SAVVY MAINLINE

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The incredible journey of Berwyn’s JP Weber; Why we lost Wayne Sporting Goods; Real estate rumblings in Radnor; Shipley grad’s ‘Wild Life’; Claytor Noone Plastic Surgery; Anti-aging medicine; Personalized test prep & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

JP Weber clearly remembers the day he died.

“I can’t go back there,” he thought on June 3, 2016. “I’m never going in there again.”

An elite loan originator for PNC Bank, Weber quit his job that late spring morning and walked, blindly, off a cliff. The old JP – people-pleasing, Percocet-popping, life-of-the-party JP – long crumbling, collapsed completely. And ever-so-slowly, canvas by canvas, rose up and pieced himself back together.

Pinstripe-suited Joseph Paul Weber was buried that Friday morning. Ponytailed, self-actualized artist @JohnHamster was born.

What some call a complete mental breakdown, Weber, 43, calls The Undoing.

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Water woes close Life Time KOP; Making Good: F. Rapoport & SamSara, G. Bauer & BSWANKY, Four Girls, Givzie & h. honeycup; Tasting Nom Nom in Paoli, Southern Charmer(!) in Wayne; Our holiday recipes & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Troubled waters at Life Time Athletic in Tredyffrin.

The entire facility closed for a few days this week after “a loss of water flow” due to “a construction error,” according to the club’s messages to members.

Wait, the building was “constructed” in 2017 and they’re just finding the error now?

Confused, we reached out to corporate.

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The Main Line’s most networked woman tells all – and it’s not always pretty. Plus, T/E to seize land for schools; Dust-ups in Devon, Berwyn & Paoli; Blue political coup; Vaughan builders & SAVVY reader-appreciation freebies & deals!

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Life looks a lot different after you’re hit, dragged and pinned under a 20,000-pound truck. Just ask Bala Cynwyd’s Jennifer Robinson, who in 2008 nearly lost her life during a sunny stroll on Penn’s campus. In a blink, she went from a newly- wed, rock-star litigator to mangled victim, fully conscious and terrified as EMTs swarmed around her.

Fast forward to 2019 and a reborn Robinson, 46, is finally able to talk about her accident, about the devastating spiral that ensued and how she clawed her way back to daylight.

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Double Issue: Why a top teacher’s not returning to T/E (with video); Shoplifting at Devon (oh, no); Double Jeopardy, O shots (!), ALDI, HipCityVeg, Shore things, HomeCooked, SAVVY Steals & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

School’s out for summer.

As of this week, it’s out forever … for star Stoga teacher Deb Ciamacca.

For years, the former Marine and beloved U.S. Government teacher has urged her students to get off the sidelines. “Democracy’s not a spectator sport,” she’d tell them.

After speaking out about gun safety here – and on national and international TV – she put her career where her mouth was.

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Devon Horse Show edition: Survivor Kirstin Day back in the saddle, What’s new in 2019, Shop the show. Plus, Cryoskin is here (!), Picket Post Pickle, Swedesford update, Trace Ardmore, Ardrossan, new Wayne co-op & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

On June 1, Kirstin Rabe Day will return to the show ring at Devon.

It’s been a while.

Twenty years, in fact.

With her erect carriage, her spit-shined boots and gloved fingers, Kirstin will be the picture of equestrian elegance..

But beneath her finery, emotions will be churning.

I’m here.

I’m healthy.

I’ve made it back.

When she last competed at Devon, Kirstin, now 38, was a junior at Radnor High School. She won two ribbons.

Seven months later, she had to give up riding altogether, and with it, her beloved horse.

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Mighty & Main Line-born, The Motherchic blog launches Nordstrom line (!); Hello, Avalon Bistro Bryn Mawr, Bartaco KOP, Rec Studio Wayne, StudioFlora Berwyn; Plus, Wagsworth, Kramer Drive, Home Grown & lots more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Lindsey Renninger Schuster might just be the most photographed woman on the Main Line.

She takes multiple “mirror selfies” each day.

She stars in professional shoots up to 150 times a year.

She’s photographed incessantly on vacation.

Always camera-ready, she changes clothes five times a day.

No, Schuster’s not a celebrity, a socialite or even a model, at least not technically.

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Wawa murder on our minds; Affordable house calls; Devon’s cutest cottage; AmberNoon’s new Wayne digs; Songsan BBQ Ardmore & Rudee’s Thai Wynnewood; Au revoir, Paramour; Lionheart Tutoring & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

It’s been two weeks since the brutal murder at the Radnor Wawa and we’re still aghast.

We didn’t know Stephanie MIller personally, but her death seems personal. We’re taking it personally.

She walked among us.

Her 6-year-old son goes to school here.

We’ve bought coffee at that Wawa.

The store on Old Sugartown has reopened, its floors scrubbed. The only hint of the horror that happened here: a makeshift memorial on a window ledge.

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Devon Anthropologie to swap out deceptive ‘skinny’ mirrors; Plus, Casablanca spices up Bryn Mawr; The Simple Greek feeds Wayne; F45 trains Paoli; Catwalk for Wings & lots more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Hey, Mirror, Mirror: Who’s the slimmest of them all? Shoppers trying on clothes at the new Devon Anthropologie.

Readers have been telling us for months that Anthro’s dressing-room mirrors make them look a tad taller and a smidge thinner than they actually are.

Thanks for the flattering image, the women told us, but, uh, no thanks.

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The promise, pathos and too-short life of Brad Perz (Stoga ’13); Comings, goings & The Pub that stays put; Zapping pain in Paoli; Devine Designs & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Four weeks after her 24-year-old son died in her arms, Berwyn nurse Beth Perz stood before of a roomful of strangers – reporters, TV cameras and county officials – and broke down. Chester County had just announced its plan to sue opioid manufacturers. And two of the targeted companies – Endo and Cephalon – made the drugs that destroyed her son.

An eleventh-hour addition to the Jan. 15 news conference, Perz had written nothing; she would wing it.

She wiped her eyes, collected herself and began: “I’m here because I have to fight this fight.”

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Development déjà vu in Devon; Look who’s coming to Bryn Mawr, St. David’s & Malvern; Amazing lashes in Wayne; Everyone Reads T/E; Montessori memory care in Paoli; Student suicides & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Remember those ever-evolving plans for Devon Yard? How they once included a hotel, apartment building and parking garage near the old Waterloo site? And how, after a series of skirmishes, feisty neighbors thwarted all three.

Well, never say never.

The same developer – Eli Kahn, in partnership with Wade McDevitt – is back with new versions of each, all sited within spitting distance of Devon Yard and the Devon Horse Show.

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