Stacy Wilder dreamed of opening a preschool for more than 20 years.  In just a few weeks that dream is coming true, and there will be a new school in Lansing.  Sweet Peas Nursery School will serve children ages three through five, five days a week. 

"I always wanted to do it in Lansing," she says.  "I believe that Lansing is the only school district in Tompkins County that doesn't have Universal Pre-K, a state funded pre-K that is in the schools.  Lansing has Head Start, an income-based pre-K.  The income threshold is low, and many Lansing families don't qualify for it."

Tompkins County's newest golf course is of the mini variety.  On July 3rd Mike and Melinda Cirri opened T-Burg Mini Golf with a grand opening that drew a lot of local Trumansburg people.  Since then golfers have been coming from all over the county and beyond.  "During our opening weekend I'd say probably have of T-burg came in to see us," says Mike Cirri.  "Now we are getting a great mix of people from Trumansburg, Ithaca, Watkins Glen, Cortland, Interlaken.  We've had a group of people from Casanova drive down three times to play.  We had a group from Israel that was here on vacation."

Born and raised on Long Island, Cirri attended Ithaca College in the early '90s.  After college worked in New York City for about ten years.  While there he met and married Melinda, a native of Hungary.  Seven years ago the couple decided to move back to the Ithaca area.  Two and a half years ago they began planning their mini-golf course.

Take Your Pick Flower FarmOn the Ludlowville end of Brickyard Hill Road there's a little sign telling you that you have found Take your Pick, a you-cut flower farm.  The business opened for the first time this June.  "I started with house plants and went from there," says owner Linda Van Apeldoorn.  "I just love having them in the house.  The idea for Take Your Pick was born from that, because so many people say, 'Oh my roses are beautiful, but I just don't want to pick them because they look so nice in the garden.'  And that's how I felt.  I thought there are probably a lot of other people that think the same way.  So I set up some cutting beds where people can come and pick."

The garden is set next to her house, with raised beds holding all kinds of flowers including buddleia, black eyed Susans, bee balm, heliopsos, Russian sage, snap dragons, calendula, cleome, Mexican sunflowers and many more.  It is set up to be self-serve if Van Apeldoorn isn't there.  "I leave buckets and scissors and rubber bands by the garage and people can just help themselves," she says.  People can just leave the money when they are done picking.  She charges 25 cents per stem for most flowers, and lilies and gladiolas are 75 cents each.

Taste of Home EntertainmentJackie Maloney and Linnett Short want to come to your home to get you excited about entertaining.  The pair are Taste of Home Entertainment consultants, representing a line of quality products for cooking and serving and displaying food.  They find women to host parties which they run themselves, and the people who have attended have been impressed enough to want to host themselves.  "We hosted an open house, invited all of our friends, everyone we knew," Short says.  "They came, we got a couple bookings from that and with one of those, we got four bookings.  We get bookings from each booking."

Taste of Home Entertainment is a new company owned by Reader's Digest that opened nationally last May.  Maloney and Short are currently the only Ithaca consultants and say they are looking for more.  As a new company part of their challenge is letting people know the company exists.  The pair has built their business slowly, depending on word of mouth to build up to about one sales party per week.  Their goal is to double that.  Most of the parties are in the Ithaca area, but they have booked as far as Vestal and Burdett.

Tech S2In California it is Silicon Valley.  In Massachusetts it's Route 128.  And in Lansing 300 acres south of Brown Road house a vibrant center of high tech development.  Nestled in an area by the airport, more than 90 companies accounting for 1,600 local jobs call Cornell Business & Technology Park home.  One up and coming company is Tech S2, which specializes in information technology (IT) and customizing technical solutions for real world needs.  "We have competition out there, but I think our ability to produce software quickly (gives us an edge)," says CEO Mark Wheeler.  " We're saying what do you need?  We'll build it."

Wheeler and his wife Lisa started Tech S2 in their Lansing home four years ago.  He had 22 years of experience both as a software developer and a project manager.  She took care of the financial side of the business.  At the time Wheeler says he thought it would be an IT business.  "We felt Ithaca was big enough," he says.  "We joined the Chamber (of Commerce), and we tried to make friends with some of these other ones.  Even businesses that compete help each other."

Terra RosaTara Reimer had always wanted to own a gift shop.  She and a childhood friend had dreamed of having a shop.  "We'll just have stuff that we love, stuff that we have created, stuff that we always appreciated other people's art and having so much fun creating our own, and to just be able to share that with other people," Reimer recalls.  "The best way to do that was having a shop."

A native of Watkins Glen, Reimer had studied art, focusing on mixed media.  " I had a little bit of graphics, a little bit of painting, and a little bit of pottery and photography," she says.  "I did it all.  It was just fun."  But she didn't think having her own shop was possible until 2000, when her husband Nathan said, "You have a dream.  Why not do it?"  So they did.

the ADmindersDon't you just love getting those free t-shirts with a company logo on it?  Or a tote bag, ice cream bowl, stress ball, pen knife, flashlight, pencil or pen?  Or the (now a collector's item) Lansing Star branded mouse pad?  The companies hope you will keep their giveaway and remember them when the time comes to buy their products (you didn't forget to log onto the Star, right?)  The ADminders is a Lansing business that provides promotional items their clients hope people will remember.

Owner Janet Keefe started the business when her husband Bob got a job in Ithaca in 1987.  She had worked for a promotional product distributor in Texas, and still remembers her first sale.  "My very first order in the industry back in Dallas was balloons, and I'll never forget it," she recalls.  "An order of printed balloons.  And there I launched a career. Just balloons. Twenty years later I'm still selling balloons."

This week the Pyramid Ithaca Mall announced that they will be sporting a new name: The Shops at Ithaca Mall.  Mall officials say the name change will be gradual, but it comes because of new directions the mall will be taking, starting with next week's opening of Regal Stadium Cinema 14.

The Star met with Principal Partner Eric Goetzmann and Genral Manager Gena Speno at their office to talk about the new name and what it means for the future of Ithaca's largest mall.  The Mall staff has been working very closely with Regal Cinema and says that the theater opening is an appropriate time to roll out the new name.  Special events are planned at the new complex for most of next week, including charity days when movie-goers will be able to see a movie for aone dollar.  But Goetzmann says that is only the beginning of what he sees as unending changes to accommodate the changing needs and wants of local shoppers.

The UPS StoreYou can go to the UPS campus in Lansing if you happen to be able to make it during the limited counter hours.  It's best to have everything packed and ready to go, because you will be standing in line.  Or you can take your things to the UPS Store on the Ithaca Commons when it's convenient for you, and have your things professionally packed.  The staff is friendly and looking for ways to help, keeping an eye on the loading zone to see when customers pull up so they can come out and help bring things inside.  "At least you're not schlepping this package all the way down the sidewalk," says owner Joanne Lamoureux.  "We will come get it from your car for you.  If we see you out there we're going to go out there and help you even if you didn't ask.  It's all about service."

P.W. Wood & Son, Inc. has been selling insurance in Tompkins County since Percy Wood first opened 'The Wood Office' in 1853.  That part hasn't changed.  But since 1979 the Ferris family has been guiding the company into the future while helping clients manage their risk.  The company's approach to risk management is one of the key things that President Jamie Ferris says sets his company above the rest.

"We try to work with our customers and determine what their exposures to risk are, and how we are going to address them," he says.  "Then we figure out how insurance becomes a piece of that so that we are spending their insurance dollars as wisely as possible."

In the former Fall Creek Cinema building there is a combination studio/theater space that is ideal for photographers and videographers.  Ithaca photographer Thomas Hoebbel says the studio is ideal for photo and video shoots.  Hoebbel offers a range of services for businesses, performing arts, and individuals.  While he says most of his shoots are on location, the studio suits his needs for portrait photography and video sessions.

"I really love working with lots and lots of different people," Hoebbel  says.  "Every time I have a new job I have a new relationship and a new friendship.  Fulfilling or exceeding their needs and expectations is a joy.  Knowing what they are looking for visually and being able to deliver that and have them love my work makes me happy."

They're saying the economy is going to the dogs.  In just about a week that will be a good thing when Those Dirty Dogs joins the local economy, opening in Lansing Village Place (in front of the Shops at Ithaca Mall) with a target date of October 18th.  The brainchild of Adam Fitscher and Jennifer Bushey, Those Dirty Dogs will offer self dog washing as well as professional grooming and washing, dog day care, a boutique of products including gourmet dog treats, and a range of services geared toward dog owners.

"We're trying to make it fun, family oriented, and different from just a groomer," Fitscher  says.  "Right now this is something that nobody else has.  That's why it's going to work.  People are going to like it."