On Friday, October 14th, the Chihuly Exhibit closed it’s doors to the public from 6-8pm, allowing for a private more intimate atmosphere open to only the Signature residents and their guests.  While the museum was closed, that doesn’t mean it was empty;  The event summoned up an amazing turnout with upwards of 140 in attendance.  Guests enjoyed great company, food & wine as well as a documentary on Dale Chihuly and a private tour of his installations & works residing in the St. Petersburg exhibit.  Many attendees have already visited the museum but loved the opportunity to visit again with friends & neighbors.  According to feedback from Scott Allen, “Those that visited the museum for the first time were thrilled and impressed.”

While the Newman & Allen Team continues grow their market share in the Bay area, they will never cease to take care of their community and the Signature residents.  Scott claimed that “The Morean Arts Center’s relationship with [Smith & Associates Real Estate President/CEO] Bob Glaser (pictured above middle) was key to this event’s success”.  However, we know that not only the event’s success but St. Petersburg as a whole would not be the same without he & Debbie either.  The Newman & Allen Team is one of the top producing collaborations in the area, yet their humbleness is always present and genuine.

To see more photos from the event, click here.  Have you attended one of the Newman/Allen events?  What did you think?

This month, the American Cancer Society (ACS) encourages women to “Put on your pink bra and join us in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The pink bra is an empowering symbol of how personal the fight against breast cancer is. During our Making Strides events, a sea of participants in pink bras will join together to take up arms against the disease. This noncompetitive, 3.2-mile walk that celebrates breast cancer survivors and raises funds to save lives by helping people stay well, helping people get well, by finding cures and fighting back.”

Smith & Associates Real Estate has formed a team to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on October 22nd and are accepting donations online at  www.putonyourpinkbra.com.  Look for Team Smith & Associates or drop off a check at our Tampa office (3801 Bay to Bay Blvd), made payable to “American Cancer Society, Making Strides.” Donations of all amounts are welcomed and any amount over $100 or more will get you an event t-shirt!

Tampa Realtor, Janet Mendez welcomes & encourages friends, family, survivors & and clients to decorate a pink bra, wear it over your t-shirt and join our team for the walk. It’s a great way to show your children & grandchildren how a lot of people doing a small part for a big cause makes for huge results!

Event Details
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
Saturday, October 22, 2011
7:30am Registration
9:00am Walk Begins

Location:
St. Pete Times Forum
401 Channelside Dr.
Tampa, FL 33602

A few fun facts on the American Cancer Society & why we are so eager to support them:

Helping people get well and stay well:
* The American Cancer Society’s screening guidelines are the gold standard for doctors and patients.
* Every 30 seconds someone calls the American Cancer Society and breast cancer is the top reason for calling. ACS provides support and information 24 hours a day via 800-227-2345 and online at cancer.org.
* The ACS is there with a sympathetic ear, cancer information, a ride to treatment, help accessing other resources in their community and many other services.

Finding Cures:
* The American Cancer Society has been involved in nearly every major breakthrough in the fight against breast cancer, helping make less radical surgery possible and finding lifesaving treatments such as Herceptin and Tamoxifen.
* ACS funds more research than any other nonprofit, next to the federal government.
* Fourty-four ACS funded researchers went on to win the Nobel Prize.
* The American Cancer Society invests more in breast cancer research than any other cancer type.  Today, ACS invests $115 million in 220 breast cancer research projects nationwide and more than $6 million for 11 research initiatives in Florida.

Figthting Back:
* The American Cancer Society is the leading voice for cancer patients in the Florida capital as well as Capital Hill.  Because of their advocacy, Florida developed two cancer research programs over the past decade and since just 200, has funded $7 million in breast cancer research.
* ACS is currently fighting for state funding to ensure ALL women in Florida have access to mammograms and breast cancer treatment.
* Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events bring communities together and give people a voice to fight back against the disease. The events raise both awareness and vital funding to make more progress and save lives.

If dropping off donations at the office, look for our “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” flags and for a $25 donation, a pink flamingo will be placed in our yard honoring or remembering a loved one of the donor’s choosing.  Have you or someone you know fought the battle with breast cancer?  What are your favorite supporting charities?

(Photos courtesy of American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer)

Community involvement plays a huge role in Real Estate.  Not necessarily because your community is filled with potential clients but because it is great to give back.  With October not only comes fun meetings, but it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well.  We have several agents participating in runs, walks and golf tournaments, but today we got to see the fruits of a particularly spectacular fundraiser…a bra decorating contest!  Yes, you heard correctly.  Two of our Tampa Realtors, Laurie Garrett and Janet Mendez (pictured right) modeled bras that they recently decorated at an event to honor all of the birthdays that have passed due to breast cancer research made possible by grants, donations and fundraisers nationwide.  BRA-vo to them on their creative skills.

This Tuesday also gave us a chance to meet one of our newest staff members (whom you will be hearing from on the blog as well), our talented Relocation Director, Jane Gowarty (pictured left).  Jane has been in Real Estate for the past 19 years, starting in land development and has spent the past 10 years focused on relocation.  She will be the first point of contact for out of towners looking to call Tampa Bay home, introducing the city and learning about clients’ stories in order to match them up with a like-minded realtor.  You may have seen Jane speak at several Leading Real Estate or Relocation conventions and we are excited to stand by her side as she continues to educate others on the importance of her department.

All in all, this has been a successful Tuesday.  What are your favorite things about meeting with your colleagues and what kind of community involvement would you like to see from Smith in the future?

Well, there are several different chapters of the Awesome Foundation in cities all over the world including: Boston, New York, Montreal, Seattle, Sydney, DC, Berlin, San Francisco and our very own Tampa Bay.  Ten different chair people local to the specific city will get together to form a board.  Each month, the board members will donate $100 per person (in the name of awesomeness, of course) which makes up a $1,000 grant.  Local residents will submit applications for awesome ideas they have to improve their city and the board members will vote on who gets the grant based off of the applications.  Awesome, right?!

Some of the awesome ideas that have been funded in other cities are a monstrous colorful graffiti mural on the wall of a Boston school, a live re-inactment of the Indianna Jones and the Alley of Doom scene where locals get to play the role of Mr. Jones running from the gigantic boulder in DC (see photo to the right for a visual courtesy of the Awesome Foundation blog), polka-dots painted on top of San Francisco buildings to create the worlds largest game of connect the dots (picked up by Google Map satellites), and a winter Warmth project dedicated to keeping the homeless warm in Melbourne through backpacks filled with food, gloves, toothbrushes and information on assistance organizations.

The Awesome Tampa Bay chapter is brand spanking new, so they haven’t funded anything yet, however they are currently taking applications and eager to make our Tampa home more awesome than ever $1,000 at a time.  For more information or to submit your ideas, visit their website at www.AwesomeTampaBay.org.

What awesome ideas do you have to improve Tampa Bay?

If you have a heart for both golf and charity, then this 4-person scramble is for you.  Entry is only $100 per person and includes green fees, golf cart, on-course beverages, awards, lunch, dinner and participant prizes.  For $100, you can also promote your business and support the cause via hole sponsorship.  Or if you’re feeling confident in both your company and your golf skills, for $450, grab a couple of work buddies for a Corporate Team and hole sponsorship combo.

Various local merchants will be donating items for participant goodie bags and there will be prizes given out for competitions including: hole-in-one, putting contest, closest to the pin on all par 3s and longest drive for men & women.  If you show up in this awesome breast cancer awareness themed golf cart, I vote automatic win!

The shotgun start is at noon but be sure to leave your Belleair home with enough time to get there before 11am for open registration and a light lunch.  Enjoy on-course drinks throughout the day and the award dinner will begin at 5:30pm.   All in all, the day should be delightful.  Nothing like a fun competition for a great cause to kick off the fall weather!

We do however, know competitions can get serious, so choose your team wisely…Who will you have on your side?

Scott and Debbie’s long standing relationship with the Signature Place owners has been cultivated over many years.  The duo was responsible for the complete sell out of all 244 luxury units in the high rise, turning the once empty rooms into St. Pete homes.   This is just one of many parties that the Newman & Allen team plan on organizing for both Signature Place residents and local businesses. Their goal is to continue building the fabric of downtown St. Petersburg one relationship at a time. The two know and understand that a community is what both businesses and residents want to invest in!

A word from St. Pete Realtors Debbie Newman and Scott Allen (pictured far right with Signature Place resident, Paul Lanz):  “We would like to thank everyone for coming out to the Signature Place Block Party event on May 25th!  We really enjoyed ourselves and hope everyone who attended enjoyed themselves as well.  It is always nice to get everyone together; we look forward to doing it again sometime soon. A special thanks to Community Bank, Bernie’s & Son and Cassis American Brasserie for sponsoring this special evening.”

There you have it- it looks like the St. Petersburg community will be seeing a lot of these two in the future.  We are looking forward to seeing what they do next!

Today is not a birthday per se, but it is in fact Earth Day and all the same rules apply.  Have you ever stepped outside of your St. Pete home and thought “wow, this planet is awesome” or “How can I better improve the planet on which I live”?  Maybe you have though this and taken action.  Maybe the thought has never crossed your mind.  Regardless, of where you stand, today is the perfect day to show how thankful we really are for our incredible planet.

After speaking with a few Smith & Associates Real Estate agents and staff members, we came up with a few ways to show our appreciation this Earth Day:

1. Grow Food. According to St. Pete Realtor, Carolyn Robinson, “I have always wanted to grow my own garden but have found more excuses not to than motivation to start.”  We have all experienced good intentions with lack of motivation.   A fully functioning vegetable garden can be a lot of work and extremely intimidating.  Start small- with one plant or a few herbs then take on more as you are able.  You have to start somewhere!

2.  Buy Local. All of the things we are unable to grow have to come from somewhere, and unfortunately, we often unknowingly look outside the Tampa Bay area for these items.  Did those banannas travel thousands of miles, crossing country borders before making it to the grocery store?  What about that new t-shirt?  Where was in made?  Where was the cotton grown?  The more we think about these things, the more we realize how dependent we are on others for survival.  Make a conscious effort to research where all of your purchases come from and give back to the local community by seeing what they have to offer- you will be pleasantly surprised as to what you can buy locally!

3.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This is a big one- we have all heard about recycling but do we really do it?  In our opinion, Smith & Associates Real Estate has one of the most fabulous Marketing Coordinators around, and she’s Earth friendly too!  Alexis Bentivegna shared that recycling isn’t just tossing a soda can into the blue & green bins.  “When shopping, take reusable bags!”  Not only are you reducing the amount of plastic consumed but you’re reusing as well!

4. Respect the Ocean. Florida, being a peninsula, is almost completely surrounded by water; from almost everywhere in the state, we can get to the beach in under an hour.  Living in the Tampa Bay area, we often take the ocean for granted.  According to St. Pete Realtor, Drew Glaser, a great way to respect the ocean is to remember that “all drains lead to the sea”.  This means that what we dispose of goes directly into our oceans, often contaminating the water and killing off thousands of sea life that we depend on to keep our Earth in balance.  By purchasing environmentally friendly products free of harmful chemicals (or making your own!) and being conscious of what we throw away and where it is disposed of, we can keep the ocean happy.  After all, the Earth is about 75% water so we don’t want angry oceans!

5.  “Greenify” Your Home. This doesn’t require that everyone completely remodel their home, switch to solar power or even put your home for sale in Tampa to move into a more environmentally friendly place.  Sara Houze, from Smith Title suggested a couple of simple places to start-  Turn the air off on a nice day and enjoy the breeze through open windows or switch to fluorescent light bulbs that use about 1/3 the power of a regular bulb.  Not only will this be great for the planet but it saves money as well!

6. Consume Less. We are consumers that often buy brand new things off impulse rather than necessity.  According to The Urban Organic Gardner, “before you buy something, ask yourself if you need it.  Then ask again.”  New products use a lot of energy and resources to create.  If you get bitten by the over consumption bug, no worries- it gets the best of us.  If you really MUST have something, then it will be easy to try to find the same thing “slightly used”- they may be old to someone else but they are new to you.  If it isn’t worth the time and effort of the search, then it probably wasn’t worth it to begin with!

7. Eat Less Meat. According to Environmental Defense, “if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads.”  That is a pretty powerful statement and it doesn’t even mention the THOUSANDS of gallons of water used to raise 1lb of meat.

8. Play Outside. Drew Glaser suggest that people “take their kids outside to play rather than occupying them with television and video games”.  Not only does it help create a healthy way of living by incorporating exercise and imagination into games, but it helps develop an appreciation for our planet that just wouldn’t come to life without experiencing all the Earth has to offer outside of the house.

While these are only a few simple ways to show your appreciation to the Earth, there are COUNTLESS other options.  What are your favorite ways to give back to our planet?  What are you going to do for Earth Day this year?

Q: What was the purpose of the Tea Party & the the Kentucky Derby style hats?

A: The purpose of the event was to celebrate the Art in Bloom Exhibit at the MoFA.  What we attended was an inaugural event and it was a Tea Party entitled “A Place to Hang My Hat” for friends of the museum.  We were asked to wear a fun, funky or art inspired hat to the event.

Q: What exactly is Art in Bloom?

A: Art in Bloom 2011, sponsored by The Stuart Society and the MFA, has become one of the area’s most popular traditions and exhibitions. More than 50 floral interpretations respond to works in the collection and to entire galleries and spaces, including the glass Conservatory.

Q: What was your favorite part of the event?

A: My favorite part was seeing old friends and meeting new friends, all who support the Arts in the entire Tampa Bay/St Petersburg community.

While the floral designs went on view Saturday, March 19-23 to welcome in the Spring season, Art in Bloom is not all there is to look forward to in 2011.  The Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Pete will have three more special exhibitions on view this year:

• Romantics to Moderns: British Watercolors and Drawings from the Collection of BNY Mellon sponsored by BNY Mellon Wealth Management (through May 1)
• Familiar and Fantastic: Photographs from the Dandrew-Drapkin Donation (February 19-June 12)
• PLACE: Contemporary Ceramics by Jennifer Forsberg, Sarah Lindley, and Jeanne Quinn (March 5-April 24)

If you are looking for a reason to get out of your St. Petersburg home and into the community, daily Museum tours are open to the public & only group tours require reservations.  Call 727.896.2667, ext. 210 to reserve a group tour or visit www.fine-arts.org for more information on exhibits, events and museum hours.

Smith and Associates is proud to have people like St. Pete Realtors, Debbie Newman and Scott Allen as a part of our family.  If you were unable to attend the event but would still like to make a donation to the families of the two fallen officers, please take contributions to a local Wachovia Bank and let them know you are donating funds to The Jeffrey Yazslowitz/Thomas Baitinger Memorial Fund or mail to: Suncoast Law Enforcement Charities, Inc. (SCLEC), 14141 46th St. N, Suite 1205, Clearwater, FL 33762.  In the memo line, please be sure to write: “Yaslowitz/Baitinger Memorial Fund”.

Jeffrey Yazslowitz, Thomas Baitinger and their surviving families will always remain in our thoughts.

First Night takes place from 5pm to midnight, rain or shine at a variety of indoor and outdoor venues in Downtown St. Petersburg.  Enjoy activities including: hat making at Baywalk, fire dancers in South Straub Park, a salsa lesson at the Museum of Fine Arts Colonnade and of course fireworks!  This year’s line-up will also include entertainment by St. Pete‘s very own American Idol finalist, Michael Lynche, in North Straub Park from 11pm to midnight.

Tickets for First Night are available in advance ($10 for adults, $5 for children) at several local outlets, online with a small surcharge or get them New Years Eve at all event venues.  For the event schedule and further information regarding the festivities, please visit www.firstnightstpete.com, call 727.823.8906 or visit the main information booth at the south end of the Museum of Fine Arts on Beach Drive.

We at Smith and Associates look forward to closing the door on 2010 with you at First Night!  We hope 2011 is your Happiest New Year yet!