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To My Mom ...
I want to thank my mom.
In my bathroom, resting on the counter in front of my mirror where I dry my hair, is one of those little square signs with lettering. It was a gift from my mom, and it proclaims, “Daughters are little girls who grow up to be your best friend.”
I see it every morning when I get ready for the day, and I smile a little when I do.
So often throughout my day, my week, and my month, something will happen—good or bad, big or small—and my first thought is to pick up my phone and call my mom. She’s my confidant, my sounding board, and my share-just-about-everything-with. She's loving, kind, insightful, and smart.
She’s my mom, and now that I’m an adult, I'm honored to say she’s also my friend.
She’s the glue that held our family together. She was always there, making sure we were all well taken care of, shuttling us kids around, cooking, and all the other things that moms often do. She always went above and beyond—and still does.
Not everyone is lucky enough to grow up with such an amazing mom, and then to continue to have a wonderful relationship as an adult. I am always thankful for it, and I hope she knows how grateful I am for our relationship.
When I think about my own family, I try to model my own parenting after the example she set, and I hope that I have the same close relationship with my own kids when they are adults, too.
So to my mom, Ann Ackerman—thank you for everything. Thank you for making our family so wonderful, and thank you for being such an amazing force in my life!
Yours,
MICHELLE GLICKSMAN, EDITOR @PARADISEVALLEYCITYLIFESTYLE
August 2023
PUBLISHER
Tammy Fellows | tammy.fellows@citylifestyle.com
EDITOR
Michelle Glicksman | michelle.glicksman@citylifestyle.com
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR
Faith Morello | faith.morello@citylifestyle.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Susan Lanier-Graham, Shana Schwarz, Georgann Yara
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Sophia DuBois
4
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Steven Schowengerdt
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Matthew Perry
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES Tiffany Slowinski
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HR Janeane Thompson
DIRECTOR OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS Jennifer Robinson
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Josh Klein
CONTROLLER Gary Johnson
AD DESIGNER Whitney Lockhart
LAYOUT DESIGNER Andi Foster
Learn Paradise Valley City Lifestyle™ is published monthly by Lifestyle Publications LLC. It is distributed via the US Postal Service to some of the Paradise Valley area’s most affluent neighborhoods. Articles and advertisements do not necessarily reflect Lifestyle Publications’ opinions. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Lifestyle Publications does not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors. Information in Paradise Valley City Lifestyle™ is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed.
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As I write this, I see my sweet pup Roo (our rescue cattle dog and my shadow), who is typically lying at my feet. I smile as I think about the unconditional love our household creatures give my whole family! Most of you know we have four amazing boys, but rarely do I speak of our loving fur babies!
Roo, who is just over a year now, is a ball of joyous energy and is never far from me—cloning the behavior of our late pup, Ace, who lived 15.5 years.
We also have our beautiful blue-eyed Ragdoll cat, Ash (about 2 years old now), who is a fluffy bundle of purring love who can play hard to get.
We get a kick out of the two of them, who play together … yes they actually wrestle and play, which is so much fun to watch and see their affection for one another. Our boys are constantly cuddling them, too, as we are all true animal lovers at my house!
As we dive into this month’s issue, which is focused on kids, pets, and family, we hope you give a little extra love to the youth and sweet fur babies you share your life with! I can most definitely say they bring so much love and joy to ours.
Be grateful, be kind, and live well,
Tammy Fellows Owner/Publisher
C O M P A
E v e r y c l i e n t i s t r e a t e d a s
a n i n d i v i d u a l a n d p r o v i d
t h e r e s p e c t a n d a t t e n t i o n
t h e y d e s e r v e .
E v e r y c a s e i s d e v e l o p e d
s p e c i f i c a l l y a c c o r d i n g t o
t h e i n d i v i d u a l c l i e n t . I t i
N O T a o n e s i z e f i t s a l l
a p p r o a c h .
THEY MAY BE THE FORCE BEHIND MIRACLE MILE DELI, BUT THE GARCIA FAMILY PIG GORDON IS THE ONE WHO STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT
He’s got a different snort and tone for every mood. He’s not above arguing with mom or dad when he wants any of his four daily meals served before mealtime. He’s a sucker for Cheerios.
But with the unmistakable sound of a shaken can of unsalted nuts or his mom saying, “Gordon, we have nuts,” there’s no stopping the pursuit toward his favorite treat.
“He makes a beeline, and he sprints,” says dad Josh Garcia. “Well, it’s more like a trot because, you know ...”
At the Garcia’s Arcadia-area home, guests are warned of what awaits thanks to a welcome mat that reads, “It’s basically a zoo in here.”
With a constant charming smile that exudes confidence with a kiss of cheesiness, a biological meal clock with impeccable accuracy, and hobbies that include sunbathing on cool grass beneath the shade of a vacation-size umbrella, the king of this suburban jungle is the family’s 4-year-old pig, Gordon.
Equipped with the intelligence of a small child, Gordon also has the dexterity of a gymnast (or breakdancer, as he can sit and spin). He’s got his own Instagram (@gordon_the_pig), which shares his adventures of lounging under tables and on plushy mats throughout the house, donning bunny ears for Easter, and chewing on magazine articles that need major editing.
Clips of battles with doors that he has to open himself and sibling rivalry situations with the Garcia family’s golden retriever Stella show that his occasional struggles are real.
Gordon is 1,000 pounds of pure pig personality and joy stuffed into a 110-pound body.
He’s definitely a ham in front of the camera, and “he’s part of our family, a constant source of entertainment … and definitely our alarm clocks throughout different spectrums of the day,” Garcia says with a hearty chuckle.
Like clockwork, Gordon lobbies for food 10 minutes before each of his four scheduled mealtimes. His voice escalates in a gradual crescendo, accompanied by the beat made by the sound of his snout flicking his empty bowl.
“His nose is very strong and mobile,” says Garcia.
His diet is mostly pig pellets, but he’s easily convinced to go in any desired direction with Cheerios.
“He has been a fun addition to our family, and there’s never a dull moment in the house with our zoo,” Garcia says.
It all started with a desire to grow their animal family. About four years ago, Josh’s wife, Desiree, wanted to adopt another pet—but with a caveat.
“It can’t be a dog or something normal,” Garcia recalls of her proposal.
Desiree discovered mini pigs on Instagram and fell in love, and so did the children, Sophie, 14, and Jack, 11. However, the idea of being responsible for a large animal made Garcia pause. When they were told that mini pigs grow to a mere 40 pounds, he was willing to consider it.
On June 20, 2019, the Garcias welcomed home their new 8-pound, 8-week-old addition. They soon realized that 40 pounds was a huge underestimation. Today, at a little more than 100 pounds, Gordon reflects the true typical weight of his species.
Garcia operates Miracle Mile Deli, the local Phoenix dining institution located at 16th Street and Campbell that his grandfather opened in 1949. The deli is known for its East Coast delicacies like hot pastrami, corned beef, and stuffed cabbage. However, a few of the sandwiches on the menu feature bacon or ham. Since Gordon came into their lives, does the family look at pork a bit differently?
“Not really ... I still love to eat bacon,” Garcia says. “My wife and son love our BLT sandwiches, too.”
Gordon’s interspecies siblings include dogs Stella, 2, and Winston, 7, and two birds—a Goffin rescue named Rosie and a Quaker named Simon.
In their previous neighborhood, the Garcias took Gordon on regular strolls—incentivized by Cheerios, of course—during the cooler months. When the summer heat subsides, they look forward to introducing their sweet swine to their new neighbors.
“At our old home, it would take us 30 minutes to walk 100 feet because we’d get stopped by neighbors wanting to pet him and give him a few Cheerios,” Garcia says. “We cannot wait to take him out for a walk in our new ’hood and have everyone get to know how awesome Gordon is.”
“He has been a fun addition to our family, and there’s never a dull moment in the house with our zoo.”
ARTICLE BY MICHELLE GLICKSMAN
Lucky for us, Shannon Melde has always loved baking. The Scottsdale native began as a child, and then a stint at culinary school—where she realized she didn’t love cooking food but still loved baking—confirmed it.
She followed her passion two years ago and launched Sugar and Chip AZ, specializing in gourmet cookies.
Think options such as triple chocolate chip, semisweet chocolate chip pecan, rocky road, white chocolate cranberry pecan, confetti, snickerdoodle, milk chocolate chip walnut, pineapple upside cake cookies, and of course, classic chocolate chip. All flavors can be made gluten-free, and Melde is also working on a vegan cookie recipe. Custom flavors are also an option.
“When I was younger, I had what I think was a family recipe, and these are loosely based on that,” she says. “Some recipes I tweak, and some are from my head, and I play with them until they’re just right.”
Not only is each cookie made and hand-shaped with love, but also made with the best ingredients possible.
“I don’t buy in bulk,” Melde explains. “When people order, I see what their order is, and then I buy the ingredients for it so that everything is fresh.”
The cookies are available in bags of a dozen and also can be individually wrapped.
And while she asks for a two-day lead time on orders, she can sometimes fulfill orders on the same day.
The cookies are available for pickup, or Melde ships statewide. Visitors to the Sugar and Chip AZ website will notice that not only are there cookie options to choose from but also State Forty Eight Collaboration T-shirts. Melde donates 70 meals for each shirt sold to St. Mary’s Food Bank. She is also launching The Maddie Melde Foundation in honor of her daughter, who passed, and is a wish granter for MakeA-Wish Arizona.
Pia Sachdev is a 17-year-old student at Rancho Solano Prep School in Scottsdale. While most kids her age are focused on typical teenage things, Sachdev has all that and a hobby-turned-philanthropic-effort to keep her busy.
“I started painting shoes during quarantine for myself, to express myself better,” she says. “Then I started making them for friends for birthdays and things like that. I opened an Etsy shop, but then I realized I wanted to do it as a charity. Now I donate sneakers to kids at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.”
Sachdev’s love of sneakers and cure for boredom have now turned into a beautiful, ongoing gift—and it all began when someone close to her needed a smile.
“In October 2020, my brother was admitted to PCH (Phoenix Children’s Hospital) for a week or two, but I could see how scared he was and knew how scary it was for me,” she explains. “Right before he got admitted, I had given him a pair of shoes for his birthday, and I could tell how happy it made him. I thought, what about these other kids who are here long term? I could give shoes to them to help them feel better, even if it’s just something small like sneakers.”
It’s certainly no small thing. Each pair Sachdev makes and donates takes one to two weeks to complete.
“I send a form to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s Child Life department, and they pick a child who will be a good fit to fill out the form,” she explains. “They send it back to me so I can order everything that I need. My parents help me buy the shoes, and I also just got a job at Mountainside Fitness, so I’ll use my paycheck, as well.”
Although Sachdev has no plans to make painting sneakers a full-time career, she has plenty to keep her busy and a great outlook.
“I have a lot of other passions,” she says. “I want to be a doctor of sports medicine. I like science, and I’m a soccer player, but I always want to stay involved with art and custom sneakers, as well. Anything you can do to brighten someone’s day, it always helps.”
Visit @Sneakers_for_Smiles on Instagram to keep up with Sachdev’s designs and for details on how to win a pair in a raffle she’s holding to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
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“Youth baseball is the experience of parenting,” says Emmy-nominated television host and award-winning author Teresa Strasser. “It’s a microcosm of parenting on the diamond— you can’t protect your kids from striking out, from throwing wild pitches, from anything.”
She pauses.
“And no one knew that better than my dad, who lost his son.”
Strasser—often recognized from such previous roles as the host of TLC’s While You Were Out and co-host of The Adam Carolla Show, and who moved from Hollywood to Arcadia with her husband to raise their family—found much more than just a kids’ baseball game during a recent Arcadia Little League season. She and her dad, Nelson, sat on the sidelines cheering on her oldest son, Nate, and his team of 9- and 10-year-olds.
Strasser's brother, Morgan
They had recently lost Morgan, Strasser’s brother, to cancer, and a few months later, her mom.
Together, through cheering for home runs, yelling encouraging words, and talking smack about other teams, they ended up forming a grief group of two.
Eighteen months later, Strasser debuted a book that’s both hilarious and optimistic as well as poignant, chronicling stages of grief and life in general—and all set against the backdrop of that Little League season.
Like all her other successes, the book Making It Home: Life Lessons From a Season of Little League, was an immediate hit. Baseball great Cal Ripken, Jr. said, “This is a story about a team that becomes a family and a family that becomes a team. It is a wonderful book that powerfully captures how we work through life’s challenges with baseball as a backdrop.”
David Mickey Evans, the writer, director, and navigator of The Sandlot, said, “Making It Home knocked me out of the park.”
This is Strasser’s second book. Her first, Exploiting My Baby: Because It’s Exploiting Me, was a Los Angeles Times best-seller and optioned by ABC.
Strasser shares that Making It Home was often written during 10-hour stints while Nate was away during weekends at baseball tournaments.
Of course, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
“On tough days, I’d set a timer, and I’d tell myself you have to sit here for two hours!” she says. “I also used about a thousand index cards, just moving around elements of the story.”
It was a true labor of love, and although Strasser says she won’t rule out ever writing another book, as she closes the chapter on this one, she says, “It’s like having a kid—the minute you do it, you think I’m never doing that again!”
Making It Home: Lessons From a Season of Little League is available at bookstores nationwide and on TeresaStrasser.com . A version narrated by Strasser is available on Audible.
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ARTICLE BY MICHELLE GLICKSMAN
School may be back in session, but that doesn’t mean that summer is over—which means it’s the perfect time for a staycation. Grab your swimsuit and sunscreen, and get ready for a luxurious getaway right here in the Valley. After all, less travel time means more vacay time.
Aptly named Mountain Shadows (MountainShadows.com)—it stands in the shadow of Camelback Mountain—this storied resort has both a richly historical past and a celebrated future. The original destination was built in 1959 and drew everyone from international travelers to Hollywood stars such as Liz Taylor and The Monkees. By 2004, it had closed its doors, and in 2014, it was demolished. In 2017, it reopened, rebuilt with sleek designs that capture both the essence of the property and the same stunning views of Camelback.
Sleek, bold, and luxurious, there are abundant thoughtful spaces such as The Gallery, an art gallery that offers museum-quality exhibitions that change every two months, and The Living Room, a sunken space where you can settle in with a drink. There’s also the Short Course, the 18-hole golf course where every hole is a par 3.
The main restaurant is Hearth ’61, named in honor of the year Paradise Valley officially became a town. Helmed by lauded chef Charles Wiley, it offers modern American fare.
Nearby in Old Town Scottsdale is Hotel Valley Ho (HotelValleyHo.com), another property with a history. A landmark since 1956, it was built by architect Edward L. Varney in a distinctive modern-meets-Southwestern style. Today, the mid-century modern hideaway is a popular locale for stays, meals, events, spa treatments, and its weekend summer pool parties.
Its restaurant, ZuZu, is helmed by Executive Chef Russell LaCasce and offers everything from Steak Tartare and Lobster Mac + Cheese to Slow Braised Pork Shank. Of course, most end a meal with the locale’s famous over-the-top Show Stopper Shake.
Hotel Valley Ho is also known for its events, which are often open to those stopping by as well as staying on property. The summer sees its popular market series, which showcases local purveyors, wines, beers, spirits, and eats, as well as celebrity chef dinners. There’s also the Magical History Tour and live music (select Friday and Saturday evenings).
The rooms have a distinctive modern style, and those looking for a home-away-from-home can choose the two-story, 1,500-squarefoot Presidential Loft, which includes a full kitchen.
With the introduction of the 2024 Tonale, Alfa Romeo ushers in a new era focused on electrification and connectivity.
The 2024 Tonale keeps the unmistakable Alfa Romeo design, but introduces state-of-the-art, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology aside a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine that delivers 285 horsepower. The electric range is 30 miles, with a combined 320-mile range.
Alfa Romeo has partnered with Qmerit to help you quickly install a Level II charger at your home.
ARTICLE BY SUSAN LANIER-GRAHAM PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDEDThe Tonale is also the world’s first car on the market equipped with a NFT (non-fungible token) digital certificate. Based on blockchain technology and uniquely linked, the Tonale NFT certifies the car when you purchase it.
The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale features standard Connect 5 on a 10.25-inch center touchscreen and a 12.3-inch driver’s cluster screen. This keeps you connected and helps you drive safely and efficiently. Features include:
• Infotainment system with intuitive user experience featuring Android’s automotive operating system
• Standard wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and wireless charging
• Customizable Home Screen for easy one-touch operation
• Alexa home-to-car and car-to-home functionality
SAFETY TECHNOLOGY
The technology on the Tonale ensures you and your passengers stay safe wherever you travel. Safety technology features include:
• Adaptive cruise control
• Traffic Sign Recognition
• Intelligent Speed Assist
• Blind spot and rear cross path detection
• Forward Collision Warning and Automatic Emergency Braking with pedestrian detection
• Driver Attention Assist and rear seat reminder
• Lane Departure Warning
STYLE MEETS FUNCTION
Alfa Romeo upholds its long tradition of creating a stylish, Italian ride with the Tonale. Inside, enjoy heated and ventilated seats featuring Alcantara and techno-leather trim with a gradient 3D effect. Multicolored interior LED lights let you set the ambiance you need to drive in style.
Outside, the Adaptive LED Trilobo headlights and unique taillights are one-of-a-kind. You can get Alfa Romeo’s race-inspired styling in a 21st-century ride that takes you around town or across the country.
2024 ALFA ROMEO TONALE
MSRP: $44,955 base $51,790 as tested
285 HP
350 Lb-Ft of Torque
0-60 MPH in 6 seconds
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