It was so FUN taking the Marin Twitter Tribe Tweetup Van to the East Bay. @Pobutler drove @ken_homer, @dianefischler, @momntwins and myself, @fun_master to the TweetUp brunch at @gatherberkeley restaurant that was organized by @curtisfinancial.

It is always wonderful meeting new tweeps!

We went around the table taking turns to share a bit about ourselves and shared twitter stories. We sat outside on the patio, got free coffee/tea drinks and ate farm fresh meals.

Pictured below is a breakfast pizza that @curtisfinancial and @thecara ordered.

The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed making new connections with local tweeps!

Also there: @irenelson, @dianajhoward, @seeherestudios, @FritiNancy, @BoomerBabeCoach, @tendaijordan

And thank you to @seeherestudios for gifting us all 3D glasses to view her 1st iPad app, 3D Storybook – “The Wrong Side of the Bed”.  (Very cool!) Yes, I have a pair for @Sally_K who was unable to make it.  Her ears may have been ringing tho! (They were.)

And a yummy present for her from our next stop… (I love presents!)

Before heading back in the TweetUp Van to Marin County, we made a “chocolate” stop on 4th Street in Berkeley at Chocolatier Blue Patisserie.

We are already planning more east/west TweetUps! We will keep you posted!

Marilyn LoRusso – FUNmaster

It’s all about your FUNitude and raising your FQ (FUNtelligence Quotient). Marilyn is a Children’s Entertainer, Twitter Trainer and FUNspirational Living Consultant. For Marilyn, it is all about feeling inspired and focusing on the best in any situation – feeling good no matter what! Life is supposed to be FUN! Marilyn has a B.S. from Northwestern University, an M.S. from Columbia University and an F.S. (FUNmaster of Science) from Life University. She is presently working on her Doctorates in FUNology from Eternity University. You are welcome to visit her blog: www.funitude.blogspot.com

Thanks Marilyn!

Today is 01.02.2010 which is a palindrome. I thought this would be a great day to review the past year. Sally Around The Bay is less than a year old. I had the idea of starting this blog floating around in my head for awhile, but I did not start working on it until the beginning of last year. I think it was right around New Year’s last year when the name finally came to me. I remembered that my name, Sally was actually a word in the English dictionary meaning to go out on a venture or an excursion (usually off the beaten path).

Last year around this time I was feeling a little burned out and decided I needed to do something to motivate myself to get out of the house and try new things. I know when I travel I like to find the “local” spots to try rather than the typical overpriced tourist traps so I figured people might be interested in reading about the various local gems I found. I was right. Since I started this blog back in April I have had so much support and encouragement and have made a lot of new friends. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog over the past year.

I was just reviewing my blog posts thinking about 2009. I’m so thankful I started this blog. I have met some of the most amazing people because of it. I have also discovered some pretty awesome restaurants and businesses around the bay area.

I think the blog experience that I personally got the most out of was the visit to the farm in Petaluma. I got to meet Tara Smith who I found incredibly inspirational. I met Tara thanks to Peggy (my Twitter friend turned real friend) mentioning the farm on Twitter. View photos of the farm visit here.

Another fun experience was visiting Mrs. Grossman’s sticker factory. When I saw Mrs. Grossman on Twitter my brain went on fast forward down memory lane. I was so happy when they invited me to come in for a tour.

My blog inspired me to be bold, to try new things. As many of you know I did a big bold move when I wrote the open letter to MiniSF telling them about my Big Mini Dream. That was fun. I did not get my Mini (yet) I’m still hoping… but I did have a ton of fun with it and did catch their attention. Thank you to each of you that supported my Big Mini Dream. I was amazed at all the support I got. You people are awesome!

I got a new hat to help save a home.

Thanks to my blog I got out of my comfort zone and tried new shops and restaurants.
Some of my favorites were:

Coast Café in Bolinas.

Naan ‘N’ Curry in San Francisco

Toronado & Rosamunde Sausage Grill in San Francisco

The Whipper Snapper in San Rafael

Peju Winery in Napa

Also learned I like more than one Sushi restaurant in the Bay Area and that Thai food makes me smile.  I think I discovered the best Chinese food in the Bay Area. Oh and I almost forgot the best Dim Sum in San Francisco!

Discovered Fourth Street in Berkeley.

Shopping at Gioia in San Anselmo.

Met a super cool relationship expert and the bloggers at MoreMarin. I also met Lissa Rankin from Owning Pink.

Thanks to my blog, I got interviewed on the BlogHer show The Juice and was mentioned on the Miniology radio show. Also something exciting to me was I got sponsors for my blog (check out the upper right column —> and be sure to click on them. Thanks!)

I can’t forget Mill Valley on Tuesday Nights or Marilyn, the fun master.  I met Marilyn earlier this year, she always reminds me to have fun. I also met ATOMsanRafael who are super nice people that fixed one of my broken appliances.

My fondest memories from 2009 are the TweetUps and the wonderful people I met at the TweetUps especially Diane Fischler and Ken Underscore.

Twitter is Magical
Awesome Marin TweetUp

Stay tuned for future TweetUps in Marin! Working on one for February. (Still looking for a restaurant in Novato to volunteer). Moylan’s – hint hint.

Happy New Year!

I look forward to another year of blogging.

We had breakfast at Bette’s Diner which is like a blast from the past 50’s style diner. I had already eaten so I got a Chai Tea. The tea was really good. Peggy ordered a Buckwheat Waffle, it looked good and she said it was tasty. Analisa had a big bowl of Oatmeal with raisins. I was kind of wishing I hadn’t already eaten.

After breakfast, Peggy and I decided to check out the Fourth Street scene. Peggy had to do some Christmas shopping for her little ones. She took me to a really cool locally owned toy store called The Ark that specializes in “classic, imported, Waldorf-inspired, wooden and just all-around fun toys.” Doesn’t this toy store just look fun?!

After the toy store I spotted the Chocolatier so we headed over there and had a Dark Chocolate Tart thing. Whatever it was, it was delicious!

One last stop was the Crate & Barrell Outlet store. I have been saying for months years that I need new glasses. I do not have one full set of any glasses anymore. Hardwood floor + glass + me = a lot of broken glasses. I found the cutest glasses ever and they were on sale so I bought 8. I now have 8 matching drinking glasses, imagine that! Dinner party time!

Visit www.fourthstreetshop.com for more information about this area in Berkeley.

1. Take ferry to San Francisco and walk around the ferry building and then go ice skating in the Embarcadero.
2. Walk around Tiburon.
3. Take a ferry to Angel Island and go for a hike.
4. Go shopping on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.
5. Visit the Camera Obscura in San Francisco. (The giant camera)
6. Walk around Chinatown, be adventurous and try some Dim Sum.
7. Visit a farm in Petaluma! Learn about where your food comes from.
8. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
9. Go to Golden Gate Park Japanese Tea Garden, Botanical Gardens, Conservatory of Flowers and so much more.
10. After Golden Gate Park you can walk around Haight Street and see the famous Haight/Ashbury neighborhood.
11. Go for a Mountain Bike ride in Marin County
12. Tuesday Night Comedy Night in Mill Valley with Mark Pitta.
13. Take a drive to Stinson Beach and keep driving to find the secret town of Bolinas.
14. Go wine tasting in Napa and then try some delicious vegetarian food.

Happy Holidays!

If you have any suggestions for fun and unique things I didn’t list here please leave a comment letting us know.

Plus, it is so incredibly hot and humid here in OC this week a frozen yogurt sounded pretty good to me.

Emily was right. Yogurtland is great! You come in and grab a big bowl. Your choice of bowls is big and bigger. I would have liked to see a small or junior size bowls but since you get to fill it yourself and decide exactly how much you want I guess big is okay, it leaves room for the toppings. They offer a huge choice of yogurt, I decided to try 3 different flavors: Dutch Chocolate, Cookies & Cream, and Plain Tart. Plain Tart is my favorite but I couldn’t resist trying the other flavors. They also have some unique flavors such as Taro and Green Tea. The topping bar was endless… full of fresh fruit, nuts, candy, cereal and probably other things. I was focused on the fresh fruit. I had mango, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and blueberries.

Yogurtland charges by weight. I think it was .30 cents an ounce.

I just discovered Yogurtland is also in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have a location in Berkeley! I think Emily and I will be taking a field trip to Berkeley soon.

Yogurtland
277 E. 17th Street
Costa Mesa, CA
949.642.3151

For the record, I love Café Gratitude. I haven’t been there in awhile but I plan to go back soon. Besides the amazingly delicious (and filling) food, one of my favorite things about Café Gratitude is the names of their dishes. All of the dishes title’s are affirmations such as “I am abundant”, “I am beautiful”. You come out of Café Gratitude feeling like a million bucks. Here is an excerpt from Lissa’s post about Café Gratitude. You can read Lissa’s full post here.

Café Gratitude is SO Berkeley. Funky, sweet wait staff with dreads and burgundy hair, colorful art and a cozy fireplace make you feel right at home on a rainy day. For lunch, we feasted on DELICIOUS raw foods. The “I Am Abundant” appetizer sampler treated us to sprouted almond hummus, kale-sea vegetable salad, hempseed pesto crustini, spicy cashew nacho cheese with flax chips, olive tapenade, and a spring roll wrapped in greens with a Thai coconut-almond butter sauce. Matt couldn’t resist ordering the “I Am Sensational” live pesto pizza, which was a buckwheat sunflower seed flatbread crust topped with pesto, sliced tomatoes, and cashew nut ricotta, topped with a sprout salad. We sipped the “I Am Cool” hazelnut milk mint chocolate milkshake, and finished with the “I Am Perfect” pecan pie made with pecan butter and dates in a macadamia nut crust.

Café Gratitude has a multiple locations around the bay: Berkeley, Healdsburg, Oakland, San Francisco and San Rafael

Gabrielson Park firework show in Sausalito starts at 9:00PM on July 4th

Marin County Fair in San Rafael
Firework show every night July 1 –July 5 Starting at 9:30PM

The City of San Francisco Firework Show at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
Starts approximately at 9:30

Jack London Square – Oakland
Time: 9:15 – 9:35

Berkeley Marina (end of the Berkeley Pie)
Starts at 9:30pm

Wine Country Fireworks
Napa River

Peninsula
Starts at 9:30pm can be seen above the Port of Redwood City

Here is an more extensive list of firework shows around the Bay Area from Marin Mommies.