It is my belief that the best way to bring balance back in to the world is to support local, independently owned businesses. What better time to do it than Black Friday?! There are SO many reasons as to why it is better to shop local than big box / chain stores but I will spare you my ramble.  ShopLocalSF lists some of the reasons here: www.shoplocalsf.org/org

Below is a list of local, independently owned Bay Area businesses, organized by area.

Last night I asked my Twitter, Facebook and Google+ friends to tell me their favorite places to shop in the Bay Area. The response from Twitter was overwhelming! Facebook friends offered a few tips and one Twitter friend responded on G+. Hmm what does that say about G+?

If your favorite independent locally owned shop is not on the list please leave a comment below and I will do my best to add it to the list.

I came across the 3/50 project which I think is a fabulous idea! They’re asking that we spend at least $50 a month at 3 different locally owned independent businesses.  Read more about it here: www.the350project.net  Their Twitter hashtag is #350proj You can follow @cindabaxter, the founder of The 3/50 Project on Twitter. If Twitter is not your thing you can also “like” them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/The350Project

Thank you for checking out my Shop Local list! I’m currently offering special (a.k.a. affordable) prices to local, independently owned businesses for sponsorships on my blog. If you’d like to place an ad like the ones you see to the right of this post please contact me for pricing.  —–>

Another suggestion I got was to shop at your local Farmer’s Market – great crafts and food gifts often available.

For that special holiday outfit you might only wear once try local consignment and thrift shops. You might just find the perfect outfit!

I’ve also included a few coffee shops and restaurants on this list because we need to eat, right?!

Please join me in taking the pledge to shop local as much as possible. #shoplocal

North Bay / Marin

Corte Madera
A Childs Delight (Toys)
Meadowlark Gallery
Rick’s Wine Cellar (stop in and have a glass or pick up a bottle for a gift)
The Book Passage
Tiller Diggs (home & garden,  jewelry & clothing)

Fairfax
Good Earth Natural Foods (healthy holiday meals & gifts)
Iron Springs (brewery & restaurant)
Revolution 9
Sherman’s General Store
The Hummingbird Restaurant
Various & Sundries

Larkspur
Coquelicot (antiques, home & garden, jewelry)
Lark Shoes
Marin Brew Co. (brewery & restaurant)
Modern Cookie Co. (opening Dec. 5)
Rustic Bakery
What Poppy Wants (boutique & vintage consignment shop)

Mill Valley
At The Top Salon (gift certificate or jewelry)
Dan’s Liquor (for your holiday wine or bubbly)
F. Joseph Smiths (massage, ask for Jessica B)
Mill Valley Market (for you holiday groceries)
Moss & Moss
Mountain Biking Marin (bike tours and clinics)
Pharmaca (not totally local but great alternative to the big box drug stores & wonderful products)
Red Dragon Yoga (clothing, gift cards, yoga classes to destress)
Tea Fountain
Title 9
The Book Depot
Two Neat (gifts)
Vintage Wines
Woodland’s Pet

Muir Beach
The Pelican Inn (restaurant)

Napa
Peju Winery (this is where you take your out of town guest – fun!)
Rancho Gordo (heirloom beans) <– now that is original!

Novato
Dr. Insomnias (coffee shop)
Class Cycle (bike shop)
Grazie Cafe Italiano (restaurant)
Moylan’s (brewery & restaurant)
Studio 4 Art (make stuff)
Marin Humane Society (adopt a pet, pet store)
Rustic Bakery

Petaluma
Copperfield Books
Della Fattoria (restaurant)
iLeoni (kitchen & gifts)
Knitterly  
Mrs. Grossman’s Stickers (great field trip for young children)
Nan Winters (clothing)
Shop Paper White
Tara Firma Farms (for your healthy holiday meal or a fun activity for the family)
McEvoy Ranch (body care products, olive oil, more)
Robindira Unsworth (jewelry, clothing, accessories)
Sorella (hair studio, fashion boutique)
Tuscan Gardens (home & garden)

Pt.Reyes
Zuma (arts and crafts)
Pt. Reyes Open Studio

San Anselmo
3  Ring Cycles (bike store)
Gathering Thyme (herbs & health care products)
Gioia’s Boutique (Clothing)
Great Acorn Co. (gifts)
Holiday Pop Up Shop (Dec. 3 Only)
Marin Coffee Roasters
Pure Joy Body work
Sidekicks (clothing)
Susan’s Store Room
Fig Garden (gifts)

San Rafael
A Childs Delight (Toys)
Andy’s Market (great wine & chocolate selection)
Art Works Downtown
Bananas At Large (musical instruments & pro audio equipment)
Beads of Marin
Bedrock Music & Video
California Bike N Bean (bike store)
Celebracion Bridal (pretty dresses, tux rentals & tiaras!)
Clogs Unlimited
Dharma Trading Co. (fiber art supplies & clothing blanks)
Friends Books (used books, 100% proceeds support San Rafael Public Library)
Elegant Images Fine Art Photography
Gamescape (non-electronic games)
Jan Orcutt, Accupunture (remember to take care of yourself)
Marin Jewelers Guild
Merritt Chiropractic Center (might need this after all the shopping)
Pin Up Hair Emporium & Unique Boutique
Ponsford’s Place (Bakery)
Red Dragon Yoga
T & B Sports
The Magic Flute
Toni Tierney Baby Clothes (she often has great sales right out of her headquarters)
Via Diva (furniture)
Viva Diva (clothing)
Youth in Arts – Retail shop

Sausalito
Mollie Stones (groceries, gifts)
Sweet Ginger (Sushi restaurant, gift card!)
Downtown Sausalito is full of lots of wonderful little shops.

Sonoma
Bram Cookware
The Girl & The Fig (restaurant)

Santa Rosa
T & B Sports

Tomales
Fallon Hills Ranch (to buy your ranch raised grass fed holiday meal)

Online
Cowboy’s Fuzzy Duds
Bean Up The Nose Art
The Marin Store (Marin Magazine)

East Bay

Albany
Five Little Monkeys (Toy shop)

Berkeley
Berkeley Bowl (groceries)
Gather Berkeley (restaurant, gift certificate)
Kermit Lynch (wine importer on the larger side)
Tail of the Yak (gifts)
Fourth Street in Berkeley has lots of great shops

Hayward
Hayward Book Shop

Oakland
Calm, A Salon
Cole Coffee (local roasted coffee)
Glamour Paws
Laurel Book Store
Oakland Dish
Oakollectiv (local hand painted t-shirts, local designs)
Paws and Claws (pet shop)
Relish Catering (for your holiday parties)
Someone’s In The Kitchen
The Crucible (gift & art sale 12/10 – 12/11)
The Oakland Chocolate Factory (you can get my gift here)
The Wine Mine
Tootsies (shoe boutique, pedicures)
Walden Pond Books

Walnut Creek
Five Little Monkeys (Toy shop)
Walnut Creek Yacht Club (restaurant)

South Bay

Palo Alto
Books, Inc

San Francisco
A Childs Delight (Toys)
Cheekbob (pet store)
Christopher’s Books (Potrero Hill)
Cowgirl Creamer
Create More (Apple supplies, support & more!)
Farmers Market
Ferry Building San Francisco (lots of independent shops here)
Flax Art & Design
Green Apple Books – Inner Richmond. Clement at 6th.
Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper (honey!)
MSR museum (best #sf place for small children. Small place, lots to do & see, parents just relax @ entrance & watch them run. @thecara)
Pacific Catch (restaurant, gift certificate)
Palio Paninoteca
Rancho Gordo Beans (SF Ferry Plaza Farmers Market)
Recchuti (Did someone say chocolate?)
Streetcar Museum
The Book Passage (ferry building)

San Jose
Hicklebees Books (mostly kids)
Streetlight Records

Thank you to everyone who sent suggestions!

Happy Holidays!

#ShopLocal

Please leave a comment and let us know what you got at your local independently owned store!

If you live in another area please make your own list and share it with your readers!

If your appliances break during the holiday season… don’t fret! Call Appliance Techs of Marin!

According to this video you might even get a date if you shop local.

*disclaimer I have not been to many of these businesses they are suggestion I crowd-sourced from my social networks. If there are any corrections that need to be made please leave a comment below.

**This is an evolving/growing list. I plan to add links to all the businesses and to keep adding more local, independently owned businesses. However, if I continue working on this tonight I may find myself disowned by my family. Thanks for shopping local.

PS. Please feel free to copy/use this list and pass it on to others. I’d appreciate a link back to the original list. Here is the link: http://sallyaroundthebay.com/2011/11/shop-local-bay-area/ Thank you!

Thank you for shopping local!

Want to have a delicious and ethnic meal for 2 for under $10? I found the place!

I just discovered today that Royal Franks in downtown San Rafael is so much MORE than a hot dog stand.

I’ve walked by this place many times and never even considered going in. (I’m not a big fan of hot dogs.) Today as we were walking by we a saw a friend (Tere- the amazing woman who cuts our hair in Marin for $10) standing in front of Royal Franks. She was waiting for a friend but told us we absolutely had to try the Pupusas. I was like, “what are you talking about this a hot dog place?” She insisted we try their Pupusas and ordered one for us.

I asked the man behind the counter, Junior (who I think is the owner) what was up, did he have some kind of secret menu or something? I pointed to the menu that listed hot dogs and other random typical American food. He smiled and said yes and then handed me a card announcing the new menu. The card said, “Royal Franks now serves authentic Salvadorian and Guatemalan Food”.

We sat down and had to wait a few minutes. It turns out he makes the Pupusas fresh as you wait.

He brought us the Pupusa steaming hot! It was SO good and authentic tasting.

We decided to have Pupusas for dinner. They’re served with a tomato sauce and a cabbage salad. The total price for Celia and I to eat and bring home leftovers was under $10. The food was fresh, authentic and delicious!

Royal Franks is located at 1109 Fourth Street in San Rafael, CA.

415.879.5225

In case you are wondering what Papusas are… here is how Wikipedia describes them:

A pupusa (from Pipil pupusawa) is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) that is filled with a blend of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft cheese called Quesillo found in all Central America), cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency (called chicharrón, not to be confused with fried pork rind, which is also known as chicharrón in some other countries), ), refried beans (frijoles refritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a vine flower bud from Central America). The two most common pupusas are the pupusa de queso (cheese) and more popular pupusa revuelta with mixed ingredients of queso (cheese), frijoles (beans),[1] and chicharrón. Pupusas are typically served with curtido (lightly fermented cabbage slaw with red chilies and vinegar) and a watery tomato salsa. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa

I had the bean and cheese Pupusa!

Que rico!

If you go to Royal Franks, ask for Junior and tell him you want to try the secret menu Sally told you about.

A few weeks ago, I decided I was officially tired of all the lunch options in the Financial District (known as FiDi to the hip crowd. Not sure if it is pronounced fI-dI or fee-dee? I’m not part of the hip crowd).

The food in the FiDi is all starting to taste the same to me. The lunch restaurants have to produce a LOT of food in a very short period of time. Between 12-1pm every week day, all of the restaurants are processing what seems like hundreds of hungry, in a hurry professionals.

Ideally I would be making enough dinner every night to have leftovers for lunch. As much as I want to do this and know how much better it would be for my health and my budget, I just can’t seem to get my act together!

So…

I put out to my Facebook & Twitter community that I needed suggestions for new food options in the San Francisco Financial District and a few people suggested I try the food trucks. What a great idea!

What do you know? The next day Kung Fu Tacos happened to be parked across the street from my office. It was meant to be! I had to try this place! I walked up, got in line with a bunch of guys in suits and said, “what’s good here?”, they told me their favorites and I bounced up and down saying “I’m so excited to try this place!” The men in suits politely smiled at me and probably thought to themselves: “this girl doesn’t get out much”.

I ordered the chicken tacos, they were light, healthy and delicious! The tacos were $2 each.

I’m now on a mission to try all the food trucks/carts that make their way in to the Financial District. If you know of any, please let me know!

Around here Whole Foods has been nicknamed Whole Paycheck. After seeing this video by Shane and Chantal Valentine of The Baby Cuisine Cookbook. I think Whole Foods needs a new nickname.

Which do you think is cheaper for organic products? Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s or Safeway. I was very surprised by the results.

Shane and Chantal Valentine are local Marin residents. You can follow them on Twitter @babycuisine. You can also follow Whole Foods on Twitter @WholeFoods.

*green bean image  by Flickr user Chasqui

Have you heard about Tipsy Tow?

AAA is offering a pretty cool service tonight. If you find you’ve had a few too many glasses of champagne tonight and realize you are too tipsy to drive please call Tipsy Tow and a tow truck driver will come pick your drunk self up and drive you and your car home for free (within 5 miles). You don’t have to be a member.

Thanks AAA!

More info here. AAA Tipsy Tow Program

Call 800.222.4357 if you need a ride.

This service is also offered on other holidays.

Happy New Year! What are you doing for the New Year? I’m staying home with my laptop.

Funny thing about this blog… the post that drives the most traffic to my blog is the one I wrote about “affordable haircuts in Marin”. I guess with everything being SO expensive here in Marin people are on the lookout for something affordable. The hair salon has changed names since I wrote the post about cheap haircuts in Marin, although it is still the same great people. Salon Carlos in San Rafael is now called Salon Mirsa. I went yesterday to get my usual $10 haircut.

I like to support local, independently owned businesses but I’m not one to spend big money on a haircut. I’ve also never been happy with haircuts from that big super chain haircut place.

I was happy to discover Salon Mirsa (thanks to Celia who introduced me to the place). Salon Mirsa is kind of unique for Marin County. It doesn’t exactly fit the Marin County stereotype. The main language spoken at Salon Mirsa is Spanish. That’s because Salon Mirsa is located in the heart of the Canal community of San Rafael where most of the residence are Hispanic. But don’t let the language get in your way! The stylists at Salon Mirsa are a very welcoming and friendly bunch. Just tell them you know Sally .

Salon Mirsa has top notch stylists. If you are on a budget and are looking for a great haircut for you or your kids try Salon Mirsa. Tip: all the stylist are great but I especially like Tere.

$10 for a haircut! I don’t think you’ll find a better deal in Marin County.

Pictured below (Mirsa, the owner – Tere, the stylist – Celia, the mountain biker who got her hair dyed blue).

If you are hungry after your haircut you can find some tasty Mexican food nearby at Picante on Bellam Blvd.  Or you can do a little grocery shopping and get a cultural experience all at the same time.

I love Thai food and Marin County seems to have endless choices when it comes to Thai food.  Today I joined a friend for lunch at a place called Lanna Thai in San Anselmo located on the Miracle Mile.  The décor is nice and the food is good.

We started with the Salad Roll appetizer “lettuce cups filled with jicama, crispy noodles and pine-nuts all tossed in a tangy sauce”. We ordered the Sauté Eggplant which is eggplant sauteed with Thai basil in black bean sauce with Tofu. It comes with a choice of Chicken, Beef or Tofu and it cost $7.95.

We also got the Crispy Basil Chicken: Tender chicken lightly breaded and tossed with a tangy sauce and crispy Thai basil for $11.00. I was expecting it to be more chicken nugget like but it the batter was actually light, crispy and delicious! I had a Thai Iced Tea with my meal.

I LOVE Thai Iced Tea!

Lanna Thai
810 Sir Francis Drake Blvd
San Anselmo, CA 94960
415-455-8300
www.lannamarin.com

Last night I went to the Sausalito Cruising Club. This is one of Marin’s best kept secrets. It’s actually a yacht club but I have a feeling it is nothing like what you visualize when you hear the words yacht club.

The Cruising Club founded in 1949 is a funky old barge turned in to a bar/restaurant/dance club with live music. It’s actually a “refurbished WWII ammunition barge”. You have to be a member or know a member to get in. Fortunately my friend Jessica is a member and she invited me to come see The California Honeydrops. For a $15 entry fee I got an awesome concert and a buffet dinner. I invited my friend SFDoug to go because I thought it would be a fun experience for him. If you follow Doug’s blog you know his dining style is more the kind that goes with fine wine, not serve-yourself-all-you-can-eat buffet. Doug was a good sport. I think he actually enjoyed himself.

The buffet had fresh Caesar salad, a mixed veggie salad, chicken legs, cheese bread, pesto, pasta, rice with chicken and another pasta with red sauce. I tried a little bit of everything and enjoyed it all!

I almost forgot to mention the view! The barge is located on the Bay in Sausalito with an amazing view! (that my iPhone did not do justice to)

I loved The California Honeydrops! Their music is fun and happy! The kind that makes you want to dance.

Digging deep into the roots of American music, The California Honeydrops embrace the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Second Line New Orleans Jazz, and early R&B. -www.cahoneydrops.com

The Sausalito Cruising Club is located at the foot of Napa Street in Sausalito, docked at Dunphy Park.

Last Tuesday night my friend Dolores and I attended the San Francisco Clothing Swap! We had a great time! (Blog post coming soon about the Clothing Swap). While makeup artist Nikol Elaine was doing Dolores’ makeup we all got to talking. Nikol was such a wonderful person I asked her if she would be willing to do an interview for my blog. She said yes!

Nikol Elaine is what some might call an artist of the face. A makeup artist by day, born and raised California girl by night, she is clearly on a mission to show you how less can enhance more. Known for her delicate use of false eyelashes and crafty ability to make subtle or dramatic changes, she winks at any challenge. Nikol Elaine works solely on location across the bay area and specializes in wedding makeup.

nikol elaine makeup artistry

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
-I love how lucky we are to be surrounded by mountains and ocean and I love that San Francisco is a mecca for travelers and culture from all over the world.

Where is your favorite place to hike/bike in the Bay Area?
-I enjoy hiking and the view from Mt. Diablo

Favorite place to take your dog?
-I love taking my dog downtown Danville to Sideboard cafe as he loves sitting outside to people watch.

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area?
-My favorite resturant changes often as I am a self proclaimed foodie, however this month is Esin in Danville.

What is your favorite place to get coffee or tea?
-I could not live without coffee and my first choice would be Cafe 504 in Oakland

What is your favorite place to shop for clothing?
-I love shopping vintage in SF and for gently used clothing at local consignments or at SF’s own ClothingSwap.com!

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 would take them wine tasting in Napa valley followed by a nice dinner in SF.

We had an informal mini TweetUp at Thai Smile in San Rafael today. A few weeks ago some of us started talking about Thai Smile on Twitter and decided we should have lunch there. Somehow that turned in to lunch for 11 or 12 not sure just know we were squished around a table for 8. J It’s all good! I love my Twitter friends.

This was a lunch full of Marin’s Powerful Women! I was honored to be sitting with all these fun and inspirational women! Look who came out to have lunch with us: Nancy of @ATOMsanRafel, Diane of @dianefischler, Lissa of @LissaRankin, Tara of @TaraFirmaFarms, Lisa of @LisaKiftTherapy, Peggy of @PoButler, Hannah of @momntwins, Cathy of @CurtisFinancial (who came all the way from the East Bay to join us), Marilyn of @Fun_Master, Michelle of @DrMichelleXO, if I forgot someone please shoot me now.

@SFDoug heard us talking about our plans on Twitter and asked if lunch was for women only. We said of course not and invited him. So Doug was the lucky guy who won the Player badge on FourSquare for checking in with 3 or more people of the opposite sex at the same time. Doug you owe us a drink for or something. Maybe at Rick’s Wine Cellar…

It was great fun! Thanks everyone for coming out! The food was delicious and affordable.

Here are some of our Thai smiles.

Where's Doug?