Local Folks: Monique Worthen
Jacksonville native Monique Worthen has been an educator for 19 years and has a passion for helping others. For the past seven years, she has been the principal at Venetia Elementary School, and in that role, she serves as the face of the school. Recently, her passion for the position landed her as Principal of […]
Local Folks: Laura Phillips Edgecombe
October 13 is a special day for Laura Phillips Edgecombe. It’s the day that, 14 years ago, she and her husband went on their first date. It’s also the day that, 11 years ago, they wed in Fletcher Park. Edgecombe is a third-generation Jaxson who grew up in Mandarin, husband Adam, a first-generation from the […]
Local Folks: Erica Lovelace
Jacksonville native Erica Lovelace is a chef extraordinaire and a culinary influencer who is simmering on the edge of success in Avondale. Born and raised in Mandarin, Lovelace had left for Tallahassee to study marketing and design at Florida State University, where she met Joshua Pekera. Together, they headed west and spent a decade in […]
Local Folks: Craig Hamilton
A Man of Many Minerals At his core, Craig Hamilton is a collector. Over the years, he has collected coins, stamps, seashells and history, but what he loves collecting most is gems and minerals. He first started digging for rocks more than 65 years ago. When he was in sixth grade at North Shore Elementary […]
Local Folks: Laura Lothman Lambert
“I love, love, love being back in Jacksonville!” said Laura Lothman Lambert. And this time, she’s here to stay. “Jacksonville is a very special place to me, having grown up here,” she said. Lambert first arrived in Florida at seven years old when her family moved to the San Jose area of Jacksonville from Atlanta, […]
Local Folks: Mike Kovacs
Mike Kovacs and his wife, Chelsea Hamilton, moved to Avondale in November 2020 from New York City. They were ready for a change of pace, a change of weather and a change of taxes. Kovacs and Hamilton tend to be analytical people and embarked upon “Operation Sunshine State.” For quite some time, they researched a […]
Retirement on the Road – Part 3 of 3: Have Food? Will Travel.
Traveling can be even more fun when you get to discover something new along the way, especially if it’s tasty. Before starting our exploration trip of the Western United States, my brother-in-law, Paul, sent us a list of Food and Wine Magazine’s 2021 Best Sandwiches in every state. We thought it would be fun to […]
Retirement on the Road – Part 2: No Reservations
The first column in this series on retirement focused on trip planning for our cross-country RV adventure and planning ahead – which leads us to this month’s topic: the importance of reservations. Even if you are not traveling in an RV, coordinating all your trip details, times, dates and costs can be a scheduling nightmare. […]
