Off to press!

The November issue is gone and I have time to rest a bit and catch up with email and return calls. We have a busy week coming up several Halloween events. First up, "Boo at the Zoo" on Saturday from 3-7pm. On Thursday, we'll be at King Richard's for their celebration and on Friday, we'll be at Fleischmann Park for the Spooktacular. I just got new Halloween tattoos in so be sure to stop by to see us if you attend any of the events.

Back to Work

I'm back from DC and back to work on the November issue. The trip was wonderful, a perfect 4 days of conversation with Alex, walking throughout DC, meeting the pandas at the National Zoo and poignant visits to the Vietnam Memorial and Holocaust Museum. It's fun to see Alex in her element--she lives in a vibrant, busy neighborhood with shops, restaurants and lots of action and everything is within walking distance. Fun and relaxation, the perfect vacation!

Now it's back to work on the November issue. This issue features some serious topics--homelessness in Collier County and foster care and adoption. Our annual Tutoring Directory will also be in this issue. There are also tons of calendar events coming in for the month.

"Deadline week" is always busy with layout, last minute ad insertions and editing but it's also the most enjoyable part of the magazine process for me. When the pace is busy but not too crazy, time flies and I feel the most creative.

She's my grown up baby and best friend

When my daughter was little I truly couldn't imagine the day when she'd be "all grown up" and gone from the house. I realized fairly quickly that the process of college was invented to give parents enough time to let go. By the time my daughter Alex was a senior in college, I was good to go and ready for the empty house and holidays spent elsewhere. She spent the next year traveling and popped in occasionally for weeks at a time. During her first year of law school at UF, she came home with some regularity. Now she's in her second year of law school in Washington DC and I can see how our relationship has moved to a completely new level. And it's a very nice feeling.

I'm heading up to visit her for a long weekend in a few hours and it's a unique feeling to be going to her home (granted it's a DC studio the size of a large Naples closet but it's HERS). I'm promising myself not to rearrange anything or even clean up. I'm going to be her guest and enjoy every minute of it!

I'm remembering those days when I worried about what it would be like to not have her living at home and smile. This is every bit as good as the first day of Kindergarten or watching her dance recitals. It's the warm, happy feeling of knowing your job is done and it was done well. I have an incredible daughter who is now my best friend. I also have a free place to stay right in the heart if DC! Life is good.

Welcome to swflfamily.com

If you're reading this you've obviously found swflfamily.com. Welcome! This is the online home of Neapolitan Family Magazine and I hope you will check in with us regularly. 

As I was traveling through the process of setting this website up, I asked myself who I was directing this website towards. I felt from day one of the magazine that our average reader is a bit different than the audience of many similar publications. For one, we have a high percentage of dads reading--in our last survey it was almost 30% of our readership. Our readers are also quite educated and most of the women reading the magazine have been in the professional world at some point even if they have chosen to step out to be stay at home moms. 

The result is that we've created a site that isn't pink and blue and cutesy because I really don't think that's what our average reader wants. You're busy, I know that, so swflfamily.com offers useful, relevant information and features for our readers in an organized, sophisticated design. You can log on and check out the calendar, flip through the current issue of the magazine or list a few items for sale quickly. 

Hang in there with us as we add functionality to all the different areas, it may take a week or two to finish up but we're working on it as quickly as we can.

I'm hoping the site meet your expectations. Please, send me your feedback and let me know what you'd like to see incorporated. Thank you.