I think we all know what it feels like to be stressed out from your big important job, and one day yell out, “ I just want to work in a plant shop!” Ashleigh McKenzie was just like Samantha Stevens in Bewitched when she wiggled her nose and nodded her head and ”Poof,” she now works in a plant shop! ‍

With Spring Break right around the corner, the excitement is building in the hospitality industry throughout the Scenic 98 Coastal area. I sat down with Steve Hicks and Paul Stewart, two longtime friends and part-time business partners, who will soon be cutting the ribbon on Beach Village Resort, a 71-unit Orange Beach resort.

Try this on for size… How does a fisheries biologist end up with a regional chain of sunglasses and casual fashion stores? That’s what I set out to learn when I met with Joe Jerrigan at his offices at The Wharf in Orange Beach. 

“I’ve had an amazing life, and every day is still wonderful,” says Stephen Savage. Stephen Savage is a fixture in the Scenic 98 Coastal community As an event photographer, you will run into Stephen at almost every Eastern Shore function. If not there, you’ll see him on Facebook or Instagram. His photos capture the good times and create memories.

Growing up in Mobile, I spent much of my youth attending and watching my two older brothers play sports. My dad was especially involved with Murphy High School’s track team, raising money for their booster club. It was called the Cinder Club because running tracks in those days were made of cinder that required long spikes on shoes to gain traction.

David Cooper has written and published an entertaining book called The Laundry Man. It is a fun tale that weaves through a fictional Mississippi family that draws on David’s life and experiences growing up Southern.

This week, I met two 13-year-old boys who have started a business called Bay Boys Lure Company. Thomas Gross and Bennett Lieb are 7th graders at Bayside Academy and are on their way to creating a very successful business: conceived, funded, manufactured, and marketed entirely by themselves. Of course, because they are so young, moms and dads are advisors, yet mothers, Kim Gross and Ashley Lieb, clearly state that these entrepreneurs are on their own.

Did you know that cilantro is the only herb that can detoxify heavy metals from our bodies? Or that ginger and turmeric are natural painkillers and have antiviral properties, or that beet juice gives you energy?