Have you heard of the new book by Lissa Rankin called What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend

Mark your calendars for 2 fun upcoming events in Marin!

Saturday, October 16, 2010 – 4:00pm (Men are welcome)
Lissa Rankin Talk & Book Signing at the Book Passage in Corte Madera. Come out and hear our very own local author & original Marin TweetUp Co-host Lissa Rankin talk about her new book: What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend #VaginaTweetUp

Thursday, November 4, 2010 – 7:00 – 9:00pm (Women only)
Ask the gynecologist and psychologist anything you want at girlfriends’ night out!
Dr. Lissa Rankin and Dr. Michelle Gannon
Pleasures of the Heart on 4th Street in San Rafael.

A. R. Silverberry is actually the pen name for Peter Allan Adler. “His novel, Wyndano’s Cloak, delivers a message of encouragement for young people to believe in themselves and trust the treasures they carry inside.”

Peter grew up in Marin, and is a long-time resident of the Bay Area. A licensed psychologist since 1991, he works with children and families in Cupertino, and balances his clinical practice with writing. Wyndano’s Cloak is his first novel, and has captured five book awards. A sequel is in the works. Visit his website at www.arsilverberry.com.

Silverberry will be at Borders Books, San Rafael, on September 25th, 2–4 PM; and Borders Books, Santa Cruz on October 2nd, 2–4 PM. He will donate a portion of author profit to DrawBridge, a nonprofit that provides expressive art programs for homeless and other vulnerable children in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. He encourages donations directly to DrawBridge at www.drawbridge.org.

Did the Bay Area inspire your book?
Absolutely. I like to use real places as jumping off points for settings, and everything I needed for the kingdom of Aerdem was right here. I wrote the book while riding the Caltrain from Morgan Hill to Palo Alto. For inspiration, all I had to do was look out the window to see the farms, fields of mustard, and wildflowers painting the hillsides. The Bay Area is magical. Even as a child, I imagined all kinds of fairy folk lived on Tam or about the trails behind my house in Homestead.

Where is your favorite place to hike/bike in the Bay Area?
The Los Gatos Creek Trail is great for biking or walking. The trail runs right through Vasona Park, where there’s a lake. Sneak preview of the book, the setting for chapter 29 was inspired by Oak Meadow Park, which merges with Vasona Park. If you go there, you’ll see a carousel, and other places where I got ideas.

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
Gardino’s in Los Gatos. I love the chicken pesto salad, and the chicken kabobs are to die for.

What is your favorite place to get coffee or tea?
Peet’s. I buy their Mocha Java for my home coffee.

What is your favorite place to shop for clothing?
Macy’s at the Stanford Mall, and Patrick James in Aptos.

If you had an out of town guest coming to visit that had never been to the Bay Area where would you take them?
Can you ask something easier! Muir Woods or Golden Gate Park, but they’d have to choose. For me, there’s nothing like those redwoods. I’m in awe every time I see them.

Favorite independent bookstore in the Bay Area?
Kepler’s in San Mateo. They do a wonderful job bringing children and books together, partner with the surrounding schools, and support nonprofits in their community.

I was immediately fascinated by Laura Del Rosso when I met her at the Pearltrees blogger lunch at the Waterbar in San Francisco. She wrote a book titled Great Escapes: Northern California and has created some travel apps for San Francisco. She agreed to be interviewed!

What exactly do you do?
I’m a longtime journalist and author, Bay Area native and 30-year resident of San Francisco. My book, Great Escapes: Northern California (Countryman Press 2008), covers 30 weekend getaways and day trips in northern California. I have a blog on northern California and recently wrote and photographed two travel apps that can be downloaded on iPhones and Ipod Touches — one on San Francisco’s Chinatown and the other on San Francisco’s North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf. They are guides that include interactive maps, website links and suggestions for restaurants, bars, attractions and historic sites to visit.

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
I love the great diversity of everything: the natural landscape, the people, the cultural activities. We’ve got such a wide range of choices for things to do, from hiking along the coast or in forests, to eating in some of the best restaurants in the world and visiting museums, shopping or exploring a small town like Pescadero or an urban neighborhood like the Mission. Even the weather is diverse. In the summer, you can go from cool fog on the coast to blistering hot in less than an hour’s drive.

Where is your favorite place to hike/bike in the Bay Area?
I love to hike on Mt. Tam and Point Reyes, but I live in San Francisco and, almost on a daily basis, I find myself taking long walks on Crissy Field, in the Presidio (on some of the wonderful new hiking paths that have been added there), or on the Land’s End trail, which, on a clear day, has got to be one of the most amazing walks on the planet. They’ve really done a great job sprucing up that trail lately.

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
I love so many, but I’m partial to Delfina in the Mission because the ingredients are so simply prepared and high quality. I also love inexpensive little neighborhood places. La Taqueria in the Mission is my favorite for tacos and Shanghai Dumpling King in the outer Richmond is my top Chinese spot.

What is your favorite place to get coffee or tea?
I normally don’t recommend chains but it’s a local chain so I don’t mind as much: the La Boulanges around San Francisco. I love their almond croissants with a latte. When I’m in North Beach, I head to Cafe Puccini or Cafe Greco for good espresso.

What is your favorite place to shop for clothing?
There’s a little place called Alaya in the inner Sunset that I like. If I’m downtown, I’ll go to Zara and Loehmann’s.

If you had an out of town guest coming to visit that had never been to the Bay Area where would you take them?
I’d show them around San Francisco, starting with the top of Twin Peaks if it’s a clear day. People love that and it gives them the lay of the land. I’d make sure to show them the Victorians on Liberty Street in the Castro, take them through Golden Gate Park (people always love seeing the buffalo and the Conservatory of Flowers), the Ferry Building and walk around downtown a bit — Union Square, Chinatown and Yerba Buena Gardens. Then I’d cross the Golden Gate Bridge and go up to the headlands for a view of the city and the bridge from there. If there were time, we’d go to Sausalito, Muir Woods and drive to Point Reyes to see west Marin.

Favorite winery?
Bartholomew Park Winery in the eastern hills of Sonoma, which has beautiful gardens for a picnic and a very interesting, small museum of the area.

Favorite bar?
Tosca in North Beach. You can’t beat the atmosphere. I love sitting in one of the red booths along the back wall, talking with friends and watching people. On a chilly night, have one of those house specialties with steamed milk, hot chocolate and brandy.

Thank you!

Visit www.greatescapesnorcal.com to learn more.

Crab Stands at the Wharf - by Laura Del Rosso

Please welcome guest blogger (and author) Judith Marshall who discovered a fun way to tour San Francisco.

I had been wracking my brain for weeks, trying to come up with a unique birthday gift for one of my girlfriends. I’d almost given up hope when one day when I was driving through San Francisco, I spotted two people in crash helmets driving what looked like a cross between a bumper car and a golf cart. They looked like they were having a terrific time, talking and laughing. The car was bright yellow with big red letters on the side that read “GoCar.”  When I arrived home that evening, I looked up the company on line and bingo!  The perfect gift – a GPS self-guided tour of San Francisco in a talking car! I purchased a gift certificate on the spot. I can’t wait to hear how my girlfriend likes her trip.

Judith Marshall is a native Californian and is the Author of
HUSBANDS MAY COME AND GO BUT FRIENDS ARE FOREVER
www.judithmarshall.net

Thanks Judith!

I’ve been so busy working and sallying around the bay I haven’t stopped to take the time to blog. Where do I start?

Yesterday, I woke up with a neck spasm and a headache. I just felt out of whack so I called my chiropractor and made an appointment. Wow, I really needed that adjustment. I’m happy to report that I am feeling 100 times better today!

I scheduled my chiropractic appointment right before the open house at BZhive (they’re located within a half a mile of each other in San Rafael) where Patrick Schwerdtfeger was going to be speaking about Social Media. It worked out great. I had my adjustment and was feeling fantastic, ready to meet new people.

BZhive is the new coworking space in Marin County. I was curious about coworking and wanted to check it out. I’d read about the coworking idea in the book, The Whuffie Factor and have been intrigued by it since then.

BZhive is cool! I want to work there. It’s an open office space environment where you can have your own work-desk in an area shared with other entrepreneurs.  The owners Hila and Dan seem to be really friendly and fun people.

The BZhive open house was catered by Sonoma Latina Grill in Novato. I learned their food is local, organic and delicious! The tortillas were homemade. The light and crispy chips were served with a Hominy Hummus, guacamole and super fresh salsa. They serve good, clean, nutritious whole food.  I spent most of my time next to the food table.

<—Here I am (eating) while talking with @fun_master and @quepol (the co-owner of Citizen Space in San Francisco).

After we finished eating the amazingly delicious Sonoma Latina Grill spread we moved in to the open office space area to hear Patrick Schwerdtfeger talk. I was impressed. He knows his stuff and he was a great speaker. (He’s cute too). I learned some new useful tips for social networking that I hadn’t tried before and came home inspired to implement them. Patrick is the author of Webify Your Business. I bought the book and have already read through chapter 12 since I got home last night. If you get a chance to hear Patrick speak don’t miss out on it. It was well worth my time. I stayed after and chatted with Patrick for a bit. He’s real. It was so refreshing to meet someone working in the social media field who is genuine and authentic. He tells it like it is and doesn’t try to put out there that he is better or more knowledgeable than you.

I really enjoyed meeting and listening to Patrick Swerdtfeger. After his talk I went up and asked him if public speaking just came natural to him or if he was in Toastmasters or something. Turns out he is the president of his Toastmaster’s club. I’m the VP of Public Relations for mine. Patrick was a wonderful public speaker. I told him I wanted to be just like him when I grow up (we happen to be the same age).

PS. Thank you to @LeighShev for telling me about this event. And thank you to @fun_master who is always willing to sally around the bay with me and try new things. I don’t know if I would have gone last night if it weren’t for Marilyn agreeing to go with me.

Edited to add Patrick’s mini video from his talk at BZhive:

One of the things I really love about the Bay Area is that there are endless opportunities to meet authors. A few weeks ago my friend Emily called and invited me to see Mike Robbins the author of Be Yourself – Everyone Else is Already Taken speak at Café Gratitude.  Emily called me the same day I wrote this blog post: Being Authentic is Professional so I decided it was meant to be that I went to see Mike talk. Mike is the real thing and I enjoyed meeting him. (He’s pretty cute too!) I was brave enough to go up and ask him if he would be willing to do an interview with me and he said yes! (Which is pretty impressive when you see the other places he’s been interviewed!)

Thanks Mike!

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
I love how beautiful it is and all the different kinds of people.  I grew up in Oakland, went to college at Stanford in Palo Alto, lived in San Francisco for six years, and now live in Concord…so I have gotten to see different parts of the Bay Area and I love it all!

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
I love Lo Coco’s on Piedmont Ave in Oakland – great Italian food and neat local place.  I also love Café Gratitude (in SF, Berkeley, and San Rafael – incredible environment)

Where is your favorite place to shop for clothing, kids stuff, etc?
I’m not a big shopper – we go into downtown Walnut Creek sometimes and there is a cute store on Main St. called Calypso Twist…it is a gift shop and has lots of inspiring stuff for your house, kids, etc.

Favorite place to hike or bike? Favorite park?
Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tam

Favorite independent bookstore in the Bay Area?
Book Passage in Corte Madera

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
I’m so grateful to have been born and raised here in the Bay Area.  I travel a good amount and have been to 47 of the 50 states, as well as been to some amazing cities around the world – Paris, London, Vancouver, Sydney, and more.  The Bay Area is my favorite place, by far, of all of the places I have traveled.  There is nothing like it and we are all so lucky to be here.

Thanks Mike!

Visit www.mike-robbins.com for more information about Mike Robbins.

Many authors live in the Bay Area and thanks to all the wonderful local book stores we often get to see authors speak and to meet them in person. Sally Around The Bay is going to start a series of local author interviews to find out their favorite spots in the Bay Area. Our first interview is with Patricia Volonakis Davis (whose book I just finished reading). Patricia wrote the memoir Harlot’s Sauce. It’s a great book about her life in Greece. I got nostalgic while reading the book and pulled out my photo album from my trip to Greece 10 years ago. Greece is such an amazing and beautiful country.

Thanks Patricia for taking the time to answer my questions!

Author Name: Patricia Volonakis Davis

Book: Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
Well, since my background is Italian, I’m always looking for good Italian restaurants, and I have to say that there are two that I really love- one is Arriverderci’s in San Rafael, though it’s more Italian-American food than strictly Italian. Nonetheless, every item I’ve ever tried on their menu is excellent, they cook everything as you like, even let me trade my potato side for an extra vegetable side. I also LOVE the waitstaff, (Hello, Glenn, Hello, Danny!) because they are all in some way involved in the arts, and they come over to our table and chat with me about my writing, and so we feel like we’re going to see close friends whenever we eat there.  But if you want genuine Italian pizza, the kind with the really thin crust, and all the fresh ingredients on top, you need to go to Benissimo’s in Corte Madera. My husband calls it “Benny and Mo’s”, but he’s a poker player, not an Italian.

Where is your favorite place to shop for clothing?
That is the easiest question to answer- hands down it’s Gioia in downtown San Anselmo. The prices are reasonable, the clothes are different, but trendy/chic, not too way out there, and I love  all the shoes!

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
Another easy question. The people. The people make the Bay Area. I think it’s because they genuinely appreciate how stunningly beautiful the area is. And they feel blessed to live here and show it, by hiking in the area, bicycling here, eating here,  shopping in the area, and most of all, doing their best to keep it ‘eco-friendly’

Favorite independent bookstores in the Bay Area?
Naturally, I’ll say Book Passage first. That’s because they have been so supportive of me and my writing. They have asked me to do workshops there and they went out of their way to make my book launch wildly successful. I love that they have great conferences and all kinds of artistic events, too.  In fact, I’m  organizing one really fabulous event for the California Writers Club Marin Branch that’s being held there in October. Some  amazing literary names are taking part in that! They are truly a local landmark. I also love Book Depot in Mill Valley, And Booksmith in San Anselmo. In fact, Book Depot in Mill Valley was the first local bookshop I discovered when I moved here. They’ve got a great selection of books for such a small shop. Booksmith’s is one I pass almost every time I’m in downtown San Anselmo, and the owner is so gracious and accommodating.

Do you belong to any local clubs?
I belong to the California Writers Club, both the Marin Branch and the Redwood Branch, and I also belong to the Fairfax Health Club. I get my best writing inspiration from all my friends there, and the trainers are great, too!

Do you have any upcoming events related to Harlot’s Sauce?
Yes- lots! I’m speaking in front of the San Diego Feminist Book Group on July 7, for an event called “Harlots and Feminists”, there is the Instock Conference on July 18, in the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco, where I’ll be hosting a panel, The CWC Marin Centennial Event at Book Passage, The Redwood Writers Conference, and lots more appearances at independent bookshops throughout the state. You can check for updates on my  Harlot’s Sauce Fan Page on Facebook, www.booktour.com or on my website at:  www.patriciaVdavis.com.

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If you are a local author and would like to be featured on Sally Around The Bay please contact me.