By Matt Wiley
There are few things more difficult to watch than a suffering family dog or cat. However, there sometimes is a solution, and the first step is taking that family pet to Seven Oaks Pet Hospital in Wesley Chapel, where helping get pets back on their âpawsââ and helping them stay healthyâ is the name of the game.Continue reading
By Gary Nager
Long-time readers surely recognize at least two things about my dining reviews â #1) Iâprefer mom-and-pop restaurants to any sort of chain eatery and #2)âperhaps my biggest complaint is about having too many of certain types of restaurants and not enough of some others. For example, although we have quite a few very good-to-great pizza places, we donât really have even a non-chain Italian restaurant anywhere in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel.Continue reading
By Gary Nager
Do you have a budding young artist living in your house? Has he or she ever been to You Do the Dishes (YDTD) Paint-Your-Own Pottery Studio &âCoffee Bar in Tampa Palms?
If not, now is the time to go and check out not only the studio, but owner Cindy Kozlowski &âher long-time friend Herb Pinderâs great Summer Art Fest program. Although kids who attend the camp still get an opportunity to paint their own pottery, too, the Art Fest program is so much more than that. The one-week sessions (which begin Monday, June 11, and are run 10 a.m.-4 p.m. every weekday) for ages 7-13 include printmaking, drawing, watercolors, acrylics, collages, pottery painting and origami.
Herb, who first met Cindy shortly after she opened the studio in 1998, first came into YDTD to paint some pottery. An artist/educator who received his formal art training from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and from USF, Herb has led the summer art program for kids at YDTD the last eight years.
âEvery year, we have themes for the Art Fest program,ââsays Herb. âOne of this yearâs themes is folk art. We will show the kids a variety of different types of folk art and have them create projects in those and other themes and artistic mediums. We definitely get a tremendous response to this program year after year.â
Last year, he adds, the kids had fun creating fish statues in the style of renowned artist Frank Gehry.
He admits that more girls than boys participate in the Art Fest annually, âBut, there are always boys participating, too. Iâtry to give them serious art training but always remembering that they are children, so of course, it has to be fun for them. We get a lot of repeat students, plus siblings of past students who have participated.â
For only $210 per session, which includes all materials used and created by each student, your child can have supervised fun â and get an art education â in YDTDâs safe, nurturing environment. Please note that all Art Fest students have to bring their own lunch and snacks each day.
And So Much More!
In addition to the annual Art Fest summer camp, YDTDâalso offers opportunities for kids under age 15 (although kids under age 7 must be accompanied by an adult) to join the studioâs Summer Paint Club. For only $100, your child receives unlimited Monday-Friday studio time, paints and firing costs for the entire summer (June 8-August 21), between 11 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. Paint Club students are separated from the Art Fest kids and the cost of the bisque (unpainted pottery), food and drinks is in addition to the $100 program cost. Students also can bring their own lunch and snacks.
And yes, adults can still paint during the summer months, too. Call YDTDâ(see info below)âfor details.
YDTDâalso is an outstanding coffee bar serving delicious Joffreyâs coffee (and coffee drinks), Tazo hot teas and Arizona iced teas, as well as Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and other baked goods, from brownies and muffins to an ever-changing variety of cakes.
And, Cindy is proud to announce that YDTDâhas added several flavors of Brusterâs Real Ice Cream, which is available in cones and cups at very fair prices. And, considering our office is right next to YDTD, itâs hard for me to not stop in every day to get a scoop of Moose Tracks or Cookies &âCream.
And of course, YDTDâis still a great place for kids parties, girls night our and other events and even offers a coupon in conjunction with The Soap Factory (located in another part of Tampa Palms), a studio where you can design and take home your own bars of soap. If you make a bar of soap at The Soap Factory, you get a reduced price (with the coupon) on a paint-it-yourself soap dish at YDTD.
For more information, call You Do The Dishes (15357 Amberly Dr., Shoppes of Amberly plaza) at 975-1700 or visit YouDoTheDishes.com.
By Camille Gillies
Summertime means bathing suits, shorts, sleeveless shirts â and lots of shaving! The stubble, the irritation, the razor bumpsâŠugh! Perhaps you have tried waxing and found it painful or, well, just a pain. Whatâs a girl â or a guy with a hairy body â to do?Continue reading
By Matt Wiley
Standing in the middle of the 18th green at the TPC of Tampa Bay in nearby Lutz after the conclusion of the 23rd annual Encompass Insurance Pro-Am of Tampa Bay golf tournament on April 15, I listened as the crowd roared, breathing it all in.
Of course, it wasnât meant for me. I wasnât being awarded a giant check or a trophy. In fact, a professional would probably have written me a check to not be on his team, had I participated.
Nope, instead of me, the checks and trophies went to Michael Allen for winning the professional portion of the tournament, his second Champions Tour victory, and to Joe Theismann, the former quarterback for the Washington Redskins during their Super Bowl XVII victory in 1983, who won the pro-am portion of the tournament.
But, the feeling was still surreal, people clapping all around me as if I had just birdied my way to victory.
Moments before, the trophies for the winners had been parachuted onto the fairway of the 18th hole by U.S. Air Force Para Commandos as the waiting crowd looked to the sky. Fittingly, Van Halenâs âJumpâ blared through the speakers as the Commandos glided through the air.
None of this would have been possible without tournament director Amy Hawk, the Arbor Greene resident who has been in charge of the Pro-Am for the past nine years.
âThis year was a huge success,â Amy says. âEven with the new title sponsor. We had a record Sunday crowd and perfect weather.â
The tournament had been called the Outback Pro-Am from 2004-11, but switched title sponsors to Encompass Insurance for the 2012 tournament. Over the past 25 years, the event has raised more than $9 million for various charities.
Theismann was not the only celebrity in attendance, playing amongst the professional and amateur golfers of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Championâs Tour, a series of tournaments for professional golfers over the age of 50. The pros played in twosomes with an amateur throughout the three-day contest, some of whom were celebrities, such as Tampa Bay Lightning founder and Honorary Chairman of the tournament Phil Esposito â who teed off on Saturday with a hockey stick to the delight of Lightning mascot Thunderbug, to commemorate Lightning Day â as well as retired Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks, Bucs cornerback RondĂ© Barber, University of Louisville menâs basketball coach Rick Pitino, former âDatelineâ NBC-TV anchor Stone Phillips, television actor John OâHurley and former Tampa Bay Devil Rays first baseman Fred McGriff.
Previous celebrities who have played in this popular pro-am include the likes of actors Bill Murray, Michael J. Fox, Mark Wahlberg and NFLâHall of Famer Jerry Rice. Murray, one of my all-time favorite actors, was probably who I was hoping to see most, even going so far as to practice clever ways of introducing myself using a catchphrase from âCaddyshack,ââone of his biggest hit movies, where Murray played a pot-smoking greenskeeper.
Even without seeing Murray, it was definitely still a great day on the links for an amateur âCinderella storyâ like yours truly!