Energia Wellness Studio Offers A More Personal Approach To ‘Zen’

By Lauren Saslow

 

Energia Wellness Studio owner Virna Lichter (right) puts fellow Energia dance class instructor Astrid Santiago through her paces during a personal training session at the studio located in Wesley Chapel.
Energia Wellness Studio owner Virna Lichter (right) puts fellow Energia dance class instructor Astrid Santiago through her paces during a personal training session at the studio located in Wesley Chapel.

It’s 6 p.m. on a Monday. You want to make it from October through the holidays without gaining weight or feeling the stress of the season. You slide into the studio after fighting rush hour traffic just in time for a yoga class and manage to find a tiny spot on the floor amidst a class of more than 20 students. This does not feel very relaxing. You are not feeling very “Zen.”

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Saddlebrook Hosts FHWC’s Successful Women’s Health & Wellness Day

By Matt Wiley

Complimentary health screenings, a keynote speech from breast cancer survivor, and Pasco clerk of court, Paula O’Neil at Wesley Chapel's Saddlebrook Resort.
Complimentary health screenings, a keynote speech from breast cancer survivor, and Pasco clerk of court, Paula O’Neil at Wesley Chapel’s Saddlebrook Resort.

Calm and collected, Pasco County clerk of Circuit Court & comptroller Paula O’Neil spoke about her recent diagnosis as if it were a faint memory from another life. Few would suspect that the popular public official is still actively battling the deadly disease, as she spoke to hundreds of women about her experience fighting breast cancer.

On September 21, more than 700 women from all over Tampa Bay attended the inaugural Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) Women’s Health & Wellness Day at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, taking part in breakout sessions with guest speakers and an exhibit room full of pampering and health screening opportunities, including mammogram registration, screenings for oral cancer, blood pressure and glucose, a grip strength test, a self-breast exam, as well as a balance test, body mass index (BMI) and body fat analysis from the FHWC Health & Wellness Center. The hospital also introduced its “Pink Army” campaign that encourages women to make sure that they get their annual breast cancer screenings.Continue reading

Jen & Travis Open…& Close …The Flaming Taco?

By Gary Nager

I was so psyched that my dear friends Jennifer & Travis Davidson and their friends Mary Ann & Keith Cucuzza (photo on right) had opened an amazing new taco stand in Ybor City called the Flaming Taco that I wrote them up as a Neighborhood Nibbles item in our September New Tampa issue.

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Bruce B. Downs ‘Segment D’ Widening Could Begin In 2017

By Matt Wiley

The portion of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in yellow (aka “Segment D”) above is the last phase of BBD to be widened. The project likely won’t begin before 2017.
The portion of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in yellow (aka “Segment D”) above is the last phase of BBD to be widened. The project likely won’t begin before 2017.

The previously unfunded final segment of the widening of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa could begin sometime in 2017.

According to the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), BBD “Segment D,” which will widen the road from four to eight lanes from Pebble Creek Dr. to County Line Rd. and is estimated to cost more than $11 million, is ranked second on the MPO’s Long Range Transportation Plan and is part of the MPO’s 2014-15 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

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New Tampa Chamber Business Expo Draws A Crowd To Holiday Inn Express!

By Gary Nager

New Tampa Chamber of Commerce president Regina Ramalheira and VP Neil Heird gave away a variety of great prizes at the crowded Chamber Business Expo on September 26 at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Muvico.
New Tampa Chamber of Commerce president Regina Ramalheira and VP Neil Heird gave away a variety of great prizes at the crowded Chamber Business Expo on September 26 at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Muvico.

Congratulations go out to the New Tampa Chamber of Commerce, which hosted a highly successful Business Expo and annual meeting at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites on September 26.

More than 30 Chamber member businesses took part in the Expo, where everything from new area banks to Avon products to a newly opened boxing-for-fitness gym were on display for an estimated crowd of more than 200 attendees.Continue reading