Homewood Life, May/June 2021

PAINTINGS BY CARRIE PITTMAN • MEET THE GREENHOUSE CREATIVES • AT HOME WITH THE MORROWS

TIES THAT BIND STORIES OF COVID CHANGE & COVID CONSTANTS MAY/JUNE 2021 HomewoodLife.com Volume Five | Issue Three $4.95

THE REAL JULIE JULIE GENTRY IS BACK IN THE REAL WORLD SPOTLIGHT

HOMEWOOD’S BEST WINNERS YOU VOTED. WE TALLIED. SEE WHO WON.

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2 May/June 2021

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FEATURES

54

THE REAL JULIE Julie Gentry talks mentoring, community gardening and what’s it like to be back in the spotlight nearly 30 years since The Real World first aired.

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A CHANGE GONNA COME Front-yard yoga, cross-country RV trips, career changes and moves—neighbors around Homewood share the new directions their lives have taken during pandemic times.

HOMEWOOD’S BEST WINNERS You voted. We tallied. See just who Homewood’s favorites are in the winners of our annual vote.

4 May/June 2021

PHOTO BY KATHRYN BELL

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41

PHOTO BY MORGAN HUNT

arts & culture

15 Moving Color: Carrie Pittman’s Whimsical Abstract Paintings 24 Read This Book: A Life in Nature

schools & sports

25 I’ve Got Rhythm: Homewood Middle School’s Drum Circle 32 Five Questions For: Shades Cahaba Principal Dr. John Lowry

food

& drink

33 Growing Greenhouse: Edgewood’s Healthyish Eatery

in every issue 6 Contributors 7 From the Editor 9 The Question 11 The Guide 80 Chamber Connections 82 Out & About 86 Marketplace 88 My Homewood

40 Five Questions For: Homewood Nutrition

home

& style

41 Colorful Charm: The Morrow Family’s Fun Hues & Textures 50 In Style: Be Bold

HomewoodLife.com 5

contributors EDITORIAL

Alec Etheredge Nathan Howell Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Scott Mims Emily Sparacino

CONTRIBUTORS

Gabby Bass Kathryn Bell Lindsey Culver Meredith Elder Amy Holditch Morgan Hunt Jamison & Lindsay Kate Skinner Elizabeth Sturgeon Sidney Warren

DESIGN

Jamie Dawkins Connor Martin-Lively Brittani Myers Kimberly Myers Briana Sansom

MARKETING

Darniqua Bowen Evann Campbell Jessica Caudill Kari George Rachel Henderson Rhett McCreight Viridiana Romero Kerrie Thompson

ADMINISTRATION Kristy Brown Hailey Dolbare Mary Jo Eskridge Daniel Holmes Kinley Johnson Stacey Meadows Tim Prince Brittany Schofield Savana Tarwater

Kathryn Bell, Photographer

Kathryn is a freelance photographer with a recent degree in art from the University of Montevallo. Her photography has led her to photograph presidential candidates and create fine arts work inspired by the classics.

She fancies herself a plant lady and enjoys the challenge of keeping rare and difficult plants alive and enjoys exploring Birmingham!

Lindsey Culver, Photographer

Originally from the Midwest, Lindsey is a photographer who lives in Homewood with her husband, Chris, and two mischievous children, Smith and Roland (along with their dachshund puppy, Sweeney Todd).

When not working as a baby and child photographer, she can be found with her hands in the dirt of her flower and vegetable garden, with a cup of coffee in hand around the clock, hosting hot tub parties for her friends and attending every local musical theatre performance.

Morgan Hunt, Photographer

Morgan recently finished her BS in art from the University of Montevallo.

With her business, Morgan Hunt Media, she works as a freelance commercial and wedding photographer in the Birmingham area while getting her MA in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design.

She believes that photographs have a very unique storytelling ability, and her work lives in a space between journalism and fine art.

Elizabeth Sturgeon, Writer

Elizabeth Sturgeon was born and raised in Birmingham and has stayed close to home ever since. You might find her searching for a thrift store gem or ordering a meal she’s never tried before. A recent Samford University graduate, Elizabeth works in Birmingham-Southern College’s communications department, writing about students, alumni and campus culture.

Homewood Life is published bimonthly by Shelby County Newspapers Inc., P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Homewood Life is a registered trademark. All contents herein are the sole property of Shelby County Newspapers Inc. [the Publisher]. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. Please address all correspondence (including but not limited to letters, story ideas and requests to reprint materials) to: Editor, Homewood Life, P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Homewood Life is mailed to select households throughout Homewood, and a limited number of free copies are available at local businesses. Please visit HomewoodLife.com for a list of those locations. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $16.30 for one year by visiting HomewoodLife.com or calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 532.

Advertising inquiries may be made by emailing advertise@homewoodlife.com, or by calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 536.

6 May/June 2021

from the editor

A

ON THE COVER

Ties That Bind

Ryanne Player and her family welcomed a newborn just as the COVID-19 started and went on to build a new home and spent extra time together in the months to come.

Photo by Lindsey Culver Design by Brittani Myers

As I attempt to write this note, I’m a distracted by all that life holds at the moment. Last night I got news of a fun-loving great aunt’s passing, and just over 12 hours later came news of friends’ twins’ first breaths on this side of the womb. Joy and sorrow are mixed up inside me right now as I stare at our table of contents for this issue and try to figure out what to type for you to read about it.

Looking at the headlines for what lies ahead, what I see is not so much words as people—not my family or anyone I could have called friends a couple of months ago. But I’m sure they are the friends or family of someone reading this, and I feel connected to them now that I’ve learned their stories—and now we get to share those connections with you too.

At the top of the mind are Allison, Mary-Kate, Annie Marie, Ryanne and Jennifer, and their stories of teaching yoga, deciding to make a job change, moving across the country, RVing across the country and building a new home, all inspired by the quarantine we all were on a little over a year ago when COVID first arrived.

Then there’s Julie Gentry, whom I connected with over Zoom this spring after The Real World Homecoming had started airing, and all the friendships she told me about both from the show and from Homewood.

How could I forget Lauren Bearden and her Homewood Middle School special education students whose drum circle one was such a delight to watch?

And I’ll always remember the Morrow family’s kids so eagerly welcoming our photographer Morgan Hunt and me into their home and showing us their rooms full of colors and textures that were nothing short of joyful.

In this issue you’ll also get to “meet” artist Carrie Pittman, and Bray and Mary Claire Britton, the couple behind Greenhouse restaurant in Edgewood. Our Homewood’s Best winners list might be full of business names, but for each there’s a face or team behind it you’ll get to know as you shop or eat there or use their services.

I know each person we feature is living a set of joys and sorrows in their own life and through their friends and family—such a tapestry of relational richness as it all comes together to form a community we call Home(wood).

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share with me ideas of people to feature in this magazine in the future any time!

madoline.markham@homewoodlife.com HomewoodLife.com 7

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“ ” THE QUESTION

Decades from now what will you tell future generations about the COVID-19 pandemic?

We were offered more time with our precious families amidst a very temporal life.

That society learned to appreciate a variety of “essential” workers. Value was placed back on truckers, hospital janitors, manufacturing plant workers, etc.

That we discovered that we can do hard things, and that even when things seem bleak, there is always good to be found in humanity.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”

All at the same time.

-EA Montgomery

-Brynnan Yeager Muller

It was a great year for families to have time together. We went on more little adventures, spent more time hiking, built more backyard campfires, and spent more time resting in hammocks.

-Jean Cox

You never realize how much it means to hug people till you can no longer do it. I was not a big hugger prior to COVID, but I will hug you now if I get the chance!

-Chesie Roberts

-Lori Delashaw Billingsley

-Debbie Mielke

To never expect that sudden global change cannot occur overnight -Anna Cobb

Look around you and do what you can! When there was a huge shortage of PPE, I pulled out my old sewing machine, watched YouTube videos to remind myself how to sew, and made masks.

-Elizabeth Bloodworth Mitchell HomewoodLife.com 9

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THE GUIDE

WEST HOMEWOOD FARMER’S MARKET TUESDAYS IN JUNE 5-8 P.M. 160 Oxmoor Road Support your neighbors, local businesses and farmers by buying produce and more at this weekly summer market.

Find everything from fresh produce to arts and craft vendors to live music. The market runs through the first Tuesday of August. Learn more at westhomewood.com.

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LIBRARY

NO GREATER HONOR Major General Lee Price, U. S. Army (retired) grew up spending many hours at the Homewood Public Library, so that’s just where she chose to give a donation of her new book thanks t to the Princess Sehoy Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In No Greater Honor she writes about her experiences in the military, especially during a time when she was one of very few female general officers, and it’s now available for check out at the Homewood library or through the Jefferson County library system.

MAY 8

Motherwalk & Run 5K Homewood Central Park Walk or run to support the Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation, or join in on a 1-Mile Fun Run for the same cause at 9 a.m.

The in-person event is limited to 500 participants and COVID-19 precautions will be in place, and there is also a virtual option to participate. Register at motherwalk.com.

WEDNESDAYS

Storytime in the Park 9:30-10 A.M.

Time for a storytime outdoors for preschoolers hosted by the Homewood Public Library, weather permitting! Feel free to bring a chair or blanket. Check homewoodpubliclibrary.org for more information, and here’s the May schedule:

May 5 & 26: Spring Park May 12: Homewood Central Park May 19: Patriot Park 12 May/June 2021

AROUND TOWN MAY 1 We Love Homewood Day Various Locations MAY 4-9 Birmingham Barons vs.

Biloxi Shuckers Regions Field MAY 5-9 Regions Tradition Greystone Golf and Country Club MAY 8 Mother’s Day Market Cahaba Brewing Company MAY 9-15 Sozo Children’s Run for a Reason Virtual 5K MAY 12 Rain- A Tribute To The Beatles Presented By Broadway in Birmingham BJCC Concert Hall MAY 15 Do Dah Day Highland Avenue MAY 18-23 Birmingham Barons vs.

Montgomery Biscuits Regions Field MAY 23 Zach Williams The Rescue Story Tour The Alabama Theatre MAY 31 Memorial Day JUNE 1-6 Birmingham Barons vs.

Tennessee Smokies Regions Field JUNE 6 Vulcan’s 117th Birthday Bash Vulcan Park & Museum

JUNE 12 2021 Birmingham Heart Walk Digital Experience JUNE 18-20 Euphonious Music Festival Birmingham Zoo JUNE 18-20 I’m With Mike Virtual 5K Presented by The Mike Slive Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research JUNE 22-27 Birmingham Barons vs.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos Regions Field JUNE 29-JULY 4 Birmingham Barons vs.

Chattanooga Lookouts Regions Field

COMMUNITY

ABOUT THOSE HISTORIC HOMES This May the Homewood Historic Preservation Commission is unveiling a project highlighting historic preservation. They will be showcasing historic property renovations and telling the stories behind the people who value and promote historic preservation in Homewood. You can follow the Homewood Historic Preservation Commission on Facebook and Instagram @HomewoodHPC for updates on it.

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Charity Partner

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&CULTURE

ARTS

MOVING COLOR

Carrie Pittman Hill combines grit, color and whimsy in her abstract paintings.

BY ELIZABETH STURGEON PHOTOS BY KATHRYN BELL HomewoodLife.com 15

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Carrie Pittman Hill snatches her nail polish, a spatula and a bag of flour. She pulls supplies from underneath her bed—canvases, paints, and brushes, all waiting patiently for her—and begins to work. She combines grit, color and whimsy with a misfit assortment of household objects that become the alphabet of her new language: abstract painting.

Eight years ago, Carrie discovered this kind of creative surge and spent all her nights making art. Ever since, she’s grown her work into a distinguished portfolio of expressionistic acrylic and watercolor paintings, defined by striking textures and a near-neon color palette.

Carrie never thought she would find a career in art, instead turning to business and finance. But at the same time, she’s not surprised at where’s she’s found her passion. “I created all my childhood,” she says. “I painted acorns and, and when I was at home with a babysitter, I would spray them with my mom’s perfume and go door to door selling them as potpourri. Everyone has acorns and leaves in their backyards, but not many of them are pastel colored.”

With her desire to beautify the things around her was also a natural inclination to sell what she made. Carrie studied business communications and developed her career in corporate business, taking her very first position in financial planning.

After a few years there, she moved on to other positions in pharmaceutical sales, boutique management and catering.

Carrie knew, in all of these different roles, that a desk job wasn’t for her though. “I was always thinking about ways to get out. I felt boxed in,” she says. And as she switched roles, she eventually landed back in financial planning at her family’s business. She was part of the third generation of Pittmans working at the company and was the only woman—and she was good at her job.

But in 2014, in the middle of a heartbreak, Carrie found the most joy in the painting frenzy that was her free time. “Every day, I came back from work and painted,” she says. “It’s the only thing that made me feel better.”

There’s an energy to her work—magentas and

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WHERE TO FIND CARRIE’S ART You can find Carrie’s work in Thomas Andrew Art in downtown Homewood. She also takes her work to shows in Birmingham, Nashville and Atlanta. Plus, if you’re a regular HGTV viewer, be on the lookout for one of Carrie’s paintings on screen! Learn more at carriepittman.com or follow her @carriepittmanart.

Carrie Pittman Hill creates abstract art from her studio in her Homewood home.

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mustards melt together, and cooler colors drip down, or burst across the canvas. “I just really love the texture and mixing colors and really letting color create its own movement,” she says.

As Carrie made more pieces, she started sharing them with some of her friends, which then led to several commissions and small art shows. She began doubling as a financial planner and an artist, and lunch breaks became trips to Michael’s and painting deliveries.

“I knew I either had to stick with the insurance business and really be a part of the third-generation legacy, or I had to be true to myself and paint,” Carrie says. “And I knew I couldn’t give the art up. It was a huge leap of faith.”

She’s now expanded her portfolio, put her designs on pillows, wallpapers, bags and curtains, and has shipped to almost every state and around the world. Her house in Homewood— which is also her studio—even marks the beginning of her jump into a full-time art career.

When she’s working on a commissioned piece, Carrie captures a feeling or essence in her work. “People are good at describing how they want it to feel—bright, powerful, serene,” she says. “I have to try to translate what they’re saying into what that looks like on canvas. I get to know

18 May/June 2021

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20 May/June 2021

the client, their vibe, and their fabrics. It gets really personal.”

She then combines those requests with her style that’s impulsive yet layered. “I just start with color and go from there,” she says. “I let it dry and layer it with color, over and over. Most of my paintings have six or more layers each.” Her work can take on a peaceful, slow-moving look, or it can dance with an energized, warm glow.

You can also find a little gold throughout most of her pieces. “I think the gold symbolizes God and hope. It’s an elevated color,” she says. A soft gold especially runs through her smaller canvases, crosses and other gifts, or in the “hidden crosses” people often request in their commissions.

Her fluid style pairs well with her business background too.

Leave it to Carrie to create a

HomewoodLife.com 21

COMMISSIONED WORK Right now, Carrie’s main focus is on commissioned pieces, which is also how her art business first began. Virginia Volman, a Birmingham and Fairhope interior designer, stumbled upon one of Carrie’s early pieces that she’d given to a friend, and she asked her for a commission. That piece then turned into a small art show Virginia held at her house. Carrie pulled a couple of all-nighters to bring in nearly 50 pieces to sell even though she was so hesitant to share a talent that was something comforting and vulnerable. “I didn’t expect anyone to pay attention to it,” Carrie says. “But I felt encouraged.”

22 May/June 2021

price-per-square-inch formula for her work, and she’s often working to expand her breadth while also making pieces that are more affordable. She’s hoping to make more prints of her work, or even incorporate her designs in a dinnerware line of her own.

At the end of the day, she wants to keep mastering the language she’s developed because as she continues to paint, she’s learning how so many other people understand it who find beauty and stories in her work. “You can look at a painting, and it can really

speak to you,” she says. “It can remind you of a place, a person, a song. It can bring beauty to a space that’s not beautiful.”

Sometimes, people come to Carrie with more than a few color swatches and trust her to capture their family or a memory through her work. Her abstract strokes become portraiture in a way she never imagined. “It’s very humbling that I’m even an artist at all. If my paintings bring any sense of hope, or peace, or excitement, it’s so rewarding. That’s what I hope to bring into people’s homes.”

Ask a child what he dreams of doing in the future. His answer brings everything into focus for us.

WE DO WHAT WE DO BECAUSE CHILDREN HAVE DREAMS.

1 6 0 0 7 T H AV E N U E S O U T H BIRMINGHAM, AL 35233 (205) 638-9100 | ChildrensAL.org

HomewoodLife.com 23

ARTS & CULTURE

READ THIS BOOK

A Life in Nature Recommendations from

Margaret Renkl Author & Homewood Native Photo by Heidi Ross

When I was writing Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, Helen Macdonald’s book H is for Hawk was a great inspiration. We were both finding our way through the grief of losing a parent and helped by wild creatures. Memoirs by people who live in close connection to nature are my favorite books because they teach us that we aren’t separate from the natural world at all, that we have always belonged to one another. Here are some recent titles that remind us of the connection.

How to Catch a Mole

By Marc Hamer Hamer spent much of his adult life as a professional mole catcher, hired by homeowners to eradicate those underground creatures that cause so much trouble and tumult in our yards. In How to Catch a Mole, he explains what he learned about the natural world in years of tracking moles, and what he learned about himself, as well: “Once you experience this feeling of simply existing, you lose the need to ask why you exist,” he writes. You lose the need to kill moles, too, it turns out.

Diary of a Young Naturalist

By Dara McAnulty McAnulty, a teen climate activist, writes about a year in the life of his close-knit family, about the challenges of living with autism, and especially about the living world of his Irish home. For McAnulty, immersion in nature is a source of joy and wonder and also the cure for 21st-century overstimulation: “Watching daphnia, beetles, pond skaters and dragonfly nymphs is a medicine for this overactive brain,” he writes. And so it is for readers, too. The book will be published in the U.S. on June 8.

World of Wonders

By Aimee Nezhukumatathil Each essay in this heart-lifting collection is both a love letter to some surprising creature—this is a book written “In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments,” as the subtitle puts it—and also a shimmering window into Nezhukumatathil’s life as the daughter of immigrants in a sometimes hostile new country. As a lonely girl, Nezhukumatathil could always find kinship and respite in the miraculous natural world: “A catalpa can give two brown girls in western Kansas a green umbrella from the sun,” she writes in the book’s spectacular first sentence.

Hidden Nature

By Michael Ray Taylor Even the most nature-attuned human beings might be forgiven for overlooking the hidden world that lies beneath the surface of the visible world, but Taylor’s memoir of how he fell in love with caving, and with the wonders that caving reveals, will remedy that oversight. Set largely in the cave-dense areas of North Alabama, East Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, and brimming with both personal connection and scientific insight, Hidden Nature uncovers the rich beauty and wild inhabitants of nature’s secret places.

Saving Jemima

By Julie Zickefoose Just as her marriage is losing its footing, Zickefoose, a wildlife rehabilitation expert, takes in an orphaned blue jay nestling to raise by hand. Baby Jemima is so much of a balm for her own aching heart that an inevitable question is raised: “Who’s saving whom?” as the title of one chapter asks. Lavishly illustrated with Zickefoose’s stunning photos and watercolors, this lovely book reminds us of how interconnected we really are, to each other and to the fragile creatures we live among.

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SCHOOL

&SPORTS

I’VE GOT RHYTHM

Who could ask for anything more enriching than hearing Homewood Middle School’s drum circle?

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY LINDSEY CULVER HomewoodLife.com 25

26 May/June 2021

Band Director Lauren Bearden leads the Drum Circle at Homewood Middle School.

L

Lauren Bearden’s class might be meeting inside, but it starts with rain. After that comes wind too—all as students sitting drum out the sounds of the instrument in front of them. Next comes the call for thunder, and the drumming crescendos to a fill the room with a booming sound.

Every Wednesday afternoon Homewood Middle School special education students come to the school’s band room and each pick up a black and red drum as a part of a drum circle. They drum. They sing along. They dance. They do hand movements. They stomp. They clap. They pat on their laps. No matter if they are nonverbal, on the autism spectrum or have another disability, they use their hands to create rhythms as they sit in a semicircle.

Lauren—who was a drum major as a student at Homewood before becoming a band director— recalls story after story of how these students have grown since the drum circle started five

years ago. One student who is nonverbal mostly walked around and danced to the music when the class started. He never drummed for the first year and half of the class. And then one day he sat down and responded to a rhythm exactly as Lauren had taught it. No one had prompted him.

“Out of nowhere he drummed it,” Lauren recalls.

“We were in tears because we didn’t know if that was someone how would ever do.”

Another student had always been quiet during drum circle until the first time Lauren asked her to come up and the lead class from the teacher’s chair. And in that moment, “Her face lit up,” Lauren says. “She hadn’t drummed in weeks, but as soon as she was sitting in my chair, it totally changed and she led the class for 10 minutes.

Now every week that’s how I get her to participate.”

Even in the challenges that came this school year with COVID-19, the drum circle went on as some students took drums home and joined in via HomewoodLife.com 27

Zoom. They’ve also been wearing masks and sanitizing drums between uses. “It’s amazing to see the progression the kids have made and the fun they are having,” Lauren says.

The genesis of the drum circle came in the 2014 Rose Parade. A high school percussionist who had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair participated in the parade with the Homewood Patriot Band with another student pushing his wheelchair. And that got the band directors thinking afterward about how students in the special education program could participate in band—and how music is beneficial on many levels to all students.

So Lauren and band director Chris Cooper sought out a local drum circle leader, John Scalici, and had him teach them the basics. Before long Synergy, Homewood Middle School’s drum circle, was born, thanks to a grant from the Homewood City Schools Foundation to pay for drums by Remo that are similar to a conga but with soft heads made for people with sensory issues. “It’s not about perfection,” Lauren says. “It’s just about movement and engaging in music and doing something collectively as a group.”

Just like the sounds the kids make on the drums, the drum circle has crescendoed far beyond the middle school band room too. As students aged up to Homewood

28 May/June 2021

High School, a drum circle by the name of Fusion started there with a second grant from the Homewood City Schools Foundation.

And both groups started performing for audiences.

“At first we were nervous because a lot of students don’t do well with lights and loud noises. It can be a sensory overload,” Lauren recalls. So to warm up and get used to a crowd, the drum circle started performing in the middle school lunch room, and Lauren got on the microphone and encouraged the students eating lunch to join in and cheer. Each drum circle participant would take a turn performing a solo, whether it was drumming or clapping or using a tambourine, and then hundreds around them would cheer them on.

Next came the school talent show. Their debut song?

“Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. “Everyone went crazy for it,” Lauren says. “It’s become our theme song. We love anything fast that you can clap along to.” Depending on the day, you’ll hear the drum circle drumming and dancing to Aerosmith or Queen too. And for performances, Lauren teaches other students in band the movements so they know how to clap along and perform with the drum circle too. Talk about synergy there.

The crescendo didn’t stop there either. Three years

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HomewoodLife.com 29

ago the middle school drum circle performed at the statewide music educators’ convention, and afterward other schools were interested in learning how to start their own drum circles. Today 10 schools around the state, including Spain Park High School and Helena Middle School nearby, have drum circles, and two years ago all those groups came together to perform at once at that same state convention with a mashup of songs Lauren sent all of them to learn.

For one of the songs she chose “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman soundtrack.

“That whole movie is about inclusion,” she says. “What better song collection to use? I

30 May/June 2021

cry just thinking about (that moment).”

It’s no wonder that Lauren often gets requests from adults wanting to come to the drum circle, included multiple visits from former superintendent Dr. Bill Cleveland. “Sometimes people say, ‘I am having the worst day. Can I come to drum circle?’” she says.

“It’s therapeutic, and it’s a release.

Who doesn’t like to grab a drum and bang on it?”

For Lauren, drum circle is one of her favorite times of the week. It reminds her music is not about perfection but passion. And it has taught her that kids can do almost anything—they just need the right outlet for it.

HomewoodLife.com 31

SCHOOL & SPORTS

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Dr. John Lowry

Shades Cahaba Elementary School Principal PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

If you have had a student at Shades Cahaba Elementary School the past 10 years, you know Dr. John Lowry as both assistant principal for instruction and principal.

During his tenure leading the school, Shades Cahaba has been named a National School of Character and a United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon School. But now he’ll be moving to a new role as of July 1 to serve as Homewood City Schools’ Director of Academic Programs and Services. We chatted with him to learn more about his time at Shades Cahaba, what’s to come and his school service dog, Russell (pictured).

Can you share one or two specific memories that stand from your time at Shades Cahaba?

The first one would have to be January 28, 2014, the day we had the snow explosion that was unexpected and much worse than we anticipated. I don’t remember at what point that evening it hit home that we weren’t going anywhere, but we made hot chocolate and did some sledding. The neighborhood brought sleeping bags and toothbrushes, and we all watched a movie and made some positive memories with some of our students, parents and teachers who stayed overnight.

The other would have to be the alumni group that would meet here every June in the lunchroom—former Shades Cahaba students that went here when Shades Cahaba was a high school in the ‘40s and ‘50s. They would have food and get out their yearbooks and share old stories about Shades Cahaba.

32 May/June 2021

How has your time at Shades Cahaba has prepared you for your new position as Director of Academic Programs & Services?

Being a principal you really never know exactly what you will face during the day, so you have to be able to be responsive and flexible. Doing that day-to-day prepares you for problem solving and seeking solutions to things that will arise in this new position. No matter your position in administration, to do it you need to be a What is Russell’s life like outside of good listener and trust the people around you that you have hired. school?

Once he takes off his vest and his face halter, he is all lab. He loves to go on a run, You are an adjunct professor at Samford. and my wife runs with him every morning. What do you think is most important to He likes to go on walks every afternoon, impart on your students who are to become school and he loves his food and to swim at a lake studying or pond. He will swim until he drops. When administrators?

The thing I try to help them understand the vest goes on though, he’s all business.

He knows what his job is and is eager to do is at the end of the day, you have to do what will be right for your students. If you keep that. that as your focus, you are going to do well.

We hear your school service dog Russell will stay at Shades Cahaba as you transition to your new role. Is that right?

I am Russell’s primary handler, so he lives with me and goes home with me. But you always have to have a backup handler, and we will add another handler who has been through the training with Service Dogs of Alabama for when he is at Shades Cahaba. I’ll take him to work every day and pick him up when he’s done working.

&DRINK

FOOD

GROWING GREENHOUSE

The couple behind Edgewood’s healthyish eatery share what it’s been like running a restaurant in a pandemic.

BY AMY HOLDITCH PHOTOS BY LINDSEY CULVER & CONTRIBUTED HomewoodLife.com 33

G

Greenhouse is the brain child of service industry veterans Bray and Marie Claire Britton. With a bright and airy vibe and walls covered in art, the restaurant has salads, soups, smoothies, sandwiches and even Ridiculous cookies. It is nothing if not fast casual, with counter service to keep the flow moving along smoothly. The concept has fared well in Edgewood Station since opening in 2019 and seems to have the community “feelin’ good all the time,” which just so happens to be the couple’s goal for their guests through their menu and service. Here’s what Mary Claire had to say about life running a restaurant in a pandemic with three young kids.

When we last sat down with you, you and Bray were on the precipice of opening Greenhouse. How has your concept evolved since then?

We have expanded our menu to include more hot food than we originally had in mind, which has been so fun. We have definitely learned a lot, experimented a lot and streamlined things. There are still many kinks we need to work out, and there is always room for improvement. For Edgewood Station, we were able to sort of take stock of the neighborhood, see what was missing/what it needed and try to fill that gap. We felt like this Homewood location was perfect for our healthy-ish, family-friendly concept. Bray and I wrote the menu together. Some of the names, like the “Freek Salad” came about because I couldn’t find a “G” for the pegboard! We try to let a solid sense of humor guide our lives.

COVID arrived on the scene less than a year after you opened. Was Greenhouse ready?

Our biggest challenge has been running a restaurant during a global pandemic while maintaining our high standards of food and service, and we did it. Our goal has always been to provide healthy and delicious food for families and people on the go, so we already had that going for us. We never had to shut down because of COVID. We immediately closed our dining room and made the shift to full on carryout. Right before COVID hit, we started an account with UberEats, which really

34 May/June 2021

Mary Claire and Bray Britton opened Greenhouse in Edgewood Station in 2019.

HomewoodLife.com 35

carried us over the hump while we resorted our online ordering and carryout systems. We were also already geared toward carryout, so that was not a huge shift for us. We did, however, have to re-think childcare, since it virtually ceased to exist. I quickly figured out how to do a lot of my work from home/ the car (parked in various lots around town while toting kids to and fro).

Luckily, Bray is a great manager of chaos, and he was able to step into the places where I had to step back. My kids spent a lot of time in my office at the restaurant, and a lot of time running restaurant errands with me. Again: my kids have the ability to make ANYTHING fun, and they do!

My family is WEIRD in the best possible way. We have three little boys: 7, 6 and 2, and they are pure magic.

They have a magnificent spirit of adventure, are extremely content and don’t sweat the small stuff. They are

36 May/June 2021

relentlessly flexible, joyful and the most fun people on the planet.

Since being in quarantine, I’ve become more mindful with my time and energy, and believe there is a lot to be said for slowing down, taking it all in and being grateful. You are in the fast casual world. What are some things you learned about your business or personal life from lockdown would you like to hold on to?

We learned a lot. In some ways, we worked harder. I was sort of forced to step back. It allowed me to not feel so guilty about being here everyday and really enjoy being with my kids. Now Bray is here seven days a week and thrives in the chaos. He is going to get it done, no matter what. Honestly, I think the pandemic shift has been more difficult for him, but I feel like he would say it was more difficult for me and I

am so grateful for that dynamic. We both see the struggles that the other is going through and that is what really makes it work.

Any plans to open up additional store fronts?

We do have plans for a second (and third) Greenhouse!

We are currently looking at a few different spaces around town.

As we all know, recycling in Birmingham is a challenge and one that certainly impacts all of us.

How is green is Greenhouse and in what ways do you serve your community?

We are as green as we can be and do our best to waste nothing. As any restaurant knows, this can be very difficult, so we make it a priority to minimize waste and to donate anything extra to our local food banks. All of our carryout containers are biodegradable, and we do recycle.

It can’t be easy for you and Bray to find balance with so many balls in the air at once. How do you do it all and still find time for yourself?

HahahahahahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I think that balance is definitely something we strive for and try to offer our guests through our menu. As far as life goes,

DISHING WITH MARY CLAIRE Favorite GH dish: I look forward to the BLT every summer. Gosh, it is just so perfect.

Most popular dish: The Greenhouse Salad is the most popular by far.

Last meal she’d eat: CRABCAKES. Favorite cuisine: I don’t know if I could pick a favorite! I love everything: Greek, Persian, French, Japanese. I just love to try new things.

The story behind the smoothies: We were so loopy by the end of putting the menu together that we were just like, the blue one? Yeah, let’s name him the Blue Guy. The green one? Green Boi. Mr. Pink? Sure, write it down.

HomewoodLife.com 37

though, Bray and I understand that we are in a phase of life right now where “me time” isn’t an actuality. I think the best thing we have done is to lower those expectations. When you don’t expect to have a spare moment, and you suddenly have one, what a magical gift that can be!

What do your weekends look like?

Bray works on Saturdays and Sundays.

The kids and I usually spend as much time outside as we can, while I do 15 loads of laundry (heh). We often have a soccer game on Saturday morning. The boys are eager to slow down on the weekends, so we often try to do as little as possible. I go in on Sunday afternoons to make the levain (a sourdough bread starter) real quick so that I can spend most of Monday pushing through our big baking projects.

The restaurant closes early (3 p.m.) on Sundays, so Bray can usually get home for some good family time before we zoom off into another week.

38 May/June 2021

The Greenhouse staff has adapted in pandemic times.

205-879-3433

205-879-7681

HomewoodLife.com 39

FOOD & DRINK

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Jace Mauldin

Homewood Nutrition Owner PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

There’s a new spot for a quick and nutritious snack or meal across from Patriot Park in West Homewood.

Homewood Nutrition has been serving up energy teas, protein-filled shakes and more, first via delivery and now from its storefront too. To learn more about the concept and its spaces, we chatted with owner Jace Mauldin.

How did you come to open a nutrition concept?

I became a customer first back home in Tupelo, and I fell in love with the products themselves and decided I wanted to go work there during quarantine. I started working for my mentor there and fell in love with the business side of it too. I had recently finished college and decided this was the best opportunity for me. We were looking for somewhere close enough to home, and my dad lived in Birmingham many years ago and we looked around there. Homewood immediately felt like home, and we found the perfect location across from Patriot Park.

teas. And then our full meal replacement shakes are under 250 calories and are low sugar and low carb with 24-27 grams of protein. The shakes have 21 vitamins and minerals in them. A lot of people will pair a meal replacement shake with an energy tea for a meal—you still get all the caffeine and nutrients. We have immune booster drinks loaded with vitamin C, zinc and probiotics we make fresh in-house.

What are some of your favorite flavors?

My favorite energy teas are the Tropical Sunrise and Captain America (strawberry and blue sweet tart), and my favorite beauty teas are Chanel (pineapple and strawberry) and the Dolly (orange and Can you tell us about the shakes and watermelon). For specialty teas my top two are Daisy Duke (strawberry and teas you offer?

Our loaded energy teas are loaded with watermelon) and Strawberry Daiquiri, and vitamins and give you a natural energy my top two shakes are Banana Pudding boost with no sugar. They have aloe for and Strawberry Banana. digestive health too. Our specialty teas have about 17 grams of protein with biotin What is your space like?

Our space used to be a gun shop, but it and collagen that are also in the beauty 40 May/June 2021

had been vacant for a while. We finished gutting it and redid all the ceilings and floors. We wanted a bright modern look.

We have shiplap countertops and dark stained wood on top, and a barn door leads into the office. We are working on adding a window seat for people to sit on to wait for their beverages, and currently we have some chairs there.

What was it like opening a business in a pandemic?

We have had lots of hoops to jump through. We did a lot of meetings virtually and adapted. We started out in December offering delivery only while we finished renovations before our grand opening in February. We still do deliveries and curbside for as long as we are able to, but we also like having customer interaction face to face. Now we have a ton of repeat customers, and people are loving the products as much as we do. A lot of the customers are trying out different flavors, so each day is a new flavor for them.

&STYLE

HOME

COLORFUL CHARM Fun hues and textures gives each room its own character in the Morrows’ new build.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY MORGAN HUNT HomewoodLife.com 41

42 May/June 2021

I

If you have been inside The Cottage Basket in downtown Homewood, you know it’s filled with gifts and accessories that are as colorful as they are thoughtful, so it should come as no surprise that the same characteristics are just as evident in owner Shelli Morrow’s home.

The Morrows had lived on Kenilworth Drive in Edgewood for years but a few years ago were looking for a quieter street where they wouldn’t have to worry as much about car traffic for their kids Graham, Harper Kate and especially for Ellie—who has special needs and is the joyful heartbeat of their family, Shelli says. That’s when Shelli and her husband, Mike, a builder, decided to design a new home on a section of Grace Street he was developing, and Shelli tapped her background in interior design to create just the right home for their family of five (plus a dog and a bunny).

Throughout the building process, Mike would walk around the house with a clipboard and write down Shelli’s vision for design details as she

spoke them aloud. More than anything, Shelli wanted their home to be warm, cozy and welcoming, exuding Southern charm in its decorative elements. Her use of colors and textures gives each room its own character, with many pieces from Ballard Designs, Gabby and her own store.

Many of the elements in the home come with their own story too. The wood that was once the exterior of an old cottage on an adjacent property is now the ceiling of Mike’s office and areas of their son Graham’s room. A moldy, dark antique door Shelli found in Bessemer hardly deterred her from cleaning it up and having ceiling tiles and hardware added to make it a pantry door.

Any detail you notice throughout the home (and there are many!) speaks to Shelli’s love of anything with meaning behind it, from the shelf she designated for each child’s artwork and birthday plates in the sitting room to a family portrait wall in the guest room—warm, cozy and charming in each and every nook.

HomewoodLife.com 43

Front Door Shelli wanted the glass front doors to feel airy but not look too industrial, and she added planters to each of them make them feel more homey.

Master Bathroom To create the marble design behind the soaking tub, Shelli traced the outline with a freehand on the wall and then had marble cut to fit it.

Guest Bedroom Shelli created a heritage wall with family photos she inherited from both her mom and dad’s families and placed them in acrylic frames she found at Target next to the bed in the guest bedroom. The round mirror above the bed is one of many mirrors in the home Shelli purchased through The Cottage Basket.

44 May/June 2021

Master Bedroom The design for this cheery bedroom started with a blue and white wallpaper by Serena & Lily, and Shelli added coordinating bedding pieces, an elegant light fixture by Gabby and her wedding invitation—which was already framed with a navy matte.

HomewoodLife.com 45

Kitchen Gold and acrylics hardware adds flair to this white kitchen with nearly floor-to-ceiling cabinets. It is all open to the living room adjacent to it.

Dining Room Reclaimed barn doors (not pictured) open up to the room that ties for Shelli’s favorite along with the sitting room off—both of them with a teal color scheme. The white beading on the Gabby chandelier—a showstopper Shelli finds to be Southern and charming—complements the white flowers in the wallpaper above the chair rail. She also set the table with plates that pottery artist Susan Gordon created back before she had her own studio space and worked out of her garage.

Breakfast Nook This nook right off the kitchen is anchored by a church pew the Morrows painted white and a light blue and white wallpaper around it. The table by Ballard adds a more rustic flair, and the Gabby cane chairs add to the charm of the space.

46 May/June 2021

Living Room Shelli envisioned this main living room to be open and airy with a coffered wood ceiling and lots of light streaming in from the porch.

She also added bookshelves to display meaningful photos and art by local artists and her family.

HomewoodLife.com 47

Girl’s Bedroom I Shelli wanted this room to be a happy cheery room for her daughter Ellie, and it showcases Ellie’s love of pink and giraffes.

Boy’s Bedroom Plaid wallpaper sets the backdrop for a masculine feel for the Morrows’ son Graham, who is in middle school.

Girl’s Bedroom II Harper Kate’s room boasts a feature wall with green and yellow floral wallpaper and a bright pink desk that pops against it.

48 May/June 2021

Powder Room One of Shelli’s favorite pieces in the house is this white and navy sink that hangs against a green and white Serena & Lily wallpaper.

Family Painting Homewood artist Karen Marcum first met the Morrows when their oldest child Graham went to preschool at All Saints Episcopal, and in that era she saw Ellie with her feeding tube as a baby. Years later Karen saw Ellie again on her first day of kindergarten, and a few weeks later she brought this family portrait to the Morrows and told them she just felt like she was supposed to paint it for them.

HomewoodLife.com 49

IN STYLE

BE BOLD 4

BY MEREDITH ELDER PHOTOS BY JAMISON & LINDSAY KATE SKINNER

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LOOK 1 1. AVERY HIGH NECK TANK A simple tank is a must-have for Alabama summers.

Fab’rik | $19

2. LANEY MINI SKIRT Dress this adorable satin ruffle skirt up or down.

Fab’rik | $26

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3. BEADED HEADBAND Headbands are a trending accessory, and this one is super fun!

The Cottage Basket | $32

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4. ACRYLIC DANGLE EARRINGS These earrings are our summertime favorites.

The Cottage Basket | $24

5.OASIS PLATFORM SLIDES A simple sandal can do no wrong.

Fab’rik | $40

50 May/June 2021

1. DANNY CALYPSO TANK You’ll be a showstopper in this colorful tank.

Shea Davis Boutique | $152

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2. J BRAND ALMA STRAIGHT JEANS Switch it up and try a fan favorite straight jean this year.

Shea Davis Boutique | $228

1

3. BRUNNA GOLD FRINGE CLUTCH Fun up any outfit with this stylish bag.

The Cottage Basket | $25

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4. SCHULTZ CINDY HEEL A strappy gold heel elevates any look.

Shea Davis Boutique | $128

5. LE SPECS AT HEART SUNGLASSES A wardrobe crisis would be leaving the house without chic sunnies.

Shea Davis Boutique | $69

3

4

LOOK 2

Meredith Elder is a local content creator sharing her West Coast flare on Southern style as a freelance stylist and social media specialist.

ACCESSORIES 1.GOLD AND PEARL EARRINGS THE COTTAGE BASKET | $22

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2. SEQUIN METAL CUFF BRACELET The Cottage Basket | $24

3. GOLD CHAIN Shea Davis Boutique | $234

2

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The days move a bit slower here, and it’s this simplicity – a day spent creating memories at the beach – that draws generations of families back to South Walton.

52 May/June 2021

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T

The high school seniors Julie Gentry mentors through the College Choice Foundation have no idea she was on a reality show, much less the very first reality show.

Likely, they’ve never heard of The Real World or “Julie from Alabama.”

But when Julie looks at these seniors and talks with them about their hopes and dreams for college, she sees herself at 19. “I remember being that age and really wanting to experience more, and wondering how was it going to happen,” Julie says. “These kids want a big experience and to learn more about the world and meet people. I totally understand where those kids are coming from. I remember having ants in my pants wanting to get out of town.”

And that’s just what the team creating the show saw in Julie back in 1992 when they cast her for the very first season of MTV’s The Real World, throwing her and six roommates into an apartment in Manhattan and following them around with cameras. “I think they thought I was a good fish out of water because I was

54 May/June 2021

Julie Gentry talks mentoring, community gardening and what’s it like to be back in the spotlight nearly 30 years since The Real World first aired.

By Madoline Markham Photos Contributed

yearning for a lot of these experiences and how to access a bigger world,” Julie told us as we talked with her over the Zoom in March.

For Julie the conversations she had on The Real World as cast members’ varying backgrounds and views collided—both back in 1992 and in 2021 for a new Homecoming series of the show that is now streaming— are poignant and opened her world to a much larger one.

“We can get stuck in an echo chamber here in our little bubble, and it was a great opportunity for me to be in a situation to experience things with people with a different point of view,” she says of the 1992 season. “It’s not like it was all super fun, but it was important and helped me get more perspective that I would have had a harder time finding.”

Even with the new show streaming, though, it’s the College Choice Foundation that is a bigger part of her everyday real world as she works toward its mission to “help academically talented, motivated students with limited resources and opportunities find their best and

Photo by Zach Dilgard, Courtesy of MTV

HomewoodLife.com 55

Julie, on right, talks with her fellow cast members on The Real World Homecoming.

Photo by Danielle Levitt

most affordable college fit and ensure they have the resources to successfully navigate college and graduate in four years,” according to the Homewood-based nonprofit’s website.

Through it Julie wrestles with uncomfortable conversations and how students are not on an even playing field heading into college. “You see (these students) were never put in a position where they could succeed,” Julie says. “I’m thinking of one student. Her mom died in childbirth, she doesn’t know her father, she lives with her grandparents. And now their taxes are going to determine whether she can go to college or not.

How is that right?”

While we are on the subject of Homewood ties, we should note that Julie’s parents grew up in Edgewood and met at All Saints Episcopal Church, where Julie too would meet her husband, Joshua, in youth group. “I make the joke with my kids that you have to so careful who you go to church with because you could end up stuck with them,” Julie quips.

Both Julie and Joshua moved away after high school, but they came back to Birmingham after marrying and back to Homewood in 1999 when they bought their first house on Irving Road—right near the former Homewood 56 May/June 2021

Middle School property that Julie’s parents had referred to as Kite Hill where they’d played as kids.

Not too long after the new Homewood Middle School was built, Joshua was working for Jim ‘N Nick’s and both of them were involved with community gardens locally, so Julie decided to call up then-Homewood City Schools Superintendent Bill Cleveland and propose a community garden. She didn’t expect him to say yes. But “He said you should do it,” Julie recalls. “He said that it won’t be that easy, but I think you can figure it out.” And figure it out she did, from writing grants to finding water sources to advocating for it at city council meetings.

Today she works with students of all ages at the garden next to the Board of Education building.

For the last 22 years that’s the life Julie has lived, running a community garden and raising her two kids, now 19 and 17, in home sweet Homewood. Sure, some people remember her from TV back in 1992, but she says her friends have always been protective of her in that regard.

And then last December, as COVID-19 cases were spiking nine months into the pandemic, she got a text.

Would she want shoot a homecoming of The Real World? At first Julie says she and the other 1992 cast

members—who keep up on a text chain— were skeptical. How could they pull that off during the pandemic, in New York City no less? But by January they’d all arrived at separate hotels to quarantine for a week with a constant bombardment of COVID tests before all seven of them reunited for the first time since 1992, back on camera for a week 29 years later in the very same apartment.

And by March 4 The Real World Homecoming was streaming on Paramount+. “It’s all been like a speeding bullet train,” Julie says of how fast it all happened.

And since March 4, the Gentry family has started their Thursdays like usual with breakfast and coffee with their daughter, Phoebe. But right when her car pulls out of the driveway to go to school, Julie and Joshua start streaming the new The Real World Homecoming episode that comes out that day. “I am sure I drive (Joshua) crazy because I tell him to pause it and explain what was really going on,” she says. “He is very patient to get through all of that with

The Real World cast in 1992 Photo by Chris Carroll

HomewoodLife.com 57

Julie and her fellow cast members from 1992 filmed The Real World Homecoming in New York City in January 2021 and it started airing on Paramount+ in March.

Photo by Danielle Levitt

me. Then my son (who is in college) starts blowing my phone up and calls to rehash it. Then my daughter comes back and weighs in.”

Like the students Julie mentors through College Choice Foundation, her own kids didn’t fully grasp the significance of the show their mom was on before this year. “They had no reason to think it was as big of a deal as it was,” she says. “But this has driven home that what I did in 1992 a lot of people really cared about.

They have laughed about it and get

nervous about what I am going to say.”

“Why do it?” we asked Julie about the 2021 homecoming show. “We wanted to show that our friendship had not ended in 1992,” she tells us. “(The last episode) shows us all walking out the door, and yes, we all did go our separate ways. But when you have that experience with other people you have a bond. We have a connection from having to trust each other to get through that 1992 season.”

What the show didn’t plan was what would happen that week the castmates were all alone in hotel rooms when the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building began. “Being in New York with intense COVID restrictions in place and seeing all that unfold at the Capitol, all texting each other getting ready to go back to living together—it felt like the Twilight Zone,” Julie says.

The new show flashes back and forth between 2021 and 1992 filmings—back when the show was

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the first of its era, when there were no cell phones or social media. In fact, for context, 1992 was the first year dial-up internet was offered commercially in the U.S. And there’s a reason the show is so memorable for those who are around Julie’s age. “It was the first time people saw people similar to themselves having these experiences,” Julie notes. “Now reality television is everywhere, but I keep hearing from different people that it meant so much to them because they felt isolated and the show gave them some hope that there are people out there like me and there is a bigger world out there.”

Even media attention this time has been very different as write-ups on Julie and the cast have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine and other publications since the show was announced. “The first go around my mom might call and say, ‘Julie, you are in TV Guide!’” (May we recommend that any readers who don’t know what TV Guide is ask their parents.) “She would read it to me, and then I might find a TV Guide in the grocery store. It was a slow access to it. You had more time to wrap your head around it. Now, Joshua has his phone set on Google alerts, so in the morning he’ll be like, ‘This is you!’ It comes at you like a fire hose.”

Julie also likes to note how small of a chapter of her life The Real World really was. “I’ve had two kids since then. My husband has opened three restaurants since then. My parents

HomewoodLife.com 59

Photo by Chris Carroll

60 May/June 2021

have died. So much life has happened to me and the other cast members,” she says from the other side of our Zoom call, where she is wearing a grey T-shirt and Little Donkey ball cap (her husband, Joshua, serves as the restaurant’s operating partner). “(My fellow cast member) Andre says that basically what happened to us is someone filmed us for 13 weeks right when we turned 19, and then those 13 weeks got edited down to about four and a half hours. And then those four and a half hours got scrutinized and torn into, and now we are never going to stop talking about it. It’s just a tiny bit of a person.”

But at the same time, The Real World has given Julie a connection to six other people she’d never have otherwise met. And nearly three decades later, they are still bonded together. “I hope that there is always continuation,” Julie says of her hopes for this new show. “Whether the audience sees it or not, our relationships with the seven of us as friends continue. We are still growing and maturing and experiencing life.”

Julie talks with her fellow cast members while filming in January.

As the episodes now air, they talk about them over group text.

Photo by Danielle Levitt

GUIDING YOU HOME

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HomewoodLife.com 61

A Change Gonna Come Front-yard yoga, cross-country RV trips, career changes and moves—neighbors around Homewood share the new directions their lives have taken during pandemic times.

By Madoline Markham Photos by Lindsey Culver & Contributed

Allison Crawford

The Neighborhood Yoga Instructor Like most people, Allison Crawford found herself at home all day every day when the COVID pandemic began in March of 2020. Instead of teaching group exercise classes and personal training like she’d done for the past 17 years, most recently at the Shades Valley YMCA, she was doing arts and crafts with her three kids, ages 2, 5 and 7. “Eventually I started feeling like I had to do something,” she recalls. “I didn’t have any outlet for myself and felt like I was losing myself.”

So she sent a message to the Forest Brook neighborhood GroupMe asking if anyone would be interested in outdoor socially distanced workout sessions. The response? They wanted yoga. So yoga she gave them. Starting in the early summer neighbors showed up in yoga pants or even pajama pants and brought their mats to her front yard for a laid-back yoga class with everyone spaced out by 8 feet.

Eventually they settled into meeting each Monday at 5 p.m., and cultivating community and relationships along the way. “I feel like it was more of a mental health thing for people versus 62 May/June 2021

HomewoodLife.com 63

getting a workout,” Allison says.

“That slowing down of your body helps people feel like they can deal with things as they slow down and breathe.”

Sometime between yoga classes and kid crafts, Allison also began to focus on her own mental health mid-pandemic and started an Instagram account, @ mamapajamafitness, to share about “how you can exercise without being obsessed with being skinny.”

Even as pandemic measures change, Allison plans to keep front yard yoga classes going as long as people want to come. “I feel like I’m in a much happier place than when I was working a ‘real job,’” she says. “It feels better for me.”

64 May/June 2021

Mary-Kate Carey The Mom Who Wasn’t Afraid to Reassess

A few years ago Mary-Kate Carey would have told you she had finally “made it.” She finished her PhD in behavioral analysis in August 2018 and quickly reached the pinnacle of what she hoped to do in her field, working as a director of applied behavioral analysis program for kids with autism at a local nonprofit.

And then came COVID-19. “Then I was forced to stop this fast-paced working mom lifestyle and be still with my kids,” she says.

“I started paying attention to this feeling inside me that was unhappiness. When I dug into that, I realized I was trying to fulfill this stereotype I had set myself up.”

Six weeks later she went back to work, but first she told her boss she wanted to move to part-time work to spend more time with her husband and 1 and 5 year olds. As it turns out, she is actually happier professionally doing autism research and training with the same nonprofit agency than in her previous position. “I loved the work I was doing, but it wasn’t making my core happy,” she says today. “It was validating for finding my voice and speaking up for what I wanted to do.”

Mary-Kate admits that some days she faces self-doubt about giving up the “dream positon” in her field. But when she thinks back on how some days in her previous life she would work all day and then drive an hour and a half to teach a college course— somehow fitting in pumping breast milk in between and not seeing her kids all day— she remembers what a game changer her new lifestyle is.

“I feel more connected and engaged with my kids and with my husband,” she says. “I went from doing something that made me marginally happy to what really fulfilled me, but that might look different for everybody else.”

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Jennifer Lewis

The Cross-Country Explorer In late April 2020 the Lewis family pulled out of their Homewood driveway in a 17-foot A-frame pop-up travel trailer with two weeks’ worth of groceries and headed west.

School and work had moved remote, so why not see the country? They thought. “There wasn’t a ton of forethought,” Jennifer Lewis recalls. “We plotted out a month not sure if we would make it with four of us and our dog.”

But as the family made their way to Durango, Colorado, with their 3 year old and 10 year old, they started to get in the rhythm of camping in parks within their self-contained family unit. So they kept heading west until they were so awestruck by Northern New Mexico that they decided to stay in Taos for five days.

After they’d explored Yellowstone, they looked at each other, said there was nothing to do at home and asked why not keep going? So on they went to Seattle. “It’s been really neat seeing landscapes I hadn’t thought about and being completely awestruck by the size of the mountains,” Jennifer says.

It was early July by the time the Lewises came back to

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Homewood at last, when Jennifer’s mom’s Stage IV liver cancer took a turn for the worse after she’d been doing well on a clinical trial. There they paused, but a couple of weeks after her mom passed away, Jennifer says the only thing she wanted to do was get on the road as she grieved. So in September the family headed off to Florida and coastal Carolina beaches, this time in a 24-foot travel trailer with a

slide out. “You’d be surprised what 8 feet (difference) will do,” Jennifer says.

As the family finally was preparing to return to “normal life” in late spring of this year, Jennifer reflected back on exploring Americana from the Florida Keys to Seattle with her family.

“We have been bit by the camping bug,” she says. “I didn’t think I would like it, but I love it. It made our enormous country accessible. You get to see slices of communities you would never have had an opportunity to live in before.”

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Anne Marie Nolen A Homecoming Couple

Anne Marie Nolen and her husband, Clay, were at a crossroads in early 2020. Anne Marie was about to complete a two-year pharmacy residency program in Portland, Oregon, and it was time to figure out where they wanted to live next. They were open to anywhere.

“But then when the pandemic happened, it was difficult to travel home to see family,” Anne Marie says. “It made us reevaluate the priorities in our life. It was great somewhere beautiful like Oregon that was close to the mountains and beach, but at the end of the day what we were looking for was living closer to family.”

And so to family they came. All of Clay’s relatives live in the Birmingham area, and the couple had met in pharmacy school at Samford University—just minutes away from the home they’d buy on Broadway Street in Homewood in July after Clay made a day trip across the country to see it and put in an offer.

With a new house lined up, Anne Marie finished her residency on a Thursday, so they left Portland on that Friday, drove across the country and arrived in Birmingham

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Sunday night at 11 p.m. Clay started his job the next day.

The couple had only been married a couple of months when the pandemic began, so most of their first year and a half of marriage has been with a pandemic lifestyle. “We are newlyweds now, but it feels like we have been married for 50 years,” Anne Marie says. “It’s been a good road for us.”

And that road has led them back to a familiar area that Anne Marie points out is also close to both the mountains and the beach too. She and Clay enjoy trips to both with their COVID puppy, a miniature longhair dachshund named Dewey, which is short for Andouille sausage (an homage where Anne Marie grew up in Louisiana).

HomewoodLife.com 69

Ryanne Player

The Family Who Rode a Whirlwind For Ryanne Player, the start of the pandemic will always be tied to the birth of her youngest child, five weeks before his due date. She and her husband were in the hospital when they heard the news of the first virus case in Washington. Their son was healthy but had to stay in the NICU for two weeks to grow, and all along she and her husband worried he might lose his job in finance as the stock market prices dropped lower and lower. The day they left the hospital with their newborn was the same day the first case in Alabama was reported.

“Here we were with a preemie baby,” Ryanne recalls. “My mom had a flight, and she ended up having to drive from Dallas to Homewood. When you have a new baby, you want people to come see you, but we couldn’t do any of that. We felt trapped.”

And then in the middle of pandemic life with a newborn, they moved forward with their plans to build a new home. But first

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they donated the house they’d lived in for four years on Morris Boulevard—yes, you heard us right. Through an organization called Build Up—run by Homewood resident Mark Martin—their house was transported to Ensley for a family who lives there. “It was the most entertaining thing for all of our neighbors,” Ryanne says. “The move was like a block party to watch.”

As they began to build a new two-story home in the footprint of the previous one, Ryanne says their family saw hope in the world, even as they were living in isolation.

“It brought us closer as a family because my husband started working from home,” Ryanne says. “We ate our lunches and dinner together, and we would go look at the house together.”

Looking back on their year with a newborn and building a house in a pandemic, Ryanne says it was a whirlwind— but one full of trusting and hoping.

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HOMEWOOD’S BEST WINNERS 2021 Who’s the best? We asked, and you answered.

Thousands of votes were cast in Homewood Life’s annual Homewood’s Best contest. Read on to find out our readers’ favorites.

Photos by Keith McCoy & Contributed

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BEST KID FRIENDLY DINING Taco Mama

FOOD & DRINK

BEST FRIENDLY SERVICE Greenhouse 1017 Oxmoor Road, #111 205-326-7727 greenhousebham.com Runners Up: SoHo Social, Ash Neighborhood Bar and Grill BEST KID FRIENDLY DINING Taco Mama 1014 Oxmoor Road 205-414-0441 tacomamaonline.com Runners Up: Dave’s Pizza, Ash Neighborhood Bar and Grill BEST ETHNIC DINING/ REGIONAL CUISINE Gianmarco’s Restaurant 721 Broadway Street 205-871-9622 gianmarcosbhm.com Runners Up: Maya Mexican Restaurant, Red Pearl Restaurant BEST DATE NIGHT RESTAURANT Gianmarco’s Restaurant 721 Broadway Street 205-871-9622 gianmarcosbhm.com

BEST LUNCH SPOT Greenhouse 1017 Oxmoor Road, #111 205-326-7727 greenhousebham.com Runners Up: Ashley Mac’s, Taco Mama - Edgewood BEST CASUAL RESTAURANT Greenhouse 1017 Oxmoor Road, #111 205-326-7727 greenhousebham.com Runners Up: Taco Mama – Edgewood, SoHo Social BEST COFFEE OHenry’s Coffees 2831 18th Street S. 205-870-1198 // 569 Brookwood Village, Suite 101 205-870-1148 ohenryscoffees.com Runners Up: Seeds Coffee Co, Red Mountain Expresso BEST SWEET TREATS Cookie Fix 2854 18th Street S. 205-582-2623 cookiefix.com Runners Up: Greenhouse, Pastry Art Bake Shoppe

Runners Up: Ash Neighborhood Bar and Grill, Jinsei Sushi, Pizzeria G.M.

BEST PIZZA Pizzeria GM HomewoodLife.com 73

BEST PIZZA Pizzeria GM 600 Oak Grove Road 205-905-3266 pizzeriagm.com Runners Up: Dave’s Pizza, New York Pizza BEST DRINKS/COCKTAILS TIE BETWEEN: SoHo Social 1830 29th Avenue S., #160 205-423-8080 sohosocial.bar Local 39 1006 Oxmoor Road 205-407-4206 local39homewood.com Runners Up: Little Donkey, Taco Mama BEST CHEF Gianni Respinto Gianmarco’s Restaurant 721 Broadway Street 205-871-9622 gianmarcosbhm.com Runners Up: Bray Britton – Greenhouse, Mark Driskill - Ash Neighborhood Bar & Grill

COMMUNITY

BEST COMMUNITY EVENT

BEST COFFEE OHenry’s Coffees

We Love Homewood Day Bands, barbecue, festivities, neighbors and a street dance: always the first Saturday of May Runners Up: The Exceptional Foundation Chili Cook-Off, Homewood Christmas Parade BEST NEIGHBORHOOD Edgewood Full of sidewalks, neighbor hang outs, and choices for get dinner or ice cream Runners Up: West Homewood, Hollywood BEST LOCAL CAUSE The Exceptional Foundation 1616 Oxmoor Road 205-870-0776 exceptionalfoundation.org Runners Up: The Bell Center, College Choice Foundation

BEST LOCAL CAUSE The Exceptional Foundation BEST OUTDOOR SPOT

BEST CHURCH

Homewood Central Park 1632 Oxmoor Road homewoodparks.com

Trinity United Methodist Church 1400 Oxmoor Road 205-879-1737 trinitybirmingham.com

Runners Up: Patriot Park, Shades Creek Greenway BEST LOCAL PERSONALITY Steve Sills Homewood Middle School Teacher + Coach + DJ

Runners Up: Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, All Saints Episcopal Church

Runners Up: Alan McKee/Sikes Children’s Shoes, Chris Cooper

HOMEWOOD’S

BEST 2021 WINNER

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BEST DENTAL PRACTICE Brighter Image Dentistry 2908 Central Avenue, Suite 150 205-591-6220 brighterimagedentistry.com Runners Up: Powell Pediatric Dentistry, Homewood Cosmetic and Family Dentistry BEST ORTHODONTICS PRACTICE Backus Smiles 3507 Old Montgomery Highway 205-879-0557 backusbraces.com

BEST LOCAL PERSONALITY Steve Sills

HEALTH & BEAUTY BEST FAMILY MEDICINE PRACTICE

Ascension St. Vincent’s Primary Care Mayfair 3106 Independence Drive 205-871-7007 healthcare.ascension.org Runner Up: MedHelp

BEST PEDIATRIC PRACTICE Mayfair Medical Group 3401 Independence Drive 205-870-1273 childrensal.org/mayfair-medicalgroup Runner Up: Alabama Pediatrics

Runners Up: Oxmoor Valley Orthodontics, Law Orthodontics BEST EYE CARE PRACTICE

BEST CHIROPRACTIC CARE PRACTICE Witt Chiropractic 1919 Courtney Drive 205- 871-1888 wittchiro.com Runners Up: Oxmoor Chiropractic, Archetype Health BEST PHARMACY Homewood Pharmacy 940 Oxmoor Road 205-871-9000 homewoodpharmacy.com Runner Up: CVS Wellness Pharmacy BEST HAIR SALON

Red Mountain Eye Care 1919 28th Avenue S. 205-879-6300

Salon U 2824 Linden Avenue 205-870-8708 salonustyle.com

Runners Up: JJ Eyes Optical Boutique, Advanced Eye Care

Runners Up: French & Towers Salon Co., Fringe BEST NAIL SALON Genesis Nail Spa at Homewood 350 Hallman Hill East, Unit 51 205-802-0639 Runners Up: Soho Nails & Spa, Nail World II

MAKE TIME FOR YOU

100 BROADWAY ST. THEPLACETOESCAPE .COM

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BEST NEW BUSINESS Blakelee’s Bouquets

Thank you for voting us Best Florist in Homewood!

WILDTHINGSBHM.COM

BEST SPA Escape Day Spa 100 Broadway Street 205-414-6062 theplacetoescape.com Runners Up: Genesis Nail Spa, Smart Skin Med Spa, Inc. BEST FITNESS CENTER Squad Fitness 2736 Central Avenue 205-835-9770 squadfitnesstraining.com Runners Up: Provision Studio, Battle Republic BEST PERSONAL TRAINER Roman McDonald/ Squad Fitness 2736 Central Avenue 205-835-9770 squadfitnesstraining.com Runners Up: Genie Christian, Steve Mares BEST ANIMAL CLINIC Homewood Animal Hospital 501 Scott Street 205-943-0008​ homewoodanimal.com Runners Up: Nall Daniels Animal Hospital, Oxmoor Animal Clinic

SHOPPING & SERVICES BEST NEW BUSINESS Blakelee’s Bouquets 931 Oxmoor Road 205-579-4900 blakeleesbouquets.com Runners Up: Homewood Nutrition, French & Towers Salon Co. BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE Homewood Toy & Hobby Shop 2830 18th Street S. 205-879-3986 homewoodtoy-hobby.com Runners Up: Little Professor Bookshop, Alabama Goods BEST BOUTIQUE/CLOTHING fab’rik Homewood 1817 B 29th Avenue S. 205-582-9447 fabrikstyle.com Runners Up: Jack N’ Jill Shop, Hemline Birmingham BEST GIFT SHOP Alabama Goods 2933 18th Street S. 205-803-3900 alabamagoods.com Runners Up: The Cottage Basket, Homewood Antiques

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BEST STORE FOR KIDS

BEST CHILDREN’S DAYCARE

Homewood Toy & Hobby Shop 2830 18th Street S. 205-879-3986 homewoodtoy-hobby.com

Our Lady of Sorrows 1720 Oxmoor Road 205-879-3237 olsschool.com Runners Up: Trinity United Methodist Church, Creative Montessori School

Runners Up: Little Professor Bookshop, Sikes Children’s Shoes BEST STORE FOR HOME FURNISHINGS/DÉCOR/ KITCHENS At Home Furnishings 2921 18th Street S. 205-879-3510 athome-furnishings.com

BEST REMODELER TIE BETWEEN: Ketcham & Company 920 Oxmoor Road 205-767-1150 ketchamandco.com

Runners Up: Homewood Antiques, Susan Gordon Pottery

Twin Construction, Inc. 2907 Central Avenue, Suite 105 205-802-3920 twincompanies.com

BEST FLORIST

Runner Up: Willow Homes

Wild Things 2815B 18th Street S. 205-703-8821 wildthingsbhm.com

BEST JEWELRY STORE TIE BETWEEN:

Runners Up: Blakelee’s Bouquets, HotHouse Design Studio & PropHouse Birmingham

At Home Furnishings 2921 18th Street S. 205-879-3510 athome-furnishings.com

BEST PLACE FOR CREATIVITY TIE BETWEEN:

Homewood

Do It Yourself Crafts 1909 Oxmoor Road 205-868-4346 doityourselfcrafts.com

Have a sweet spring with...

Holland & Birch 1816 28th Avenue S. Cahaba Heights hollandandbirch.com Runner Up: Wallace-Burke Fine Jewelry & Collectibles

Cookie Fix

Homewood

Cahaba Heights

BEST SENIOR LIVING

Little Professor Bookshop 2844 18th Street S. 205-870-7461 littleprofessorhomewood.com

Brookdale University Park 400 University Park Drive 205-870-0786 brookdale.com

Runners Up: Studio On Linden, Mary & Wilma

Runners Up: Regency Retirement, Skyline Village

BEST FLORIST Wild Things HomewoodLife.com 77

BEST REALTOR Mandy Williams

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD Edgewood

BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT

BEST INSURANCE AGENT

BEST BANK/CREDIT UNION

Mandy Williams/LAH Real Estate 1760 Oxmoor Road 205-503-2943 mandy@lahrealestate.com Homewood AL, 35209

Gabe Clement/Byars|Wright 1701 28th Avenue S. 205-221-8665 byarswright.com

Regions BankIndependence Plaza 1 Independence Plaza 800-734-4667 regions.com

Runners Up: Scott Butler, LAH Real Estate, Joe Falconer, RealtySout BEST REAL ESTATE AGENCY LAH Real Estate 1760 Oxmoor Road 205-879-8580 lahrealestate.com Runners Up: Homewood RealtySouth, ERA King Real Estate

Runners Up: JR King - State Farm Insurance Agent, Thomas Waters - State Farm Insurance Agent

Runners Up: BBVA, Oakworth Capital Bank

BEST INSURANCE AGENCY

BEST AUTO SERVICE

Byars|Wright 1701 28th Avenue S. 205-221-8665 byarswright.com

Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers 1717 27th Court S. 205-879-4499 expressoil.com

Runners Up: JR King - State Farm, Thomas Waters - State Farm Insurance Agent

BEST FINANCIAL ADVISOR Rachel E Reynolds/ Edward Jones 2910 Crescent Avenue, Suite 120 205-414-0851 edwardjones.com Runner Up: Scott Walton/S Andrew Walton Investments

Runners Up: Rob’e Mans Automotive Service, Hatfield Auto Parts and Service

HOMEWOOD’S

BEST 2021 WINNER

HO MEW OM OODL I FE.C

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Homewood Chamber of Commerce C O N N E C T I O N S

Recent Ribbon Cuttings

Upcoming events

February 1st

Saturday, May 1, 2021

February 19th

French & Towers Salon Co.

Behavioral Health Immediate Care

February 25th

March 29th

We Love Homewood Day

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 May Luncheon 12:00 Pm Virtual

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 June Luncheon 12:00 Pm Virtual

WaveTech Motion Therapy

Club 4 Fitness

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Save the Date!

Sidewalk Sale Shops of Downtown Homewood

Our ambassador committee is a dynamic group of varied members whose mission is to recruit and retain members while creating a positive presence in the community. All Homewood Chamber members in good standing wishing to promote the Homewood Chamber and build their own business may join this committee.

Did you know you can purchase gift cards that can be redeemed at 44 participating Homewood merchants? Buy Local Homewood instantly available gift cards can be emailed as gifts and redeemed from your mobile phone. They look great, make great gifts and never expire! Purchase them at buylocalhomewood.instagift.com.

7 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD 80 May/June 2021

HOMEWOOD, ALABAMA 35209

F i n d U s O n l i ne

Sign up for our weekly newsletter | Access our member directory Purchase Buy Local Homewood eGift Cards

Hop n’ Shop The shoppers of Downtown Homewood kicked off the Easter season with a day of shopping, games, prizes, and visits with the Easter Bunny during Hop n’ Shop on March 27th

Membership Luncheons are Online!

Miss a luncheon lately? Our virtual luncheons are available for streaming online. Check them out on our blog at homewoodchamber.org. Spring luncheons available include: February Brett Meredith CEO of Community Food Bank of Central Alabama March Caryn Terradas CEO of Social U

Join the Chamber!

Chamber membership could be just what your business needs for a boost this year! Work, live or do business in Homewood?

Apply for membership at homewoodchamber.org and start taking advantage of the many benefits that come with membership!

205 - 871 - 5631

WWW.HOMEWOODCHAMBER.ORG HomewoodLife.com 81

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PHOTOS BY SID WARREN

The shops of downtown Homewood and Homewood Chamber of Commerce held this annual shopping event with special hours, discounts, games, treats and the Easter Bunny on March 27.

1. Ella Keenan and Dorothy Alexander 2. Linda and Steve Bottoms 3. Carli Dalton and Summer Thompson 4. Luke Mangles 5. Jason and Carmen Corney 6. Drew and Andrew Parker 7. Christina and Bradley Ryan 8. The Driscoll Family 9. Cary and Micah Morgan 10. Beau and Lila Genelin 11. Alison Hayes and Cathy Antee 12. Michelle and Cecelia Wood 13. The Burns Family 14. Kayla Price and Kevin Varghese

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OUT & ABOUT

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RUMPSHAKER 5K

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PHOTOS BY GABBY BASS

The Rumpshaker 5K started and ended in downtown Homewood on March 27, with both in-person and virtual race options. Since 2009, the 5K has raised more than $1 million to fight and treat colorectal cancer.

1. Alan Hargrove 2. Ashley and Liz McDaniel 3. Bama Boyd, Amber Pate and Angel Brand 4. Brittany Frost 5. Chace and Becky Tomlin 6. Daniel Miller 7. Ella Walker 8. Felecia Williams 9. Gloria Thomas 10. Jake Cochran, Heather English and Amy Williamson 11. Makenzee Murphy 12. McKayla Massey, Collin Nichols and Jessie Johnson 13. Melissa Sanchez and Walter McCord

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OUT & ABOUT

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LEGACY PERSONAL INSURANCE 11

Our Personal Insurance division works with affluent families from across the country. Our team of personal advocates are insurance professionals, committed to providing exceptional client service and customized solutions that are as simple to manage as possible.

Our strong market relationships help us provide you solutions that fit your unique needs and budget.

PRIMARY COVERAGE AREAS AIRCRAFT

FLOOD/EXCESS FLOOD

AUTOMOBILE

HOMEOWNER’S (Primary & Secondary)

BUILDER’S RISK

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COLLECTIONS

INDIVIDUAL LIFE INSURANCE

EQUINE

WATERCRAFT / YACHT

EXCESS LIABILITY

Cobbs Allen. Always Out Front.

MARGARET ANN PYBURN mpyburn@cobbsallen.com

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MARGARET BROOKE mbrooke@cobbsallen.com BILLY WALKER bwalker@cobbsallen.com Birmingham, AL | Columbus, OH | Gadsden, AL Houston, TX | Kansas City, KS | Mobile, AL New Orleans, LA | Tulsa, OK www.cobbsallen.com © 2021 Cobbs Allen | All Rights Reserved HomewoodLife.com 85

MARKETPLACE

Marketplace Homewood Life Magazine • 205.669.3131

Now hiring RN’s and LPN’s throughout Alabama! $250 community referral bonus for RN’s and LPN’s.

Sign-on Bonuses available at select locations! For more information please contact: Paige Gandolfi Call/text: 724-691-7474 pgandolfi@ wexfordhealth.com

Automation Personnel Services Hiring IMMEDIATELY For: Automotive Assembly, General Labor, Production, Clerical, Machine Operator, Quality, Carpentry, Welder, Foundry.

Positions In: Calera, Clanton, Pelham, Bessemer, McCalla.

Walk-in applications accepted.

Clanton (205)280-0002.

Pelham (205)444-9774.

Bama Concrete Now Hiring: Diesel Mechanic 4 Years Minimum Experience.

CDL Preferred. Competitive Pay. Great Benefits. Apply in person: 2180 Hwy 87 Alabaster, 35007 Lancaster Place Apartments.

Location, community & quality living in Calera, AL. 1, 2, & 3 bedroom apartments available. Call today for specials!! 205-668-6871. Or visit hpilancasterplace.com Marble Valley Manor.

Affordable 1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments for Elderly & Disabled. Many on-site services! 2115 Motes Rd, Sylacauga. 256-245-6500 •TDD#s: 800-548-2547(V) •800-548-2546(T/A). Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm.

Equal Opportunity Provider/ Employer LAND FOR SALE 180 acres, located on Walnut Creek. Will not divide property. Call for more information: 205-3695641 CLOCK REPAIR SVS. * Setup * Repair * Maintenance. I can fix your Mother’s clock.

Alabaster/Pelham. Call Stephen (205)663-2822 HIRING EXPERIENCED FULL CASE ORDER SELECTORS $19.03 per hour plus production $$$ incentives.

Grocery order selection using electric pallet jacks & voice activated headsets.

Great benefits including Blue Cross health & dental

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insurance & matching 401k.

Pre-employment drug test required. Apply Online: WWW. AGSOUTH.COM

5:00pm 3300 Pelham Parkway.

Immediate Openings! Start work this week! Apply online: work4popeyeskitchen.com

GENERAL LAWN CARE •Grass Cutting •Limb Trimming •Storm Cleanup •Debris Removal •Serving Shelby, Chilton, Coosa & many more areas. •Decks •Porches •Stairs •Demolition Call Alex today for details: 1-205955-3439 Military & Senior Discounts General Cleaner Needed -Daytime shift, office building, downtown Clanton.

Approximately 4-6 hours work, Monday–Friday. Tasks include dusting, sweeping/mopping, removing trash, cleaning restrooms. Call 205-365-8414 or 205-424-5252

Boise Cascade Now Hiring for Utility Positions. Starting pay $14/hour. Must be able to pass background screen.

Please apply at www.bc.com

$2000 SIGN ON BONUS NEW PAY SCALE TO QUALIFYING DRIVERS EVERGREEN TRANSPORT, is accepting applications for local drivers in the Calera and Leeds, AL, area. Must have Class A CDL, good driving record, 1 yr verifiable tractor trailer experience. Good pay and benefits. Apply in person at 8278 Hwy 25 South, Calera, AL, or call for info 205-6683316.

SEPCO Sealing Equipment Products Co. Inc. JOIN OUR TEAM! •Braiding Operator •Parts Finisher •Grafoil/ Ring Press Operator •CNC Machinist If you are looking for a fantastic company to work for, with competitive pay & benefits, submit resume at: www.sepco.com/careers EOE Electrician - FT Supreme Electric, local-based company in Pelham. Must be willing to learn & work hard. Go to: supremeelectric-al.com Print employment application under Contact Us. Mail to: Supreme Electric 231 Commerce Pkwy Pelham, AL 35124 or call 205453-9327.

WELDER NEEDED MIG & TIG •Light gauge stainless, aluminized, galvanized Manufacturing and Assembly Helpers Needed •Paid Holidays •Typical Shifts 6:00am-2:30pm Call RICK: 205-761-3975 MacLean Power Systems NOW HIRING 3098 Pelham Pkwy, Pelham, AL 35124 We are actively hiring for production operations Apply at: www.macleanfogg.com/ careers Oxford Healthcare in Montgomery currently hiring certified CNA’s and/or Home Health aides in the Clanton, Marbury and Maplesville areas. Must be able to pass complete background check, have reliable transportation and have a strong work ethic.

Serious inquiries only. Call 334409-0035 or apply on-line at www.Oxfordhealthcare.com South Haven Health & Rehab NOW HIRING!!! •LPN’s & RN’s -$5,000 Sign-on Bonus for Full-Time shift •CNA’s Apply in person: 3141 Old Columbiana Rd Birmingham,AL-35266 Acceptance Loan Company, Inc. Personal loans! Let us pay off your title loans! 224 Cahaba Valley Rd, Pelham 205-663-5821

Become a Dental Assistant in ONLY 8 WEEKS! Please visit our website capstonedentalassisting.com or call (205)561-8118 and get your career started!

Experienced Termite Technician or someone experienced in route-service work and wants to learn new profession. Work-vehicle/ equipment provided. Must drive straight-shift, have clean driving record/be 21/pass background/drug test. Training provided. Insurance/401K offered. M-F 7:00-4:30 + 1 Saturday/month. Pay $13hr.

Send resume to facsmith@ charter.net

Popeyes Seeking friendly, motivated, dependable Crew Members. OPEN INTERVIEWS DAILY 2:00pm-

Maintenance Technician 11p-7a, Some weekends.

Aluminum smelting manufacturer seeking multi-

craft maintenance technicians to perform Machine Repair, Machine Installation, Pipefitting, Basic Machining, Metalwork/Fabrication and Welding Qualified. Email resumes: jkendall@bermco. com Maintenance Supervisor Days Shift- Some nights and weekends Aluminum smelting manufacturer seeking qualified candidates to delegate maintenance workand PM’s as required to maintain daily operations of production.

Manage project scheduling and completion dates. Email resumes:jkendall@bermco.com Accounts Payable Clerk Aluminum smelting manufacturer seeking qualified candidates to perform accounting and clerical duties related to the efficient maintenance and processing of accounts payable transactions. Experience using RIMAS a plus. Email resumes: jkendall@bermco.com Purchasing Agent Aluminum smelting manufacturer seeking qualified candidates to identifying suppliers, researching goods and services, processing purchase orders, verifying items received & managing inventory. Email resumes: jkendall@bermco.com Front End Loader / Rotary Operator 3pm-11pm, 11pm7am Overtime & weekends may be required. Aluminum smelting manufacturer seeking qualified FELOs to charge furnace, take samples from furnace & dross off furnace. Must have front end loader and forklift experience.

Email resumes: jkendall@ bermco.com Air Conditioning Installer Experience preferred, (not required). Must be drug-free!

Call 205-663-2199 Gables Crossing Apartments 1, 2 & 3 BR UNITS $385 to $485 (205) 225-0055 gablescrossingpro@gmail.com Maintenance Worker Needed for Apartments.

Part-Time. Experience Preferred. Call 205-225-0055

HELP WANTED PLUMBERS & GAS FITTERS Great pay.

Must have drivers license.

Journeyman is a plus. Please call Tommy: 205-296-0294 or office: 205-624-2418 Eastern Tree Service • 24Hour Storm Service • www.

ETSTree.org • Experienced Professionals • Quick Response • Free Estimates • Call Us Today: 205-856-2078 SPRING LAWNCARE SPECIAL Let us clean up those leaves for you!

FULL SERVICE LAWN CARE includes planting, trimming, flower beds, cleaning fence rows, and work other don’t want to do!

Ensure your lawn is beautiful, regardless of the season AND have the BEST lawn in the neighborhood!

Free Estimates!

Discounts available for Military & Seniors Affordable Lawncare 1 (205) 461-3671 Alabama Air Power Inc Now Hiring Industrial Air Compressor Technician Will cross train person with mechanical skills, Electrical and/or HVAC knowledge Blue Cross Health and Dental Paid Vacation Paid Holidays Apply In Person 1293 Hwy 87, Alabaster DSLD Land Management is actively seeking: •Tree Surgeon •Gas Plumber •Carpenter •Landscape Technician •CDL Driver •Office Administrators •Registered Landscape Architect 205-437-1012 dsldland.com Earth Angels In-HomeCare LLC. BBB Accredited, licensed, bonded, following CDC guidelines to keep out clients safe. 205-881-4034 or 205484-1301. earthangelshcare@ gmail.com 1365 A Hueytown Rd. Hueytown, AL

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MY HOMEWOOD CARLOS ALEMÀN

Homewood City Council Representative + ¡HICA! Chief Operating Officer

Tortas + Tacos

Valedores + Dos Hermanos One of the greatest things about living in Homewood is the great access we have to the best taco trucks in the state. I am at either Valedores or Dos Hermanos (or both) every single week. Venture out and try the ceviche, sopes and tortas!

Family Time

Lakeshore Greenway During the pandemic, we made a commitment to being more intentional about being outside, and the Shades Creek Greenway is the perfect spot for a nice walk or bike ride with the family.

Supermarket Finds

Mi Pueblo You need to shop here. Pan dulce? Check! Great fruit snacks? Check! Great prices on produce? Check! Maybe the best buffet in town?

Check!

Just a Bike Ride Away

Patriot Park + WeHo Shops I love the heart of West Homewood around Patriot Park. I enjoy riding my bike to the restaurants, and you’ll most frequently catch me outside at either Seeds or Ash. Great restaurants, pool, park, gym and coming soon the ice cream shop Neighbors!

Books Please

Little Professor + Homewood Public Library Our entire family are avid readers, and we couldn’t ask for a better library or independent bookstore. Be sure to sign up for Little Professor’s store membership for some great deals on books.

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