2013 Tanger Taste and Style Experience with Robert Irvine. 4/13/13 & 4/14/13. SCAD Apron Runway show 4/13/13 @ 2:00pm. http://www.tangeroutlet.com/hiltonhead

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It's pretty much a cliche that there's no such things as a 'shade tree mechanic' any more, but I got a reminder yesterday of how far we've come from the shade tree. 

It started when I dropped off  my car at my favorite shop, RPM Autoworx on Chatham Parkway, for its regular oil change and checkup.

A while later, co-owner Rick  Broussard called to tell me I needed new shock absorbers, struts and, either this time or later, new sparkplugs.  My car has 107,000 miles on it; so this wasn't particulary surprising.    

If the best things come to those who wait, the Southbound Brewing Company is going to produce the tastiest beer this side of Bavaria.

Entrepreneurs Smith Mathews and Carly Wiggins are weeks away from launching their brewery operations in a manufacturing facility on Lathrop Avenue. The duo have invested two years and more than $2 million in their startup, buying a building and having brewing equipment custom made.

Nine of Savannah’s finest hotels scored “Four Diamond” ratings from travel organization AAA.

The “Five Diamond” ranking – AAA’s crème de la crème -- remains elusive locally, though.

Five Diamond hotels are “refined and stylish with upscale physical attributes,” according to AAA. Only seven Georgia hotels achieved the ranking, five of those in Atlanta. The Lodge at Sea Island and the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation were the 5-stars beyond Atlanta.