Occupation: I am a food service inspector for the Newtown health district. I am responsible for inspecting all establishments in town that serve food, including temporary events. I also do consulting for Sani-Systems. I provide bimonthly corporate food inspections. I’ve worked for Sani-Systems as a consultant for 13 years and for the town of Newtown since September of 2004.

Family: My husband, Paul Piazza, is a pharmacist at Bridgeport Hospital. Sara is 14, and a freshman at Newtown High School. Luke is 11 and he is in the sixth grade at Reed Intermediate.

Pets: We have Daisy, a 9-year old mix-breed dog and Luke has two geckos, Lumpy and Bumpy. We used to have a lot of guinea pigs; you know, first you have two, then you have five…. And we have a Beta fish, Gus.

How long have you been in Newtown? We’ve been her for 13 years. We moved from Westchester.

What do you like to do in your free time? I love to walk. We like to bike and kayak as a family, and ice skate. We ski, too. We actually don’t eat out much. It has nothing to do with my job, I just strongly believe it’s important to have the family around the table together at home.

Do you have a favorite vacation spot? As a family, we vacation every year with cousins and we go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It’s the only time we manage to get together, so it’s great. I like the Southwest, myself. I’ve traveled to Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado. It’s so different from the Northeast. The terrain is different, the animals are different, the trees are different; and it appears to have more sky.

Do you have a favorite book? This year I am reading what my children are being assigned in class. So I just read Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Luke’s class is reading Homeless Bird. I’ve read the Dogs of Babel for myself, and I really liked that. Next I’m reading The Kite Runner.

What is the best thing about Newtown? There are so many great things about Newtown. But I really believe it’s the people who make it great. And having young kids, I’m kind of “forced” into these great events in town. It’s the people that make the town.

Do you carry anything interesting in your purse? I do actually carry very interesting things. I collect things as I go along. I have a vial of bubbles and I have chestnuts. I was visiting my sister in Port Jefferson, N.Y., and I picked up a whole bunch. They’d make great slingshot material! The bubbles are a great for distracting kids. Then I found all of these little pinecones at White Memorial. There’s a button. It’s from a jacket I bought when I was with my mother, so it reminds me of her. She passed away last year.

Do you have a philosophy of life? I try to keep things simple and focus on what’s in front of me. Don’t get distracted by all of those things out there that are calling for our attention.

What do you most cherish? Just like everyone else, my family. My family and my friends.

Suzette LeBlanc