Call me naive but it never ceases to amaze me what some people are capable of doing when faced with a little healthy competition. Through a client who I prefer not to name, I’ve learned that another local business is trying to sabotage my client’s good name and reputation. The other business has “shopped” my client, causing an unnecessary scene during the visit and raving about the competitor’s business instead, reporting my client to the state for violations that didn’t exist, and posting a series of bad reviews online. The other business is doing everything possible to make my client look bad.

My client asked me how she could counter bad press, albeit false. Sadly, in a situation like this, there is little a business owner can do except to hold herself to the highest standards and to “play nice” even when others refuse to do so. I know this is frustrating for my client, and she doesn’t deserve this kind of negative attention. Getting into the mud with this other business owner won’t help the situation though, so we’ll hold our heads high and let them give us all they’ve got. We will continue to “play nice” and, at the end of the day, we’ll rest peacefully knowing we put in an honest day’s work.

Dana Neuts

Though I don’t consider myself a diehard coffee drinker – I prefer the “foo-foo” coffee drinks like mochas, lattes and frappucinos – I’ve always loved Starbucks. I was in the Covington Starbucks on Tuesday to meet a client, and I discovered I had left my wallet at home. I brought my laptop, but no cash. Unable to order, I sat down to wait for my client. I didn’t want to tell her what I’d done, so we just started our meeting.

When the barista brought over my client’s drink, she also brought me a full-sized strawberry Vivano “as a sample” on the house. It was such a nice surprise and I really appreciated it, especially on such a hot summer day. Afterward, I went over to thank the baristas behind the counter, and they just smiled and said they were happy to do it. It is hard to find service like that these days, so thank you, Covington Starbucks. I hope to pay it forward soon!

Located on First Avenue South in downtown Kent, Cypriana has added an online store to its offerings. Now you can shop for the same great products – organic bedding & bath products; organic baby clothing, bedding and diaper bags; and brands like DreamSacks, Area and Nandina – at your convenience. Shop at Cypriana 24-7.

Enjoy the great selection of organic and all-natural products that owner Susan Thomas has to offer without leaving home. You’ll be thrilled with your purchases! I’ve bought several items – baby gifts, a bamboo throw and bath products – and every one of them has met or exceeded my expectations. My favorite – my DreamSacks bamboo throw in chocolate brown – luxuriously soft!

Cypriana makes it easy to go green!

I recently returned from a vacation to Maine where my husband’s family lives. Though they have visited us numerous times, it was my first trip to Maine. Despite the lousy weather when we visited, Maine was beautiful and has much to brag about — blueberries, lobster, wide open spaces, wildlife, lighthouses and more. I missed home though. Here are 7 reasons I missed Kent, Washington – HOME SWEET HOME:

1.  Starbucks: Dunkin’ Donuts is to the East Coast what Starbucks is to the West Coast. There was a DD on every street corner and, despite their delicious donuts, their service and mochas left something to be desired. On the last day, I caved in and drove 10 miles to the nearest Starbucks…mmmm, love the tuxedo mocha!

2.  Dungeness crab: Sure, Maine has its lobster and we had our fill of that, but it can’t hold a candle to our Dungeness crab which is in its peak season right now. It is lighter, sweeter and more pleasing to the palate than any Maine lobster.

3.  Pacific time: The three-hour time difference doesn’t seem like a big deal, but now that I’m home I realize just how much my body had adjusted to it. I am waking up at 5 am and going to bed at 8 pm. I can’t wait until my body acclimates itself to PST.

4.  Seattle summers: It was just a fluke that the weather was bad while we visited, but it made me long for our Seattle summers:  dry, warm-but-not-beastly-hot, and relatively bug-free. Maine was rainy, muggy and full of mosquitoes.

5.  Daylight: In Maine, it was typically dark by 9 pm, almost a full hour earlier than it is here. I missed our long summer nights.

6.  LA Fitness: I joined the new LA Fitness in Covington in February 2009 and have enjoyed going regularly to try out the classes, do cardio, work out with weights, and to pal around with friends Dena and Robin. Aside from a Curves here or there, I didn’t see a single gym in my Maine travels. I walked instead, but it wasn’t the same.

7.  The People of Kent: Maine was great and the people were friendly. Everyone knew everyone including my husband, but no one knew me. The town we stayed in – Falmouth – had a population of about 15,000 and was a very close-knit community. Kent is about 90,000 and is just as close-knit…in a liberal, we-love-everybody kind of way. I like shopping downtown or visiting Kona Kai Coffee Co. or Cypriana and having folks know my name. While gone, I realized how much I value that.

It is with great sadness that the community said good-bye to one of its own this week, David Cooke, the husband of Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, who passed away last week. News reports state that his death was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Regardless of how or why, it is a loss to the community and we should respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time. Our hearts and prayers go out to Mayor Cooke and her family. May they know that the community loves and supports them.

For those who wish to remember David Cooke more formally, the Cooke family has asked that donations be made to:

The Pediatric Interim Care Center
The Budkis Fund, in care of the Renton Community Foundation
The Jamie Moyer Foundation

For the last three years, I’ve been involved in the planning and hosting of Wine, Women, WOW, a nonprofit event benefiting the Kent Downtown Partnership and a local charity (YWCA’s Domestic Violence program for the last three years). This year, while I assisted with the marketing, I was not an “on site” volunteer the day of the event, compliments of Seattle traffic. Instead, I was finally able to enjoy the event for what it was – a night of fun, conversation, wine and laughter with some of my favorite local women and men, of course (I can’t forget Mychal, Steve, Greg, Roger or the others).

Event chair Libby Seidel did an amazing job of growing the event, coordinating the details, attracting new vendors and more! She undoubtedly spent hundreds of hours dotting her Is and crossing her Ts. It was well worth it! As always, the event was fun, but this year it was at the ShoWare Center which I really enjoyed. There was more space for new vendors which gave us a great variety of booths to shop at and visit. In fact, there were so many that I didn’t even see them all!

The event wasn’t perfect, but no event ever is. I waited in line for 45 minutes to get in, and had Libby not offered to get my first glass of wine for me, I would have waited for that too. I also didn’t get any of the food, but that’s OK. It looked yummy and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Some evening highlights included:

- Emcee Diana Albertson who is always beautiful, not to mention FUN!
- Mayor Suzette Cooke and her adorable mom
- Dena Brandt’s Cookie Lee jewelry demonstration
- Mary Kay Kissology – very fun! (I am “so you-nique.”)
- Yummy cupcakes and, of course, the wine in red, white and pink!
- Goodie bags featuring Wine, Women, Wow wine glasses – love ‘em, Lib!

It was a fun night out, and I hope KDP will continue to host this annual event. It is a great way to share some of the many things Kent has to offer with the region. Thanks, Libby, KDP and all of the volunteers who made the evening possible. Well done!

~ Dana

I get a lot of questions about why I started iLoveKent.net and what I get out of it. I started it as a simple blog last summer, but moved it to a larger, friendlier format a couple of months ago because it was getting more attention and I saw the need for information in our community growing. I wanted to provide a venue to talk about some of the businesses, events and people in Kent that I think are great but aren’t getting the exposure they deserve. Some that I’ve written about are clients, but many are not.

I’m not sure where the site is headed or what I eventually want to accomplish with it, but for now…

- The site is a free, community-based website.

- I do not receive any money from advertisers or others to maintain the site.

- I post content on the site as I have time. I do it on a voluntary basis as a community service.

- Readers and members of the community occasionally send me items and events to post. I do so as I have time and at my discretion. I am the sole editor and publisher of the site.

- Readers comments are moderated the first time they submit a comment. After they have had a comment approved, future comments are automatically posted. I reserve the right to delete to inappropriate or offensive remarks.

- I have hired several people to assist with the site because there aren’t enough hours in the day, but I do so at my expense. As a result, at some point, I anticipate having to generate some revenue from the site to cover my costs. I don’t know what that looks like yet.

- Any errors or omissions are strictly my own. If you find something that is inaccurate, please contact me at info@ilovekent.net, and I will make the corrections as soon as possible.

I welcome your input, feedback, content suggestions and ideas. I want this site to show some of the great things that Kent, Washington has to offer. Your input will help to make the site more useful, so keep those ideas coming! Send them to info@ilovekent.net.

Thanks,
Dana Neuts, publisher
iLoveKent.net

It must have been a slow news day. I went to LA Fitness in Covington to work out this morning and, unfortunately, my iPod wasn’t working so I watched TV while doing my 30 minutes on the treadmill. I usually position myself between two TVs so I have some variety to watch. This morning’s choices:  CNN and ESPN, usually chock-full of interesting content. Today? Not so much. ESPN, which I normally enjoy watching, was all about college basketball, a sport I dare say I can’t keep up with. At least in the NBA, there are a limited number of teams I have to remember. The NCAA, on the other hand, has more schools and teams than I can count. But I digress…my point is that I settled on CNN for my dose of morning news.

As I’m rounding the second lap, I see a clip of First Lady Michelle Obama shaking the hand of the Queen Mum herself, Queen Elizabeth. Then for the next few minutes (it felt like hours), the commentators debated about whether or not First Lady Obama had broken protocol. No, we have been assured by the (media) powers that be at Buckingham Palace that they are certain it was a mutually respectful gesture and no one acted out of turn. Well, thank goodness for that…the world economy might screech to a halt if the almighty protocol weren’t followed. Then, of course, we learned of the gifts that were exchanged between the world leaders:  a video iPod loaded with showtunes and a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers from the Obamas, and a framed, an autographed picture from the Queen. Are you kidding me? Do we care? Forgive my sarcasm. I’m sure these things are truly important to someone somewhere, but not necessarily to me on this particular morning. Isn’t there some CEO raiding his corporate piggy bank this morning, or a flooding river we could check on?

If that wasn’t enough breaking news to get you to put down your coffee cup and reach for the remote control, then you’ll love the next news byte on CNN – Guiding Light is being taken off the air after, like 358 years. OK, that’s an exaggeration. It’s actually 72 years which, of course, predates television. The steamy soap opera started on the radio in 1937 and moved to CBS television in 1952, according to Soaps.com. OK, I’ll admit that I used to watch GL as a teen. I remember Josh, Reva and the gang, but I’m in my 40s now. I am over that phase of needing the daily cliff-hanging suspense in my life. I want predictability. So what will we do with our afternoons now? We’ll have to watch Oprah and Dr. Oz, an ABC after-school TV special about drugs or teen pregnancy (do they still make those?), or *gasp* Judge Judy reruns.

As I finished up my hike, I realized that there is a reason I don’t watch TV very often. I guess I’d better charge my iPod.

Following its March 14 article on an all-girl Lingerie Football team coming to the  ShoWare Center on Sept. 11, Kent Reporter readers are in an uproar. Angry locals wrote to the paper, filling the entire Opinion page of the March 18, 2009 edition. Men and women alike protested the ShoWare Center’s decision to host appropriately-padded-but-skantily-clad female footballers in Kent’s newest community event venue.

I respect the opinions of those who wrote in, including those whose letters weren’t printed, pro or con. Each reader/writer is within his or her rights to publicly speak about their distaste toward Lingerie Football and to tell others it is unwelcome in Kent. Personally, I don’t care if we have Lingerie Football here or not. However, I do feel strongly enough about this issue to make a few key points:

• Opponents to Lingerie Football and their families are not required to buy tickets, attend the event or support it in any way.
• The ShoWare Center is a fully-enclosed arena, so events are typically closed to those without tickets.
• Proponents of the sport are welcome to buy tickets, attend and cheer on their favorite teams.
• The players have on more clothing than many other widely-televised TV programs including some Olympic sports.
• The lingerie-wearing female footballers are playing voluntarily. They tried out for the team to play football.
• Some argue that this activity demeans women. I see it differently; I see empowered women who found a way to play football. If they don’t want to play in their underwear, they don’t have to.
• We all have a right to our own opinions and to participate in and attend events that we enjoy. If you don’t like Lingerie Football, hockey or home and garden shows, stay home and be glad that you live in a country that does not dictate what you can and cannot enjoy as a leisure activity.

With that said, I don’t expect my rant here to be popular, nor do I expect to sway anyone who feels strongly about this issue. Rather, I hope you’ll consider and respect each other’s opposing views. In other words, live and let live…with lingerie or without.

~ Dana Neuts