hotels articles

Olivia and Clay Mayer

Clay and Olivia Mayer, Lawrence, will celebrate their first wedding anniversary Dec. 6.

Olivia Cecilia Montes and Clay Thomas Mayer were united in marriage Dec. 6, 2003, at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Horton. The Rev. James Albers officiated.

Mrs. Mayer is the daughter of Joey and Lola Montes, Horton. Mr. Mayer is the son of David and Regina Mayer, Wetmore, and the grandson of Raymond Levick, Sabetha.

Matrons of honor were Tracy Montes, sister-in-law of the bride, Serena Huerter and Jessica Koch. Bridesmaids were Melissa Wenger, Sarah Walter and Kari Baesel.

Darren Nichols was best man. Groomsmen were Justin Mayer, brother of the groom; Luke Dieckmann, Zach Dieckmann, Sam Warren and Phillip Montes, brother of the bride.

Monica Salcido was the flower girl. Cole Montes was the ring bearer. The candlelighters were Jodi McGillicuddy and Carrie Tomc. Ushers were Michael Jurado, Michael Flowers, Justin Miller and Paul Rundle. Junior ushers were Andrew Montes and Derek Flowers.

Lectors were Becca Bins, Zac Morris and Amy Jo Arnold. Acolytes were Miles Wenger and Cole Thorson. Assisting in the ceremony were George and Josephine Salehar, godparents and uncle and aunt of the bride; David and Jill Wenger; and Baldo and Beatrice Jurado, godparents of the bride.

Program and guest book attendants were Kallie Bechtold, Courtney Oswald and Erica Hendren. Gift attendants were Alicia Schroeder and Anne Bralley. The bride’s personal attendants were Lori Flowers and Shelly Wenger.

Music was provided by organist Carl Johnson; keyboardist Phillip Figgs; saxophonist Mark Vittetoe; and violinist Nathaniel Mayhew; vocalists Jill Pfiefer and David Oakleaf.

A reception, dinner and dance followed at Sac & Fox Casino Event Center. Reception attendants were Doris Irossi, Shelly Mayfield and Bonnie Hochtstler. Music was provided by the Paradize Band of Topeka.

Mrs. Mayer is a recreation leader for Shawnee County Parks and Recreation in Topeka.

Mr. Mayer is a fourth grade teacher in McLouth.

The couple honeymooned in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. They reside in Lawrence.

Trish and Kenny Slater

Kenny and Trish Slater celebrated their first wedding anniversary on May 3, 2004.

Trisha Butterfield and Kenneth Slater exchanged marriage vows at 5 p.m. May 3, 2003, at First Presbyterian Church in Topeka. The Rev. Neil Weatherhogg officiated.

A reception and dance followed at Jayhawk Towers.

Their parents are Sanford Shull and Diann Spayd, Topeka, and Jay Butterfield, Burlingame, and the late William and Marcine Slater.

The bride was given in marriage by her stepfather and her father.

Matron of honor was Amber Tincher. Honorary maid of honor was Autumn Butterfield, who missed the ceremony after being deployed by the U.S. Army to Kuwait. Gail Butterfield and Margo Segura-Rangel were bridesmaids.

Travis Slater was best man. Ray Slater and Chris Hutton were groomsmen.

Kaitlyn Mummy was the junior bridesmaid. Lane Butterfield was the junior groomsman.

Jaymie Higginbotham was the flower girl. Grant Tincher was the ring bearer. Michael Butterfield and Bruce Lane were ushers. Lindsay Murry and Aaron Lane were candlelighters.

Jennifer Higginbotham read “Marriage is a Promise of Love” and the “Hands of the Bride and Groom” poem.

Other attendants were Holly Smith and Megan Mummy. Reception attendants were Nancy Washburn, Sarah Lucero and Jennifer Dolan.

Trish earned an associate degree at Allen County Community College. She is a cosmetology technician at Studio 1 Hair & Nail Salon.

Kenny is a member of Iron Workers Local Union No. 10. He is a general foreman for Building Erection Services in Olathe.

They honeymooned at Sandal’s Halcyon Beach Resort on St. Lucia in the West Indies. They reside in Topeka.

Karla Beth Herman

Kyle Brandon Starr

Herman-Starr

Karla Beth Herman and Kyle Brandon Starr were married May 7, 2004, in Thompson Falls, Mont.

Karla is the daughter of Betty Herman of Blue Springs, Mo., and the late Darrow Herman. Kyle is the son of Nancy Romans of Holton and Ray Starr of Topeka.

Karla is a registered dietitian and Kyle is a nationally registered paramedic.

The couple now reside in Moses Lake, Wash.

Then there was Shelter Island, a ferry-ride on from the rest of the Hamptons, and the dernier cri in East Coast posh - think Ralph Lauren, bagels and very, very dry martinis. Scotland’s Summer Isles - OK, they were just a day trip from the spectacular Summer Isles hotel in Achiltibuie in the Western Highlands, but still…

Er, then there was Singapore - does that count? I’m not sure, since you can drive to Malaysia. It was a bit of an Asian theme park, so squeaky clean was the atmosphere, but the street food was the best I’ve ever had. (Other islands of different alphabetical persuasions that I have known and loved include Grenada, Clare Island, Ponza, Ustica, Diu and Cozumel. I wonder if there’s a support group for recidivist isle-hoppers?) So, a trip to Sardinia seemed logical. Little did I realise when I booked the holiday that I was heading off to this year’s grooviest European destination. This summer I haven’t been able to pick up a glossy magazine without some celebrity spouting off about how much they love the jewel in the Med. Naomi Campbell, Sarah Ferguson, Eddie Irvine, the Rothschild family, Princess Caroline of Monaco, Rod Stewart, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Bon Jovi and Tom Cruise are all fans. And, of course, the England squad may well have happier memories of their Italian training venue than of Euro2004 itself

The pub is being renovated: most of its engraved windows have gone, but columns wreathed with gold vines still flank its saloon bar door. A high Victorian front already updated the Coach & Horses of 1811 (where was found a portmanteau labelled Turpin), and before that it was likely the bear-ward’s quarters for the baiting pit, westwards towards the electricity substation. Hockley was a Restoration zone for rough pleasures, a resort for Smithfield butchers and gentlemen gamesters, its amphitheatre with a shady gallery and “seats for the quality, none under half a crown”. They bet on how many mastiffs a tethered beast would kill. They wagered on dogs pitched at each other, or enjoyed arranged mayhem - “a mad bull to be dressed up with fireworks and turned loose” with a cat tied to its tail, an ape panicking on the back of an ass, and a bear on the rampage, too. The ursines were not toothless. Christopher Preston, who had held Charles II’s entertainment warrant, finally failed to pay enough attention in 1709 and was almost devoured by one of his own bears - no slaughterman ceased gobbling furmity, hasty pudding and other hot guttage at Madam Preston’s, though, and no rake threw up his pickled egg (speciality of the westcountry landlord of a tavern along Crawford Passage). Hockley hardly aspired upward, except for the soil infill. Shakebag birds struck with spurs in its cockpit, professional fights and duels were staged - “Will you give cuts or receive?” a Georgian sports reporter overheard a bout being rigged - and Liz Wilkinson boxed Hannah Highfield, wearing holland drawers, with half-crowns clenched in her fists to prevent scratching. Dr Johnson said “pity he has not a better bottom” was the Hockley phrase for gutsiness. The stocks mouldered at the westward junction with Coppice, formerly Codpiece, Row, and dangerous dunghills stopped the way. Hockley (renamed Rag Street for its tat dealers, bowdlerised to Ray Street) stayed tough - the Dodger led Oliver Twist across it to Fagin’s nearby. The vast industrial pile up cobbled Back Hill, now the London College of Printing, was Reveille House, pressworks for the Daily Mirror and Reveille, the lads’ mag of the Brylcreem era, three million copies every weekend: post-print, Frankie Goes to Hollywood shot Welcome to the Pleasure Dome in there. Up Crawford Passage was the workhouse, next to a slummy, crimey rookery demolished in the 1860s for improved dwellings for the labouring classes, and superseded by The Guardian offices. When the Italian church at the top of Back Hill puts on its annual procession, the floats park in the Hole while angels have their wings pinned on and Legionnaires sandal up.

Ever since my father rigged up a sail on our sturdy little dinghy and uttered the words: “You’ll never capsize this thing,” and then watched me keel it over with an almighty splash, I’ve thought that sailing is not for me. Wind and I, so to speak, were a bad combination. Then a friend invited me on a windsurfing trip to the Ionian island of Lefkada, one of the globe’s breeze hotspots, with ideal conditions for learning. On the basis that a board might be easier to handle than a boat, I decided to go along for the ride, even if it all led to a watery end.
Lefkada is not insular in the purest sense of the word, since its north- eastern tip is connected by a causeway to the mainland, where the airport is situated. Our coach trundled across a drawbridge on to the narrow strip of stone to reach the island’s tiny capital, also called Lefkada. The name comes from the southern cape of Lefkata, from whose white rocks the poetess Sappho is said to have hurled herself after a spot of love trouble.

A sharp left turn away from this mini metropolis sent us bowling south along the coastal road. Pine-clad hills rose steeply on our right, with glassy sea visible to port. As we scooted through the lively seaside resort of Nidri, with its regimented rows of sandal- and-ouzo boutiques, I spied the forested islets of Madouri, Skorpios - which is owned by the Onassis family - and Meganissi, half-submerged like green turtles out in the gulf.

It’s a water thing. Since the earliest times, cities have been built specifically for their ideal proximity to hot springs, mineral water, and sulphur water, or to other spa-friendly geologic attributes. Since Roman times, the cities of Aix-la-Chapelle in West Germany, Aix-en-Provence in France, and Castellammare di Stabia in Italy have been known for mineral baths. The Romans founded other cities, like Bath, in England and Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden, in Germany, because of their nearness to hot springs. Pompei was also known for its baths, and, for hundreds of years, the sulfur springs at Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic, have been considered medicinal.

In more recent times, unless it was for healing purposes, the idea of going to a spa has seemed somewhat decadent and a pleasure reserved for the rich and idle. This perception is obsolete. Spas, and spa-like treatments, either away or at home, have become a “right” that we deserve and a “luxury” that we have earned (although some would even question whether these are luxuries, at all). Whether planning a vacation or time off at an exotic resort, or spending a few hours at a local spa or your own bathtub, the result can be the difference between burn-out and rejuvenation.
“I think these days people realize this isn’t luxury; it is almost a necessity now for people to be able to keep going and to carry on being effective in the rest of their lives,” comments Ann Costelloe, manager of The Berkeley Health Club and Spa (one of the Savoy Group hotels) at Knightsbridge in London.

“Once you get to the top of the hotel, somehow you do feel cut off and that all the normal ghastly aspects of life can’t get to you here. Yes, people look for the exercise and the swimming which makes them feel good, loosens them up, and helps them to relax; and, yes, it’s wonderful to have a therapist carrying out all these lovely treatments on you, but it’s more important than all of that.

“It somehow has to be separate from the rest of your life and all the problems that you have. It’s time for yourself when you do feel cut off from all the pressures that you are normally under. You can’t quantify the benefit of that. Only each individual can really understand what it has done for them and it’s all relative to what’s going on in their life at the time and how much they need this,” explains Costelloe.

To be active or to vegetate, that is the question…

Spas vary in what they offer — from being more active or exercise-oriented, including golf and tennis, swimming, gyms, and aerobics or calisthenics, to vegetative, relaxing body treatments, including wraps, various types of baths, Jacuzzis, hot tubs, and saunas, as well as facials, massages, reflexology, and beauty and hair treatments. Some offer nutritional and dietary counseling, or go as far as to provide medically oriented consultations.

There are spas designed to be get-aways for long stays, up to several weeks. There are others that are located in busy hotels, and used by guests of the hotel and area residents for one-hour or all-day treatments. Exclusive, secluded spas generally have health-conscious menus provided, while spas in hotels offer healthful choices on their menus.

Destination spas

The Berkeley Health Club and Spa in London recently refurbished its facilities located on the seventh floor of the hotel. The swimming pool is up on the eighth floor, with a roof that opens during nice weather, offering a magnificent view of Hyde Park.

Some of the services the spa offers in addition to the pool and a gym are a wide array of facials, body treatments, including a hydroactive mineral salt scrub, an assortment of massages from aromatherapy to lymphatic drainage, and many other beauty treatment services. They also have a Jet Lag Recovery retreat designed for those international travelers who come through so often.

Since the last hurricane, the Bolongo Bay Beach Club & Villas in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, has had to cut back its services, but it’s still a full-fitness center with all the latest in gym equipment, swimming pools, and access to tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts. There’s also have a nutritionist on-call and a massage therapist available.

Every year, key words tossed around the Outdoor Retailers Winter Market include “warmer,” “lighter,” “easier,” “quicker” and “racier,” along with the standards, “breathable” and “waterproof.” Consumers can expect to hear those words again when the new lines are introduced this fall.

If winter jackets and pants don’t breathe on their own when fall comes, representatives point out, the wearer has only himself or herself to blame for being cold.

Breathable fabrics let cooling factors like moisture out, while retaining heat, thus the breathable quality and warmth.
And if new shoes this fall aren’t lighter, warmer and more comfortable, don’t put the blame on the shoemakers. There was wall after wall of the footwear at this year’s show, which featured 625 exhibitors, each with claims of offering absolute comfort no matter the event at hand.

There were thousands of different shoes presented at this year’s preview of coming winter wear, which ended its four-day stay on Monday.

Birkenstock, for example, offered more than 400 different styles and had one of each displayed individually on its wall of sandals.

Not surprising is the fact that its oldest-model sandal, the Arizona, celebrating its 30th year in production, remains on the top of its sales charts. The Arizona, which sells for $89, still has the original cork footbed and double adjustable straps over the bridge of the foot.

This year, said Jennifer Mirmelstein, publicity specialist with the company, it comes in 20 material options, from tumbled leather to handcrafted denim.

And if new shoes this fall aren’t lighter, warmer and more comfortable, don’t put the blame on the shoemakers. There was wall after wall of the footwear at this year’s show, which featured 625 exhibitors, each with claims of offering absolute comfort no matter the event at hand.

There were thousands of different shoes presented at this year’s preview of coming winter wear, which ended its four-day stay on Monday.

Birkenstock, for example, offered more than 400 different styles and had one of each displayed individually on its wall of sandals.

Not surprising is the fact that its oldest-model sandal, the Arizona, celebrating its 30th year in production, remains on the top of its sales charts. The Arizona, which sells for $89, still has the original cork footbed and double adjustable straps over the bridge of the foot.

This year, said Jennifer Mirmelstein, publicity specialist with the company, it comes in 20 material options, from tumbled leather to handcrafted denim.

Speed described the company’s decision to quit an unprofitable market in sideline products such as ice and individual servings of tea, coffee, natural sodas, and juice and to focus instead on its core business: selling five-gallon bottles of water. It was a painful choice because it was like giving up a dream, Speed said. But it was a good choice. The company’s profits in Little Rock in 1995 were up over 65 percent from the year before, and in May it acquired a second five-gallon distribution company in Kansas City, Mo.

Employee stress is down, too, Speed reported. “We no longer look at a growing water market, envision all of the opportunities, and run frantically in all directions. Instead, we focus on the five-gallon market we know and concentrate on using the ‘cookie cutter’ we’ve developed to duplicate our success.”

Raleigh Spring Water is one of 175 companies that are being recognized as state honorees in the 1996 Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative program. Sponsored by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Nation’s Business, the Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative recognizes small companies that have overcome adversity and emerged stronger as a result.

The Rest Of Us

Former friend swaps sides

By JACQUELYN MITCHARD

Sunday, March 3, 2002

You know what is a thing you can’t do forever? Having babies. Families of 14 notwithstanding.

With six children, even though some were adopted, we have replicated ourselves on the planet. We thought to squeeze in one last odd infant but that’s an off chance.

How life serves you your own words and invites you to eat them with a fork and a spoon.

I should be addressing this as an open letter to my friend, Patti, whom I once accused of “mothering” her dog.
Patti, much younger, doesn’t have children yet, and has told me she wouldn’t care if her Lucy ate up every piece of furniture in Patti’s apartment. Vociferous was I in my ribbery, not being an “animal” person. And certainly not a “dog” person. And certainly not a slobbery dog person.

Then came Hobbes, the mutt, birthday present to our 12-year-old. Hobbes immediately fastened upon me as the alpha wolf, followed me everywhere, slept on the foot of our bed. I never opened a closed door beyond which Hobbes did not wait. He was, though the perfect dog, also allowed to do all the things I swore to heaven no dog would ever do in my house.

Glyndebourne

Glyndebourne is an annual operatic festival that has been running since 1934. It takes place between May and August in the grounds of the Christie family’s stately home near Lewes, in East Sussex. Opera- goers can picnic in the interval (you can buy a hamper from pounds 39 per head or bring your own).

The top shows this year are Fidelio and Otello - tickets are sold out, but you may be able to get returns by visiting www.glyndebourne.co.uk. During the festival, the gardens open at 3pm (2pm Sundays) to ticket- holders only.

Glyndebourne, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU. Information 01273 815 000; box office 01273 813 813. The last performance is 26 August. Ticket prices range from pounds 10 standing to pounds 137 in the best centre stall seats.
Hay-on-Wye

This annual literary festival takes over the market town of Hay- on-Wye, in the Black Mountains of Wales. Alongside the line-up of literary heavyweights - Margaret Atwood, Louis de Bernieres, David Lodge - the organisers have managed to pull off a coup by securing Bill Clinton as a speaker. Musical talent also features prominently this year. A rare appearance from Pulp opened the festival yesterday (see review in the main section), Paul McCartney will be reading from his new book of poetry, and live shows follow from Suzanne Vega, Van Morrison and others.