There is so much going on in the merry month of May! You will be happy to learn that some of it (the goings on) is totally awesome in the heartwarming department. We are talking about the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s annual golf tournament and fundraiser held on Friday, May 5, at the Santa Maria Country Club. […]
HELEN ANN THOMAS
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Hobnobbing with Helen: Oasis Center holds fantastic fundraiser
Orcutt is waiting for something big to happen. No, it’s more than big. It’s huge. How huge? you ask. How about 15,900 square feet? That is the projected size of the new Luis Oasis Senior Center that is planned for a super-convenient location on West Clark Avenue near the Orcutt Expressway. The Oasis Center is […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Well, wasn’t this a clever idea! Students from the Orcutt Academy High School posed in living art tableaux at the Orcutt Children’s Arts Foundation’s (OCAF) recent annual gala, “An Evening at the Louvre.” The gala was held on Saturday, March 4, at the Santa Maria Country Club OCAF event committee chairperson Allison Smith and her […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen: Angels of excellence
Women of Excellence. That has a nice sound, doesn’t it? Truth be told, Santa Maria has a lot of women who qualify for the highly anticipated and prized Women of Excellence Awards given annually by the Santa Maria Women’s Network. In the course of my arduous task of hobnobbing, I encounter a slew of amazing […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
STEM is in the air. The acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics seems to pop up everywhere. Frequent use of the term STEM, relatively new to our vocabulary, is intended to make what it stands for less intimidating to students. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can be fun. STEM’s fun aspects were brought to […]
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PCPA The Pacific Conservatory Theatre delights with ‘You Can’t Take It With You’
The highly entertaining You Can’t Take It With You, now showing at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA), takes us into the seriously unconventional Vanderhof-Sycamore household in New York City, circa the 1930s. The audience plays witness to a whirlwind of wacky onstage antics as a parade of quirky people interacts. In a nutshell—pardon the pun—this […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen: Santa Maria Women’s Network attracts a crowd
The Santa Maria Women’s Network hit a home run with its February lunch meeting. They invited Los Angeles-based motivational speaker and speech coach Mimi Donaldson to return for her third local appearance. I heard her two years ago when, at a Women’s Network luncheon, she talked about how men and women differ in their self-evaluation […]
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Humble hilarity: The Santa Maria Civic Theatre toys with dark comedy with production of ‘Humble Boy’
Funny and thought provoking, Humble Boy—now playing at the Santa Maria Civic Theater—is a gem of a play about what happens to an English family when the father dies and the son comes home. Plot sound familiar? Think Hamlet, only with more laughs. This play falls into the category of dark comedy, which means (I […]
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The Great American Melodrama delivers laughs with ‘The Foreigner’
Absurdities—and laughs—abound in The Foreigner, the play currently on the bill at The Great American Melodrama in Oceano. The Foreigner by Larry Shue is a farce that has become a staple in theater since its premiere in 1983. The play has been in our neck of the woods before, and is back in all its […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Tweets matter. This is likely no surprise to my readers. What is especially noteworthy, however, is that tweets can have a huge impact on officials at the state level of government. “Legislators pay a lot of attention to tweets,” according to registered lobbyist and legislative advocate Shannon Smith-Crowley, who addressed a group of about 50 American Association […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Hold on to your hats, folks. A great new exhibit is coming to the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum. The exhibit is designed and intended for children, but I am sure that I’m only one of many adults who will be ready to simulate a rocket launch at the corner of Jones and McClelland streets. The heart […]
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Hobnobbing with Helen
Every now and then, a new nonprofit event pops up in town. Sometimes said event goes over so well and is such a hit that it becomes a classic. This is the case with Christmas with Holly, now in its fourth year. Christmas with Holly has become a can’t-miss holiday happening. Put on by Hats […]