Black Tie & Tales

+ New girls’ network
Talk about a changed definition! “Girlfriends’ Time of Month” is now an informal, multi-generation group of friends organized by Molly Klauber. The 50 or so guests at its holiday gathering at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota included Molly’s mom, Mirta Klauber, aunts Jaymie Klauber andKatie Moulton, and friends Maria Sharoubim, Shelley Binion, Kelly Dowd, Vanessa Opstal, Sharon Petrik,Jennie Famiglio and Rochelle Nigri. The one brave fella attending was Eduardo Anaya.

+ What were you doing New Year’s? 
Getting a spiritual lift from a drum circle in Sanderling … ogling the cookie queen’s sequined boots on Siesta Key … being delighted by a friend’s spectacular new place in Ocala … celebrating with friends at Lan before going out on Main Street for the pineapple plop … enjoying the same dinner (corned beef and cabbage and black-eyed peas with a dime embedded for good luck) with the same friends for a half-century … going off to the beach with a girlfriend to focus on joys and sorrows of the year ending and plans and resolutions for the one ahead … skipping planned stops on a holiday cruise due to worries about pirates(!) … enjoying a progressive dinner when you always thought you hated that format … and, almost universally: “celebrating being alive and, thankfully, healthy.”

+ Hospital hospitality
Sarasota Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Corinthian Society of donors of $5,000 or more welcomed 41 new members at a celebration at the Bird Key Yacht Club before the holidays. The event also recognized seven new “Doctors of Philanthropy” who have committed $50,000 or more. They are: Bank of America Client Foundation, The Bolger Foundation, The Charlotte Geyer Foundation, Jones Family Foundation, KBR Foundation, Inc., Anonymous and Dan,Rob and Mike Snyder, founders of the Patricia Snyder Golf Tournament.

+ Tidbits …
Red ahead for redhead … Mary Ann Robinson will be hosting one of four VIP dinners benefiting the YMCA Foundation. She’s promising to pull out all the stops in terms of romance for “Be My Valentine” to be held Feb. 14, at Michael’s Wine Cellar. Seating is limited to 34, and tickets are $200 per person at 951-1336 … Party perfect … Sherman and Joyce Cooper entertained friends to celebrate the new year and the visit of their niece Lindsay Eldredge, who attends Curry College outside of Boston, and her boyfriend, Michael Yormark, a student at Syracuse University …Sailing, sailing …Nancy Lee and partner Fred Mackenzie are aboard the Oceania Nautica which sailed from Capetown, South Africa. So are fellow Longboat Key residents Heloisa and Charles Jennings and two Canadian couples who regularly rent a vacation home in Mexico from artist and former Sarasotan Linda Kauffmann. The world just keeps getting smaller! ...Lovely and engaged … Over the holidays, Ed Sarbey presented Shelley Binion with an engagement ring. And if BT’s earlier referral to Ivana Lucic and Renzo Rivolta as affianced was, shall we say, premature, a recent e-mail from Ivana says, “Now that all of our families are here ... I can definitely say that we are engaged!”