Meet October's winner!
(favorite Halloween memory)
Andrea Johnson beat the competition this month, in honor of Bo. She wins $20 and a copy of the Wal-Mart Effect: Magical and memorable: Halloween 2003 will always be very close to my heart. Bo and I eloped and were married in Gatlinburg, TN on November 1, 2003. We arrived in town the day before, on Halloween. After checking into a cozy room, and racing to get our marriage license before the courthouse closed - we ate a great dinner, we strolled around Gatlinburg, enjoying the town and the amazingly cool weather. People in bizarre and outlandish costumes roamed the streets. For everyone else, it was just Halloween. For me, that night, everything was right in the world because I was holding Bo’s hand. I lost Bo just 10 months later in a car accident. We would be celebrating our fifth anniversary this year. Instead, I hold the memories from that Halloween weekend very close to me and try to smile when I think of how very blessed I was.
Meet September's winner! (favorite vacation souvenir)
Geoff Buchanan brought is this winning entry, and is getting a on-hour facial from Complexions skin care in Gulfport plus a towel set from shirtsofbamboo.com ... is he sharing gifts with his wife? We think so! Not another stinking T-shirt!
Having grown up in the Smokey Mountains, it's hard for me to be impressed with sights. Then my wife and I went on our honeymoon to Kauai. I was shocked with each day's adventures in paradise. As I was laying on the beach I looked to my left and saw a 2,000-foot waterfall, straight ahead a glass top bay. To my right, four-foot breakers crashed on the reef that protected the bay and protected me from reat Whites! I realized that I was TRULY in paradise. When I see my Hanalei Bay T-shirt, it does what souvenirs are supposed to do: take me back in time.
Meet August's winner! (Why shop at independent stores)Virginia Snider moved from Kentucky to Tampa about three years ago. She is a personal assistant to a Realtor in Tampa. She and her boyfriend have one "baby"- a 10- or 11-year-old lab/shepherd mix named Tubby. Here is her winning entry: 10. Keep money in the community. 9. Local business owners know more about their products than a 16-year-old at a big chain. 8. Once you get to know employees, they know you, too. I shopped at a small bookstore when I was in high school and they would always order books that I asked for if they didn't have them in stock. After I got to know them, they would order things they thought I would like. Eventually they had a little shelf with books that were "my type" which other people would also buy. 7. Shopping locally is easier on the environment. Less shipping, packaging, etc. 6. If you have your own small business, other local owners will be inclined to return the favor if you support them. 5. Saves you money on gas if you can walk or ride your bike. 4. Especially when talking about food -- local restaurants and bakeries are much better in quality than fast food chains and often cheaper. 3. It's fun! Getting to know people in your neighborhood creates a sense of community and gives you the opportunity to make new friends. 2. "Talking shop" with owners and locals gives you a chance to keep up with what's happening in your neighborhood. 1. My absolute favorite -- My boyfriend and I were eating at a local restaurant for the first time and the owner came up to us at the cash register to see if we had enjoyed our meal. As we were praising his food, the cashier told us that they couldn't take our discover card. We had money on a debit card that we ended up using, but as we left the owner said that if we were ever hungry he would feed us for free! I couldn't believe it, since we had never even met before. It's nice to deal with real people!
Meet July's winner! (favorite coffee shop contest)Shannon Zimmerman is pursuing an MFA in creative writing at USF, Tampa. She has written and taught English in the area for seven years. Here is her winning entry: Second-hand may not be the most flattering compound modifier to describe the décor at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse at 4819 E. Busch Blvd. in Tampa, but shabbiness and creativity go hand in hand. After all, the cliché about the starving artist is trite for a reason. (* See Picasso, Renoir, Mozart, Dostoevsky, Chekov, to name a few) Hear local musicians play, go green, get your chakras aligned at the next reiki healing, figure out how to impeach President Bush, or squint through the glare of the neon sign to contemplate USF students' latest and greatest new paintings. Open everyday from 6 p.m. until 1 or 2 a.m. gives you plenty of time to ease into the shabby-chic sofa and feed your inner starving artist (try the chocolate-based The Devil Made Me Do It) while you pen the next classic.
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