out of the blue,” Ochs recalled. “Sallie and I heard that Tallahassee ecologist and horse en-thusiast Colin Phipps was building a cross country course on his property called ‘The Farm’ off Meridian Road. He had asked Captain Mark Phillips (Chef d’Equipe and Technical Advisor for the United States Equestrian Team and a former member of Great Britain’s Olympic team) to design it and Scotland’s Hugh Lochore to build it.

“Sallie and I had a lot of experience with horse trials, and we thought this was a great opportunity to establish a quality event in Tallahassee,” said Ochs. “Colin was very re-ceptive, and Sallie and I began to twist every arm, bend every ear and look in every nook and cranny to find financial support.”

It took about two years for everything to be in place for the first RHHT in 1998. Since its inception, it has become one of the premier equestrian eventing competitions in the United States. Held annually on the beautiful grounds of Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park in northeast Tallahassee off Merid-ian road, riders from 11 countries and 28 states competed in the prestigious United States Equestrian Association (USEA) Ad-equan Gold Cup event this year, including Olympic competitors.

Named for the sloping terrain and rich red earth of the region, the Red Hills com-munity embraces this nationally recognized event with support from more than 400 volunteers. “Each year, we literally build a city in a few weeks,” Ochs observed. “We must lay out the course for four dressage rings, the stadium jumping and cross coun-try course, stabling, the ‘Red Hills Avenue of Shops’, ‘Saddlers’ Row’, the food court, and a variety of exhibits, educational dem-onstrations and park and botanical tours. It’s a huge undertaking, but we put it all up and take it all down in a remarkably short time.”

More than 25,000 spectators come out to enjoy the competition of the top riders. “We initially feared we would be seen as a little elitist,” Ochs said. “But we haven’t seen that in the people who come. I continue to be overwhelmed by the number of people who come out who aren’t horse people.”

Red Hills Horse Trials gives back to the community, donating $325,000 to its char-itable beneficiaries, Elinor Klapp-Phipps

Personality

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Park and the Tall Timbers Research Foun-dation, Inc., over the years.

Ochs and Ausley were volunteers the entire time they spearheaded RHHT, ac-cepting no salaries for their fulltime work. When they resigned from their posts with the organization in 2006, a staff had to be hired to replace them.

Although she no longer rides and she has “retired” from day-to-day operations of RHHT, she still pitches in to help as needed. “I can’t seem to say no,” she says. “I love being around horses.”

Although none ride horses today, all of her now-adult children liked to ride grow-ing up and were active participants in the Tallahassee branch of the Pony Club. Her daughter, Lisa Perry, has carried on her mother’s traditional love for horses by cur-rently serving as RHHT Event Administra-tor, a title that covers anything and every-thing to do with the organization’s opera-tions. Her other grown children are Karla Newton, who now lives in Jacksonville, and George, a podiatrist in Albuquerque, N.M.

Perry says of her mother, “She’s a fabu-lous lady and a great role model, always there when you need her. And both of us enjoy living in the same community with lots of the same interests.”

Ochs taught a generation of Tallahas-see youngsters the basics of horse care and safety as a Pony Club instructor, and the family became regular riders at the late Arvah Hopkins’ Double D Stables on Miccosukee Road. She rose through

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“We initially feared we would be seen as a little elitist. But we haven’t seen that in the people who come. I continue to be overwhelmed by the number of people who come out who aren’t horse people.” — Sylvia Ochs

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the echelons of Pony Club to eventually become a member of the organization’s national board of directors.

But those activities weren’t all for kids. She gets a mischievous grin on her face when she remembers that early on she taught an adult class of prominent super-achievers at Double D. All Scorpios, the women had been celebrating their birthdays together for years, and one year they decided they wanted Ochs to teach them to ride.

The group included women who are now considered her lifelong friends: Nel-son, then a Leon County commissioner; Mary Pankowski, then Florida State Uni-versity assistant vice president for aca-demic affairs and director of the Center for Professional Development; FSU sociology professor Pat Martin; and Margaret Lynn Duggar, then Florida Department of Aging and Adult Services Secretary.

After months of lessons, Duggar fell off her horse during a jump session. “Get right back on,” Ochs commanded, and Duggar meekly complied. That night, though, Duggar learned that her arm had actually been broken. The accident inter-rupted the routine of the classes, and they never resumed.

Born in Walton, N.Y., Ochs graduated with honors from New York University’s Bellevue School of Nursing. She moved to Tallahassee in 1969 with her husband, Dr. David Ochs. Later divorced, after many years she went back to Walton to take care of her elderly parents and reconnect-ed with an old schoolmate who still lived there, Peter Murphy. They were married, and Murphy, an electrical engineer, moved to Tallahassee and became associated with the National High Magnetic Field Labora-tory (Mag Lab). He died in 2005.

After her mother died, she brought her dad back to Tallahassee to live with her. Now he also is deceased, but he taught her to fly airplanes, and that became just one of her skills in reaching great heights in so many aspects of her life.

A friend summed up this woman of de-termination and imagination by saying, “Impatient and irreverent, Sylvia is a role model for the rest of us. She invites people to not only think outside of the box, but to tear it apart, repurpose it into some-thing fabulous and stand on it to reach for the stars. She’s equally as comfortable working the nitty-gritty as she is in a lead-ership position.” n

Personality

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Historicity

Elizabeth Andrews’ obituary in the Tallahassee Floridian paints a sympathetic portrait of just one of perhaps hun-dreds who died in and around

Tallahassee during a frightful outbreak of yellow fever in the summer of 1841.

Wife of former Floridian editor Samuel S. Sibley, Andrews was 34 when the fever took her that year, just days after the fam-ily moved to Port. St. Joe.

The Aug. 7 edition of the paper de-scribed it this way: “Removed from her kind relatives and friends, and deprived of that medical skill, so essential in this des-perate disease, she fell a prey to its ravages, and was hurried away from the scene of her earthly happiness, leaving a husband and two children to grieve over their sad and irreparable loss.”

Unfortunately, even when available, medical skill couldn’t always save someone in the throes of the often-deadly disease. There’s no cure for it even today — just prevention and treatment of symptoms. Thanks to modern science, we’ve learned how the disease is carried and transmitted, which has allowed countless lives to be saved in the United States.

However, back in 19th century America, theories of disease and how people got sick were very primitive. There was no under-standing of the role played by microscopic viruses and parasites in the transmission of disease. Illnesses — especially malaria — were often blamed on the fumes of decomposing organic matter rising out of nearby marshes, swamps and filthy fron-tier streets. These “poisonous” vapors had many names, such as miasma or noxious effluvia, and they seeped out — especially at night — to wreak havoc on unsuspect-ing townsfolk careless enough to leave a window open.

Everything from cholera to malaria and even the Black Death were supposedly caused by these mysterious, evil vapors.

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‘unhAPPy weeds And deAth’Yellow Fever Was the Scourge of Tallahassee and Surrounding Towns in 1841 By Jason dehart

Cold air and warm temperatures were also said to be unhealthy. People kept covered up to prevent these vapors and “bad airs” from invading the body and upsetting their internal “humours.”

In this climate of incorrect knowledge, it’s not surprising that warm and humid Southern towns surrounded by “un-healthy” swampland would be considered bad places to live or visit. Tallahassee was no exception.

“Sometime early in its history, Talla-hassee acquired a reputation of being an unhealthy town set down in the midst of an unhealthy countryside,” reported his-torian Bertram H. Groene in his 1971 book, “Ante-bellum Tallahassee.” Groene wrote, “This was not unusual; for most of the frontier towns in the South, especially those near the coast, were subject to peri-odic outbreaks of malaria and the dreaded yellow fever.”

t A l l A h A s s e e 49

In June 1832, Martha Bradford of the Pine Hills Plantation (located a few miles outside Tallahassee) received a letter from her cousin in North Carolina telling her in no uncertain terms that unless Tallahassee “proves healthier than it has done lately I shall not be very anxious to move … . When we move I would prefer a healthy country to a rich and sickly one.”

This criticism seemed justified at the time, because just a year before, in 1831, a serious epidemic of what could have been yellow fever hit Tallahassee. The editor of the local newspaper dismissed the incident as “greatly exaggerated” and estimated the mortality rate “at about one in 60 per-sons,” Groene said. That statistic amounts to a death rate of 16 in a city of less than 1,000 residents, he estimated.

Yellow fever was an ancient disease even in the 19th century and not just a problem for small Southern towns. Notable out-breaks happened in Philadelphia in 1699, 1741, 1762 and 1793. Ships coming from the West Indies often carried the disease to the Americas, but scientists struggled to find its root cause, and it was believed to be contagious.

Today we know that’s not the case. It’s a virus transmitted to humans by the bite of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and not by human-to-human contact. But back then all of that was a mystery. It wasn’t until after the Spanish-American War that the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission proved conclusively that Aedes aegypti was the “vector,” or organism, that trans-mitted the disease (the Army’s work was based on an earlier hypothesis by Cuban doctor and scientist Carlos Finlay).

What wasn’t a mystery were the symp-toms, which could be terrifying. The virus ran in one or two phases. In the first phase, symptoms featured chills, fever, headache, severe backache and weakness, accompa-nied by nausea. Then, the symptoms sub-side and, in some cases, the patient recov-ers. But in 15 percent of cases, yellow fever patients enter a second, often lethal, phase. After a brief remission, the fever returns with a vengeance, the liver is damaged and the skin and eyes turn yellow. Then the vic-tim starts vomiting a vile, black substance

YEllOW JaCK With no cure and no understanding of how the disease was transmitted at the time, yellow fever was depicted as a monster ravening Florida in this 1873 etching.

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resembling used coffee grounds — giving it the nickname “the Black Vomit.” Finally, blood issues from the mouth, eyes and nose. The patient enters a coma, which is followed by death.

Yellow fever didn’t discriminate. The French naturalist Comte de Castelnau vis-ited Tallahassee in the winter of 1837–38. According to Groene, the Count wrote, “No one can be certain of escaping the plague, not even the planter who settled in the country long years before, nor the ne-gro born in the malarial regions of Caroli-na or under the burning sun of Georgia.”

Groene said Castelnau “cast a wary eye at what he considered the rather large size of the Tallahassee country’s cemeteries” and warned his readers not to let the area’s beauty lure them into coming here. He felt that the danger of disease was not worth the risk.

Summer of DeathCastelnau’s assessment of Tallahassee’s vul-nerability was prophetic. In June and early July of 1841, the disease “descended upon the capital in all of its virulent fury,” Groene wrote. It first appeared in Port St. Joe and then hit Apalachicola, “a summer resort for many Tallahasseans.” It spread to St. Marks, then over to the town of Port Leon, which was later wiped out by a hurricane.

Once the “Black Vomit” manifested in Tallahassee (population 1,600), it exacted a terrible toll on notable members of the community. Former Gov. Robert Ray-mond Reid died on July 1, followed by his 22-year-old daughter, Rosalie, her daugh-ter, and Gen. John Graham, who was Reid’s son-in-law, a West Point graduate and adjutant general of Florida.

Florida’s militia quartermaster, Col. John B. Collins, died in Port Leon. Isham G. Searcy, former postmaster and early settler, died as well as merchant James Moore and Eliza Betton. The sickness also claimed the popular Rev. Philo Phelps, pas-tor of the Presbyterian church, as well as the entire family of Robert Wellford. Rich-ard Wellford, one of the family’s three sons lost, had served as aide to Gov. Richard Keith Call during the Florida War. In one of the early battles he volunteered to carry dispatches across a river under heavy fire and was promoted for his heroism. Gov. Call himself would come down with the fever in ’41, but he recovered.

Author Julianne Hare wrote in “Talla-hassee: A Capital City History” that more than 150 people died that August. However, the Old City Cemetery’s website states that

Historicity

t A l l A h A s s e e 51

between 230 and 400 people perished in the 1841 epidemic. The high number of deaths caused the city to establish a new grid system to more efficiently administer the burials.

“Tallahassee had always escaped epi-demics, but there were few places to hide in 1841,” she wrote.

In 1879, the “Annual Report of the Na-tional Board of Health” recorded the ef-fects of the disease as it ravaged the local towns. Of the strain that impacted Talla-hassee, the report stated, “It spread rapidly and was quite fatal. Number of cases not ascertained. Number of deaths between 60 and 80 but some of these are believed to have been due to congestive malarial fever … many refugees left the place in conse-quence of the epidemic, and several of them had the fever; but they did not com-municate it in any instance to the people with whom they found asylum.”

The report goes on to say there were about 200 cases of the fever in Apalachico-la, at the time a bustling city of 2,500. “The town was new, many buildings were going up, there was much misc. filth, a number of ponds in the town had been filled up. There was much malarial sickness,” it stated. “Yellow fever was brought first to St. Jo-seph by a fruit vessel from the West Indies, and subsequently, about the 1st of July, to Apalachicola. There were about 200 cases; number of deaths, not stated.”

Groene said that by November the fever was over and Tallahassee started to get back to “normal.” But, he said, “What had brought on the disaster no one knew.” Some supported the theory that “forsaken backyards and sideways all covered with rank growth” sent out deadly yellow fever fumes.

Other theories hit closer to the truth without really realizing it. Some believed the disease had entered through the nearby port cities as a contagious disease, but no solid connections were made. Residents rationalized that the key to survival was cleaner air and unspoiled land. This belief led to the creation of the Bel Air commu-nity, “a suburb of the capital built in the open piney woods about three miles south of the Capitol on the road to St. Marks,” Groene said. After the 1841 outbreak, Bel Air became a refuge. The elite of Tallahas-see went there during the hottest months of the year in the belief that the open and re-freshing pinewoods afforded a relief from the town’s “unhappy weeds and death.”

Bel Air continued to be a popular luxury retreat for wealthy Tallahassee residents

52 J u l y – A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

until the Civil War reduced them to pov-erty and left them unable to afford it. The community was abandoned.

Primitive ‘CureS’ no helPIn the first half of the 19th century there were only a handful of truly effective med-icines available to fight disease. Medical thought at the time was rooted in classical beliefs that relied on highly toxic purgative “medicines” and bleeding to remove poi-sons from the body. But some truly useful drugs were available such as opium, qui-nine, castor oil and sodium bicarbonate. Opium and morphine were used, of course, to control pain. Quinine made from the bark of the South American cinchona tree was used to combat malarial afflictions and other fevers, castor oil relieved consti-pation and sodium bicarbonate was useful then, as now, as an antacid.

In response to yellow fever, however, physicians threw everything they had at the disease to combat its symptoms — in-cluding kitchen spices.

“Treatment for yellow fever was hope-lessly primitive,” Groene wrote. “Hot wa-ter and cayenne pepper applied to the feet and legs was a typical remedy.”

Other remedies might use harsh mercu-ry-based laxatives, blistering agents, bleed-ing and mega-doses of opium, wine, bran-dy and quinine. All were of no avail.

“Unfortunately, such harsh therapies did more harm than good and by the end of the 19th century they were for the most part discredited and replaced by ‘gentle’ remedies such as hot mustard foot baths, bed rest, crushed ice and lemonade, cool sponging and good nursing care,” wrote Theodore B. VanItallie, in a book review published in the Florida Historical Quar-terly in 1996.

A yellow fever outbreak in 1889 in Flor-ida finally led to creation of the state Board of Health.

VanItallie wrote that the lessons learned from the South’s devastating experiences with yellow fever proved how ineffective American medicine was before it became rooted in science. After the Army’s Yellow Fever Commission proved scientifically that infected mosquitoes were to blame for the disease, “yellow fever epidemics in the United States became history,” he wrote.

“Once this finding was established … practical application of the mosquito (erad-ication) doctrine resulted in aborting yellow fever epidemics in Panama in 1904 and in New Orleans in 1905,” VanItallie said. n

Historicity

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For the 33rd year, the Tallahassee Museum is offering great outdoor performances, games, close-up animal encounters, living history demonstrations and environmental education at the annual Swamp Stomp, set for July 9 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Bring comfortable chairs and camp out among the lakeside oaks to enjoy hours of amazing music throughout an evening with an Old Florida feel. The family-friendly concert event includes contemporary acoustic, American folk, bluegrass and regional music. The lineup includes the Hot Tamales, Cheap and Easy, Grant Peeples and the Peeples Republik, Del Suggs, Sarah Mac Band, The New 76ers, Wayne DeWeil, Swivel Kings and Ric Edmiston.

“Where else can you sit and listen to Tallahassee’s best singer/songwriters and acoustic artists under the cooling shade of the heritage oaks?” asks festival organizer Del Suggs. “If you feel the need to stretch your legs during the music, you can always walk over and see what the panthers or otters are up to. I can’t think of another festival where you can do that!”

The Swamp Stomp is free with regular museum admission. — Carson Demont

SPOTLIGHT » Swamp Stomp

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Through July 7Florida Landscapes: Two PerspectivesThe Sunshine State isn’t just about oranges and sunshine, and the Museum of Florida History is out to prove it with an exhibit of the paintings of the Florida Highwaymen and photography by Clyde Butcher. FREE. 500 S. Bronough St. Weekdays 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sun and holi-days noon–4:30 p.m. (850) 245-6400, museumoffloridahistory.com

Through July 9Heather Parker PaintingsPanama City native Heather Parker is bring-ing it back to the basics in her Gadsden Arts Center Exhibit. Linking lines, shapes and colors in acrylic paint, she creates a space where the real world and her imagination meet. $1 donation requested. 13 N. Madison St., Quincy. Tue–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (850) 875-4866, gadsdenart.org

Through July 9The Life of a QuiltTallahassee native Eluster Richardson’s ex-pressive and emotional work jumps off the canvas in his latest Gadsden Arts Center exhibit. He focuses on family and culture connected to Southern quilting traditions. FREE. 13 N. Madison St., Quincy. (850) 875-4866, gadsdenart.org

Through Aug 31Camera in FocusTake a trip down memory lane with the gadget we’ve been using to capture our own memories for decades. The Museum of Florida History’s exhibit showcases cameras from the early to mid 20th century. FREE. 500 S. Bronough St. Weekdays 9 a.m.– 4:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sun and holidays noon–4:30 p.m. (850) 245-6400, museumoffloridahistory.com

Through Dec 31Sunset Guided Walking TourSee the beauty and the history hidden in our very own downtown. Join the leisurely 60-minute walking tour and hear about the state’s earliest inhabitants, Spanish explor-ers, French royalty, local history and much more. $12 per person, group rates available.

calendar JULY & AUGUST Compiled by Desiree Stennett

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MLK Boulevard to East Gadsden Street. (850) 212-2063, toursintallahassee.com

July 8Contra DanceWhip out your dancing shoes and join in on a night of contra dancing, similar to square dance. Come alone or with a group. $7 adults, $5 students, $3 children. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Mon-roe St. 7:30–10:30 p.m. (850) 598-1457, tallydancer.com

July 9Swamp Stomp Music FestivalGrab a cool slice of watermelon or an ice cream cone and get ready to enjoy a day of music, food, animals and more. Ameri-cana, bluegrass, folk, acoustic jazz and saltwater music will fill the air. $9 adults, $8.50 seniors, $6 children. Tallahassee Mu-seum, 3945 Museum Drive. 4–9 p.m. (850) 575-8684, tallahasseemuseum.org

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Through Aug. 21 Giant Bugs Invade the Brogan museumthe Brogan will be overrun with fleas, caterpillars and locusts 60 to 600 times their actual size. But don’t worry if you’re a little squeamish, these bugs aren’t the real deal. they’re manmade and computer-controlled for a learning experience on a grand scale. $10 adults, $7.50 seniors, $5 children and students 3 and older, FREE for children under 3. 350 S. Duval St. mon–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 1–5 p.m. (850) 513-0700, thebrogan.org

July 9–10Gun ShowBring your guns and your fellow firearm enthusiasts to buy, sell, trade and browse. This promises to be a fun, safe and child-friendly environment. $7, FREE for children 12 and under and law enforcement offi-cers in uniform. North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 Paul Russell Road. Sat 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (407) 275-7233, floridagunshows.com

July 10 and Aug. 14Archaeology Lab TourInterested in everything from tribal art to hunting tools? Tour the historic site of Mis-sion San Luis’ archaeology lab and get a sneak peek at what archeologists do be-hind the scenes. $5 adults, $3 seniors, $2 children (6–17), FREE for children under 6, active duty military and members. 2100 W. Tennessee St. 11 a.m. (850) 245-6406, missionsanluis.org

July 16 T.O.U.R. Mission San LuisGet to know the sites in your own back-yard. As a part of the Tourism is Our Ulti-mate Resource (TOUR) campaign, see the historic Mission San Luis and become a Tal-lahassee tour guide so you can share this local treasure with friends and family. FREE. 2100 W. Tennessee St. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (850) 245-6406, missionsanluis.org

July 21–24‘The Bad Seed’It will be a night of suspicion, mystery, suspense and murder — all on stage, of course. The In the Moment Players will be performing their version of the 1950s novel and Broadway play at the Tallahassee Little Theatre. $13. 1861 Thomasville Road. 8 p.m. (850) 224-8474, tallahasseelittletheatre.org

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July 23Tallahassee Antique Bottle Show and SaleDealers and collectors of old bottles, arti-facts, flasks and jugs — your time has ar-rived. The fifth annual Antique Bottle Show and Sale will showcase age-old relics. $10. North Florida Fairgrounds, 411 Paul Rus-sell Road. 9 a.m.–3 p.m. (850) 294-5537, floridabottles.com

July 23, 30 and Aug 20Tallahassee RollerGirls Roller DerbyThese high-energy ladies skate fast, hit hard and might even curse a little when they “whip it” around the roller derby track handing out “capital punishment” to teams from throughout the Southeast. $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Tallahassee Skate Inn, 1368 Blountstown Highway (July 23), North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 Paul Russell Road (July 30 and Aug. 20) 6:30 p.m. tallyrg.com

July 24Watercolors Go BaroqueMembers of the Tallahassee Watercolor Society are getting a little more dramatic and adopting the painting style of the

16th, 17th and 18th centuries. This blend of artistic style will close out the 50 Mas-terpieces of Italian Baroque Painting ex-hibit in the Brogan Museum. FREE. 350 S. Duval St. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (850) 894-1010, tallahasseewatercolorsociety.com

July 29–Oct. 29Dean Mitchell: Rich in SpiritQuincy native and nationally acclaimed art-ist Dean Mitchell is showing the real world in watercolors. His new body of work cele-brates the interconnectedness of life, death, family and spirituality. FREE. 13 N. Madison St., Quincy. Tue–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (850) 875-4866, gadsdenart.org

Aug. 5First Friday Gallery HopTreat yourself to a little bit of culture be-fore going out on the town. All over the city, galleries stay open a little later on the first Friday of every month. Hop from gallery to gallery in the Railroad Square Art Park or go a little farther on to 1020 Art on Lafay-ette Street. FREE. Museums, art retailers and galleries throughout the city. 6–9 p.m. firstfridaytallahassee.com

Aug. 6Throwback FestLet nostalgia take over and relive the past, if only for a few hours. Enjoy the music of old-school R&B, Funk and Hip-Hop artists like Lenny Williams, WHODINI and Lakeside. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $45 VIP. North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 Paul Russell Road. 6 p.m. (904) 551-2033, throw-festconcerts.com

Aug. 6Paul Williams and the Victory Trio ConcertFans of gospel and bluegrass, it just may be time to take a short trip out of town. Gas prices may be up, but the affordable ticket price makes the 45-minute drive to see Paul Williams no problem at all. $10. Thomasville Auditorium, 144 E. Jackson St. 7:30 p.m. (866) 577-3600, thomasvillega.com

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July 9, 16, 23, 30Sizzlin’ Saturday Concert Seriesthis summer, Saturday nights are burning hot. Hear local crooners crank out the tunes every week at the outdoor concert sponsored by the city’s parks and Recreation and Neighborhood affairs departments in the downtown Kleman plaza. Entertainers include thursday Night music Club (July 9), Bogazedi (July 16), moon pie Fever (July 23) and tryst (July 30), FREE. 306 S. Duval St. 6–8 p.m. (850) 891-3887, talgov.com

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Aug. 19–Nov. 13the 30th annual Capital City Quilt ShowQuilters Unlimited of tallahassee and the museum of Florida History are going glam. all that is glitzy, glamorous and glittery will take over at the Capital City Quilt Show, titled “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Don’t forget your sunglasses; you may need to guard your eyes from this serious shine. FREE. 500 S. Bronough St. weekdays 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sun and holidays noon–4:30 p.m. (850) 245-6400, museumoffloridahistory.com

Aug. 18–Sept. 4 ‘Rumor Mill’Join Tallahassee Little Theatre as they kick off their first play of the new season. Rumor has it you’ll have a great time. $21 adults, $16 seniors. 1861 Thomasville Road. 8 p.m. (850) 224-8474, tallahasseelittletheatre.org

Aug. 26BIG BashBig Brothers Big Sisters of the Big Bend’s BIG Alliance is putting on the “Roaring Twenties” ritz. Come dressed in your glad rags for a night of free-flowing bubbly, tasty eats, dance floor hijinx, commemorative photos, prize giveaways and more. $55 single or $100 per couple. Hotel Duval. 8 p.m.–midnight. For more information, con-tact Merridith Crowe at (850) 386-6002 or merridith.crowe@bbbsbigbend.org. bbbs.org/bigbash

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Tallahassee Tennis Challenger: 1. Else Smith and Billie Padgett 2. Patty McAlpine, Becky McAlpine, Ken McAlpine and John Brooks 3. Eliot Sieloff and Heidi Sieloff, MaryBeth Dye 4. Uwi Ugokwe, Erin Bailey 5. Karen Vogter; Tallahassee Film FesTival: 6. Tyler Elliott, Richard Robards and Noah Waters 7. Taylor Feltner and Ahmed Ahmed 8. Taylor Feltner, Carlos Miranda, Carolyn Smith and Ahmed Ahmed [Photos by Caroline Conway and courtesy Tallahassee Film Festival]

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Brehon Blue riBBon Ball: 1. Kelly Hutchinson, Ellen McFarlain, Stacey Hobbs and Kelley Ausley 2. Freddy Branham and Mary Linzee Van Leuven 3. Katie Kole and James Kole 4. Steve Winn and Ken Wilson; susTainaBiliTy arT ConTesT aT Four PoinTs sheraTon DownTown: 5. John Marks, Lee Daniel, Peggy Brady, Sharon Liggett and Sue Dick; roTary CluBs oF Tallahassee, wakulla anD monTiCello — 11Th annual eThiCs in Business awarD: 6. Bill Webb, Field Wilde, John Dombroski, Ivan Johnson, Sylvia White, Larry Kubiak, John Medina and Stan Sheppard 7. Bob Riedel and Mike Forsthoefel; norTh FloriDa Parkinson awareness grouP — TuliP TroT: 8. Steve Quam and Pat Hunt [Photos by Dan Parisi and courtesy Brehon Family Services and North Florida Parkinson Awareness Group]

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211 Big BenD — esCaPe To The Jungle: 1. Jerry Osteryoung, Nolia Brandt, Steve Evans and Bill Brandt 2. Judith Barrett, Terry Ward, Karen Benda and Rob Renzie 3. Jennifer Rupert, Frank Rupert, Carol Gagliano, Randy Nicklaus, Donna Smithey, Cori Bauserman and Miriam Nicklaus 4. Kathy LaMontagne and Shelly Marks 5. Robin McCallister, Terry Leland and Miriam Nicklaus; CaPiTal meDiCal soCieTy — CeleBraTion awarDs Dinner: 6. Dr. Raleigh Rollins, Dr. W. Clarence Applegate, Dr. R. James Mabry and Dr. Tracey Hellgren 7. Dr. Charles Moore, Dr. Tracey Hellgren, Jean McCully and Dr. Don Zorn [Photos courtesy 211 Big Bend and Capital Medical Society]

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Big BenD hosPiCe sPring Fling: 1. Bryan Desloge, Bud Wethington, Jay Smith, Janelle Wethington, Bri Smith and Beth Desloge 2. Danny Fuchs, Linda Fuchs, Bob Inzer, Janis Inzer and Kristin Dozier 3. Shelia Bludworth, Bo Bludworth, Desiree Dunn, Roy Young and Rose Marie Young 4. Terry Palmer, Jason Crowder, Nancyanne Carothers and Graham Carothers 5. Wilma Lauder, John Crusoe and Dee Crusoe [Photos courtesy Big Bend Hospice]

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Tallahassee symPhony orChesTra’s PoPs in The Park: 1. Sean Singleton and Kayla Hobbs 2. Gwen Morgan, Sherrie Carter and Terrie Carter McGlon 3. Back Row: Melissa Donaldson, David Donaldson, Daryl Green, Theo Proctor and Emily Proctor, Al Stewart, Martha Anne Proctor and Diane Stewart; Kneeling: Velma Proctor and Alex Jefferson alzheimer’s ProJeCT: 4. Sally Campbell-Evans, Bill Corry, Clarke Campbell-Evans, Bruce Harter and Stephanie Corry 5. Janna McConnaughhay, Elaine McConnaughhay and Jim McConnaughhay 6. Victoria Heuler, Bill Wertman and David Campbell 7. Billy Fontaine and Karen James 8. Members of the Pilot Club of Tallahassee, named Community Hero of the Year 9. Henry Winders, Linda Winders, Donna Wells and Bob Henderson [Photos by Chuck Simpson and Caroline Conway]

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Joyfully biased. Delightfully annoying.

That’s how Preston Scott describes him-self in a nutshell.

“That’s me. I am biased. I have a po-litical mindset and philosophy that doesn’t move or shape or change with the times,” said the 51-year-old Pittsburgh native and host of “The Morning Show With Preston Scott” on 100.7 FM WFLA.

Scott is one of those guys lucky enough to find a job that isn’t “work.” His office is an intimate set-ting: a small, soundproof room with a glass partition separating him from his producer’s control booth. Scott’s workstation is a high-top table with microphones and a computer that’s linked, obviously, to the Internet. A small refrigerator sits in one corner and keeps bottles of water chilled.

The son of National Sportswriters & Sportscasters Hall of Fame announcer Ray Scott (known as the “Voice of the Green Bay Packers”), Preston Scott had the street cred to seek national fame and glory, and followed in his father’s sports broadcasting footsteps for several years. But a spiritual awakening, and the desire to stay close to home and family, urged him to go down a different path.

He and wife Cynthia together have a family of six children, plus three grandchildren, two dogs and one “granddog.”

“Understand this. One of the reasons why I left broadcasting to begin with … was as I grew up … I saw my father more on television than I ever saw him in person ’til the day he died. Dad logged more miles than an average airline pilot. He was gone 300 days a year. And so as much as I loved my dad, I just didn’t want to be that kind of father. I just wanted to be more acces-sible to my kids,” who today range in age from 15 to 33.

Scott looks back and laughs at the first time he sat behind a mi-crophone. He was a kid hanging out in a Minneapolis studio where his uncle was a sportscaster. In those days, his dad and Howard Cosell were “chief rivals,” and to “needle” his dad a little, he’d get on the air and imitate Cosell’s characteristic vocal cadence.

“My dad and my uncle were not close friends. Dad was do-ing some sports call-ins for a radio station in Minneapolis, and I would call in as Howard. My dad would come home livid. And only in my mid-20s did I confess that it was me,” Scott said.

His first professional radio gig came when he was a senior in high school reading afternoon drive news at a station in Phoenix, Ariz.

“I was doing the ultimate oxymoron: FM news. There was no such thing at the time because it was a Top 40 radio station,” he said. But, “It was a pretty good gig for a high school senior.”

He went from there to station KOY, an adult contemporary/sports station, also in Phoenix.

“Because I was Ray Scott’s son, I had opportunities. I had a modest amount of ability, and so I was able to keep jobs and have opportunities because I had some degree of talent,” he said. “But that’s how I got first exposed to ‘talk’ radio. I was the show producer for the sports talk show that was hosted by Bob Buck at the time.”

Scott said this job allowed him to host the program occasion-ally and do play-by-play for the Arizona Wranglers, a United States Football League team. Then, he felt the desire to answer another calling.

“I just felt like, from a spiritual side, that something better could come of my life, and so I got a little more serious about my commitment to my Christian faith,” he said.

This change of heart led him to work for a small Christian radio station in Phoenix. A media critic called his move the

Watchmanon the WallRadio Talk Show Host Preston Scott Talks About Faith,

Politics and the ‘Last Bastion of True Media’

By JAson DehArt … PhotogrAPhy By scott holstein

t A l l A h A s s e e 83

THE ‘MORNING STAR’ Tallahassee public relations giant Ron Sachs says radio talk show personality Preston Scott is the dominant force in local radio, and could be just as great on a national stage.

“greatest backwards broadcasting step in Phoenix media his-tory,” Scott said. “From there, I went into fulltime vocational ministry.” Scott gave up radio as a fulltime occupation in 1984 and came to Tallahassee in 1987 as an associate pastor of Chris-tian Heritage Church.

“We had friends that accepted a job out here that we knew from Phoenix. They invited me to come out, and I got hired,” he said. He served as youth pastor, then took on the responsibility of a private school and church in Gadsden County, which he did for seven or eight years. Today, he attends and serves at Every Nation Tallahassee.

For a time he also did some commercial and voice work but, for the most part, “I completely dumped the (broadcast-ing) business.”

“Throughout that, I did voice work and so forth, but didn’t really have a map or plan to get back into broadcasting,” he said. “I just reached a fork in the road. You do a lot of counsel-ing and you do a lot of funerals and sometimes you reach a point where you just kind of need a timeout from that on a vocational standpoint. And so I accepted a role with a friend of mine who was interim pastor of a church here in town. I did that for about a year. That would have been around 1998 or 1999. Then I did basically odd jobs for a couple of years.”

Soon, Scott started to build a bridge back to broadcasting. He went on to become the sports director for WTXL, the lo-cal ABC affiliate, but radio beckoned soon after. In 2002 he became host of “The Morning Show” while also doing some television and other broadcasting part-time. However, the gru-eling routine got to him. He grew tired of getting only four hours of sleep every night from doing TV spots and other jobs, and left television for good in 2006 to focus solely on radio. It was a good call on his part because format changes switched “The Morning Show” and other news radio programs from AM to FM.

Scott said the switch to FM was a great boost for “The Morn-ing Show,” which currently can be heard from 6 to 9 a.m. week-days at 100.7 WFLA.

“We had done well on the AM, but when you go FM that’s a whole new ballgame,” he said. “Now our show is heard by peo-ple other than just the immediate metro area. That was sketchy with the AM signal. And then the show really took off.”

Along the way, Scott picked up a new producer, Eric Eggers, who’s been with him since 2005.

Eggers, 29, said he first met Scott in 2004, when he was in the communications office of the Department of Education and wanted to break into television. Scott was doing “The Morning Show” and gave Eggers some career advice.

Eggers himself got his start in radio as a participant in “The

Locker Room,” a Saturday morning program at the same radio station. Some time after his meeting with Scott, Eggers got a call tipping him off to a job opening as producer of “The Morning Show.” He accepted, although the irony doesn’t escape him.

“I first met (Scott) because I wanted to work in TV and in-stead wound up working in radio with him,” Eggers said. “My first day was Valentine’s Day 2005. I joke that Valentine’s Day is our anniversary.”

Scott said his young producer works hard to make the show run well.

“Eric does the work of three people, a lot of unseen work,” he said. “He’s producer, but spends time on the air, which is unusual.”

Eggers said he and Scott have a “very in-depth relationship.”“I would say we’ve had some heartfelt moments and some

moments of disagreement. It’s a complex relationship, grounded in love and respect,” he said. “He’s been there for me a couple of times … so anything I can do for him I will try to be there.”

The producer describes Scott as “an incredibly committed fa-ther. He takes his responsibility as a father as seriously as anyone I know and enjoys being a father as much, or more, than any-body I know.”

Scott said Eggers’ helps give the show depth and scope.“I see him as a bright young man (who) offers a perspective

that broadens the show,” he said. “We’re broadcasters, not nar-row casters. It deepens the demographics of the show. It makes for thought-provoking radio.”…conservAtive with A DAsh of liBertAriAnA faith-based sense of right and wrong, and a staunch conserva-tive philosophy guide Scott’s opinions as he takes local politi-cians and bureaucrats to task on the topics that concern him and, by extension, his audience.

“I am absolutely conservative. I would say I have a liber-tarian streak, though it would be very hard for me to define what that means. I would just say there are things that I hear libertarians say that resonate with me,” he said. “I believe that conservatism, when practiced properly, is always correct. And always works.”

Scott said there is a great difference between being a “conser-vative” and a registered Republican.

“I get asked to speak at Republican Party functions all over, and I tell them upfront, I’m a registered Republican but don’t take that for granted because I’m not under your flag. I’m a

84 J u l y – A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

“Understand this. One of the reasons why I left broadcasting to begin with … was as I grew up … I saw my father more on

television than I ever saw him in person ’til the day he died.”

t A l l A h A s s e e 85

conservative,” he said. “For all of that, I’m a Christian and as much as anything else that drives my philoso-phy. I believe my faith is anchored to things that are immovable. In other words, if there is something wrong and unethical on Monday, it’s wrong, unethical and im-moral on Friday. In that re-gard, true conservatism pins itself to a philosophy, not a set of policies, to a philoso-phy that does not move.”

Along those lines, Scott doesn’t play favorites. This is the man who called for-mer Gov. Charlie Crist a “political windsock.” That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like Crist, he said.

“He’s a nice guy. I was for-tunate to meet Charlie long before any of this, when he came into the studio at ABC when I was doing sports,” Scott said. “He’s a great guy, a delightful man. But a rotten governor, because he had no compass. Even Democrats begrudgingly re-spect Jeb Bush because they knew what they were getting. This is what he believed, this is what he advocated, and you knew what you had whether you liked it or not.”

And that’s something he respects in others. Scott said he loves talking to former Leon County Commissioner Bob Rackleff, even though they couldn’t be more different, politically.

“But I love talking to Bob because he’s sincere, he believes it, he owns it and he never deviates from it. We get along great, and we have great discussions,” Scott said.

Rackleff isn’t the only Democrat Scott has had on the show. Past guests include Mayor John Marks, Leon County Com-missioners Bill Proctor and Akin Akinyemi; Tallahassee City Commissioner Andrew Gillum, former Tallahassee City Com-missioner (now ambassador to Portugal) Allan Katz, former chairman of the Leon County Democratic Party Rick Minor, former U.S. Sen./Florida Gov. Bob Graham, U.S. Sen. Bill Nel-son, former U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, former Florida CFO Alex Sink and many others.

“I could literally go on and on,” Scott said.…the lAst BAstion of MeDiA“Radio is the last bastion of true media,” Scott said, compar-ing radio, television and newspapers. In the latter two forms, he complains, there’s just simply not enough time or space available to hear the complete story, in context. That’s why he loves “The Morning Show.”

“What we do is give people a chance to talk. You’ll hear a question, the answer will be unedited, you’ll hear their voice inflection, you’ll hear whether they’re comfortable with the

THE OTHER VOIcE Eric Eggers humorously displays his methods for coping with his job as Preston Scott’s producer. In reality, the two men share a complex but heartfelt relationship, Eggers said.

question or the answer, you’ll hear their emotions delivering it,” he said. “Radio has hit a niche in the American culture because it’s a place where you can sit down and talk or listen. In my case I’m validating, or asking, the questions that a lot of people that listen would want to ask. So it’s almost like a modern-day exten-sion of the old-school discussion around the dinner table.”

Like most talk radio shows, “The Morning Show” features guests as well as listeners who call in.

“We do have guests every morning, and we always take calls, but we don’t always take them on the air,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s a matter of time available; other times, it’s a matter of get-ting out as much info as possible. Since we try to keep moving through a lot of information we do not linger on any one subject for too long.”

It’s not always convenient for guests to actually come into the studio, so about 70 percent of guest interviews are done over the phone, Scott said. He tries to have good, civil discussions and rarely says or does something that prompts a strong reaction from interviewees.

“For example, several years ago I got under the skin of Bill Proctor to such an extent that he went on record at a county commission meeting demanding equal time,” he said. “Need-less to say, that did not go very far because they have no say in the matter, but I did eventually win him over to the point that he is now a frequent guest, and I think he enjoys his time on the program.”

Scott does “show prep” at home every afternoon by reading anything and everything he can find. This allows him time to spend time with his family and help out with homework. He’s a voracious consumer of local, state and national news; about half of the show’s content is local, 35 percent is state news and the rest would be national or international.

“And all of that stuff falls into one of three categories: things that people are talking about, things that people will be talking

86 J u l y – A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

about and the things that I think people need to be talking about,” he said.

The format seems to be working, Scott said, because when Clear Channel Communications downsized a few years ago, cutting thousands of jobs nationally, they elected to keep the Tallahassee station, even though it wasn’t a large urban market.

“Let’s face it, we may be Florida’s state capital, but this is considered a small-market radio station. I think the fact we sur-vived the cut, and then flourished in the midst of a very difficult economy, speaks to why Clear Channel kept us,” he said. “They didn’t keep a lot of small markets.”

Scott said that during the last Arbitron ratings period, the show placed first in the key demographic (men, ages 25 to 54). He said it consistently ranked first in most ratings over the last several years and has been second “once or twice.” In the last rating pe-riod for all persons ages 12-plus, his show was ranked second.

“That’s a huge accomplishment for talk radio,” he said.…the PeoPle’s ADvocAteGovernment waste and wrongdoing really tick Scott off.

“There’s a larger span of space between what is legal and what is right. Now more than ever before,” he said. “Years ago, what was legal and what was right were pretty close together. And now, look at the ethics investigations from the state government on down and from the federal government on down. Look at the people that are found to be not guilty. What they did was wrong, but technically wasn’t illegal. I don’t care. Do what’s right. Hold yourself to a higher standard than the law. You know, my dad used to say that ‘character is what you do when no-one’s look-ing.’ And that to me defines where we are today.”

When he’s not hammering down on waste and inefficiency, Scott is turning the mic over to those brave souls who seek po-litical office. He has a special fondness for election cycles, and his interviews with political candidates are the hallmark of “The Morning Show.” He greatly respects anyone willing to run for office, with all its personal exposure and the relentless personal attacks candidates often face. It doesn’t matter if he agrees with them or not, or if they have a shot at actually winning.

“It’s about honoring somebody willing to say ‘I’ll try’,” he said.However, he doesn’t consider himself a “kingmaker” or

“power broker.”“Kingmaker? That would be funny because I don’t think

we’ve gotten anybody elected. Someone could say I was pretty successful in my analysis of Marco Rubio’s candidacy, but from a local standpoint I would describe myself as a … watchman on the wall,” he said. “I believe what I believe. And I’m paid to give my opinion. The only reason my opinion carries any more resonance than anyone else’s is because it’s broadcast. I’m just a person out there who believes we can do better, regardless of who’s in office, Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative. We can do better.”

Legendary Tallahassee public relations guru Ron Sachs — who makes a living influencing public opinion himself — admits Scott probably wields more influence than he realizes.

“He almost single-handedly boosted the fortunes of (Tallahas-see city commission candidate) Erwin Jackson. He agreed with

TEll IT All, BROTHER A deep sense of conviction and faith drive Scott’s crusade against government waste and inefficiency.

his positions on issues and, frankly, helped legitimize Jackson. It was a reflection of his power. He’s a newsmaker now,” Sachs said. “You can take a little-known personality, and they can become bigger much sooner if Preston Scott likes him as a guest. Marco Rubio enjoyed a good audience with Preston before he was a can-didate for U.S. Senate.”

Sachs said he listens to Scott’s show on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean they meet eye-to-eye on the issues.

“I have cut myself shaving more than once, listening to him in the morning and he says something that surprises me, some opin-ion that he has in strong terms. I got to keep the styptic pencil ready,” Sachs quipped.

He may strongly disagree with Scott’s opinions, but Sachs said he still respects Scott.

“I believe that conservatism,

when practiced properly,

is always correct. And always works.”

t A l l A h A s s e e 87

“We developed a friendship over the years, and while I dif-fer with Preston’s political philosophy wildly at many times, I love his passion for our community, for family and for the right thing,” Sachs said. “I will say he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and a very spiritual man. One of my favorite things is this man comes from a broadcast pedigree. He could be a star in any major urban market and could be a broadcast star nation-ally but he continues to opt for Tallahassee because it’s such a great place to live.”

Sachs’ nickname for Scott is the “morning star”.“I think in all the media in our community he is a great jewel,

and consider him the dominant giant in morning radio in this region,” he said. “Preston has taken the morning program to a peak that few radio programs of its kind ever reach.”

Eggers said Scott is consumed with thinking of ways to im-prove the show.

“At the end of the day, the focus is the show,” he said. “It’s definitely been an asset to my career to work with someone with his level of experience and his professional approach. He’s em-braced my strengths and he’s managed to deal with my weak-nesses, and that speaks to his generous nature. At the end of the day he’s filled with strong opinions but filled with genuine Christian love and, yeah, I think it’s been a blessing to me to be a part of that.”

Said Sachs, “My dream would be to own a radio network and to take Preston and give him that larger stage from Tallahassee, a national or statewide link. He would rock the political world with that kind of program.” n

InstantattractionFind a Date at Tallahassee’s Hottest Fundraising Party of the Year

TOP SingleS

2011

T a l l a h a s s e e 89

It can be sidelong glance, a wink, a smile or just “hello” that makes you think, “Hey, that person is flirting with me!” And, in a heartbeat, you’re also thinking, “Hey, I

want to get to know him (or her!) better.”Eighteen “best-catch-not-yet-taken” bachelors and

bachelorettes have agreed to make the first move and share their photos, a little chit chat and a very short — only six words — biography with our readers.

If you see someone you’d like to get to know better — or

you just want to liven up the hot summer months with a fun night out — join us at the Hotel Duval for Tallahassee Magazine’s Top Singles bash on Saturday, July 16. All our featured singles have agreed to participate in a date auction during the festivities. And all money raised during the bidding will be donated to the charity of each single’s choice. Last year’s inaugural event raised more than $22,000 for 13 nonprofit organizations. — Rosanne Dunkelberger

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit tallahasseetopsingles.com.

90 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? I always try and treat myself to somewhere new and exotic every year. I think right now I’d love to be in the heart of Mexico, margarita in hand!

early bIrd or nIght owl? In my line of work, my nights are always required, and long ones! I rarely get to see the daylight!

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? Loyalty. I consider myself 100 percent loyal to my friends and family and expect the same in return!

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? I can’t have them all? :)

what Is your no. 1 turn off? No personality. I love people who can keep me laughing, keep a conversation going, a smile on my face and be spontaneous!

what three words best descrIbe you? Social. Outrageous. Kinky.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? If I’m not promoting, I’m a homebody at heart. I’m home on the couch, alone with a glass (or bottle!) of wine, relaxing.

what Is a fear you’d lIke to be free of? Failure. Rejection. Terrified of it.

If you were asked by a chIld you love to tell the most Important thIng you have learned In lIfe, what would It be? Never fall victim to believing stereotypes. I’ve broken through so many in my short lifetime that if I choose to do something, I know I can. And will try my hardest to reach any goal I set for myself.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Sunglasses! I go to vintage eyewear websites just to view the new arrivals and deals!

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? Man-cave big screen for sure! Put me in front of a 50-inch, (on a) big couch with good food and I’m all yours!

TOP SingleS

2011

Larry Prada 25: VIP Club Promoter and Event Planner CharIty: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tallahassee, Inc.

The Life Of The Party.

Literally.SIx-WORD MEMOIR

T a l l a h a s s e e 91

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? On a porch swing talking with my Aunt Nevell. I miss her so much.

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? That everything would work out for the best and that I would have a career that I love.

beer, wIne or champagne? All the above and bourbon during football season.

what characterIstIc do you most admIre In others? Honesty

If you could change one thIng about yourself, what would It be? To build a bridge and get over things faster.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? Go on a guided alligator hunt, learn to skeet shoot, ride in a hot air balloon, go to Hawaii, attend the Kentucky Derby.

what three words best descrIbe you? Energetic, outgoing, passionate.

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Italian, especially pizza.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I sometimes eat glazed donuts and drink Monster energy drinks when traveling with certain girlfriends. LOL!

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is ... I am close enough that out-of-town friends and family can travel easily to visit me.

what drIves you crazy? People that back into parking spaces. I just don’t get it.

hIgh heels, wedges or flIp flops? Ummm ... all of them. I love shoes!

Tracey Grant 38: Personal Trainer, Premiere Health & Fitness and Golds Gym CharIty: Tree House of Tallahassee and Young Life

Life is UNTAMED!

Play. Sweat. Love.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

On Larry: Hart Schaffner Marx denim jacket ($695), light blue striped Ralph Lauren Polo ($75) white linen pants by Murano ($85) and Daniel Cremieux cotton straw fedora ($30) from Dillard’s. 18K and steel Oyster Perpetual Rolex ($10,000) from Gem Collection. On Tracey: Trina Turk kimono dress ($238) and Helen’s Heart suede trimmed clear heels ($132) from Narcissus. 14K large gold pear-shaped drop hook earrings ($375) and vermeil corrugated link bracelet ($295) from Gem Collection.

92 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

TOP SingleS

2011

First one on the dance floor.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

old school book or e-reader? Definitely an old school book reader.

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire thoughtfulness and dislike dishonesty and being judgmental.

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Sushi and tomatoes.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? 1. See the Rolling Stones in concert 2. Take cooking lessons at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris 3. African Safari 4. To be determined ... 5. Have a successful relationship

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Arrogance

what three words best descrIbe you? Happy, honest and witty.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? When I was younger she would say “Act like I am in your pocket.” It stuck with me.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? My left eye is blue and my right eye is green.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Adorably funny!

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? It’s OK to be different as long as you are consistently happy with yourself.

what drIves you crazy? Tardiness!

when/where do you get your best Ideas? Usually right before I fall asleep.

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? WAY too many! I typically snooze for a good hour.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Reading gossip magazines in the bathtub with a glass of wine. Everyone needs a little brain candy!

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? Tailgating! Game days at Doak are one of my favorite things.

On Caroline: Lilly Pulitzer floral halter sundress ($198), Lilly Pulitzer beige wedges ($198) from Pink Narcissus. Strawberry cream Venetian glass necklace ($98) and bracelet ($125) from Gem Collection. On Ryan: White linen shirt by Murano ($65), Perry Ellis Classic Fit pants $69.50 from Dillards. TOMS Shoes from Cole Couture.

Caroline Conway 30: Client Service Representative/Media Sponsorships, Rowland Publishing, Inc. CharIty: Big Bend Hospice

T a l l a h a s s e e 93

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? Minnesota, it’s where I’m from and grew up and really enjoy it there!

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? A person who is honest and would take the shirt off their back for anyone!

If you could change one thIng about yourself, what would It be? Nothing.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Smoking.

what three words best descrIbe you? Outgoing, fun, driven.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? If you want something in life you have to work for it.

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Snickers.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I race dirt bikes.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? It’s a fun and easygoing place.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Probably hot!

what’s the scarIest thIng you’ve ever done? I went on a airboat on a lake with lots of gators everywhere!

what Is a fear you’d lIke to be free of? Snakes.

If you were asked by a chIld you love to tell the most Important thIng you have learned In lIfe, what would It be? Be a good person, be all you can be and live life to the fullest! Help others and be there for others.

what Is a dream you’d lIke to have come true someday? To have a family.

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? Zero.

what radIo statIon Is on In your car rIght now? 103.1 country!

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Ice cream.

what was your fIrst car? A red Nissan Titan.

Always give more than you take.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Ryan Dungey 21: Professional Motocross Racer CharIty: LIVESTRONG

94 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? On the Amalfi Coast of Italy drinking wine and watching the sunset.

old school book or e-reader? Old school book. There’s nothing like holding a real book in your hands.

early bIrd or nIght owl? Early Bird. Breakfast is my favorite meal.

beer, wIne or champagne? Wine, red please!

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I most admire someone who is caring and treats everyone the same.

cats or dogs? Dogs! I love my Labrador, Ginger!

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? 1. To see all seven wonders of the world 2. Become a yoga instructor 3. Hike the Appalachian Trail 4. Go on a photography jungle safari in Africa 5. To attend an FSU football championship game.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Selfishness

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Any kind of cheese!

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I speak Chinese, although I barely get to use it. xie xie :)

what’s your favorIte thIng that’s hangIng on your wall? I have a painting of my childhood best friend and I on the wall that I love because we both look so happy.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? Canopy roads and the Florida State Seminoles!

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Awesome ... isn’t that a combination of them all?

when/where do you get your best Ideas? Sitting on my grandmother’s porch, drinking tea and talking to her about life.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Boiled peanuts, they are my favorite thing to eat on a road trip.

TOP SingleS

2011

Jill Chandler 25: Reporter for WCTV Eyewitness News CharIty: Children’s Home Society

Pass the bubbly, it is me.SIx-WORD MEMOIR

TOP SingleS

2011

T a l l a h a s s e e 95

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? When the housing bubble was going to bust?!

beer, wIne or champagne? Beer; different kinds for all occasions!

what Is your no. 1 turn off? The word “No”… just not a fan.

what three words best descrIbe you? Living Life Passionately.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I am an identical mirror twin.

what’s your favorIte thIng that’s hangIng on your wall? Pictures of my two kids, Jay and Grayson.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? The three F’s — Friends, Family and Football … Noles football, of course!

when/where do you get your best Ideas? While listening to music … I guess it stirs up the creative juices

what do you keep In the trunk of your car? Skeletons; all the closets are full! Ha.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? Dream big — never give up on the dream and go for it!

what drIves you crazy? OMG! Questionnaires …

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? On average, 83 times … give or take.

Cal Brooks 41: Government Liaison, Office of Agricultural Water Policy CharIty: Cards for a Cure event, benefiting TMH Cancer Programs

Mistakes happen, Laugh — Love — Smile anyways.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

On Jill: BCBG Max Azria white one-shoulder dress with keyhole cutout design accessorized by a black elastic belt with pearl and gold flower-shaped buckle from Cole Couture ($362), Pearl necklace ($495) with 14K gold square-hinged pendant ($2,290), 14K gold and sterling silver rounded cuff bracelet ($1,890), 14K gold and sterling silver square-hinged pendant earrings ($1,200) by Alwand Vahan from Gem Collection. On Cal: Caribbean peach linen shirt ($65), Ralph Lauren sport coat ($295), relaxed fit vintage jeans ($69.50) and cotton straw fedora ($30) both from Daniel Cremieux Collection, from Dillards, 18K and steel Oyster Rolex ($10,000) from Gem Collection.

96 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? Teeing off at Augusta National Golf Club.

early bIrd or nIght owl? I’ve always been a night owl.

old school book or e-reader? Old school book.

beer, wIne or champagne? Blanton’s Bourbon with water

cats or dogs? Definitely dogs. I will always have a Boykin Spaniel.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? People really listen to their parents?

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Whataburger.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? Family and friends.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Funny.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? No need to, I wouldn’t listen.

what drIves you crazy? People who are rude to wait staff.

what’s the best vacatIon you’ve ever had? My first trip to Argentina.

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? Until I am 10 minutes late.

what radIo statIon Is on In your car rIght now? The comedy channel on xM radio.

boots, loafers, sneakers or flIp flops? Flip flops.

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? Tailgating at Auburn University.

TOP SingleS

2011

Frank Whitley 44: President, Whitley Contracting and Partner in Duval Partners CharIty: Boy Scouts of America Suwanee River Area Council

So far, so good, what’s next?

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

T a l l a h a s s e e 97

Kim Eldridge 44: Licensed nurse and massage therapist at Chelsea Salon and Spa and Tallahassee Plastic Surgery Center CharIty: The Refuge House

Life and laughter always come together.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

On Frank: Gold Label Roundtree and York shirt ($70), Daniel Cremieux dark denim vintage jeans $69.50), Hart Schaffner Marx wool jacket ($550) from Dillard’s. Daytona Rolex watch ($10,400) from Gem Collection. On Kim: Nicole Miller salmon silk dress ($410) and Diane Von Furstenberg metallic gold sandals ($335) from Narcissus. Freshwater pearl necklace ($250) bracelet ($89) and drop earrings ($275) from Gem Collection.

early bIrd or nIght owl? I used to be a night owl, but the older I get, I am turning into an early bird!

old school book or e-reader? Old school book reader ... it’s hard to curl up with the Kindle.

bIng or google? Bing.

cats or dogs? Both. I have both cats and dogs.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Lying.

what three words best descrIbe you? Funny, smart and blonde.

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Coffee!

what do you keep In the trunk of your car? Jumper cables and a lawn chair.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is … Florida State football!!!!

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? Not to listen to negative people!

what Is a fear you’d lIke to be free of? Fear itself.

If you were asked by a chIld you love to tell the most Important thIng you have learned In lIfe, what would It be? As corny as this sounds, always follow your dreams, and everything will fall into place.

what’s the best vacatIon you’ve ever had? The two weeks I spent in Ireland, Scotland and England.

when/where do you get your best Ideas? When walking the dog or listening to music.

what radIo statIon Is on In your car rIght now? Gulf 104!

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? Stadium tailgating.

what was your fIrst car? My mom’s Chevy Monza ... a car clearly discontinued.

98 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

old school book or e-reader? I’m an old school book reader, I love feeling the paper and dog tagging my pages.

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? That just like wine, you only get better with age.

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire when someone is honest and comfortable with themselves.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Wow, just one? How about two — smoking and negative attitudes.

what three words best descrIbe you? Ambitious, classy, confident.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? Treat people the way you want to be treated.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? That I enjoy fishing and know how to use a chop saw and nail gun.

what’s your favorIte thIng that’s hangIng on your wall? A picture of my daughter when she was 2 years old.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? Listen to your mother.

what drIves you crazy? Negative people and bathroom fans.

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? Never, I don’t set an alarm.

hIgh heels, wedges or flIp flops? High heels. I’m only 5-foot-2 and I love that my legs look longer in heels.

TOP SingleS

2011 Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday = Happiness, Excitement, Laughter.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Amy Forman 35: Pharmaceutical Representative and Wedding Planner CharIty: Tallahassee Animal Shelter Foundation

On Amy: Nicole Miller mocha sequined dress ($395) and Helen’s Heart suede-trimmed clear heels ($132) from Narcissus. Elle leaf-shaped necklace ($149) and crystal earrings ($169) from Gem Collection. On Lance: Hart Schaffner Marx grey pinstriped 1887 Blazer ($195), tailored double pleated pant ($95), Daniel Cremieux shirt ($79.50) and patterned Bocara tie from Dillards. Sterling sliver white Roman dial watch ($1,675) from Gem Collection.

T a l l a h a s s e e 99

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? Monaco, or on the beach somewhere.

early bIrd or nIght owl? Night owl. I hate getting up early.

old school book or e-reader? E-reader.

beer, wIne or champagne? Beer.

Ipod questIon: do you shuffle and take songs as they come, or stIck wIth a playlIst? Shuffle and take songs as they come.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? 1. Drive a vehicle at least 150 mph 2. Trip to Napa Valley 3. See my children graduate from college 4. Attend the Super Bowl 5. Snowboard in Whistler, British Columbia

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Chicken wings. Hot and spicy.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? My father played in the 1954 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

what’s the scarIest thIng you’ve ever done? I tried to evade a law enforcement officer when I was a teenager. It didn’t work and they scared the hell out of me.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? Learn a foreign language and to play a musical instrument. I would also tell a 10-year-old that they should always listen before they speak. Sometimes it is better to sleep on major decisions before immediately acting on them.

what radIo statIon Is on In your car rIght now? Any station with music. I hate talk radio and morning shows except sports talk radio.

what’s the best vacatIon you’ve ever had? At the age of 12, I travelled through eight European countries and had my first kiss in Monaco. Europe is amazing.

when/where do you get your best Ideas? At night in bed.

Life Is Great. Share Yours Today.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Lance Lozano 41: Chief Operating Officer of Florida United Businesses Association (FUBA) CharIty: The Shelter of Tallahassee and Leon County

100 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? Laying on the beach.

early bIrd or nIght owl? Both.

beer, wIne or champagne? Yes :)

Ipod questIon: do you shuffle and take songs as they come, or stIck wIth a playlIst? I like to shuffle through songs on my playlists.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? Watch a baseball game at every major league field, run a half-marathon, travel to Ireland, open a bakery and be in Tallahassee Magazine.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? People who are selfish.

what food can you not lIve wIthout? Greek yogurt.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I play the piano and drums.

what do you keep In the trunk of your car? A case of water and a case of sugar-free Red Bull.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Awesome.

how many tImes do you hIt the snooze button? I usually wake up before my alarm ever goes off.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? French fries.

hIgh heels, wedges or flIp flops? High heels.

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? As long as I am watching sports ... I am fine anywhere.

TOP SingleS

2011

Live For Today — There’s Always Re-Do.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Kristen Hensley 31: Administrator at Centre Pointe Health and Rehab CharIty: Chelsea House

On Kristen: Navy blue and pink butterfly patterned strapless dress by French Connection ($162), Steve Madden metallic platform sandal ($89.95) from Cole Couture. 14K Regency silver and gold necklace ($450), large hoop earrings ($220) and Regency Finch gold and silver bracelet ($225) from Gem Collection. Car: Mercedes Benz — 2011 E350 Cabriolet On Johnny: Daniel Cremieux dress shirt ($69.50), leather belt ($75), tie ($59.50), and Perry Ellis Tuxedo jacket ($165) and pants ($79.50) from Dillard’s. Daytona Chronograph black diamond Rolex ($10,400) from Gem Collection.

T a l l a h a s s e e 101

Lawyer enduring

life’s trials with

laughter.SIx-WORD MEMOIR

early bIrd or nIght owl? I’m a late-night guy. That’s why the snooze button has taken such a beating over the years.

old school book or e-reader? What’s an e-reader? … oh, I guess that means I’m old school.

beer, wIne, or champagne? I’m Irish, so I prefer a good pint.

cats or dogs? I sponsor the Leon County Humane Society. I love all animals!

If you could change one thIng about yourself, what would It be? My single status. Thanks for the help, Tallahassee Magazine!

what food can you not lIve wIthout? It depends on whether you consider Coca-Cola a food.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I was an Army officer and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and fought in the first Gulf War (Desert Storm).

what’s your favorIte thIng that’s hangIng on your wall? A picture of my dad. He passed away a few years ago and I miss him every day.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny, or awesome? I would prefer “awesome” because it may imply all the other choices as well.

If you were asked by a chIld you love to tell the most Important thIng you have learned In lIfe, what would It be? When the officer says you have the right to remain silent, it’s time to be quiet.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Since one of the areas of law I practice is criminal defense, I would never admit to a “guilty” pleasure.

hIgh heels, wedges or flIp flops? Flip flops … because high heels and wedges are too painful :)

stadIum taIlgate or mancave bIg-screen? Although I love my big screen, I also love me some tailgating on college football Saturdays.

Johnny Devine 44: Criminal defense and personal injury attorney in the law firm Johnny Devine, P.A. CharIty: Leon County Humane Society

102 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? That CDs would go out of style and MP3s would take over. I would’ve saved a lot of money.

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire dreamers and thinkers, those who want to do the impossible. I love being around confident people because it’ll spill onto you if you let it. I dislike negative people or people who try to discourage others from reaching a goal.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Inconsistency and being inconsiderate.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? My mom has said so many things it’s hard to pick one. “Don’t take any wooden nickels, because you can’t spend them.” And, “You only have one life, be happy living it.”

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? It’s OK to be tall. You may not like it now, but in a few years it will work in your favor.

If you were asked by a chIld you love to tell the most Important thIng you have learned In lIfe, what would It be? No matter how much money you make or what you achieve, always make time for family, true friends and loved ones, they are the only things that money can’t buy and money can’t replace.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I aspire to become a novelist.

On Regina: Ivory dotted collar sheath by Trina Turk ($298), Diane Von Furstenburg gold sandals ($335) from Narcissus. Raymond Hak cognac diamond hinged hoops ($790) and white diamond link necklace ($990) from Gem Collection. Studio D plush patterned luggage ($100–$220) from Dillards. On Adam: Charcoal grey Daniel Cremieux blazer ($195) and pants ($95), shirt ($79.50), patterned Roundtree and Yorke Trademark tie ($39.50) from Dillards. Daytona Rolex sterling silver watch ($10,400) and sterling silver basket-weave engraved cufflinks ($325) from Gem Collection. Car: BMW — 2012 650CIC

TOP SingleS

2011

Striving for excellence, accepting

nothing less!SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Regina Hall 28: Program Coordinator for Miracle Years Child Care Centers/Nursing Instructor at Lively Technical Center/Home Health Registered Nurse CharIty: The Reading Rally

T a l l a h a s s e e 103

Don’t tempt me, I’m all in.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire a smile. It is absolutely contagious and makes everyone feel better.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? 1. Donate at least a million dollars to the Seminole Boosters 2. Start my own band 3. Find the love of my life 4. Have a bunch of kids 5. Learn to play the guitar.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? I have an amazing mother that always encouraged me to dream as big as I could and work to make it happen. According to her, nothing is out of reach and I still remind myself of that.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Arrogance.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I beat Billy Joel in a karaoke contest. Winning!

what’s your favorIte thIng that’s hangIng on your wall? Pictures of family and friends. Possessions can only satisfy you temporarily, but the people in your life will make it meaningful and purposeful forever.

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? A familiar face and Southern hospitality. I love walking into banks and stores, or wherever, and the people greet you by your first name or with great care.

boots, loafers, sneakers or flIp flops? Loafers. They’re casual and sophisticated.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Awesome for sure. I think it encompasses all the other terms.

what’s the scarIest thIng you’ve ever done? Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa. It is the highest bungee jump in the world and I did it with three of my best friends.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? Dream big, and let your yes’s be yes’s and your no’s be no’s.

what was your fIrst car? A faded gold 1985 Delta 88 Oldsombile.

Adam Corey 31: Lobbyist, Gunster Attorneys at Law CharIty: Seminole Boosters and YMCA

104 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

If you could be anywhere In the world rIght now, where would It be? Right here in Tallahassee. I love this place.

early bIrd or nIght owl? Oddly enough, both. But if I had to pick one over the other, it would be night owl.

beer, wIne or champagne? All three! Depending on the venue.

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire honesty, and dislike dishonesty. I am real with everybody I meet, and I expect the same from them. Not everybody may like it, but you know what you’re going to get from me.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? Treat everybody with respect.

cats or dogs? Big dogs.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? A non-motivated person. I am motivated in my career and personal life and I expect the same from the person I’m dating.

what three words best descrIbe you?

Gotta have fun.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about

you that a lot of people don’t know?

I mentor a 13-year-old boy through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Big Bend.

the best thIng about lIvIng In

tallahassee Is …? The diversity of this town, and there is always something going on.

what do you keep In the trunk of

your car? Golf clubs.

what drIves you crazy? Shooting over an 80 in golf.

what’s the scarIest thIng you’ve ever done? Starting my own company from scratch.

what Is a dream you’d lIke to have come true someday? That my high school best friends and I will be retired by 40, all living on the same street with our families. The wives would probably not like that dream, but it would be a heck of a time.

TOP SingleS

2011

Working to Live,

Not Living to

Work.SIx-WORD MEMOIR

Michael Himmel 29: Vice President, VanAllen Insurance agency CharIty: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Big Bend

On Michael: Polyester dress jacket by HS&M ($195), Calvin Klein white Liquid Cotton Tee ($29.50) and MEK Denim jeans ($135) from Dillard’s. Seiko Premier black dial chronograph watch ($639) from Gem Collection. On Mallory: One-shoulder black dress by BCBG Max Azria ($368) and Steve Madden black satin dress sandals from Cole Couture ($89.95). Maria Christina dangle-heart earrings ($190), beaded necklace ($299) and 14K smoky quartz and diamond pendant ($1,890) from Gem Collection.

T a l l a h a s s e e 105

early bIrd or nIght owl? You’ll find me at the gym early in the a.m. — staying fit is a top priority. I’m only a night owl on the weekends.

beer, wIne or champagne? Neither, I’m a rum-and-diet kind of girl.

cats or dogs? I’m a cat lover (and parent).

what characterIstIc do you most admIre — or most dIslIke — In others? I admire outgoing people, those who have no hesitation striking up a conversation with a complete stranger.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Smoking. And bad teeth. Sometimes the two go together … there is nothing more disappointing than meeting a cute guy and watching him light a cigarette.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? My mom usually gives me great advice, but one piece of advice I’m glad I’ve never taken is applying to be on the Bachelor/Bachelorette!

the best thIng about lIvIng In tallahassee Is …? Helping to shape its future into a more exciting and young professional-friendly city through my job and the Network of Young Professionals.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? Smart. I’ve always valued education and learning, so I don’t understand why intelligence has lost its appeal in today’s society.

what Is a dream you’d lIke to have come true someday? To see m.leigh accessories (my budding gameday necklace line) on college campuses across Florida, then the Southeast, and eventually, the country!

what drIves you crazy? Spelling and grammatical errors. People who overdose on perfume/cologne. Extremely loud bass. Insurance companies.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Cheesy pop music, especially old-school pop of the late ’90s and early ’00s.

Mallory Brooks 27: Program Coordinator at the Knight Creative Communities Institute and Social Media Monitoring Manager at The Zimmerman Agency CharIty: National Eating Disorders Association

She’s designing

a life she loves.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

106 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? Relax and enjoy every moment as it is happening. Everything happens for a reason.

beer, wIne or champagne? Wine, wine and wine. Did I mention wine?

cats or dogs? Neither. I’m allergic.

If you could change one thIng about yourself, what would It be? I would try to be more spontaneous. I love to have fun, but sometimes I can plan too much.

Ipod questIon: do you shuffle and take songs as they come, or stIck wIth a playlIst? Shuffle. One minute I’m listening to rap and the next it’s Frank Sinatra.

what are the top fIve Items on your bucket lIst? Travel to Europe, complete Scuba certification, own a home, run the bases at Fenway Park, buy a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes.

what Is your no. 1 turn off? Insecurity. Everyone has something to offer — recognize it and embrace it.

what’s somethIng InterestIng about you that a lot of people don’t know? I was chosen to dance onstage with The Beach Boys for one of their concerts.

what do you keep In the trunk of your car? Currently, there are actually parts of my car in my trunk. I tend to hit non-moving objects quite frequently.

what’s the scarIest thIng you’ve ever done? Moved to Atlanta (from Mississippi) after college, all alone.

what drIves you crazy? Improper use of Emoticons, especially by men.

what Is your guIlty pleasure? Fair foods — giant corn dogs and funnel cakes.

when/where do you get your best Ideas? When I’m running, I overthink. I’ve hatched many ideas and created philosophies while running.

hIgh heels, wedges or flIp flops? High heels. I am actually 5-foot-3, but most people probably think I am 5-foot-7.

Laugh Often. Work Hard. Be Classy.

SIx-WORD MEMOIR

TOP SingleS

2011

Sarah Duncan 26: Hardware Account Executive State of Florida Government at SHI International Corporation CharIty: The Junior League of Tallahassee

T a l l a h a s s e e 107

Casey E. Walton 30: Cardiac Rehabilitation Coordinator at Capital Regional Medical Center/ part-time bartender at The Moon CharIty: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Good perspective makes all things

relative.SIx-WORD MEMOIR

On Sarah: Pale blue and white ruffled blouse by BCBG Max Azria ($98) and 7 For All Mankind white shorts ($128), Steve Madden wedges ($46) from Cole Couture. London Blue Topaz engraved necklace ($1,270) drop earrings ($500) and diamond bracelet ($1,840) by Alwand Vahan from Gem Collection. On Casey: Ralph Lauren Polo ($89.50), Limited Big Star Vintage Collection ripped denim jeans ($136) and Cremieux Collection fedora, all from Dillard’s. Longine steel chronograph watch ($2,000) from Gem Collection.

old school book or e-reader? Old School. There’s something about the feeling you get when you close a good book for the last time. I also like the way they look lined on my bookshelf, beginning with the book my mom gave me long ago, which spawned my fervor for reading.

beer, wIne or champagne? Beer near water, wine near food, champagne on New Year’s.

what do you wIsh you knew fIve years ago? It would have been nice to know that the housing market was going to crash.

would you rather be called hot, cute, smart, funny or awesome? It just so happens that most of my life I’ve been told that I am smart, funny, AND handsome; though I’m beginning to think that Grandma might be a little biased.

what advIce would you gIve to a 10-year-old versIon of you? When jumping from high places, such as a rooftop for example, an umbrella does absolutely nothing to slow your fall.

what advIce dId your mother gIve you that you actually used? To wash my hands; I’ve worked at an elementary school, a preschool and two hospitals. Hand washing has proven to be a useful practice. Mom also told me to

ignore people that are rude and/or negative. I do my best.

what Is a fear you’d lIke to be free

of? Lizards. I’ll jump like a giant sissy if one sits on my shoulder.

If you were asked by a chIld you love

to tell the most Important thIng you

have learned In lIfe, what would It be?

I’d love to say that the things that set them apart from others, the things they may be teased and ridiculed for now, may one day be some of their best attributes; and somehow get them to believe it. I remember spending way too much time trying to “fit in” when I was younger.

what Is a dream you’d lIke to have

come true someday? The one where I have superhero powers, obviously.

when/where do you get your best

Ideas? Usually from books or other people.

108 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

BEHIND THE SCENES A few snapshots of how we set the scene and the people who worked there (clockwise, from left). Ryan Dungey and Jill Chandler pose for our white-on-white cover shot; interns Alexia and Desiree had to list all the jewelry and clothing — and make sure it was all returned to the proper store; Amy Forman gets a touch-up from Sherry Reese; Sarah

Duncan is unfazed by the pre-photo commotion; McKenzie and Scott set up for Kristen Hensley’s shot in Hotel Duval’s porte-cochére; and Caroline Conway gets in a little tub time.

TOP SingleS

2011While the huge Top Singles photo shoot was fun and exciting, it wasn’t quick or easy — requiring the combined

efforts of several individuals and businesses. For three days, our hosts at Hotel Duval were never quite sure where one of our 18 singles would be popping up for their photos. All of them took a trip to a local store for styling advice before their photo shoot day and spent an hour in the hair and makeup chair getting ready for their star turn.

Tallahassee Magazine offers a big “Thank You” to our Top Singles, along with all those who gave so much time and effort. The results are fabulous.

We Couldn’t Have Done It Without You

stylIst/coordInator: MCKENZIE BURLEIGH

art dIrector: SAIGE ROBERTS

photographer: SCOTT HOLSTEIN

story edItor: ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

male fashIons: DILLARDS

female fashIons: COLE COUTURE AND NARCISSUS

Jewelry/accessorIes: THE GEM COLLECTION

makeup: SHERRY REESE AND LAURALEE MARIE REESE, SKIN THERAPY

haIr: FUEL A SALON — SHERRIE CLARK, LAURA DIxON, JULIE NEWTON AND LAUREN BOEHME

locatIon: HOTEL DUVAL, SHULA’S 347 GRILL, LEROC, LEVEL 8

automobIles: CAPITAL EUROCARS

Intern assIstants: ALExIA MCKAY, DESIREE STENNETT AND CHELSEY GERMANI

bellman (page 106): AUSTIN WICKSTRUM

Look for more questions and answers from our Top Singles, additional behind-the-scenes photos and videos and information about this year’s Top Singles event online. Visit tallahasseetopsingles.com. Photo

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T a l l a h a s s e e 109

July/August 2011

A Message from Jim Murdaugh

TCC Alumni Association

A Newsletter for the TCC Foundation

Over the last couple of months I have had the pleasure of being introduced at three “Meet the President” events, one

each in Gadsden, Wakulla and Leon counties. It has been an honor to meet so many of you at these events and in the community. Every time I speak with someone about TCC, I consider it an opportunity not only to share the excellence that exists on our campus, but also an opportunity to listen and learn from students and family members, from employers and job-seekers, and from everyone who cares about the future of the Big Bend.

At each “Meet the President” event, students were asked to speak to the impact TCC has had on their personal success. The stories shared were incredibly motivating and heart-warming to hear. At the event in Gadsden County, we heard from several students who have been part of our Educational Talent Search program and are now experiencing success in college. One student was afforded the opportunity to fl y to Washington, D.C. to participate in a leadership conference. The fl ight alone has led to a desire to study avionics in college and that doesn’t even touch on the positive impact and connections he shared from the actual conference. A month

later, in Wakulla County, we heard from a gentleman who took free computer classes offered at The Wakulla Center to Wakulla County residents who were impacted by the Gulf oil spill. We also heard from a lady who has completed our Green Guide certifi cation program and is turning a love of the Big Bend’s eco-culture into a sustainable career.

At the main campus in Tallahassee, we met a student who took advantage of our dual

enrollment program to earn her high school diploma and associate degree at the same time. At only 18 years of age, she is transferring to FSU and continuing to pursue her dreams. Then a current FSU student recalled how TCC’s services for military veterans helped him maximize his college experience when he enrolled here after three tours of duty overseas.

We also met a professional motivational speaker who is a former president of TCC’s Returning Adult Student Organization. After earning her GED, she earned degrees from TCC and then FSU. She is an active member of the TCC Alumni Association and has created a scholarship at TCC in memory of her son, Brandon M. King, who was recently killed in the war in Afghanistan.

Although TCC has more than 14,000 students, we never forget that each one is unique. We want to be a successful part of each student’s story.

Thank you for helping us do that. You are an important part of our connection to the communities we serve, and we appreciate your support.

I we lcome you to read my b log a t blog.tcc.fl.edu/president or follow me on facebook at www.facebook.com/JimMurdaugh.

Spring marked a busy time for the TCC Alumni Association. This year, we marched in the Springtime Tallahassee parade and gave out over 4,000 TCC Alumni Association recyclable grocery bags. The Alumni Association was also present at all three “Meet the President” events throughout the College’s tri-county service district. More bags were given out to each community as well as to all of the graduation class of 2011 at the commencement ceremony on April 30, 2011. Be on the lookout next time you are at the grocery store!

The TCC Alumni Association is a great way for alumni to reconnect with one another. The Alumni Association offers opportunities each month for networking and fun for alumni of all ages and interests. Recent events have included hikes, lunches and wine tastings.

Alumni and friends may choose an annual membership or become lifetime members. For information about the Alumni Association and upcoming activities, visit alumni.tcc.fl .edu.

TCC’s entry in the Springtime Tallahassee parade included a walking unit of students, staff, alumni and the TCC Eagle.

11TM_JA_TCC Newsletter.indd 1 6/17/11 11:36:20 AM

110 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 12 TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER2 TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Capital City CaperInspector Gadget Level....CHP Birthday Brigade

Scotland Yard Level....TMH/TMH Foundation

Overall....CHP Birthday Brigade

Best Costume....215 Jumpstreet

Presenting Sponsor Supporting Sponsors

Thank you to our generous sponsors

Capital Health Plan took home fi rst place. Pennington Law Firm’s “215 Jumpstreet” won best costume.

Pennington Law Firm’s team, “Who Loves Ya, Baby?”

Capital City Caper raises $7,000 forGhazvini Center for Health Care Education

In April, the Tallahassee Community College Foundation hosted the fourth annual Capital City Caper, an event that raised more than $7,000 to benefi t the Ghazvini Center for Health Care Education.

Teams of eight participants raced around the city solving physical and mental challenges, picking up points along the way during a zany limousine scavenger hunt. The winners of the event were announced later that evening during a dinner at the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science.

Proceeds from the event, along with other generous donations, will help fund the Ghazvini Center for Health Care Education. The 84,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art practice center will be located in the heart of Tallahassee’s medical corridor. The location will offer students easy access to the area’s major health care providers and allow for hands-on simulations of real medical situations. The Center will be open for this upcoming fall semester.

For more information about the annual Capital City Caper, visit www.capitalcitycaper.com.

Tallahassee Community College’s Fine Art Gallery recently exhibited “Not Yet Four” — an exploration of the creative legacy shared between mother and daughter — a collection of works from Artemis Housewright and Rudi Helfrecht.

The exhibit demonstrated Helfrecht’s journey as an artist, from her early childhood drawings to her career as a fashion designer. Helfrecht was

infl uenced by her mother, well-known artist Artemis Housewright. Helfrecht, who now lives in Virginia, travelled to Tallahassee to attend the

opening reception. Among the guests was her best friend from kindergarten and many of her mother’s friends from when they lived in Tallahassee.

Tallahassee Community College’s Fine Art Gallery is located inside the Fine and Performing Arts Center. For operating hours, call (850) 201-6070.

Not Yet Four!

Bettie Bedell, Sarah Shaw and artist Rudi Helfrecht at the “Not Yet Four!” opening reception.

Rudi Helfrecht tours TCC’s Ralph Hurst Gallery, which is home to one of her mother’s paintings.

11TM_JA_TCC Newsletter.indd 2 6/17/11 11:36:35 AM

T a l l a h a s s e e 111TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER 3 TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER 3

Theatre TCC! students volunteered at each of the Capital City Caper clue sites.

Members of the TMH/TMH Foundation team attempt to catch water balloons with a bed sheet.

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11TM_JA_TCC Newsletter.indd 3 6/17/11 11:37:09 AM

112 J u l y – a u g u s T 2 0 1 1

OFFICERS:Mary L. Pankowski, PresidentJohn Thomas, Vice PresidentSusan Payne Turner, SecretaryRick Weidner, Secretary-ElectJohn W. Lentz, TreasurerJimmy Suber, Treasurer-ElectDouglas S. Bell, Past PresidentPamella Butler, At-Large Offi cerGreg Thomas, At-Large Offi cer

DIRECTORS:Marshall Cassedy, Jr.

Max T. Clark

Patrick H. Dallet

Kim Dixon

Wayne Edwards

R. Jai Gillum

Major B. Harding

Frank Holcomb

Darrin HollomanMike IllersPamela A. JohnsonKim Kelling EngstromSummer KnightDavid MillerAlmena PettitRussell B. RaineyAllison TantCurtis Richardson

Brian Rowland

Winnie Schmeling

Michele Shapley

Polly White

EX-OFFICIO:Jim Murdaugh

Eugene Lamb

Cal Brooks

TCC Foundation 2011 Board of Directors

TCC Foundation Scholarship Reception

In April, the TCC Foundation hosted its annual scholarship reception to honor both scholarship patrons and scholarship recipients. The reception provided an opportunity for the scholarship donors and recipients to get to know each other and learn more about TCC’s scholarship program. Meaghan Pelissier, a scholarship recipient, spoke on behalf of the students. She expressed their appreciation of the support they receive from scholarships.

The TCC Foundation is home to 250 scholarship funds and awarded more than $250,000 during the 2010-11 academic year. Foundation scholarships assist more than 400 TCC students each year.

(Clockwise from left): Curtis Richardson with a scholarship recipient; Reverend Ruth Mashewske and Carolyn and James Harold Thompson of Gretna Presbyterian Church with a scholarship recipient and her mother; Montserrat Webb, Jessica Bedoya, recipient of the Montserrat Webb Scholarship and Brig. Gen. Bill Webb; Kyra Jenkins, recipient of the Louis Hill, Sr. Scholarship with Almena Pettit

4 TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

11TM_JA_TCC Newsletter.indd 4 6/17/11 11:37:22 AM

T a l l a h a s s e e 113

OFFICERS:Mary L. Pankowski, PresidentJohn Thomas, Vice PresidentSusan Payne Turner, SecretaryRick Weidner, Secretary-ElectJohn W. Lentz, TreasurerJimmy Suber, Treasurer-ElectDouglas S. Bell, Past PresidentPamella Butler, At-Large Offi cerGreg Thomas, At-Large Offi cer

DIRECTORS:Marshall Cassedy, Jr.

Max T. Clark

Patrick H. Dallet

Kim Dixon

Wayne Edwards

R. Jai Gillum

Major B. Harding

Frank Holcomb

Darrin HollomanMike IllersPamela A. JohnsonKim Kelling EngstromSummer KnightDavid MillerAlmena PettitRussell B. RaineyAllison TantCurtis Richardson

Brian Rowland

Winnie Schmeling

Michele Shapley

Polly White

EX-OFFICIO:Jim Murdaugh

Eugene Lamb

Cal Brooks

TCC Foundation 2011 Board of Directors

TCC Foundation Scholarship Reception

In April, the TCC Foundation hosted its annual scholarship reception to honor both scholarship patrons and scholarship recipients. The reception provided an opportunity for the scholarship donors and recipients to get to know each other and learn more about TCC’s scholarship program. Meaghan Pelissier, a scholarship recipient, spoke on behalf of the students. She expressed their appreciation of the support they receive from scholarships.

The TCC Foundation is home to 250 scholarship funds and awarded more than $250,000 during the 2010-11 academic year. Foundation scholarships assist more than 400 TCC students each year.

(Clockwise from left): Curtis Richardson with a scholarship recipient; Reverend Ruth Mashewske and Carolyn and James Harold Thompson of Gretna Presbyterian Church with a scholarship recipient and her mother; Montserrat Webb, Jessica Bedoya, recipient of the Montserrat Webb Scholarship and Brig. Gen. Bill Webb; Kyra Jenkins, recipient of the Louis Hill, Sr. Scholarship with Almena Pettit

4 TCC FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

11TM_JA_TCC Newsletter.indd 4 6/17/11 11:37:22 AM

Destination: anDalusia (Capital: seville) / DistanCe from the tallahassee approx. 4,408 miles / airport: maDriD-Barajas airport (maD), 342 miles northeast of seville, aBout two hours By train / DireCt flights from: new york, Boston, atlanta, miami, newark, philaDelphia, washington

Travel

114 J u l y – A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

t A l l A H A s s E E 115

In early 1492, an explorer and risk taker made a plea to the king and queen to invest in his jour-ney west to prove the world was not flat and to discover and claim

ownership for Spain of any new lands he and his crew would discover. It took several tries, but he eventually sold the royals on his idea, and they made the capital investment he needed to equip and supply his three ships. His name was Christopher Columbus — and the rest is history.

Spain is steeped in history, with settle-ments dating back more than 2,000 years. And more than four centuries ago, the royal government recognized the value of and acknowledged its responsibility to restore, maintain and invest in the preser-vation of the country’s rich heritage.

Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Spain has made considerable investments in creating a highway system that con-nects most of the major cities. In addi-tion, it recently completed and opened a high-speed rail system that allows the leisure and business traveler the ease and convenience of rapid access to almost all major cities in Spain (and they are work-ing now on a high-speed train between Madrid and Lisbon, Portugal).

On this journey we chose to explore Andalusia, a Southern region of Spain that encompasses the Rock of Gibraltar and most of the southern coastline. Al-though Madrid is in the middle of the country, with direct flights from Phila-delphia and Atlanta, it was our chosen point of entry. After a mid-morning air-port arrival, it was a short cab ride to the train station, and after just a two-hour,

AndAlusiAnHigH Speed TrainS and HigHwayS Make iT eaSy To explore SouTHern SpainBy JAck MAcAlEAvy

Royal SplendoRSprawling across a

hilltop in granada, the alhambra served as

both a fortress and a palace complex.

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Christians) have greatly contributed to the beauty of this outstanding place. Contem-porary Cordoba is home to those most culturally “Spanish” activities — flamen-co and bullfighting — and is undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous places to visit in Southern Spain.

You might also choose to head west-ward to the coastal city of Cadiz, a trading port between Africa and Europe that pokes into the Atlantic Ocean and is con-nected to the Spanish mainland by a tiny isthmus. A city guide would be a good idea to help new visitors take in the high points and gain a more thorough his-torical insight. You may recognize some of Cadiz’s beaches and buildings, which were used to portray Havana in the 2002 James Bond film “Die Another Day.”

If you have time left on your itinerary, head back to Madrid and catch another high-speed train to Barcelona, in the northeast of Spain.

A trek to Barcelona is well worth the ef-fort. Home of the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona’s waterfront is lined with fabu-lous modern art and five-star hotels. The ultra-modern Hotel Arts Barcelona (a Ritz-Carlton property) was named one of the top hotels in the world, and the service, room layout and location overlooking the Medi-terranean are all worth the investment.

The two-day bus tour pass is the only way to get around, allowing you travel on the three city routes and get on and off anytime. One of the most incredible sights is native son Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) cathedral. It is designed in his original, sensuous curving avant-garde style with elements of Gothic and Art Nouveau. Under construction since 1882, this architectural marvel was consecrated just last November by Pope Benedict. Even though modern methods have speeded up the construction pro-cess, it isn’t scheduled for completion until 2026. Once finished, it will definitely be a monument for many centuries. Tours are available so one can see the many master craftsmen at work.

For more information on Spain, check out spain.info, the official Spain tourism site in English. n

SpaniSh SightS The coast of Cadiz;

(right) grazalema, one of the country’s

“white villages”; (below) Barcelona’s still-unfinished Holy

Family cathedral, which has been under construction for more

than a century.

175 mile-per-hour trip, we were in Seville, Andalusia’s largest city.

Seville is a city of 800,000-plus, which requires using public transportation and walking. Dating back to BC period, Seville is steeped in history and home to Alcazar, palace of the kings and queens that you need at least a half-day to wan-der through. Tour the El Toro Museum, housed within the ancient bullring or, if your timing is right, attend a Sunday bull-fight, a ceremonial activity that has not changed in centuries.

Once in Seville, a rental car, which cost about $250 for a week’s use, was delivered to the hotel. Ours was equipped with a GPS navigation system that took 95 per-cent of the pain out of traveling the roads of Spain.

Make the time to explore the 1,250-square-mile Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, just a short drive outside Seville. The Fuente Lodge overlooks the pristine mountain town of Grazalema. One of Andalusia’s “white villages” — where all the buildings are whitewashed — it is a place where one can experience the simple daily life of rural Spaniards. There are many wonderful hiking trails well marked and designed for the simple to the most advanced hiker abilities. Ubrique, another white village of the region, is known for its leather industries with a shop-lined street filled with international designer brands selling at a fraction of the cost those goods go for after making their way to America. One could complete a holiday shopping list and come home a hero.

For those who hike, or just love the out-doors, the trail system within the park is incredible. There are trails for all levels of experience, from a day trip to ventur-ing deep for the overnight stay in a region

where nature has created a breathtaking experience.

The delights of other Andalusian cities are easy drives away.

The three-hour drive to Granada takes you through agricultural regions of olive and almond orchards and wheat fields as far as the eye can see. They’re all immacu-lately groomed by generations of families living off their land.

If you plan early and are lucky, you’ll land a reservation at the Parador de San Francisco in Granada. The present-day five-star-rated Parador owes much of its architectural heritage to the construction of a Franciscan convent on this site soon after the fall of Granada in 1492. The Par-ador overlooks the Alhambra, a sprawling palace-citadel filled with royal residential quarters, court complexes flanked by of-ficial chambers, a bath and a mosque that can take most of a day to fully explore.

Also, consider a side trip to Cordoba, with a cityscape that showcases a whole world of striking history. People of diverse cultures and religions (Jews, Muslims and

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“I enjoy advertising in a quality publicationthat presents my image well.”

J.C. Gayhartt, Owner of Trail and Ski

EVERYONE LOVES MAGAZINES. Reading a magazine is an intimate, involving experience. That’s one reason you spend 42 minutes on average with each issue and consider magazine reading as “my time.”1

Trail and Ski owner J.C. Gayhartt has placed an ad in every single issue of Tallahassee Magazine and knows the value of a loyal readership, saying, “We sell clothing and equipment for outdoor adventures, and I feel like Tallahassee Magazine goes to the upscale audience that I’m trying to target.”

And he’s right. A majority of U.S. respondents say an important feature of printed magazinesis advertising helping them learn about new things for themselves and their family.2

“Tallahassee Magazine is a quality, glossy, good-looking production with a long shelf life — people pick it up and read it again and again,” says J.C. “It’s a good value, and I’ll continue to advertise.”

Tallahassee Magazine works for Trail and Ski. Call today to see how it can work for you.

1—Base: U.S. adults 18+; Source: GfK MRI, Fall 2010; 2—Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy Survey, Fifth Edition, Feb 2011

CURRENT » QUOTABLE » WELL-READ(850)�878-0554 • tallahasseemagazine.com

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InspirationWedding

Now, it’s crunch time for women who have been anticipating and secretly planning this day since they were little girls, imagining what guy would get the chance to be the Ken to their

Barbie. Time to whip the wedding magazines out from under the bed and put together a day that will bring friends and families both joy and envy before jetting off to start a life with the new beau.

Stress and bliss can be found simultaneously in the flurry of dresses, traditions, rings, guest lists — and navigating the tricky shoals of parental expectations.

Some will tie the knot right at home in the church they grew up in with guest lists teetering around 500, while others will have more exotic locations in mind with only a few to witness their union.

Either way, the day she says “I do” is one no woman will soon forget.

“Yes, I will marry you.”

v

v

Three Local Brides

Share Their Secrets for Beautiful,

Meaningful Nuptials

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PhotograPhy Whitney FletcherEvEnt PlannEr Papaya Wedding Planning WEdding goWn New Image, Thomasville, Ga.BridEsmaids’ drEssEs David’s BridalgroomsmEn outfits Men’s WarehouseCakE Sweet Stuffed Bakery, MariannamusiC/EntErtainmEnt DJ Randy RussCatEring Andrew’s Capital Grill and Bar rECEPtion FSU Alumni Centerhair/makEuP sErviCEs Kelly’s Cottage/MAC

Ashley and Austin Myers

Ashley and Austin’s wedding story > page 127

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Hannah and Derek Causseaux

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Hannah and Derek’s wedding story > page 128

WEdding & rECEPtion vEnuE Sumner Home, HosfordPhotograPhEr Terri Smith PhotoWEdding drEss Vocelle’s BridalBridEsmaids’ drEssEs Vocelle’s BridalBand Crooked Shoozgroom & groomsmEn Seersucker suits from JoS. A. BanklinEns & rEntals The Party CenterrECEPtion Coordinator Nan StewartvEil & aCCEssoriEs The New Image, Thomasville, Ga.WEdding dirECtor Cari McSpaddin, BristolCatErEr Charlie & Sherry Brown, HosfordfloWErs Janet Taylor Designs, BlountstownBridE’s Book & Programs evyandgrace.com, Hosfordinvitations/savE thE datEs Green Quince, etsy.com

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2010

BestGolf Course

April and Nick Cole

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CErEmony sitE Evangel Assembly of GodrECEPtion vEnuE Golden Eagle Country ClubPhotograPhy Browne PhotographymusiC/EntErtainmEnt Steve’s Party MixvidEograPhEr Unique Video Creationsflorist Missy Gunnels FlowersCakE The Cake ShoplinEns Silver Lining LinensChiavari Chairs InTentsEventstransPortation Mike’s Limousinehair Ardans Salon, Lindsey YoungmakEuP Randi BuchananBridEsmaids’ drEssEs David’s Bridalinvitations/Program/mEnu Designed and created by Nicolas and April ColeWEdding favors The Painted Pretzel (thepaintedpretzel.com)WEdding goWn Kleinfeld Bridal, New York CitygroomsmEn tuxEdos Andrew Davis, Bloomington, Ind.

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FORMAL WEAR | VENUE | CATERING | PHOTOGRAPHY | FLOWERSHONEYMOON | LIMO | CAKE | MUSIC | INVITATIONS

Nominate your favorite affi anced couple to win the 2012 wedding of the year,hosted by Hotel Duval and Tallahassee’s most exclusive selection of wedding vendors.

From July 1–August 15, tell their story atweddingsbyduval.comMember of the exclusive family of autograph collection hotels

PHOTO COURTESY TERRI SMITH PHOTO

Presented by Hotel Duval and Tallahassee Magazine.

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t A l l A h A s s e e 127

Kicking off the New Year with ‘I Do’

Ashley Sauls and Austin Myers never spent a New Year’s Eve

together — until their wedding night. While dating for two years at Southeastern University in Lakeland, the majority of their relationship was long distance. Shortly after gradua-ting, Austin moved back to Ohio to care for his family while his father was battling colon cancer.

After his father passed, getting her parents’ blessing and saving up for the perfect ring, the Buckeye State native moved back to Florida and popped the question in May 2010.

The couple chose to have an eve-ning ceremony at the Freedom Church on Thomasville Road in Talla-hassee. Heavenly curtains of twinkling lights, tall vases with silver branches attached to the white orchids and burlesque-style ostrich feathers were a few decorative elements that made the evening elegant and magical.

“We really wanted the reception to be a New Years Eve party,” she says. At 11 p.m., guests were given New Years Eve hats, party streamers and noisemakers to welcome in 2011 as a projection screen showcased the ball dropping in New York City’s Ti-mes Square.

A longtime fan of musicals and Broadway shows, the bride dedica-ted a special dance to the groom to Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

Creating beautiful and delicious wedding cakes for the past 45 years.1908 Capital Circle NE, Tallahassee • 850-386-2253

www.TallyCakeShop.comMonday-Friday 8:30AM-6:00PM & Saturday 8:30AM-12:00PM

FORMAL WEAR | VENUE | CATERING | PHOTOGRAPHY | FLOWERSHONEYMOON | LIMO | CAKE | MUSIC | INVITATIONS

Nominate your favorite affi anced couple to win the 2012 wedding of the year,hosted by Hotel Duval and Tallahassee’s most exclusive selection of wedding vendors.

From July 1–August 15, tell their story atweddingsbyduval.comMember of the exclusive family of autograph collection hotels

PHOTO COURTESY TERRI SMITH PHOTO

Presented by Hotel Duval and Tallahassee Magazine.

11TM_JA_HotelDuvalWedding 1 6/22/11 2:31:12 PM

Wedding v Inspiration

Ashley and Austin Myers

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Summer Doesn’t Get Any

Th an Th is!HOTTERDancing is hot! Learn to dance from the professionals at Fred Astaire Dance Studios now and enjoy cool fun all year long! Call today!

1139 East Tennessee Street850-681-8884

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“I always said the bridesmaids were going to do a dance for my recep-tion,” Ashley says, and she taught the dance to them the night before the wedding at her bachelorette party.

Guests toasted the newlyweds with sparkling grape juice, a tradition in Ashley’s family, and sent them off with a wave of sparklers.

“Our first kiss was on Halloween, the first time he told me he loved me was on Valentine’s Day and we got married on New Year’s Eve,” she says. — Alexia McKay

‘The Sweetest Day’ Includes Home, Faith and Family

Outside, underneath the massive oak tree she climbed as a child,

Hannah Sumner made one of the most important decisions of her life — choosing Derek Causseaux as the man she would marry.

The two were college sweethearts and dated nine years before tying the knot at the Hosford home of Hannah’s parents.

Hannah says she had always en-visioned her wedding indoors, as a brightly colored affair. But when it came time to plan the Sept. 4, 2010 nuptials, a neutral color palette and that old tree won her over. Let’s just say people don’t call it the “great” outdoors for no reason.

Wedding v Inspiration

Hannah and Derek Causseaux

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Event Planner

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“Everything was the total opposite of all I’ve ever envisioned,” she said. “And it was amazing.”

Although they didn’t know one another until their days at Florida State University, both grew up in Bristol, where they now live again. Elements from their hometown were used throughout the ceremony. Old church pews were set up beneath the tree for their 150 guests along with old wooden crosses and Bibles.

Both the bride and groom come from close-knit families and wanted to emphasize family and faith in ev-ery detail of the wedding. Windows from Hannah’s grandparents’ old home hung from the limbs of the oak tree and table runners were made from the wood of the barn behind Hannah’s parents’ home.

Both families participated in the wedding ceremonies. Derek’s mother baked the groom’s cake — a pound cake the couple displayed on old weight benches reminiscent of the equipment in the gym Derek owns.

“Everything about the day was carefully chosen and sentimental in some way,” Hannah says.

During the poolside reception, guests were given cupcakes as a part of their dessert. A little different from the norm, these were presented in glass jars that declared they were “the sweetest way to end the sweet-est day.” — Desiree Stennett

There’s No Place Like Home for a Wedding

No, she’s not in Kansas either, but that’s not the only thing new

bride April Cole has in common with Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz — both know all about happy endings and neither would dare underesti-mate the power of a good pair of se-quined ruby red slippers.

Her new husband Nick Cole’s mother died a only few weeks before their engagement, but with three clicks of the red slippers that Nick gave her for Valentine’s Day — and nine months of planning — April and

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www.vocellesbridal.com1240 Thomasville Rd.

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� We create custom wedding packages to meet your needs� We service up to 500 miles from Tallahassee, FL� We have over 20 vehicles to choose from including our

brand new 2011 Pink Hummer, perfect for bachelorette parties, bridesmaid luncheons or your wedding day

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It’s your day to shine • Feel like Royalty • Arrive in Class and Stylein one of our Limousines or Rolls Royce

Mike’s Limousine Service

Best Limo Company

2010

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info@klassickatering.com | www.klassic-katering.com(850) 894.0423 | (850) 509.5005 (mobile)

2010

Best Caterer

elegant creative unique distinctive

Nick managed to survive their trag-edy and pull off a detailed wedding ceremony on Oct. 9, 2010, that could rival the storybooks.

“It turned out perfect, just as I envi-sioned it,” April says.

Theirs began as a long-distance relationship connected through a mutual friend, and it was love at first phone call.

“I knew he was special,” she says. “I married a man of tremendous char-acter, strength and compassion.”

Although they have been living in Indiana for the last two years, Nick and April know that there’s no place like home. The couple came back to Tallahassee, where April went to col-lege and where her parents and many of their 26-person wedding party still live, to have their wedding.

The ivory, gold and chocolate brown color scheme made the Cole wedding the picture of elegance they hoped it would be, and even the smallest details — right down to those ruby slippers April wore — rep-resented their personalities.

Nick designed the couple’s invita-tions and April sang at the wedding as she had done for many of their friends. Nick and his grandmother also shared a dance to “Ave Maria” in memory of his mother who couldn’t be there to see the wedding.

Nick is now pursuing a graduate degree in Biology Informatics at Indi-ana University where April works as the assistant director of scholarships. — Desiree Stennett

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April and Nick Cole

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Wedding v Inspiration

Here are a few tips for perfecting a profile for some of today’s best dat-ing sites:

It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect rIgHt now Don’t be put off by that big blank spot. Just jot down the things you would like someone to know about you and worry about the grammar and spell-ing later.

stIck to tHe facts Tell it like it is. Linda Mastaglio, a communications consultant who helps business pros write prose more effectively, says, “Honesty will help you attract the kind of person you really want.”

keeP It sImPle, sweetHeart As you turn your draft into English, think about what it is within you that you want to share with someone else — and not necessarily a deep bonding of souls.

keeP It clean Conform to the posting guidelines and polish up your writing. It doesn’t have to gleam; it just has to not have any glaring errors that would make you feel embarrassed if you spotted them later.

let It Be After you write your pro-file, wait a day or two before posting it. Give it some more tweaks or a complete overhaul, then bring in a friend for a second opinion.

— Excerpt from “Get Off on the Write Foot,” by Mark Amundsen, featured in “happen,” Match.com’s online magazine.

Looking for your own special someone? Take your search online.your search online.

t A l l A h A s s e e 135T A L L A H A S S E E 135

WEDDING SERVICES DIRECTORYCAKES

CATERING

PLANNING

FLOWERS

HEALTH & BEAUTY

CAKES

CATERING

PLANNING/RENTALS

FLOWERS

PHOTOGRAPHY

BARTENDING

HONEYMOON

RENTALS

FLOWERS

ENTERTAINMENT

T A L L A H A S S E E 135

THE CAKE SHOP

The Cake Shop has been creating the most delicious and beautiful wedding cakes in Tallahassee for the last 25 years. Let our pastry chefs help you create the wedding cake of your dreams. 1908 Capital Circle NE(850) 386-2253 • TallyCakeShop.com

JOHN GANDY EVENTS

I design weddings that are unique from concept to completion. When working with me and my team, you can be assured we produce events that exceed your expectations! (850) 570-5999 • johngandyevents.com

THE GFWC WOMAN’S CLUBOF TALLAHASSEE’ S CLUBHOUSE

Conveniently located in midtown Tallahassee inLos Robles at Thomasville and Meridian roads. Available for rent for meetings, receptions, weddings or special events. 1513 Cristobal Drive(850) 224-0825 • womanscluboftallahassee.org

ON THE ROCKS BARTENDING SERVICE

On the Rocks has been providing Tallahassee and surrounding areas with superior service for over a decade. We take care of the bar, of course, but we also want everything else to go smoothly and will lend a hand in any way possible — to ensure your event is something to remember. (850) 251-4147ontherocksbartending.biz

HAUTE HEADZ

Tallahassee’s Only Intercoiff ure Full Service Salon. From runway styles to formals, galas and weddings — we can do it all! Bridal Event Hair off ered on and off site for your convenience. 1447 Thomasville Road Tallahassee, FL 32303(850) 224-0414 hauteheadzsalon.com

GT ENTERTAINMENT

We make every event spectacular! GT Entertainment will make your next event unforgettable. We have been selected as Best of Tallahassee for 2010 and winner of the Tally Award since 2005. (850) 345-9094 tallahasseedj.com

PANACHE TENT & EVENT

Panache Tent & Event is a full-service event planning and rental company off ering the region’s most upscale items needed to make your day special.No matter how a space looks at the start, we can transform it into virtually anything you desire. (850) 227-9574panachetents.com

A TOUCH OF CLASS FLORIST

Every bride dreams of the day she walks down the aisle carrying her bouquet, created with fl owers gathered from around the world, just for her. Let’s get together and talk fl owers......Awarded “Brides Choice Award” three times by Weddingwire.com, studied wedding trends in Paris.103 N. Main Street, Havana, Fl.(850)539.9774atouchofclassfl owers.com

PREMIER CATERING

Premier Catering is a full-service catering company providing Tallahassee with a combination of superior cuisine, customized menus and professional service. From formal weddings and corporate events to casual cocktail parties and dinners. (850) 544-3709 (850) 894-0389 premiercateringandevents.com

DND HONEYMOONS

Karynn A Gross, CTA, ACC is Tallahassee’s premiere honeymoon specialist. Specializing in making dream honeymoons a reality for over 4 years!1342 Timberlane Rd, Suite 201-A • Tallahassee FL 32312 • (850) 597-8538 • kgross@dndescapes.com

KATIE’S CAKES AND CATERING

Katie’s has been creating unique cakes with love and care for brides in the Tallahassee area for more than 20 years. Each cake is made with pure, wholesome ingredients and custom-designed just for you. Day and evening appointments are available. 108 E. 7th Avenue, Havana, FL (850) 539-7437www.katiescakesandcatering.comfacebook.com: Katie’s Cakes, Inc.

KLASSIC KATERING

Voted “BEST CATERER” by the local community for seven consecutive years. We’re unrivaled in our reliability, impeccable staff and ability to create unforgettable moments. Custom catering provided for ALL occasions — Weddings are our specialty!(850) 894-0423 • klassic-katering.com

CAROLINE V. STURTZ PHOTOGRAPHY

Caroline V. Sturtz Photography combines classic wedding photography with a modern documentary style to create photographic memories that are truly works of art. “Your Images. Your Memories. Your Life.” (850) 668-2091 • cvsphotography.com

ARTISTIC FLOWERS

Jamie Roberts, head designer.777 Miccosukee Road Tallahassee, FL 32308(850) 222-ROSE (7673) artisticfl owers.comjaimierbts26@hotmail.com

MISSY GUNNELS FLOWERS

We love fl owers! We love weddings and parties! This is honestly what we’re all about. The mother/daughter team, Missy and Ellie, are full of fresh ideas and stylish dreams.(850) 228-0354 missygunnelsfl owers.com

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Wedding v Inspiration

Jumping the Broom” was this year’s must-see wedding-related romantic comedy. Released in early May, the mov-

ie tells multiple stories of two families from opposite sides of town who become united and divided through the African-American tradition of the bride and groom jumping over a broom after the wedding ceremony.

Although the concept seems simple, its meaning is etched in legacy and symbol-ism. The act of broom leaping comes from Africa. In a tribal marriage, the couple placed sticks on the ground to represent their new home. In the antebellum South, slaves adopted the act to honor their

union, since they could not legally marry.However, the practice has roots in the

Celtic, Welsh, Druid and Gypsy cultures. Jumping over the broom signifies the couple’s leap into a new life as husband and wife and sweeps away their formal lives of being single. The straws of the broom represent family, the handle, God, and the ribbon binds the couple together. Usually the broom is beautifully decorat-ed and placed in the path of the couple at the conclusion of the ceremony as they head to the reception.

Look for “Jumping the Broom” on DVD and Blu-Ray in August. — Alexia McKay

Leaping Into Marriage

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RECEPTION SITE DIRECTORY

Golden Eagle Country ClubA full-service wedding venue, Golden Eagle Country Club has more than 20 years of exceptional food presentation and service. Plan-ning your event is simple, stress free and more affordable than you think! Michelle Griggs • (850) 893-7700www.goldeneaglecc.org

Goodwood Museum and GardensPlan your next affair at Goodwood, nestled in a grove of live oak trees in the heart of Tallahas-see. Let our surroundings take you from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to an elegant turn-of-the-century setting.1600 Miccosukee Road • Tallahassee, FL(850) 877-4202 • www.goodwoodmuseum.org

Henderson Park InnAt this adults-only, Gulf-front boutique hotel, privacy seekers will fi nd the ultimate sanctuary for romance. The inn boasts intimate rooms, luxury amenities, charming terraces and is the region’s only all-inclusive hotel. Enjoy com-plimentary beach chairs/umbrellas, bicycles, gourmet breakfast, picnic boxed lunches, sunset drinks at the “Tiki” bar and more. Ryan Olin, Innkeeper • (888) 836-1105

The Cross CreekThis 5,000-square-foot room has a 2,500-square-foot balcony overlooking a golf course. Amenities include a prep kitchen, 60-inch round tables, chairs and a dance fl oor. Seats up to 250. Wi-Fi available.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6701 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

The DuesenbergA 15,000-square-foot space with amenities including 72-inch round tables, stage, 9x12 backlit projection, sound system, recessed light-ing, dance fl oor, fl at-screen televisions and a prep kitchen. Seats up to 900 at tables or 1,500 theatre style. Wi-Fi available.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6800 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

The CordA 15,000-square-foot space with amenities including 72-inch round tables, laptop presen-tation ready, sound system, stage, dance fl oor, fl at-screen televisions, prep kitchen. Seats up to 900 at tables or 1,500 theatre style.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6800 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

Mission San LuisMake your wedding historic with us! With a new 250-seat banquet hall, enclosed outdoor courtyard and 65 acres of beautiful grounds, this National Historic Landmark offers you a most elegant and unique setting for your very special day. Photography by woodlandfi elds photography

2100 West Tennessee Street • Tallahassee, FL (850) 245-6406 • www.missionsanluis.org

The Golf Club at SummerbrookeThe Golf Club at Summerbrooke provides a fantastic venue for your special day or events leading up to your wedding. Our Club offers beautiful spaces both inside and poolside and we are ready to meet your needs, creatinga memorable, special occasion.(850) 894-GOLF (4653)www.summerbrookegolf.com

The Retreat at Bradley’s PondThe Retreat at Bradley’s Pond remains one of Tallahassee’s best kept secrets. Offering many amenities, it is a 5,000 square-foot heated and cooled building, with 1,700 square-feet of wraparound porches. Bradley’s Pond is a one-stop shop for your rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception needs. Bring the licensed caterer of your choice, planner, fl orist, bartender, photographer and plan YOUR perfect day. Everything you dreamed of and more!9002 Bradley Road • Tallahasseee, FL(850) 561-6328 • www.bradleyspond.com

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RECEPTION SITE DIRECTORY

Golden Eagle Country ClubA full-service wedding venue, Golden Eagle Country Club has more than 20 years of exceptional food presentation and service. Plan-ning your event is simple, stress free and more affordable than you think! Michelle Griggs • (850) 893-7700www.goldeneaglecc.org

Goodwood Museum and GardensPlan your next affair at Goodwood, nestled in a grove of live oak trees in the heart of Tallahas-see. Let our surroundings take you from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to an elegant turn-of-the-century setting.1600 Miccosukee Road • Tallahassee, FL(850) 877-4202 • www.goodwoodmuseum.org

Henderson Park InnAt this adults-only, Gulf-front boutique hotel, privacy seekers will fi nd the ultimate sanctuary for romance. The inn boasts intimate rooms, luxury amenities, charming terraces and is the region’s only all-inclusive hotel. Enjoy com-plimentary beach chairs/umbrellas, bicycles, gourmet breakfast, picnic boxed lunches, sunset drinks at the “Tiki” bar and more. Ryan Olin, Innkeeper • (888) 836-1105

The Cross CreekThis 5,000-square-foot room has a 2,500-square-foot balcony overlooking a golf course. Amenities include a prep kitchen, 60-inch round tables, chairs and a dance fl oor. Seats up to 250. Wi-Fi available.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6701 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

The DuesenbergA 15,000-square-foot space with amenities including 72-inch round tables, stage, 9x12 backlit projection, sound system, recessed light-ing, dance fl oor, fl at-screen televisions and a prep kitchen. Seats up to 900 at tables or 1,500 theatre style. Wi-Fi available.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6800 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

The CordA 15,000-square-foot space with amenities including 72-inch round tables, laptop presen-tation ready, sound system, stage, dance fl oor, fl at-screen televisions, prep kitchen. Seats up to 900 at tables or 1,500 theatre style.Tallahassee Automobile Museum6800 Mahan Drive • Tallahassee, FLwww.tacm.com

Mission San LuisMake your wedding historic with us! With a new 250-seat banquet hall, enclosed outdoor courtyard and 65 acres of beautiful grounds, this National Historic Landmark offers you a most elegant and unique setting for your very special day. Photography by woodlandfi elds photography

2100 West Tennessee Street • Tallahassee, FL (850) 245-6406 • www.missionsanluis.org

The Golf Club at SummerbrookeThe Golf Club at Summerbrooke provides a fantastic venue for your special day or events leading up to your wedding. Our Club offers beautiful spaces both inside and poolside and we are ready to meet your needs, creatinga memorable, special occasion.(850) 894-GOLF (4653)www.summerbrookegolf.com

The Retreat at Bradley’s PondThe Retreat at Bradley’s Pond remains one of Tallahassee’s best kept secrets. Offering many amenities, it is a 5,000 square-foot heated and cooled building, with 1,700 square-feet of wraparound porches. Bradley’s Pond is a one-stop shop for your rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception needs. Bring the licensed caterer of your choice, planner, fl orist, bartender, photographer and plan YOUR perfect day. Everything you dreamed of and more!9002 Bradley Road • Tallahasseee, FL(850) 561-6328 • www.bradleyspond.com

11TM_JA_ReceptionSitesDir.indd 1 6/20/11 2:35:54 PM

When many a bride-to-be envisions her perfect wedding, images of vows on the beach against the backdrop of a spectacular sunset comes to mind.

Fortunately for those of us who live in Tallahas-see, there’s no need for family and friends to jet off to a faraway, exotic locale to indulge in that dream wedding. Some of the world’s best beach venues can be found along the Northwest Florida coast within

a three-hour drive of our doorsteps. You’ll find sites appropriate for small, intimate affairs or elaborate, weeklong fantasy-wedding extravaganzas — and ev-erything in between.

“It’s the most beautiful place in the world,” says Barbara Miller, special events manager at the Sand-estin Golf & Beach Resort. “We have this white sand; we have this green water. You don’t need to go to the Caribbean.”

What Every Couple Needs to Know Before Saying ‘I Do’ Away From Home By Rosanne DunkelBeRgeR

Planning a Picture-Perfect Destination WeDDing

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Tallahassee photographer Kay Meyer, who has shot dozens of weddings along the Northwest Florida coast, says she loves the relaxed vibe that comes along with a destination wedding. “It’s like everyone’s on vacation … the reception is always fun,” she says. “It’s like an escape for everyone.”

But planning a destination beach wedding comes with its own set of challenges. Some are huge — what if it rains? — while others are more of an annoyance, like hav-ing a sunburned beachcomber bending over in the background of your first kiss photo.

While many brides initially contact Sandestin’s Miller with a beach wedding in mind, she says, “the beach is sometimes the start of our conversation.”

Lovely in concept, many things make a wedding on the beach more problematic than any other outdoor wedding. For example, elderly guests may find it dif-ficult to navigate through the sand, heat in the summer months can be brutal, it may be hard to hear the vows without a sound system and coastal breezes can wreak havoc on carefully created hairstyles. And here’s one you probably never thought of, courtesy of Tallahassee

event planner John Gandy: One bride’s vision of a row of lanterns lighting the way down the sandy “aisle” dur-ing her evening wedding was thwarted because it was turtle nesting season.

“They may not necessarily want their feet in the sand; they want the pictures,” Miller says. “With a resort like Sandestin, we’re able to work through what their wishes really are — there’s a lot of give-and-take.”

Sandestin’s most popular beach wedding months are May and October. It’s uncomfortably hot during the more traditional summer months, says Miller. Meyer says couples should con-sider November or January for a beach wedding. “It still looks the same in pictures, except they’re not sweating,” she says.

Many brides choose one of Sandestin’s bayside loca-tions for their nuptials, with an indoor venue for the re-ception. In all cases, the resort requires couples to have an alternate indoor location in case of bad weather. Other beachside accommodations along the Gulf coast don’t require or don’t have a backup venue, but it’s something that should be taken into consideration dur-ing wedding planning.

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“It’s like everyone’s on vacation … the reception is always fun. It’s like an escape for everyone.” Photographer Kay Meyer

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Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort has been Northwest Florida’s premier wedding location for more than 11 years, off ering an experienced, professional staff and impressive facilities guaranteed to make your wedding day special. When your dream wedding includes sand between your toes and your vows perfectly timed with the sunset, nothing could be better than the sugar-white sands of our beaches. Our area’s beaches have been named as top favorites by USA Today, Travel Channel and Southern Living. From destination weddings to beach weddings, Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort off ers more services and amenities than any other resort on Panama City Beach.

Our wedding planners have everything covered. From the airport shuttle and stocking the bridal party’s suites with champagne, fl owers and snacks, to kids’ activities, babysitting services and on-property spa and salon services, Edgewater’s professionals will

coordinate whatever you require to create your dream wedding. There is no need to stress about the weather on your wedding day either, since our team always has an indoor backup location ready

to use with only six hours notice. And our award-winning culinary staff will create special cuisine for every part of the celebration, from the rehearsal dinner to the farewell brunch.

From planning to catering, every detail of your wedding is taken care of by our wedding planning team, whose mission is to make your special day unforgettable. To view our Grand Wedding Events in Promises, visit www.edgewaterbeachresort.com. To start

making plans for your special wedding, please fi ll out our wedding inquiry form online or for more information regarding weddings, please contact our catering sales manager at (850) 235-4977 or email kerri.maney@resortspcbeach.com

Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort

11212 Front Beach Road | Panama City Beach, FL 32407 (850) 235-4977 | www.edgewaterbeachresort.com

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Even if the wedding isn’t on the beach, photographer Meyer says there are ways to fit in a sand and surf photo during what she calls “the magic hour” right before sunset. “The sun is so low that it doesn’t produce any shadows,” she says. Earlier in the day, “it’s almost impossible to get a picture with-out a squinty face.” After the eating commences at the reception, she will whisk the bride and groom off to the beach for a quick photo shoot. “They’re relaxed and the pressure is off and they can just have a good time with it,” and be back in time for the dancing and cake cutting.

People in the know say an experienced coordinator will save many wedding-day headaches. And that’s not a role necessarily filled by a resort’s onsite wedding plan-ner. It varies by venue, but in the case of Sandestin, Miller says she is in charge of setup and food service. “I’m not there the day of to get them down the aisle,” she says. While the resort has lists of recommended vendors, couples are on their own when it comes to hiring a pho-tographer, florist, officiant, entertainment and more.

Some venues require clients to choose from a limited selection of vendors who may have minimum required expenditures, which can “eat up your budget easily,” says Gandy, citing one resort whose florist expected to do at least $5,000 worth of work.

Meyer says a professional (“not a friend of the bride”) planner is imperative. “There’s so much that’s out of your control,” she says. At the November wedding of Jen and Darrh Bryant at Destin’s Henderson Park Inn, a

sudden cold snap put a chill on the outdoor festivi-ties. But, she says, Gandy saved the day with propane

heaters and pocket hand warmers. Planners can also help “pull the look together,” says Meyer, and may ac-tually have many decorative items in stock that would otherwise have to be rented or purchased.

Only half jokingly, Gandy advises newly engaged couples, “as soon you call your parents you should call a good planner.”

The pouring of unity sand — a symbol of two separate lives becoming one — is a beach wedding tradition, but a “coastal” theme for the wedding and reception is not a necessity, says Miller. In fact, elaborate decorations aren’t necessary because Mother Nature provides the ultimate backdrop.

Locations do tend to book up on Saturdays during busy spring and fall months, but if one can be a little flexible — getting married on a Friday or Sunday, for ex-ample — there can be more choices and savings. “Flex-ibility is always great,” says Gandy. “That way, you can really work your budget.”

Once the venue has been secured, it’s a good idea to send save-the-date cards so guests can book rooms and perhaps make a vacation during their wedding trip.

With a little forethought, it’s possible to relax and en-joy the beauty of the Gulf beaches — with a wedding on the side. Ph

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Ashley McWhirter& Matt Morries

Ashley and Matt Morris were married on

December 18, 2010at the Pisgah

Methodist Church.After honeymooning in the Virgin Islands, they now reside in

Tallahassee.

Photo By Jennifer Powell

event PlanneR: John Gandy Events PhotogRaPheR: Key Meyer Photography RecePtion/ceRemony venue: Henderson Park Inn cateReR/BaR Tim Creehan and Company FloRal DesigneR: Missy Gunnels Flowers haiR stylist: Hair on Earth — Jordan Cosgrove cake: Confections on the Coast DJ: GT Entertainment invitations: Paper by Candy Woodward viDeogRaPheR: Unique Video Creations make-uP Two Fishes Artistry linens/coveRings Kent’s Tents & Special Events WeDDing BanDs The Gem Collection BRiDe’s DRess: Eva’s (Oak Lawn, Ill.) designed by Stephen Yearick Couture gRoom’s/gRoom’s attiRe: Jos. A Banks BRiDesmaiD’s DResses: Love (Jacksonville) accessoRies FoR the BRiDe anD BRiDemaiDs: Narcissus

Jennifer and Darrh BryantFISHING FOR THE PERFECT WEDDING

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Making Your Dreams

Come True ...Expect to be enchanted with the perfect setting for your intimate beach wedding. Located across from the Gulf, you can host your family and friends in our charming rooms and have your wedding on the sand!

The Beachside Inn in Destin’s Crystal Beach area off ers you and your wedding guests amenities such as free Wi-Fi and an inviting two-tier swimming pool with a hot tub. This off ers the perfect setting for your rehearsal or reception dinner, utilizing the onsite restaurant and coff ee shop, Camille’s.

For more information, call (888) 232-2498www.DestinBeachsideInn.com Info@DestinBeachsideInn.com

Darrh Bryant was the first neighbor to welcome Jen-nifer Anderson to the Lake-

shore neighborhood. “He was standing in a pile of fire

ants while he was introducing him-self,” she says, reminiscing on how he approached her from his home across the street while she was mowing the lawn. “He didn’t notice them until I told him.”

On August 2009, the local den-tist asked the Illinois native to be his wife over a sunset beach picnic.

Jennifer knew she wanted to per-sonalize her Nov. 6, 2010, wedding to be a commemoration of family tradition and intimate relationship experiences.

Both fans of fishing and the wa-ter, the couple had their ceremony at Henderson Park Inn on Destin beach. Guests were given flip-flops to trot across the sand along with sand pails for the kids.

Jennifer wore her father’s moth-er’s garter belt and her mother’s veil. Catlilies and orchids were the bride’s grandmothers’ favorite flowers and used in Jennifer’s bouquet. The rings were carried down the aisle on a fishing pole, reminiscent of the proposal, when Darrh attached a love letter to a fishing hook.

The reception tables, diverse in shapes and colors, were named af-ter fish they had caught together.

Food stations were set up across the reception area, each one a re-minder to the couple, such as the sushi station representing their first date at Kitcho Japanese Restaurant in Tallahassee.

“We tried to make the food reflec-tive of us,” she says. The groom’s cake, a chocolate pistachio with mo-cha filling, was a scrumptious dupli-cate of his boat.

At the end of the ceremo-ny, guests threw beach balls as the newlyweds walked out into the sunset.

“I think the biggest question peo-ple ask is whose house are you liv-ing in,” Jennifer says, laughing. She moved across the street to his place. — Alexia McKayPh

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FINNEGAN’S WAKE

The Pub From Ireland

850.222.4225 | thepubfromireland.com1122 Thomasville Road, Manor@Midtown

850.298.8092 | Facebook: Fifth-Avenue-Tap-Room

1122 Thomasville Road, Manor@Midtown

Northern Florida’s only Authentic Irish PubLive music & Full bar

Guinness, Bass and Smithwick’s on tapWatch real football on fl atscreen TVs

Open 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Everyday

Live musicDance Music Provided by

Greg Tish/GT Entertainment37 Draught Beer Taps

Two Full bars with spirits, wine and beerOpen Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights

Located next door to Finnegan’s Wake

While vacationers enjoy the sunshine, Florid-ians are all too familiar with scorching summer temperatures. But putting one home appliance to proper use goes a long way toward neutral-izing everyone’s heat discomfort.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s website, fans create a wind chill effect that adds comfort on a sultry day. “Ceiling fans are consid-ered the most effective since they circulate the air in a room to create a cool draft,” the site says.

Ceiling fan use can cool utility expenses as

well. “It costs about 50 times less to use ceiling fans than air conditioners,” says Bob Seaton, retail energy services manager for the City of Tallahassee. “A 50-watt ceiling fan at medium speed costs .07 cents to use per hour,” he ex-plains. “It costs 37 cents to use air conditioning from a medium-sized central cooling unit.”

Seaton suggests raising air conditioning temperature settings one or two degrees high-er and using ceiling fans more often for “huge savings,” adding that residents save about

12 percent in utility costs for every degree they adjust their thermostats.

Keep in mind that fans are only effective when they’re used correctly. Setting the fan in a counter-clockwise rotation helps move air downward to circulate through your living space. Fans with larger, 52-inch blades move more air in larger rooms but would be overpow-ering in smaller areas. Also, it’s OK to turn fans off in empty spaces since they cool people, not rooms. — Terrika Mitchell

CHECK IT OUT » Beat the heat

design | tips

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home&home&GARDEN

Habitat

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How you, Too, Can be King of the grass By Jason Dehart anD Lis King

WiTH EnvyGreen

T A L L A H A S S E E 151

the LaWn QUestion Time, money, pets and children will help determine whether you want a “carpet” of turf or

opt for more beds and plants.

If you are yard-obsessed and jogging jealously past your neighbors’ lush lawns, you’re not alone. Floridians love their yards, even more so than the rest of the coun-try, according to the National Gardening Association, and that’s saying a lot now that gardening has become

America’s No. 1 hobby. “It’s because of the nice climate that we have, especially in

Tallahassee,” said Jared Hatcher, president of Mowing Mas-ters Lawn & Landscape. “There is lots of shade and a lot of trees, and I know a lot of neighborhoods take pride in their landscaping with lawn-of-the-month contests.”

Taking pride in your yard is one thing, but sometimes it can go a little too far. Realtors complain that some ho-meowners — especially those who moved here from cold regions — are so enamored by their pleasant new climate that they overwhelm their yards. Balance is the key, Hatcher said. You need a nice mix of evergreen plants and shrubs, and annuals and perennials for color.

“Sometimes less is more,” he said. “A lot of it too is mak-ing sure the landscape doesn’t overgrow the home. We’ve done jobs where we’ve renovated landscaping (because) the shrubs and trees got so big they hid the house or (became) too much for the yard. The smaller the yard, the easier it is to become crowded.”

PlANNING MATTERsHatcher said planning the perfect garden for your yard takes good planning and foresight. There are a lot of variables to consider, with perhaps the biggest thing being time. Do you have time to maintain it? Or, if you are going to pay for a professional, how much are you willing to spend? The more annuals, flowers and bedding there are, the more weeding and upkeep of mulch and pine straw is required. A lawn with just grass is going to take less time and tending.

“Also, if they are going to do it themselves, they need to consider pets, if they have dogs. Also, if they have kids, Ph

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you’re going to have to plan for a play set or a swing set. There are a lot of variables, but (the major ones are) time, money, pets and kids,” he said.

Many mistakes can be made, but one point is especially prickly: Homeowners buy plants without knowing their growth habits. Hatcher said this should be an integral part of any planning process, whether you do it yourself or have it done professionally.

“If you’re going to do it yourself you could have a landscape architect or com-pany draw up a design or plan for your yard after consulting with you,” he said. “Ask about upkeep and maintenance, what you want your yard to look like. Obviously a good company will consider the size of how big the plants will be fully grown. If you’re going to do it yourself, most plants have tags that give you plant-ing instructions, amount of sunlight and water needed, spacing and size when they are fully grown. That is a good guide to go by.”

BRAvE NEw lAwN The lawn is the most changed area in today’s yard. For some years now, hom-eowners have been re-thinking that per-fect lawn we know from putting greens and English manor houses. Tired of high water bills, mowing every week and a schedule of fertilizing and weed control applications, they’re taking a good, hard look at new garden strategies.

Xeriscaping, a term based on the Greek word for “dry,” is one of those strategies. It emerged first in the Western U.S., where water resources are thin, but has spread to other regions.

“Many xeric principles are simply com-mon sense,” explains Pam Johnson of Barefoot Lawncare, based in Santa Rosa Beach. “For example, it includes using na-tive plant materials rather than exotic im-ports. Playing up the colors and textures of indigenous vines, shrubs and perennial flowers can create fabulous gardens.”

Hatcher said he hasn’t seen that kind of landscaping in Tallahassee as much, but he’s noticed that some neighborhoods tend to make use of the native or naturally occurring plants that haven’t been “plant-ed” there.

“Whatever is supposed to be there nat-urally, is there,” he said.

“And there are many types of grasses, some of them drought-resistant,” adds

Habitat

How much “green” to get the grass green?A typical estimate for lawn service will include prices for weekly lawn cut, weeding beds, trimming hedges, a chemical program, etc. These items may be priced individually or lumped together as a monthly maintenance price. Usually, companies discount prices if you sign up for several services.

A weekly lawn cut for half an acre averages $30 to $50.

Expect to pay $25 to $50 per month for weeding beds.

Landscaping MythsTaking care of a yard is mired in myths that can lead to common landscaping mistakes.

“Water your lawn in the evening to conserve water.” Not true. Doing so is harmful. The water ends up sitting on top of the grass, allowing lawn fungus and disease to fester.

“If I mow my grass shorter, I won’t have to do it as often.” Not so. You’ll rob your lawn of its ability to produce sugar from photosynthesis, exposing sensitive root systems to excessive sunlight and giving weeds a leg up.

Denelle Polk, owner of Pizazz-Scape in Fort Walton Beach, “so even if you’re conservation-minded, you needn’t fore-go a lawn.”

FlORIDA-FRIENDly GRAssEsSt. Augustine grass, the most widely used in Florida, is the closest the state comes to a native grass. This grass is believed to be indigenous to the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. It produces a blue-green dense turf that has good salt and shade tolerance, but it has its negatives. It needs lots of fertilizers and water, doesn’t wear well and generally doesn’t stay green throughout the winter months.

In Tallahassee the predominant grass seems to be Centipede, which requires less fertilizer and maintenance. This grass,

T A L L A H A S S E E 153

which is only adapted for Northern Flor-ida, grows best in acidic, sandy soils that don’t retain water and it survives dry spells well. Both types have found a home here in places suited for them, Hatcher said.

“St. Augustine grass doesn’t do well unless it’s in the shade and has plenty of water. It takes more fertilizer, because it’s more prone to weeds and disease. In the shadier areas there’s a lot of St. Augus-tine,” he said. “As far as big open yards and pastures, those are definitely going to be Bahia — unless planted in Centipede. Centipede is less maintenance and does well in the sun. It normally won’t grow in the shade. When it comes to neighbor-hoods and lawns, what we maintain is 70 percent Centipede and 30 percent St. Au-gustine. But both need a lot of water.”

THE RIGHT lANDsCAPERThere are a lot of landscaping services out there, but if you’ve decided you want someone who doesn’t just arrive with a machine and spend 15 minutes charging around your lawn, you need to do some homework. Instead of just opening the phone book and signing a contract with the first company listed, you should inter-view a few firms. Remember, not every lawn care service offers the same services, certifications and professionalism.

Hatcher suggests you get references from each company you’re interviewing, and then go look at the lawns and gardens they’re taking care of.

“I’d ask for 10 examples of jobs they’ve done around town,” he said.

Also make sure the service has business, liability and workers’ compensation insur-ance, and ask whether they provide work beyond lawn care.

“A company that is licensed, insured and established is probably going to be more expensive than someone without li-cense and insurance,” Hatcher said.

Johnson jumps right into the fray and suggests you ask this question: “Do you have a pesticide license?” She says the an-swer will tell you a lot more than whether the person you’re interviewing is legally allowed to treat your lawn. It will also re-veal if he has had some training beyond mowing his parents’ backyard.

Also, make sure the firm gives proper notice before spraying chemicals, as you’ll want kids and pets out of the way. Finally, be sure to outline the work to be done in writing. n

“When experience matters.”

850.933.3223JeffWestHomes@aol.comJeffWestHomes.com

DBA Jeff West Home Services, LLCRR0065819

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11TM_JA_TallahasseeChamber.indd 1 6/9/11 11:17:18 AM

The doctors are in, and they are answering questions. In this special section, Tallahassee Magazine offers you a chance to get to know some of the area’s leading health care providers dedicated to keeping you healthy inside and out. These medical professionals discuss their specialized skills, backgrounds and how they can help with your all-important health care choices.

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s pec i a l a dv e rt i s i ng s ec t ion

What services do you provide?Gynecology and urogynecology.

area of specialty?Women’s medicine and minimally invasive surgery.

hoW long have you been in practice in tallahassee?Since 1989.

Why did you choose tallahassee as the place to Work?With its relaxed atmosphere, Tallahassee is a great place to live and have a family.

What is the secret of your professional success?The ability to relate personally to my patients as individuals.

has your practice expanded recently? in What Way?I have joined Capital Regional Women’s Health, which allows me to offer a greater range of technologies and services.

What describes your vieW of your profession, and What do you hope to accomplish?“I hope to bring to women’s health the most advanced and effective treatments available.”

contactCapital Regional Women’s Health 2770 Capital Medical Boulevard, Suite 110 Tallahassee, FL 32308 Phone: (850) 877-5589

What services do you provide?General surgery, laparoscopic surgery, breast surgery, trauma surgery and critical care.

hoW long have you been Working in your profession?Eleven years, practicing in Tallahassee five years.

Why did you get into this profession?I enjoy being able to identify a problem and fix it.

has your practice expanded recently?I am now affiliated with the Comprehensive Breast Center at Capital Regional.

hoW Would you describe you practice philosophy?Patient-centered care.

hoW do you measure success in your profession?Patient and family satisfaction.

What are your hobbies and interests?Running, fishing, outdoor sports, boating.

contactCapital Regional Surgical Associates 2626 Care Drive, Suite 105 Tallahassee, FL 32308 Phone: (850) 219-2306

Michael L. Douso, M.D.Capital Regional Women’s Health

Kathy Langston, M.D.General Surgeon, Capital Regional Surgical Associates

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s pec i a l a dv e rt i s i ng s ec t ion

What services do you provide?Comprehensive medical care with a focus on prevention.

area of specialty?Family medicine, from pediatrics to geriatrics.

Why did you choose tallahassee as a place to Work?I was born and raised in Tallahassee. I can’t imagine working anywhere else.

aWards, honors and recognitions?I was elected chief resident during my residency at the TMH Family Practice Residency Program and voted “Backup of the Year” by the Intern Class during my residency.

hoW, When and Why did you get into this profession?It appealed to me to be able to make a positive impact in the lives of many people.

hoW Would you describe your business or practice philosophy?Working with patients to improve their quality of life by focusing on preventative medicine using an evidence-based approach.

What is the “secret” of your business or professional success?Treating my patients like I would want my own family members treated and taking the time to listen to and understand my patients’ concerns.

hoW do you measure success in your profession?Knowing I made a positive impact in a patient’s life through improved health.

What brief statement Would describe your vieW of your profession?“It is an honor to be serving and giving back to the community that has meant so much to me throughout my life.”

contactTPCA 1885 Professional Park Circle, Suite 30 Tallahassee, FL 32308 (850) 877-5143

Paul F. Hartsfield, M.D.Family Practice Physician, TPCA

Dr. CoDy VanLanDingham is now aCCepting new patients.

Cody VanLandingham, M.D.Family Practice Physician, TPCADr. Cody VanLandingham joins Tallahassee Primary Care Associates in the offices of Dr. Hugh VanLandingham (his brother), Dr. Gary Winchester and Dr. Karl Hempel in mid-July.

He is a graduate of the Florida State University College of Medicine as well as the TMH Family Practice Residency Program. While at FSU he received the O. C. Harris Award for demonstrating the best overall promise of becoming a physician of the highest caliber and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.

Dr. VanLandingham looks forward to providing health care in his home-town community. He chose Family Medicine because it allows continuity of care throughout life, from pediatrics to seniors. He is also convinced that preventive medicine will be the cornerstone of his practice.

Outside of the office, most of Dr. VanLandingham’s time is spent with his wife, Somer, and his two wonderful sons. They enjoy spending time at the coast and attending FSU athletic activities.

contactTPCA 1511 Surgeons Drive, Suite C Tallahassee, FL 32308 (850) 701-0695

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s pec i a l a dv e rt i s i ng s ec t ion

Jeffrey M. Rawlings, M.D., F.A.C.S.Plastic Surgery of North Florida Board Certified Cosmetic Surgery

What are the services you provide?Cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.

Why did you choose tallahassee as a place to Work?Tallahassee is a wonderful place. I grew up in Thomasville, so I was already familiar with Tallahassee and it’s close to my hometown.

Who are your clients?Anyone who is concerned with their appearance.

hoW, When and Why did you get into this profession?I’ve always enjoyed working with people. My father was a physician and I saw not only how much he enjoyed it, but also how gratifying it was for him.

hoW Would you describe your practice philosophy or strategy?I don’t have to do everything under the sun. I do one thing and do it very well.

What is the “secret” of your professional success?My staff. I have the best staff in the world. My patients are happy and well taken care of from the time they make the first phone call until they are completely healed.

hoW do you measure success in your business or profession?Happy patients! My goal is for every patient to feel like an important individual. I believe my patients are truly happy when they’re done and that, of course, makes my day.

contact2056 Centre Pointe Lane Tallahassee, FL 32308 Phone: (850) 668-6888 Fax: (850) 656-2822

Women aren’t the only ones with a skin care regimen anymore. At least they shouldn’t be. Not only are cosmetic lines creating men-targeted products, but local day spas offer fa-cials and treatments especially for men. Shi-rin Rahimi, owner of Styles of Elegance Hair Salon, Day Spa & Skin Therapy says she has seen an increase in her male clientele. “A lot of men come in for acne treatment,” she says. “Sometimes young professionals are so busy they don’t have time to care for their skin.”

Still, Rahimi notes at-home skin care is

necessary. “All skin must be cleansed,” she says. Men with facial hair have to make sure they get under the whiskers to the skin’s surface.

The good news for men is that they have a head start on the cleansing process. Unless they work outdoors in extreme conditions like con-struction, guys’ skin is pretty healthy since it’s thicker, they don’t wear make-up and do exfoli-ate regularly. “Men’s skin exfoliates more than women’s because they shave,” Rahimi says.

The day spa owner recommends sun block

use to prevent sun-induced skin problems like skin cancer.

“Even though they have thicker skin, they need to use sun block,” says Julie Moss, li-censed esthetician with Tallahassee’s Plastic Surgery’s skin care clinic. “Some clients deal with hyper pigmentation from the sun espe-cially (in Florida). Mineral-based sun block ac-tually blocks the sun.”

She suggests men develop a cleanser, scrub and sun block regimen to maintain healthy skin. — Terrika Mitchell

mind&BODYyour life | well-being

t A L L A H A S S E E 159

In FOcus » SKIN CARE FOR GUYS

Health

Middle ManageMent Belly fat can be the toughest to take off and can lead to major health problems if left unchecked.

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t A L L A H A S S E E 161

Everyone has it, most want to get rid of it and some are actually try-ing to gain more of it.

For women, it’s the cursed word loved ones don’t utter if they want to stay on their good side. For men, it’s the thing that has them wishing they’d spent fewer hours on the couch and a little more time in the gym.

It’s fat, and for the millions of Americans suffering with obesity, it’s their worst enemy.

Although it may be your unwanted tenant, fat doesn’t necessarily deserve to be evicted.

What is Fat? While the dictionary definition — “bulging

with much, or too much flesh” — conjures up an unpleasant image, fat’s not all bad and is actually a large part of what keeps us alive. It stores energy, insulates the body, helps to reg-ulate our metabolism and cushions our vital organs. Unbeknownst to many, fat is one of

the six essential nutrients humans must have in order to survive.

“Fat has gotten a very bad name in our soci-ety but it has a purpose that’s good,” says Dr. Alfredo Paredes, Jr., a local plastic surgeon. “Fifty percent of the population has just got too much of it.”

There are four types of body fat: white, brown, subcutaneous and visceral. Understand-ing them can help us figure out what’s good, what’s bad and how to keep it all in control.

The BadHopefully you’re not getting the wrong pic-

ture here. Fat isn’t all good. The bad stuff that hangs around your mid-

section is known as visceral fat — and it’s the most detrimental to your health.

Tucked deep within your waistline and around your organs, it can increase your risk of developing heart attacks, diabetes, insulin

There’s good fat and bad fat. Learn the difference — and keep both in check through exercise and eating right. BY Janeen TalBOTT

TheSkinny

OnFat

162 J u L y – A u g u S t 2 0 1 1

Health

resistance and other obesity-related dis-eases if you have too much of it.

While visceral fat can make you sick, subcutaneous fat can make wearing a bi-kini a nuisance because it’s right below the skin.

Subcutaneous fat — what we call cel-lulite — is a hormone-secreting organ that coats the buttocks, thighs and hips like a film of cling-wrap.

Wonder why it seems like you can never get rid of it?

Tallahassee nutritionist Dr. Freddy Kaye has the answer. “[Cellulite] is a com-bination of fat and water. It’s almost like the body holds water ... so it makes it a lot harder to lose.”

Although this fat is considered less lethal, recent studies have not neces-sarily ruled out connections to fat- linked diseases.

The GoodOn the opposing team, we have white

and brown fats.The body naturally accumulates more

white fat than brown fat as a person gets older. The job of white fat is to keep en-ergy stored away until needed. It also secretes hormones into the bloodstream that are necessary for the body to remain balanced.

“Fat is an interesting place in the body,” says Paredes. “It’s a place where hor-mones get converted to other, more active forms. That’s why you’ll see obese people often get hairier.”

Research is showing that fat may also be home to stem cells — cells that could be teased out of the fat to ultimately be grown into bone, cartilage and other body tissues, according to Paredes. “There’s ac-tually a lot of really exciting research that may trump this whole argument about embryonic stem cells,” he says.

Unfortunately, this is the fat that builds up because of bad eating habits.

Brown fat is located on the back and upper spine and is most abundant in childhood, acting as an extra blanket that keeps the body warm. It’s usually stimu-lated when a person is cold. “It’s like a

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Portion Control The 20-year-old food pyramid recently gave way to the new, more colorful MyPlate icon, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture has deemed easier to understand, especially for children. Among the changes, a smaller daily serving of dairy and a message to eat smaller portions.

t A L L A H A S S E E 163

hibernating fat,” Kaye says. “It’s used as energy and is the last fat to go.”

Considered to be much like muscle, brown fat is more prevalent in slimmer individuals.

Getting Rid of ItDon’t think about getting “rid” of fat.

It’s not that easy. Realistically speaking, your fat cells don’t really “go” anywhere.

According to Kaye, by the time we hit age 12, we develop all of the fat cells we’ll ever have. And without liposuction, which physically removes the cells from the body, it is impossible to get rid of them. What you can do is shrink them. That’s exactly what happens when a person burns more calories than they consume.

Some studies have shown that some obese people who had liposuction actual-ly improved their blood sugar levels, Pare-des says, but don’t race to the phone to make an appointment to have 50 pounds of belly fat sucked out. At this point, the risks of surgery far outweigh the potential benefits. “You’ve got to lose it the hard way,” he says.

The very good news is that when obese people lose weight — fat — health prob-lems disappear. Paredes says his practice sees many patients who have had massive weight loss (MWL), in need of surgery to remove excess skin and fat. “I ask when they cured their diabetes and blood pres-sure, I really don’t ask if,” he says.

Ever wonder where fat goes when people lose weight? It doesn’t vanish. It is transformed.

Much like water that turns into steam when boiled, fat is converted into some-thing else when burned, which makes the cells that store the fat decrease in size. When we work out and burn more calo-ries than we’ve taken in, the body is forced to look for energy stores to keep it run-ning. That’s when it turns to burning fat, our reservoir of stored energy.

But be careful, Kaye warns. Individuals who lose weight are more prone to gain-ing it back again because they have more fat cells. That explains why it’s oftentimes easier to gain than lose weight. Paredes has another warning. Although liposuc-tion will remove fat cells, they have an infinite capacity to grow. “The cells you have left can become much, much larger,” he says. “So if you keep eating Big Macs every day, the remaining cells can just en-gorge with fat.”

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Health

Keeping it OffAlthough exercise has a large role in

keeping the body lean, working out is only half of the battle. Diet plays a large part too.

Like the fats in the body, there are fats in foods that have different effects on the body’s efficiency.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturat-ed fats are the good guys. Monounsatu-rated fats include olive oil and are found in foods such as avocados and almonds. Polyunsaturated fats include Omega-3 fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory and are found in fatty fish like salmon.

These fats help with brain function and can help prevent liver cancer.

Saturated and trans fats should be avoided. They raise levels of bad choles-terol (low-density lipoproteins) that can increase the risk of coronary heart dis-ease. Helpguide.org suggests foods such as cookies, tortilla chips, stick margarine and chocolate drink mix should be con-sumed in moderation because they may contain these.

As for the rest of the food pyramid, dietician Penny Kris-Etheron of medici-net.com states that, “eating a diet rich in whole grains while reducing refined car-bohydrates changes the glucose and insu-lin response and makes it easier to mobi-lize fat stores.”

Exercise and the recommended amount of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and protein can help whip a body into tip-top shape.

For those who may still feel a little dis-couraged about a spare tire or two, keep looking on the bright side and steer clear of shortcuts.

“No fat is really easy to lose. You’ve got to change the habits that cause the accu-mulation of fat to keep it off,” Kaye says. n

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this summer. “No fat is really easy to lose. You’ve got to change the habits that cause the accumulation of fat to keep it off.” — Nutritionist Freddy Kaye

t A L L A H A S S E E 165

Summer is here and many of us, though excited about the warmer weather, won’t be enthused about the inevitable sensation that comes with being hot: thirst.

That parched feeling we get in our mouths and at the back of our throats is triggered by a loss of fluids often caused by sweating. Water, the No. 1 and probably most common thirst quencher, usually gets the job done. But although we understand the importance of H2O in our diets, its taste often falls a little flat.

Punch it up this summer with palate-pleasing drinks. Citric acid isn’t just great for warding off colds. Scientists say its chemical makeup has all the properties necessary to combat thirst. No wonder that swig of lemon-ade or O.J. always hits the spot.

While they may not be as popular, pineap-ple and tomato juices have the same citric acid content, making them just as refreshing.

For those looking for something with more kick, cocktails may be just the right remedy. Chambord-flavored vodka and Per-

rier is Grandma’s homemade lemonade with a twist. Mix two ounces of Casa Noble Crystal tequila, one ounce of fresh lime juice and a splash of club soda for a light — and light on the calories — Tequila Lime Fizz.

Or, just refresh with a chilled beer. Al-though it does contain alcohol, which can be dehydrating, don’t feel too guilty. Its carbs, proteins, minerals and B vitamins are do-ing your body some good. And besides, a large percentage of its composition is water. — Janeen Talbott

first course » REFRESHING DRINKS BEAT THE HEAT

diningGuiDediningrestaurants | food | atmospheres

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Flavor

Flavorful Family Fun in the Great OutdoorsBy Wendy O. dixOn and Brittany Barriner

Back tO nature Cooking on a campout takes plenty of preplanning, but it’s easy to serve hearty, fun meals in the rough.

nothing brings a family together like camping. It’s one of those rare activities that begs Mom and Dad

to turn off the smart phones and for the kids to leave the video games at home, to disconnect from all things electronic and instead connect with nature.

Whether you’re the type to go all-out primitive and walk for miles to pitch a tent in a secluded area, rough it modern style on a campsite that offers water, toi-lets, picnic tables and grills or prefer to be somewhat of a luxury camper and bring an RV, family time in the wilderness is an unforgettable experience. And while the old camp food standbys — hot dogs, beans and s’mores — will get you through the day, there’s no need to settle when it comes to your outdoor meals.

Keith Walker, 88, who has been camp-ing since age 11, proves that five-star meals can be made from fire and coals. Walker says he has made everything from seafood to homemade apple pie over a campfire. One of his all-time specialties was English Sparrow pie — although it’s not one you might want to try.

“My brother and I would shoot spar-rows near a barn on Lake Bradford Road, clean them, get a pot and a fire going, and make English Sparrow pies,” he says.

First-time campers may wonder how to plan and prepare a weekend’s worth of meals that will satisfy many appetites and still be easy to carry to the campsite. Sea-soned campers suggest planning menus in advance by making a detailed list of items and ingredients you’ll need. That means everything from paper plates to salt and pepper, since you’ll likely be out of luck if you forget something. The list should include cooking equipment — pans, pots, bowls and cooking utensils — and cleanup items such as biodegradable dish soap, paper towels, disposable wipes and garbage bags.

t A L L A H A S S E E 167

Make the Most of your

next camping excursion With Portable Feasts

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Flavor

Summer’s HOTTEST Looks

Progressive Western Fashionfor Men and Women

www.wowtally.com1212 N. Monroe St.850.727.8460

Porcupine BurgersBy Vicki AdAmsMakes 24

EquipmEnt A large mixing bowl, two cupcake tins, cupcake papers and “bulldog” clips.

ingrEdiEntS 1 pound ground beef 1 package hamburger/ meatloaf mix1 cup precooked instant rice½ cup water

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and form meatballs the size of large golf balls. Place cup cake liners in cupcake tins and place one meatball in each space. Place another cupcake tin upside down on the filled tin and fasten with bulldog clips, place on a bed of coals with coals on top for 15–20 minutes.

Snake BiscuitsBy kAren rolAndServes 4

ingrEdiEntS2 cups Original Bisquick mix½ cup milk Butter to taste

Stir Bisquick mix and milk to form a dough. You have to play around with the consistency, making it a bit dryer than drop biscuits. I usually don’t use exact measurements, but just add milk until it feels right. Make a snake-like shape with the dough and wrap it around a clean 1-inch diameter stick (green sticks are better because they’re less likely to burn). Hold the stick above the fire coals until nicely brown, about 10-12 minutes. Slather with butter and eat it off the stick.

Ziploc Omelet Warning: Do NOT try this recipeA popular camping recipe is the Ziploc (or any other brand name of a plastic bag) omelet. While it sounds ingenious, cooking eggs and other ingre-dients mashed together in a plastic bag submersed in boil-ing water may be hazardous to your health. When a plastic bag is heated to temperatures higher than 195 degrees, it begins to melt, causing the release of carcinogens. The Ziploc company says Ziploc brand bags are not designed to withstand the extreme heat of boiling. Instead, bring a pan to make omelets over the fire.

Flavorful Family Fun in the Great Outdoors

t A L L A H A S S E E 169

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Cajun Shrimp Boil By chris metcAlfServes 20

EquipmEntAn 80–120 quart pot filled halfway with water will work, depending on the amount of shrimp or crawfish you plan on cooking.

ingrEdiEntS 15 pounds of head-on shrimp (or 1/2 pound of headless shrimp per person or 3 1/2 pounds of crawfish per person)20 ears of corn, halved2 dozen lemons, halved8–10 pounds small red potatoes, whole6–8 large onions, quartered10 pounds smoked sausage6–7 garlic bulbs, whole2–3 pounds of salt (to taste)3 packages of Zatarain’s Crab Boil (1 package per 5 pounds of shrimp, or use 16 ounces of cayenne pepper as substitute)3 sticks of butter (optional)2–3 bags ice

Bring potatoes, onions, lemons, salt, crab boil, garlic, sausage and butter to a boil for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked. (Take in all the smells of the mixture, because it is a wonder-ful thing.) Add corn and shrimp, and let them boil for three minutes only. Turn the cooker off and add ice immediately into the pot and let the shrimp soak — the longer soak time, the spicier they get. For craw-fish, cook for about 10-15 minutes, then add ice and soak for an ad-ditional 20 minutes. Once finished, place newspaper on a table and dump the contents. Squeeze the boiled garlic onto French bread or on the boiled potatoes. Also, if you want, serve with squeezable butter for added flavor on your potatoes.

170 J u L y – A u g u S t 2 0 1 1

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2010

Carryout/Gourmet to go

Keep food safe from spoilage by packing perishable items in ice and storing them in sturdy coolers, which will also keep crit-ters from smelling the food. Use hand san-itizer frequently to avoid spreading germs onto your food. And light-colored blan-kets can cover the coolers to extend the life of the ice, keeping your food cool for nearly an additional day. Bring plenty of bottled water for drinking and cooking. If camping in remote areas, bring water purification tablets.

For breakfast, consider breakfast bur-ritos — eggs, sausage, veggies and cheese wrapped in a tortilla — along with bacon and pancakes.

Vicki Adams, a regional director for the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhan-dle, says Girl Scouts love this special treat: muffins in an orange.

Cut oranges in half and remove the meat. Fill each orange half about a third to halfway with muffin batter and place on a piece of foil large enough to twist at the top. Place in hot coals and bake 15-20 minutes.

For large groups, one-pot meals are easy to prepare and clean up. Low Coun-try Boil, a traditional Southern dish, re-quires only a large pot and a gas burner. The main ingredients — shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes — can be tossed into the pot to make a hearty and satisfying meal.

When making your own campfire, make sure you’re using designated areas and something to contain the fire. Steve Cut-shaw, park manager at Torreya State Park, says to ensure safety, fires should be con-tained by a circular ring formed of rocks or sticks and should never be left unattended.

Even with containment, during high winds and low humidity he says it’s wise not to start a campfire. And fires used to burn trash should not be used to cook with, because toxins released could con-taminate food.

“For fires, oak, hickory or hardwood adds great flavor to food,” Cutshaw says.

After a long day of hiking, eating, fish-ing, eating swimming and eating again, end the day with the tried and true tra-dition — s’mores. Some say camping just isn’t camping without the graham cracker sandwiches filled with chocolate and marshmallows. A few rounds of B-I-N-G-O with a good ghost story around the fire make a perfect ending to a memorable family experience. n

Flavor

T A L L A H A S S E E 171

2010 Best of Tallahassee ........................

Breakfast/Brunch ...................................

Lunch .....................................................

Dinner ....................................................

Takeout Available ..................................

Outdoor Dining .....................................

Live Music .............................................

Bar/Lounge ............................................

Reservations ..........................................

Credit Cards Accepted ...........................

Up to $10 .............................................. $

$10 – $15 ...............................................$$

$15 and up ......................................... $$$

dining guide

Gourmet Specialty

a la proVeNce $$$French. A rich décor and graceful atmosphere create a memorable dining experience, offering French-Medi-terranean cuisine, including Crepes De Mer and Escar-got de Bourgogne. A complimentary amuse bouche, a bite-size appetizer, allows chefs to show off their culinary skills to guests. 1415 Timberlane Road. Lunch 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 329-6870

a.J. SportS Bar & Grill $american. This hangout spot is known for its sand-wiches, backyard burgers and flavored wings. Watch sports from one of their 50 flat screens, shoot some pool or play darts, or enjoy happy hour. 1800 W. Ten-nessee St. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Fri. and noon–2 a.m. Sat.–Sun. (850) 681-0731

aNdrew’S 228 $$$american and italian. A chic urban restaurant serv-ing signature blends of creative American and Italian cuisine. Named one of the Top 20 Restaurants in Flor-ida three years in a row by Florida Trend and “Best Romantic Restaurant” by Tallahassee Magazine in 2008. Private rooms are available for banquets and meetings. 228 S. Adams St. 6–10 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 6–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3444.

aNdrew’S capital Grill aNd Bar $$american. Andrew’s, a Downtown landmark for 35 years, is an energetic, casual, see-and-be-seen spot. House favorites include a popular lunch buffet, ham-burgers, chicken quesadillas, Mediterranean Pasta, Ce-dar Plank Salmon and Chicken Fiorentina. Downtown delivery. 228 S. Adams St. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat.; Brunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-3444/Fax (850) 222-2433.

aNotherBrokeN eGG caFé $$american. Made-to-order items using the finest in-gredients, cooked to your liking. Voted Tallahassee’s best seven times, including the 2010 award for “Best Breakfast and Best Brunch.” Tallahassee’s second location is now open in Evening Rose at 5740 Aus-tin Davis Ave. Original location, 3500 Kinhega Drive. 7 a.m.–2 p.m. Tue.–Sun. (850) 907-3447.

Authentic Mexican Restaurant

TWO LOCATIONS 2022 N. Monroe St.

(850) 878-0800

NEW LOCATION!2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy.

(850) 668-1002BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT

2010

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THE BEST LITTLE STEAKHOUSE IN TALLAHASSEE

2705 Apalachee Parkway | Tallahassee, FL | (850) 270-9506

Join us for lunch and dinner at our beautifulnew location on Apalachee Parkway.

Our steaks are not only the best in Tallahassee, but USDA choice midwestern corn-fed beef, specially selected, aged to our specifi cations and cut daily. We also serve fresh jumbo shrimp and fi sh – grilled, blackened or fried. So please join us for lunch and dinner or just meet up for drinks at our fully-stocked bar.

FMARIE LIVINGSTON’SSTEAK HOUSE

2010

BESTSTEAKHOUSE

Dining Guide

• Voted BEST wine list 2010 by Tallahassee Magazine• Two full liquor bars• Wednesdays FREE wine tasting 5:30–7:30 pm• Happy Hour every day, including Saturday!• Chic lounge setting• Outstanding small plate menu and desserts• Tallahassee’s only Balcony Bar overlooking Midtown

www.thewineloft tallahassee.netfacebook.com/wineloft tallahassee850.222.9914 Open Mon–Th ur 5pm ’til | Fri & Sat 4pm–2am

Located at the Orleans@Midtown1240 Th omasville Rd.

The corner of 6th Ave & Thomasville Rd.

2010

Tallahassee’s BEST wine list and balcony bar!

cheZ pierre $$$French. French and Southern hospitality converge at Chez Pierre. From the signature Crepes Poulet to deli-cious grilled duck breast and fresh-ground Australian lamb burgers, the restaurant earned “Best Happy Hour” and Best Outdoor Dining” honors by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2010. Live music accompa-nies your meal most nights of the week. Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. 1215 Thom-asville Rd. (850) 222-0936.

circa SuShi $$Japanese. Enjoy delicious Japanese dishes in the fun, modern atmosphere of Tallahassee’s first conveyer belt sushi restaurant. Diners can opt for tableside service and menu selections such as Thai speciali-ties tempura and noodle stir-fry, or they can sit be-side the belt and partake of a rotating sushi feast. Catering available. 2819 Mahan Dr. No. 106. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri.; Dinner 5–10 p.m. Sun.–Thurs., 5–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-4722.

cypreSS reStauraNt $$$New Southern. Voted “Best Fine Dining” by Tal-lahassee Magazine readers in 2010. Sophisticated Southern regional dining in a contemporary, metro-politan setting. Menu features chef-cut fish and aged meats, fresh in-house preparations, comprehensive wine list and full bar. Valet parking available at night. 320 E. Tennessee St. Dinner only Tues.–Sat. Open at 5 p.m. (850) 513-1100.

Food GloriouS Food $$$american. Choose from several savory soups, nearly a dozen salads, and a great selection of sandwiches and pastas with hot entrées that represent a va-riety of world cuisines. Heavenly dessert concoc-tions — voted “Best Dessert” in 2010 by Tallahas-see Magazine readers — will please even the most discriminating diner. 1950 Thomasville Road. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m. Tues.–Thurs. and Sun., 5:30–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat., Closed Mon. for dinner. Sun. Brunch 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. (850) 224-9974.

GeorGio’S $$$american. If George Koikos is in the house, you can count on a visit to your table from him during your meal. His hands-on commitment to quality, food, ser-vice and a personal touch have kept his restaurants in business for 44 years. Now with two locations. 3425 Thomasville Road. Opens 5 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 893-4161 or 2971 Apalachee Parkway. 4–10 p.m. Mon.-Sat. (850) 877-3211.

kitcho JapaNeSe reStauraNt $$Japanese. Its specialty, sushi, was named the best in Tallahassee in 2006. Step inside Kitcho’s Velvet Lounge for a sip or two of sake as you sit comfort-ably while waiting for your table. 1415 Timberlane Road. 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5:30–10 p.m. Tue.–Fri., 5:30–10 p.m. Sat., 5:30–9 p.m. Sun. (850) 893-7686.

liam’S reStauraNt $$$american. Located in historic Downtown Thomas-ville, Ga., Liam’s serves delicious sustainably sourced, natural, organic foods. The menu changes based upon what the owners find to be the best available

T A L L A H A S S E E 173

ingredients from small artisanal producers. Look for a catch of the day along with great tasting beef and pork dishes. A large selection of cheeses is a specialty here. 113 E. Jackson St. Lunch 11a.m.–2 p.m. Tues.–Fri. Dinner 5:30 p.m.–close Thurs.–Sat. European Break-fast 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat. (229) 226-9944

mockiNGBird caFé $$Fusion. Enjoy hand-cut steaks and Gulf seafood along with American regional, Mediterranean, Asian and Middle Eastern dishes in an upscale refined at-mosphere. Food is fresh, locally purchased and sea-sonal, made from scratch by talented in-house chefs. Diners will also enjoy delicious seasonal desserts, nightly food and drink specials and live music on weekends. 1225 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., dinner 5:30–10 p.m Mon.-Sat. Bar/lounge 5:30 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. Brunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-4956.

SuShiliciouS $$Japanese. Modern Japanese and Thai cooking makes Sushilicious the place to enjoy a culinary trip to the Orient. With a six-page menu of makimono, sashimi and special sushi rolls, sushi lovers have plenty of options. You can also enjoy the red and yellow Thai curries, the deep-fried crispy soft shell crab with tem-pura sauce or the house shrimp with honey-wasabi sauce. 2915 Kerry Forest Pkwy., Suite 604. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–10 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 5–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 906-0400.

ViNtaGe BiStro & Bar $$$Fusion. Vintage Bistro & Bar has a new chef and a revamped menu. Its palate-pleasing menu offers selections featuring local and fresh ingredients. Re-lax and unwind with live entertainment, a cocktail, a fine cigar and, of course, a glass of wine from hundreds of selections. 1019 N. Monroe St. 5 p.m.– 2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 224-0322.

Specialty

aNthoNy’S wood Fire Grill $$american and italian. After 26 years in Betton Place, restaurateur Dick Anthony has returned in a new location with a new menu featuring grilled chicken, steak, fish and hamburgers. Italian favor-ites that made the original Anthony’s so popular have returned on the “First Loves Second Chances” portion of the dinner menu. 1355 Market St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon.–Sun., Brunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Sun. (850) 224-1447, anthonyswoodfiregrilltallahassee.com

aZu — a lucy ho’S reStauraNt $/$$asian. Serving Tallahassee since 1970, Lucy Ho’s of-fers Japanese style cooking with Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Peking and Taiwanese influences. After near-ly four decades, Lucy Ho’s has moved back to the Apalachee Parkway, just east of Capital Circle South-east, to better serve its customers. Diners will also find a full bar and the freshest sushi. 3220 Apalachee Parkway. Weekdays, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sat., noon– 10 p.m.; Sun., noon–9 p.m. (850) 893-4112.

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174 J u L y – A u g u S T 2 0 1 1

Dining Guide

Bella Bella $$italian. Cozy home-like atmosphere and authen-tic homemade traditional Italian food make this a Midtown dining hotspot. Try their famous Bubble Bread and delicious pasta specials. Catering avail-able. 123 E. 5th Ave. Lunch 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 5–10 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 412-1114.

carraBBa’S italiaN Grill $$ italian. The ambiance of the restaurant can roman-ticize any meal as you sip wine and dine on fresh Italian cuisine. Voted “Best Italian” by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine again in 2010. 2752 Capi-tal Circle NE. 4–10:30 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 4–11:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 3–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 297-1100.

the crepeViNe $French Fusion. Delicious signature crepes are stuffed with fillings that make them savory or sweet. You can order from the menu, or create your own. Breakfast-style crepes are served all day long. The menu at this casual bistro also includes salads and yogurt bowls. 2020 W. Pensacola St., (850) 562-7373; 1304 N. Monroe St., 329-6754. thecrepevine.com

el JaliSco $$mexican. With two–for–one margaritas most nights of the week, where can you go wrong? And the food, named “Best Mexican/Latin American” in 2010, is great too. Endless chips and salsa complement any menu item; the chicken quesadillas and beef tama-les will keep you coming back for more. Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–12 a.m. Sun. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 2022 N. Monroe St. (850) 878-0800. 2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy.

hopkiNS’ eatery $american. Sandwiches, salads, delicious sweets and more. Once again voted the best place to have lunch by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2010. 1660 N. Monroe St. and 1415 Market St. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. (850) 386-4258, (850) 668-0311.

JoNah’S FiSh & GritS $$american Southern. This Thomasville, Ga. restaurant serves good food made fresh daily in an alcohol-free, family friendly atmosphere. Soups, salads, pastas and specialty sandwiches focused on fish and sea-food with a Southern twist are featured at lunch and dinner. Dinner also includes a more extensive selec-tion from their wood-burning grill including their sig-nature Gingersnap Salmon. Made-from-scratch Hush Puppies are a house specialty. Kids and low-fat menus are available. 109 East Jackson St. Lunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon-Fri. Open Sat. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (229) 226-0508

kiku $$Japanese Fusion. With a wide selection of sushi rolls and traditional Japanese dishes, Kiku caters to a variety of tastes. 3491 Thomasville Road Suite 12. Open Mon.–Thurs. 11–2:30pm, 4:30–10 p.m., Fri. 11–2:30 p.m., 4:30–10:30 p.m., Sat. 12-10:30 p.m. and Sun. 12–10. (850) 222-5458.

kool BeaNZ $$/$$$Fusion. As winner of Tallahassee Magazine’s 2010 “Best Locally Owned” restaurant, this colorful and casual spot has been serving up gourmet dishes

atmospheres

Earley’s Kitchen

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The Cuisine: The kitchen of Executive Chef Jay Morrell serves up classic Southern comfort food for breakfast and lunch. Entrees, including friedchicken, braised oxtails, fried catfi sh, pork chops and smothered shrimpwith parmesan cheese grits, areserved with fresh, made-from-scratch sides like macaroni and cheese and collard greens.

The Design: Jorge Mateo of MDG Design Studios has given Earley’s Kitchen a traditional Craftsman look. The walls are lined with 6-foot-tall beadboard wainscoting and trim.

Earley’s Kitchen3196 Merchants Row Blvd. Suite 110(850) 692-3491

T A L L A H A S S E E 175

since 1996. Diners can expect delicious modern American cuisine, as well as dishes influenced by the worldwide travels of the kitchen staff. Menus change daily so guests can expect something new with each visit. 921 Thomasville Road. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Dinner Mon.–Sat. 5:30–10 p.m. (850) 224-2466.

luNa’S italiaN Food $italian-american. Gourmet deli sandwiches and pasta dishes to take home. Large selection of imported wine, cheeses, sauces and Italian grocery items — plus Italian gelato. 1122 Thomasville Road. 10 a.m.– 7 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. (850) 421-5862.

maSa $–$$asian Fusion. This sister restaurant to Lucy Ho’s serves up a creative menu with items such as Chilean Sea Bass Wraps with mango salsa, Tropical Fruit Sweet and Sour Chicken and Japanese tiramisu. Voted “Best Asian” and “Best Sushi” in by Tallahassee Magazine readers in 2010. Enjoy an extensive selection of wine, beer and sake in a casual dining setting. 1001 N. Monroe St. 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Noon–10 p.m. Sunday. (850) 847-0003.

the meltiNG pot $$$Fondue. This restaurant offers a variety of fondues including cheese and chocolate dessert. The Melting Pot earned two “Best of” awards in 2010, for “Best Romantic” and “Best Celebration/Special Occasion” restaurant. 2727 N. Monroe St. 5–11 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 5 p.m.–midnight Fri.–Sat. (850) 386-7440.

old towN caFé $$american. Southern hospitality is embedded through-out this family-owned restaurant. Mom’s meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans makes you feel like you’re home, not to mention their world famous prime rib, which slowly roasts all day. Tim-berlane Road. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon. Thurs., 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. Fri. and 4-10 p.m. Sat. (850) 893-5741

oSaka JapaNeSe SteakhouSe aNd SuShi Bar $$$Japanese. Known for its sushi, but also serves a va-riety of dishes including chicken, steak and seafood. 1690 Raymond Diehl Road. Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m. (850) 531-0222. Private parties.

po’ BoyS creole caFé $creole. Specializes in Po’Boy sandwiches, jambalaya and gumbo and named 2010 “Best Cajun” restaurant by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine. 224 E. Col-lege Ave. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 11 a.m.–2 a.m. Fri.–Sat., 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 224-5400 and 1944 W. Pensacola St. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 574-4144. 1425 Village Square Blvd. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 10 a.m.– 10 p.m. Sun. (850) 906-0020. Catering available.

Sakura $$$Japanese. Sleek interior design mixed with amazing dishes equals a spectacular meal experience. This new and exciting Japanese cuisine rewards not only your taste buds but also your eyes with its beautifully prepared dishes of sushi and other traditional Japa-nese fare. 1318 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11:30 a.m.– 3 p.m. Mon.–Sat. Dinner 5–10 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 5–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 4:30–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-9991.

come eat enjoy

a m o d e r n d i n i n g e x p e r i e n c e

2010

847.0003 | 1001 N. Monroe St. Best Asian

Restaurant/Sushi

176 J u L y – A u g u S T 2 0 1 1

FamilyFiVe GuyS BurGerS & FrieS $Burgers. A newcomer to the local dining scene, Five Guys was a quick hit with the readers of Tallahassee Magazine, who named its burgers the best in 2010. Serving up made-to-order burgers and hot dogs with your choice of Cajun or home-style fries, it’s no won-der this restaurant has customers coming back for more. 1872 Thomasville Road. Mon.–Sun. 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. (850) 597-7514

earley’S kitcheN $american Southern. For 33 years, Earley’s has been dishing up “good ole Southern” country cooking for breakfast and lunch at its restaurant inside Henry’s Meats. A second location now open in SouthWood serves fried chicken, pork chops, made-from-scratch vegetables, desserts and more, as well as a few extra Savannah-style dishes like shrimp and grits. The SouthWood restaurant also serves a Sunday brunch buffet. At the 1812 S. Monroe St. location: Mon.–Fri., 6:30 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sat. (breakfast only) 7 a.m.–noon. (850) 224-7090. The SouthWood loca-tion at 3196 Merchant’s Row Blvd.: Mon.–Sat. 7 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.–1 p.m. (850) 692-3491.

momo’S $pizza. Boasting the largest pizza you’ll find in Tal-lahassee — and possibly the Southeast — Momos offers big flavor that’s gotten a “Best of” award in 2010. Fill yourself up with a slice for yourself or order a pie to share. Now with two locations: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 1410 Market St. (850) 412-0222 and 1416 W. Tennessee St. (850) 224-9808.

red elephaNt piZZa aNd Grill $american. Enjoy a fresh, fast and filling meal that will satisfy your taste buds and wallet. The casual atmosphere is perfect for social gatherings with friends and family. 2910 Kerry Forest Pkwy Suite C-3., Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. 1872 Thomasville Road Suite A., Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Fri. Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Kerry Forest (850) 668-7492. Midtown (850) 222-7492.

Southern Cuisine with fresh, made from scratch

entrées,vegetables and desserts.

A Tallahassee tradition since 1985Full Service Catering

3196 Merchants Row Blvd. Ste. 110 • 692-3491 • 692-3492(SouthWood Town Center)

Breakfast & Lunch 7 am–3 pm Mon–FriSaturday and Sunday 8 am–1 pm (Breakfast only)

1812 S. Monroe st. • 224-7090 • (located inside Henry’s Meats)Breakfast & Lunch 6:30 am–2 pm Mon–Fri

Saturday 7 am–noon • Sunday Closed

PHOTO

BY

SCOTT

HOLS

TEIN

foodluNch | Voodoo dogThe not-so-secret ingredient in this cool cam-pus eatery’s PB&B Burger is a slathering of peanut butter on top of the meat patty. It gives an additional fillip of flavor to a classic bacon cheddar cheeseburger. The generously sized burger comes piled high with onion, lettuce and tomato and is accompanied by a side of fresh-cut fries. $9

luNch | essence of indiaFor one price, you have your choice of 19 dif-ferent lunch specials every day that includes salad, soup, onion chutney, dessert and naan — the light and fluffy traditional Indian bread — in addition to your entrée. May we suggest the Dal Makhani? Lentils are simmered with butter, garlic, ginger and tomatoes into a tasty vegetar-ian stew served over rice that’s been infused with exotic flavors. $7.99

luNch | avenue eat & drinkAvenue Eat & Drink in downtown Tallahassee has transformed the traditional potpie into a delectable dish that blends fusion with Mom’s home cooking. Nestled under an amazing corn-bread soufflé crust is a creamy mix of roasted chicken, peas and carrots. It’s baked and served in an edgy white bowl, with a spoon to enjoy mouthfuls of tasty comfort. $11

luNch | crispersEver have one of those days when everything on the menu looks good and you’d really like to have a little of everything? No need to decide. Crispers solves the dilemma with its lunchtime Trios. Mix and match from baked potatoes, let-tuce cups, side salads, soups and little mini-sammis called Small Bites. You get to pick three for $7.99.

bites

VooDoo Dog’s PB&B Burger

If the perennial question is, “Where are we going for lunch today?” here are some tasty answers:

the wiNe loFt wiNe Bar $$american. Enjoy delicious items off the small plate menu and a vast selection of wines in a chic, so-phisticated atmosphere downstairs or on the bal-cony overlooking Midtown. The Wine Loft boasts a generous array of more than 50 wines by the

glass and more than 70 by the bottle that earned it “Best Wine List” honors in 2010. The Wine Loft has two full liquor bars and Tallahassee’s only bal-cony bar. 1240 Thomasville Road. Open 5 p.m. Mon–Thu., 4 p.m.–2 a.m. Fri. and Sat. (850) 222-9914. thewinelofttallahassee.net

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Dining Guide

SoNNy’S real pit Bar-B-Q $Barbecue. Enjoy Sonny’s “feel good” barbecue and special sauces. Voted “Best Barbecue” in 2010. 3101 Dick Wilson Blvd., 2707 N. Monroe St. and 1460 Timberlane Road. All locations 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fri.Sat. Dick Wilson Blvd. (850) 878-1185, N. Monroe St. (850) 385-2167, Tim-berlane Road. (850) 906-9996. Catering available.

wiNG Stop $wings. Declaring themselves the “wing experts,” Wing Stop offers freshly made wings sauced and tossed in a choice of nine flavors. Savor something sweet with the Hawaiian sauce or something zesty with the Hick-ory Smoked BBQ. 1964 W. Tennessee Street, 3111 Ma-han Drive, 6668 Thomasville Rd., All locations 11 a.m.–midnight Tennessee St. (850) 574-9464, Mahan Dr. (850) 942-9464, Thomasville Road (850) 219-9464.

VillaGe piZZa aNd paSta $$pizza/pasta. Made-from-scratch New York-style pizza is a favorite at this casual Italian spot, but its mouth-watering pastas with secret marina sauce are close behind. One of its most popular choices, the Village Special, includes enough fresh toppings such as pep-peroni, sausage, broccoli and mozzarella, to satisfy any pizza lover. Not to mention homemade garlic rolls. 1400-33 Village Square Boulevard. 11 a.m.– 6 p.m. Mon.–Sun. For catering call (850) 893-9001.

Steak/SeaFood

BoNeFiSh Grill $$$Steak/Seafood. Although a chain, Bonefish works hard to make each restaurant—and each meal—unique with an array of seafood and sauces that can be mixed and matched to diners’ tastes. The restau-rant earned 2010 “Best of Tallahassee” honors for its appetizers (Can you say Bang Bang Shrimp?) and the star of its menu, seafood. Mon.–Thurs. 4–10:30 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 4–11:30 p.m., Sun. 4–10 p.m. 3491 Thomas-ville Rd. (850) 297-0460.

harry’S SeaFood Bar & Grill $$cajun. A New Orleans dining experience you won’t soon forget! Delicious Creole cuisine, fresh seafood and steaks, rich pastas, sensational salads and more. “Great Food, Great Service; Good Value, Good Times.” 301 S. Bronough St. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Thu.–Sun., 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3976.

marie liViNGStoN’S SteakhouSe $$$Steak. This restaurant specializes in steak — named Tallahassee’s “Best Steakhouse” in 2010 — but also serves seafood such as shrimp and fish. Marie Liv-ingston’s has moved to a new location with a sophis-ticated decor, but the quality and value remain the same. 2705 Apalachee Parkway. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5 p.m. daily (850) 562-2525.

Shula’S 347 $$$Steak. The legendary Miami Dolphins’ head coach brings his philosophy for winning football games — the quest for perfection — to the dining table at his namesake restaurant, located in the newly refur-bished Hotel Duval. Keep it light and casual with Pre-mium Black Angus Beef burgers or a gourmet salad or opt for one of their signature entrées — “Shula Cut” filet, New York strip or Cowboy steaks. Reserva-tions are suggested. Sun.,–Thurs., 5–10 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. 5–11 p.m. 415 N. Monroe St. (850) 224-6005 n

Exquisite Table ServiceFrench~Mediterranean Cuisine

Private Dining Room & CateringReservations Available

Mon~Sat, 5:30~9:30pm ~ Sun, 5~9pm ~ Lunch: Mon~Fri, 11:30am~2:00pm

1415 Timberlane Rd. ~ (850) 329-6870 ~ www.AProvence.com

Rated 5 Hats

178 J u l y – A u g u s t 2 0 1 1

The Last Word

photo

s Co

urt

esy

Floren

Ce s

nyd

er

It’s summer — and time for all those round-number high school reunions.

At the 10-year reunion, it’s all about hooking up with the hunks and

honeys who didn’t know you were alive in high school.

At the 20, it’s about pretending to be happier and more successful than you ac-tually are.

Forty years after the Class of ’70 walked a street called The Warpath for the last time as seniors at Miami Carol City High, we had a different agenda. Last summer, it was all about truth and reconciliation.

When Carol City opened as Dade Coun-ty’s first integrated high school, the “white” and “colored” signs over the drinking fountains at the Food Fair on 183rd Street were gone, but hardly forgotten. At the “Home of the Chiefs,” facilities and fac-ulty were second to none, yet some parents finagled their children into schools where they would not have to learn to walk a mile — or play football, or work on the school newspaper — in someone else’s moccasins.

For most of us, Carol City was our first time outside our racial comfort zones. We had to do our own diversity training, and to hear us tell it in 1970, we were the walk-ing, talking embodiment of Dr. Martin Lu-ther King’s dream.

We cheered as one as our integrated bas-ketball team rolled to the runner-up spot at the state basketball tournament our senior year. Our integrated marching band stole the show at Miami Dolphins’ halftimes and Orange Bowl parades. We navigated the politics of home rooms and homecom-ing courts as friends.

We thought we had the race thing all figured out.

But many dreams die in that first decade after high school, and in 1980, Carol City’s class of ’70 found itself with two class re-unions, divided along racial lines.

“How did this happen?” a lot of us, in-cluding the reunions’ organizers, wondered.

We vowed to wrestle it to the ground, to fix whatever needed fixing, before the next reunion. But we were 28 years old, and our people skills were still in development.

In high school, relationships were a full-time job. At 28 — and 38, and 48 — we were all overloaded, struggling to pay our bills, stay married, raise our kids and spend final, precious hours with dying parents.

But in the summer of 2010, we found our-selves traveling lighter. For many of us who didn’t “die before [we] got old,” the parents are gone, the kids are grown, and we’ve fig-ured out we’re not going to live forever.

We’ve learned to laugh at ourselves. As Bruce Springsteen explained in “Glory Days,” the divorces, the weight gains, the careers that didn’t quite take off aren’t

nearly so painful when shared with the people you knew “back in high school.”

Again, there were two reunions. But this time, we made time to connect with our 14-year-old selves, the boys and girls who walked though Carol City’s doors for the first time in 1967. We went to each oth-er’s picnics and mixers and banquets and breakfasts. We sang the alma mater and danced the Electric Slide.

In the years after graduation, we learned, as every generation must, that people are fragile and hearts are easily broken. We learned, too, the power of a simple, “I’m sorry. I wish we’d had this conversation years ago.”

Our school colors are orange, black and white. But for purposes of partying, we promised one another, from now on we’re all just orange. n

40 yeArs lAter, reunIon re-IntegrAtIonThey Thought They Had the Race Thing Figured Out, But Discovered It Wasn’t All Black and White By Florence Snyder

Before Pictures The author and her fellow members of Miami Carol City High’s Student Council are shown in these yearbook photos when they thought they had resolved the integration problem. Later, black and white students would go separate ways during class reunions.

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