Frisky, Fun and Cherished

Assembling a party takes her away from her everyday cares and creates a chance to try something new, invite and delight different guests and expect the unexpected. Mistakes will happen, but often they’ll turn out to be happy ones. Besides, Barbara knows not to fret, noting that making sure all her guests have a glass of wine goes a long way to solving any ills. Plus, she’s an absolute people person.

"I really enjoy people," she says. "I love [having] a lot of people around."

Still, creating the perfect party is a tricky task.

"When you make things look real easy, people don’t think you work [at it]," she says.

Yet work and parties have paired well together for Barbara. When she first moved to Bonita Springs and her home in Bonita Bay, she was retired from a 26-year career in the jewelry business. She soon found that she was restless, though, and decided to open a small shop in the Bonita Bay Executive Center.

The little shop was bound for success. First, Barbara invited her friends from water aerobics to come by for a visit, and "that was the party that launched the business." Later, the shop became the place where "you could come in and buy something, buy nothing, chat, have a glass of wine, whatever," she says. It was a local hangout as much as a store, with catered parties, music and special vendor events. Plus, it had Barbara, an asset to any business or social venture, friends say. Her demeanor and generosity create a joyous atmosphere that endures after the last champagne has been sipped.

"Barbara’s the kind of person who would make everyone feel right at home. She makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the world," says friend Mana Holtz.

Much of the entertaining Barbara does now is in her home, and is often held for the benefit of local charities or organizations, including Florida Gulf Coast University and the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts. It was for one of the Phil’s "Parties of Note" that she hosted a rock ’n’ roll-themed party that has proved a favorite. Ladies wore poodle skirts, while the gentlemen slipped into leather jackets and slicked back their hair. A ’50s-style band played all the oldies-but-goodies.

"The costumes were just phenomenal. And the spirit [and] the music was great. I had ’50s-type food, macaroni and cheese, little burgers," she recalls. "There was no lack of dancing that night."

As for the silver bowls-and-champagne birthday party she threw for Mana’s Yorkie, Thurber? Mana calls Barbara "a party-giver extraordinaire," but Barbara doesn’t miss a beat: Like all excellent hosts, she gives all the credit for the event’s success to her guest of honor.

"Thurber was an unusual dog," she says with a smile.

There can be no question that Matt Mathias is committed to his career. Even on his day off, Matt, a market executive for the Private Client Group at National City fills his morning with business appointments. And there’s no doubt he’s deeply involved with his nonprofit work, too. He’s a mentor for Take Stock in Children and serves on various boards, committees and task forces.

But he has another passion, too, and it’s one that dinner guests, partygoers and even George Bernard Shaw would certainly applaud. After all, it was Shaw who said, "There is no love more sincere than the love of food."

Matt is a foodie. Wine doesn’t escape his affection, either.

"I’m definitely not a connoisseur," he says. "I’m a budding hobbyist."

Maybe so, but this hobby already includes some 1,200 bottles of wine, many of which have made their way into Southwest Florida charity auction lots. For the past three years, his contributions have been part of wine auction lots at the area’s grandest party, the Naples Winter Wine Festival; this year, he donated wines that were part of "Celebrate Speed," an auction lot that totaled 24 bottles, each rated 100 points by Wine Spectator or wine critic Robert Parker.

Matt provided the wine, too, for a fundraiser held at popular French eatery Bleu Provence in Naples. The event benefited a student Matt mentored in the Take Stock in Children program—a student who aspired to be a chef and who, for the fundraiser, had a chance to cook alongside the professional chefs in the Bleu Provence kitchens.

It’s proof of something that Matt himself has noticed: Unwittingly or accidentally, food and wine play a part in how he lives, gives and entertains—always. "It’s hard to turn down an invitation to Matt’s house for a party," says friend Desmond Hussey. "He’s a very generous person. That goes a long way to making everyone have a good time." And while some people will save a magnum of wine for a special occasion, Matt, by contrast, will bring a magnum to any occasion. "He wants everyone to have fun, not just himself," Desmond says.

And Matt’s not afraid to don an apron whether cooking for friends, family or strangers as part of a party or fundraiser he’s hosting in his home.

"I love to put smiles on people’s faces by preparing foods they may not have had before," he says. "I’m not a chef, but I do some fairly simple things well."

For his 30th birthday party, Matt made a meal that still lingers on his taste buds, in part because of the unique list of ingredients. The pheasant was from South Dakota; he had shot it on a hunting trip with clients. The lobsters were from the Florida Keys, snapped up during mini-lobster season with a friend. The Maryland blue crabs were caught in crab pots near the Chesapeake Bay with his father and uncle. The vegetables—jalapenos, broccolini and potatoes—were picked in his father’s garden in West Virginia. And the venison he hauled home from a hunt on his family’s farm.

"Somehow, I either caught or harvested or had something to do with getting all these," Matt says. "And I cooked everything myself, which was kind of fun. One of my friends got me a chef’s jacket, and he put on there ‘Food Boy.’ "