AROUND TOWN: Girl Scout cookie dinner a hit

“Live Healthy, Lead Healthy” say the Girl Scouts of Colorado. And, on Sept. 13 they added: eat Girl Scout cookies. For the fundraising Thin Mint Dinner, the chef at Cheyenne Mountain Resort created gourmet dishes incorporating the famous cookies, from soup to entree to luscious desserts. And there were Thin Mints to take home and freeze.

Foodies gave thumbs-ups to the menu, including four guests of The Gazette, Angela and Zach Lehmann and Peterson Air Force Base Master Sgts. Dwayne Harris and Mark Schelling (retired).

Featured speaker was Nancy Saltzman, whose first book, “Radical Survivor,” tells how she lived through the deaths of her husband and two sons, how she coped with breast cancer and how she moved on with life to help others.

“People who expect life to always be fair are the unhappiest people in the world,” she said. You just deal with whatever life gives you and move on, Saltzman said.

In the spotlight at the dinner were the 2012 Women of Distinction and Women to Watch. Honored were Claire Oberon Garcia, professor of English, Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist and Gender Studies at Colorado College; Rosemary Harris Lytle, president, NAACP Colorado/Montana/Wyoming State Conference; Dee Vazquez Sabol, community engagement and outreach officer, Pikes Peak Library District; Mary Thurman, deputy superintendent, Colorado Springs School District 11; and Linda Weise, executive director, Colorado Springs Conservatory.

Women to Watch: Amanda Mountain, executive director, Tim Gill Center for Public Media and station manager, Rocky Mountain PBS, KTSC-TV; and Liz Denson, community relations specialist, Early Connections Learning Centers.