Save St. Hubert's

Dear Friends and Family in the Mayfair Community,

Please considering lending your support in helping me raise money to save my alma mater, St. Hubert's High School for Girls. St. Hubert's provides a competitive college preparatory education and a family-like environment for young women that might otherwise not have the opportunity. It's because of my experiences as a Bambi that I went to college, created many enduring friendships, and have chosen my profession. Please help me by supporting this institution, a cornerstone of our community. Please visit the following link savesthuberts.com for ways to donate either electronically or by sending in a check to Save St. Hubert c/o St. Hubert Alumnae Association, P.O. Box 22104, Philadelphia, PA, 19136. All checks should be made to St. Hubert Alumnae Association.

All money donated will NOT go to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia but will remain with the St. Hubert's Alumnae Association.

Welcome to the MBA!!

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Melissa Casey, her staff, and all the cute little kiddos at Guppies Childcare Center! All of us at the Mayfair Business Association are happy to have you as a part of our dynamic group!

Guppies Childcare Center is located at 7915 Frankford Ave. You can contact them at 215-624-5434 for information about their business!

Welcome!!

This Week in Mayfair (01/09/12)

Hey Kids! I come to you today as a semi-depressed St. Hubert's alumni. As many of you know, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in it's infinite, divine, and un-questioned wisdom (*read bitter sarcastic) had decided to close this local neighborhood institution and also condense many of our local Catholic grade schools. It is more important now than ever to make sure our neighborhoods stay united and there is one thing that you can do, regardless of religious or educational upbringing, to keep our neighborhoods strong; support local businesses in Mayfair, Tacony, and Holmesburg!! Now put on your school colors and get your butt to the Avenue!! The choice to paint your face is entirely up to you but I say "GO FOR IT!!"

Here are some great specials running at several local businesses this week where you can flash your school spirit all around town! (**flash does not equal naked--keep it clean...this is a family neighborhood.)

Feeling stressed by all the school closures or just in general? Anne Marie at Avenue Chiropractic is running a special this week. A one hour massage any day this week is $35! Give this fellow Bambie alumni a call at 215-338-4132 .

Freedom Credit Union is lowering their personal loan rates. (Hi, FCU, I need to take out a large loan. How large? I need to save my closing Catholic school. Of course, I'll hold.) Here's the details:

• Fixed APR as low as 5.99%*(sweet.)
• Amounts from $500 up to $20,000(I need MORE...like 20 million!!)
• No fees and no pre-payment penalty (AWESOME!!)
• Terms up to 6 years (cool.)
• No collateral required (I can provide my dog, Loafy. He can fetch most of the time.)

Membership in Freedom Credit Union required. Freedom Membership is available for individuals, as well as for businesses and organizations. They also welcome Select Employee Groups (SEGS). Freedom personal Memberships are for anyone who lives, works, worships, performs volunteer service, or attends school in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia Counties.

Just think! IF you won the Powerball what you might be able to do with that money? Like...hmmmm....I don't know...save a catholic school!!!! My hero!! Mike Perzel is also still my hero at The Perzel Agency running his 6 week special! He's still giving away a $15.00 Gas Card once a week and a $150.00 Lowes Card at the end of January (each quote will receive an entry to win). You will also receive a PA Powerball ticket just for getting a quote on auto insurance. For any member of the MBA or their employees, Mike will also give them a $5.00 gas card in addition to everything above.. However you MUST mention the Mayfair Business Association to receive the $5.00 Gas card.

And of course everyone's favorite, award-winning pub The Grey Lodge Pub is holding Quizzo this week on Wednesday! Get out there and put that expensive Catholic school education to good use by being the ultimate champion over the godless heathen masses (just kidding godless heathen masses...you know I love you too and you are just as smart..just don't tell those crazy Catholics! shhhhhh!).

Scoats and the crew are also preparing for the famous Friday the Firkenteenth this Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12 noon! I kind of wish I knew a little bit more about this so I don't have to bluff my way through this posting...wait a second!!! WIKI!!! "Firkin: an old English unit of volume. A quarter of a full-sized barrel.". So there will be 25 different firkins of different beer with 7 on tap at any one time at the Grey Lodge on Friday. Me thinketh thout shall getest thine asse toeth thy Grey Lodge Pub to sample thy bounty of firkins. That's my attempt at Old English. Sucketh it.

Mike Scotese, Man on a Mission

Last time I saw Mike "Scoats" Scotese we were at the Mayfair Business Association Christmas party at The Grey Lodge. He was graciously hosting if "hosting" means running around like a chicken without a head serving his fellow business peers and not relaxing at all. He would occasionally stop to socialize, make sure everyone had enough to eat, and recommend one of the fabulous craft beers on the Grey Lodge menu. Then it was right back to work waiting tables, cleaning up, and putting in more yummy food orders so we could cram our faces with cheesesteak egg rolls. Nom nom nom. I can safely say this is probably why the man has 2 very successful business, The Grey Lodge and the Hop-Angel Brauhaus and I am a part-time, smart-assed blogger. The boy has hustle.

Scoats has been at this location since 1994 and it has been The Grey Lodge Pub since 1996. There has been a bar at 6235 Frankford Ave continuously since Labor Day 1950, which for those of you who don't know history, was a little bit after the dinosaurs stopped roaming the earth. (zing old people!)

So how does one decide "I need to run one of the Fifty Best Beer Bars by Beer Advocate Magazine in addition to receiving countless other local and national accolades"? Easy. Scoats did what most of us only dream about. Instead of accepting his fate and being chained to a cubicle desk, he decided that his talents lay elsewhere. Since he had gotten lots of experience working in bars and restaurants to pay his way through school he felt like running a bar came naturally. Now he is a beautiful, bar-owning, beer butterfly and I'm still a blogger. (This entry is ruining my self esteem but I can still alliterate like a mofo. )

Scoats resides in his finely-crafted beer manor in Tacony and loves doing business in Mayfair because "it's a real place, not a strip center in a land of strip centers". His favorite business in Mayfair is the Mayfair Shop N Bag because of their fair prices, easy to find items, and the fact that they always have plenty of cashiers. A busy man like Scoats appreciates these things!

In 2012, The Grey Lodge will be working closely with Yards and Philadelphia Brewing in order to introduce more people in the neighborhood to great beer brewed right here in the city. I for one, can't WAIT!! The Grey Lodge also has a blog that Scoats updates frequently to keep you abreast of the different craft beers in rotation. You can visit it here at greylodge.com.

Now seriously slacker, get back to work. Scoats has been up since 6am and has already waxed his car, done a 1000 piece puzzle, solved the debt crisis, driven a bus full of children to the zoo, and led a discussion on urban gardening for the Philadelphia Horticulture Society. You've picked your nose and pretended to work for the past 2 hours while Facebook stalking your ex.

Makeover!!!

Minor color tweaking, legs shaved, and upper lip waxed (ouch)! Add some photos of Mayfair businesses and bingo! Very close to perfection and all to keep beautiful just for YOU and keep you interested! Now if I could only take care of the randomly changing font I would be able to fulfill the lifelong dream of entering the Blogger Beauty pageant. Remind me to pick up Vaseline for my teeth....SMILE!!

This Week in Mayfair (01/02/12)

Are you surprised I didn't put the year as 2011? I promise you it will be the only time this week I don't make that mistake!!

So how was your New Years Eve or the better question might be how was your New Years DAY? In case you didn't know, your New Years Day is directly correlated to your New Year's Eve. Woke up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle your resolutions of quitting drinking, smoking and the company of loose women? Sorry, your New Years SUCKED. If you woke up having broken all your resolutions by 12:15am, smelling of an awful mixture of Soco, Jack, and bodily fluids with some girl you think is named Alicia (or was it Ashley--oh no!)? Well you my friend, are the CHAMPION of 2012. I'm not even going to mention those of you who partook in Mummery in South Philly because most likely you're still too drunk to read this. We'll talk on Thursday about how jealous I am of you and wished I could be there to do the strut.

Did you read about Mike Perzel and The Perzel Agency in our merchant profile? Just a reminder he's still giving away a $15.00 Gas Card once a week and a $150.00 Lowes Card at the end of January (each quote will receive an entry to win). You will also receive a PA Powerball ticket just for getting a quote on auto insurance. For any member of the MBA or their employees, Mike will also give them a $5.00 gas card in addition to everything above.. However you MUST mention the Mayfair Business Association to receive the $5.00 Gas card.

Do you want to see how many essential brain cells you actually killed on New Years? Get thyself to the Grey Lodge every Wednesday night at 8pm on the 2nd floor for Quizzo. Teams can be up to 4 members (me, you, your mom, your dad-break!). First prize is a $25 bar tab. Second place gets a round of drinks for the team. Losers must wear their underwear on their head so wear cute ones.

That's it so far...I'm sure more will trickle in and I will edit as needed. Be sure to check back often!!

Now go buy Ashley/Alicia/Mulva some breakfast/lunch/dinner.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Mike Perzel!!!

When I first sent out an email asking the Mayfair Business Association members to answer a brief bunch of questions for me, Mike Perzel from The Perzel Agency was the very first one to answer. I then sent him several follow-up questions which AGAIN he answered even before most of the other businesses even answered the first set of questions. From what I can tell, Mike applies this same type of attitude to his business; efficient, friendly, thorough, and prompt. Either that or the rest of the business are slackers and Mike is Superman. I'm going with Superman.

Mike has been in business for 15 years on Frankford Avenue and got into selling insurance because he always enjoyed sales and providing insurance gave him an opportunity to help people. He's a graduate of Lincoln High School and although he no longer lives in the Northeast (after living here for 40 years) he still has a brother that lives in the area. All of Mike's staff at the Perzel Agency are originally from Philly and several are from the Northeast including 4 from Mayfair.

Mike is currently working on several things in his office. I've been telling you about Mike's specials over the past couple of weeks which you can read again as soon as I start typing up this weeks installment of "This Week in Mayfair". Mike also has a website at www.perzelagency.com and is also on Facebook and LinkedIn. He is particularly excited about The College Tuition Benefit which is a program that allows employees of a business to earn Free College Scholarships for their children, grandchildren, or extended family member's college tuition.

Mike likes doing business in Mayfair because it's a great neighborhood (which it is!). Besides his own business, Mike frequents several of the other local Mayfair businesses but his favorites are Torresdale Flowers, Geno's, Pat's Music and Infinity Jewelers.

Stop in and say hi to Mike and his wonderful staff to get a quote, explore the College Tuition Benefit, and see if Mike has a phone booth hiding somewhere in his office (check the back!!) at 7338 Frankford Avenue in Mayfair or call the office at 215-335-6878.