Dr. June Hall To Host Her 4th Annual ‘APTacious Experience’ On August 5!

Dr. June Hall, aka Dr. June (2nd from left) is hosting her fourth annual APTacious Experience Conference on August 5.

Dr. June Hall (aka “Dr. June”) is a motivationalist and the “Proprietor of Positivity.” She founded “Time to APT” (Accentuate Positive Thinking) in order to help others find their way through dark periods and began the annual APTacious Experience Conference four years ago. The fourth annual APTacious event will be held on Saturday, August 5, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel (8310 Galbraith Rd., New Tampa).

With her background in Counseling and Education, she has worked with many individuals to help them overcome and deal with adversities. Not only has Dr. June been an educator for more than 20 years, she also penned a syndicated advice column and had her own advice segment on the “CBS Morning News” in Miami. Since then, she has also developed an advice talk show, “Cooking Up Advice with Dr. June,” to reach as many individuals as possible to reduce personal and relationship stress.

Through facing her personal struggles with darkness and negativity, including fighting cancer, Dr. June put her faith in God, learned to “APT” and to turn her own darkness into sunshine. In addition to her published books, No More Pity Parties: A Guide to Celebrating Your Way through Life and No More Career Pity Parties, she also is Editor-in-Chief of It’s APTAcious magazine. This is an extension of the APTacious event and is available online and in print. Dr. June has traveled throughout the country motivating individuals on national television shows such as “Daytime” and “Jenny Jones,” and has been an adviser and speaker for organizations such as the Pasco Lawyers Group, SALO (Student Activities & Leadership Officers), RA Group on Relationships, Mental Health Assn., Florida Developmental Education Assn. and others.

In addition to Dr. June, this year’s APTacious Experience Conference includes four other motivational speakers, so whether you’re a small business owner, “mompreneur,” interested in health & wellness or just want to be inspired, the APTacious Experience is for you!

Seating is limited, so register today at APTacious.com, call (813) 993-8100 or see the ad on page 19 of this issue.

Rolled Ice Cream & Boba Tea Help Set Frogury Apart From Its Competition!

As you’re probably already aware, there are a lot of frozen yogurt and ice cream shops in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. So, how do any of them distinguish themselves from everyone else?

Jackie Chan (not his real name, but the name he goes by), the owner of the Frogury Frozen Yogurt Café, has been open for almost five years, next to Five Guys in the plaza across from LA Fitness at the corner of County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

A few months ago, we told you that Jackie had added a taste sensation that is becoming popular all over the U.S., especially on and near college campuses — rolled ice cream and frozen yogurt.

Jackie takes fresh cream and pours it onto an ice-cold, circular “pan.” He’s happy to mix in anything from Oreo cookies to almonds to a variety of fresh fruit, including the fresh banana he added to mine.

While the cream is chilling, Jackie mashes up your mix-in until as smooth as possible and then rolls it out  flat. He then takes a steel spatula and rolls the now-firm ice cream into, well, rolls. He then scoops up the super-cold rolls and places them side-by-side into a cup, adding virtually any topping you want. I tried to keep it healthy with fresh strawberries, although I also added chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

If you’ve never had rolled ice cream, it is significantly colder and more dense than soft-serve yogurt or ice cream and most “hard” ice creams, too. And the flavor? Out of this world!

As someone who still prefers “real” ice cream to any kind of frozen yogurt, I can tell you that if you haven’t yet sampled Frogury’s rolled ice cream, you owe it to yourself to visit and try it out today!

Boba Tea, Anyone?

Although I’m not the biggest ice tea fan, either, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my most recent foray into Boba, or “bubble” tea, which was first created in Taiwan in the 1990s and has been gaining popularity in the U.S. since the ear;y 2000s.

Bobas are ball-shaped, chewy bubbles of tapioca to which a variety of flavors, especially jellied fruit, can be added. Jackie had me try the traditional, “plain” bobas in iced black tea (there’s also green tea and other flavors) with milk, which was yummy, even though I’m still not a big boba fan. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. A woman visiting the shop named Suzy says she comes to Frogury every day, just for the tea. “It’s the best in town,” she said. “It’s why I’m a regular here.”

Frogury (6431 County Line Rd.) is open Mon.-Sat., 11 10a..- p.m., & noon-10 p.m. on Sunday. For 20-percent-off your purchase or buy-one, get-one-free smoothies, see the ad on pg. 46 of our last New Tampa issue. For more info, call 994-1960 or visit Frogury.com.

The Chamber Expands

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more exciting or complicated for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), on June 28, the WCCC announced that it was merging with the Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce (GPCC), which immediately increases the WCCC from nearly 600 to more than 900 business members.

The announcement, made at the Culinary Institute at Land O’Lakes High, featured (photo, top left, l.-r.) Pasco Economic Development Council (EDC) president and CEO Bill  Cronin WCCC Board chair Jennifer Cofini and CEO Hope Allen, as well as GPCC Board chair Michael Cox and Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore.

Allen was excited to announce that the two chambers had formed an alliance back in January and “would become one Chamber of Commerce.” Under the agreement, current members of either chamber would have reciprocal membership in both.

And, even though Allen admitted the merged chambers didn’t yet decide on a name, the same joint task force that created the merger, “will continue to meet every two weeks to help make that decision. Our drop-dead date to come up with all the details is January 1.”

Other issues to map out include the fact that there are still other four other chambers also serving Pasco and how the new merged chambers will fit into that structure, as well as the fact that the WCCC also serves New Tampa, which is in Hillsborough County.

“I did some research and we actually have 160 business members located in Hillsborough,” Allen said. “We will continue to provide the same services and opportunities for those businesses as usual.”

WCNT-tv One-Year Anniversary Party Ends With A Surprise Marriage Proposal!

For those who don’t know me personally, I was separated in 2006 and have been divorced since 2009 and, although I’ve done a lot of dating and had a few relationships since then, I honestly never thought too seriously about getting married again.

Two-and-a-half years ago, when I was a member of the Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary Club, a fellow club member and I who had known each other through business only prior to that, met by chance at what used to be Stage Left (now Brunchies). She was sitting with a few other fellow club members and invited me to join them at their table.

By the end of that super-fun evening (it became my birthday at midnight that night), Jannah McDonald (who was working for the American Cancer Society at the time, but became the marketing and events coordinator for the Pasco Education Foundation shortly after that evening) and I had arranged our first date, where we embarked on a journey that has had a few ups and downs (as all of our friends know all too well). But ultimately, the good times far outnumbered the bad, which led to the night of the one-year anniversary party for WCNT-tv (Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Television), which was held in and outside of my office on June 30.

When we hired mine and Jannah’s favorite local band — Restless Soul (search “Restless Soul” on Facebook) — to not only provide the entertainment for the event, but also to learn a song (“Saint Valentine’s Day, by Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist, Miami Steve Van Zandt, who recorded the song with his own band, called Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, which was released in February 2017) for us to sing with them, I wasn’t actually planning anything other than to have a kick-butt invitation-only party to thank all of our friends and sponsors, but…

A couple of weeks before the event, I decided that Jannah and I should also do a little dance routine during the song’s 45-second musical interlude and it was during our first lesson (anyone who knows me can tell you that I maybe can sing a little bit, but have never been much of a dancer) at the Rhapsody Ballroom on N. 56th St. just north of E. Fowler Ave. that I decided that there would be a surprise ending to the song (you can check out excerpts of the song and the entire dance on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page).

The evening did not go off without a hitch, which had me concerned about whether we would even get to perform the song, much less whether I would get to spring the beautiful faceted garnet-and-diamond ring I got a great deal on from my friends at Leiva’s Jewelry (in the New Tampa Center shopping plaza) on her.

Although we had a little more than 100 people on hand at around 7, the skies opened up — as they so often do during the summer here in Florida — around 7:15, while everyone was enjoying the truly amazing food from my friends Jessica and Carl Meyers of Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering in Lutz, Ramses and Ana Garcia of Las Palmas CafĂ© and Phil and Natalia from Olde Heights Bistro in Seminole Heights, plus the incredible desserts from Nothing Bundt Cakes (right now in Carrollwood, but looking to secure a Wesley Chapel location) and my friend Evelyn Barreno from 7 Layers Bakery.

The plan was for our song to open the band’s second set — and for us to do a Facebook Live event for the song — at 8 p.m. But, by the time the rain stopped shortly before 8, more than half of the people had left. Undaunted, we went ahead and performed the song when the rain gave us about a 15-minute window and I ended the song by asking Jannah if she would marry me “some Saint Valentine’s Day?” And yes, even though no one actually heard her say it, she did say yes.

Obviously, those who stuck around for it were glad they did and Jannah and I thank the hundreds of you who have already posted well wishes on Facebook.   

Getting A Taste-y Reward!

Although I am now a member of the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Mulligans Irish Pub in the Pebble Creek Golf Club), the Rotary club that put on the successful 2017 Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel is actually New Tampa’s original, or “breakfast” Rotary Club, which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club (TPGCC).

In the spirit of Rotary, I agreed to help (more like forced myself on) the Rotary’s Taste coordinator (and now, newly inducted president) Karen Frashier and her committee with restaurant procurement for the event and the rest, as they say, is history. Or so I thought.

At their club’s annual banquet at TPGCC on June 23, Jannah and I were invited as honored guests and even though it was on one of my deadline Fridays, we were thrilled just to be there. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I received the plaque on this page from outgoing president (he of the newly shaven head) Brice Wolford. Calling me “Mr. Taste” was pretty sweet, but I had to acknowledge the amazing “You Believed. You Made It Happen” inscription in these pages. Thanks so much!.

  

Zammy Spreads His Joy At The Shriners Hospital!

Although I had never encountered a sheepadoodle until January of this year, when New Tampa resident Todd Pitner brought his sweet, then-year-old, 100-lb. sheepadoodle named Zammy into our office for a story in our January 13 issue — after a photo of Zammy, taken at the Shops at Wiregrass mall, went viral (more than a million hits) on Reddit.

And, my life hasn’t been the same since.

Although I currently live in an apartment, if I ever do move into a house, I’m going to buy a sheepadoodle (old English sheepdog and standard poodle) because I have never seen a better disposition on an animal of any size or breed, much less on a giant stuffed animal come to life.

Since that first story, Zammy has appeared on WCNT-tv, replacing yours truly on set with my co-anchor Susanna Martinez, and I promised Todd that if he ever wanted us to do a follow-up, all we needed was someplace to go where I could see — and chronicle — Zammy’s instant rapport with literally everyone he meets.

So, when Todd asked me and WCNT-tv production assistant Gavin Olsen (who starred as the voice of Zammy in that WCNT-tv segment) to tag along and watch this gentle giant work his magic with the children in the Shriners Hospital on the Tampa campus of USF, we were both thrilled to tag along.

And of course, Zammy didn’t disappoint. Whether the kids were wheelchair bound or walking, teenagers or toddlers, or even Shriners Hospital staff, Zammy gave everyone a few happy minutes of his time and I didn’t see one kid, parent or hospital staffer leave him without a smile on their faces.

I thank Shriners Hospital Tampa’s public relations manager Lisa Buie for not only letting us accompany Zammy on his mission of goodwill, but also for getting everyone in these pictures to sign a release so we could show them.

Look for more Zammy exploits in future issues — and on future episodes of WCNT-tv.

The Shriners Hospitals for Children-Tampa is a 60-bed nonprofit specialty care facility that has served 60,000 patients since it was established in 1985.

For more information, visit ShrinersHospitalforChildren.org. To keep up with Zammy, check him out on Instagram @ZammyPup.