Happy Saturday!

It’s another beautiful winter/summer day here in Marin County and it is almost Valentine’s Day!

Have you thought about what you are going to give your honey, your child, your best friend or your mom for Valentine’s Day yet? Want to give them something new and different? I have an idea for you!

Go to San Anselmo today!

Tamara Holland is having an Art Sale TODAY.

Where: 2 Florence Ave. in San Anselmo, CA.

When: Today, February 4, 2012 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

This has been the strangest winter I have ever spent in the Bay Area. The weather has been nicer than a normal Bay Area summer.

Here are some photos from the past week.

Took a walk during my lunch break today and happened upon this friendly seagull near the Bay Bridge.

View from the Golden Gate Bridge taken from my bus ride in to the city this morning.

View of Richardson Bay from the Tiburon Bike path. Amazing colors last night.
Wonderful winter walk with Marilyn LoRusso last night.

Dear Marin County Restaurants:

I am trying to decide where to plan the next TweetUp. Please help me make this decision. This is a GREAT opportunity for a local Marin restaurant to get new customers and lots of exposure. Please pass this information on to all your restaurant friends.

What does a TweetUp mean for my business?

It means I will be talking about YOUR business online to my thousands of friends, fans and followers and many of them will also start talking about YOUR business to their friends, fans and followers. (Lots of local exposure for your business.) It also means 20 – 50 (or maybe more, you never know) people will show up at your business ready to spend money. $$$ They will buy drinks, food and they will talk about YOUR restaurant to all their friends, family and followers.

A little Twitter birdy told me the media (ie. The Marin Magazine!) shhh don’t tell anyone will be attending the next TweetUp. They will be taking pictures and introducing our community to the world, which means YOUR restaurant will likely be introduced to the world via the prestigious Marin Magazine.

When the Marin Twitter Community comes to your business it is not a one time thing. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. When we decide we love a business we support that business, we go there often, we introduce our friends to it and we talk about it on Twitter, FourSquare, Facebook, Google+, Path, Yelp, YouTube, our blogs and anywhere else people will listen to us. (We like to talk.)

If you are interested in being THE restaurant to host this next fabulous TweetUp please contact me and convince me as to why we should do it at your restaurant. Maybe you want to offer us a free appetizer or a drink. Maybe you want to purchase a month or 2 of advertising on my blog —-> see the ads over there (I offer very reasonable rates), maybe you want to give us gift cards to thank us for all the promotions, perhaps you want to donate a percentage of the profits to a worthy cause, be creative. Give us an incentive or at least a thank you for shouting about your business to the world and for bringing paying customers and the media in to your business.

If you are interested in being the next restaurant TweetUp destination, please contact me and give me a reason to coordinate this.

If we have already had a TweetUp at your restaurant, we are open to coming back – just give us a reason.

I look forward to hearing from you! Please fill out the form below, send me a tweet or email me at sally @ sallyaroundthebay.com

Thanks!

@Sally_K

PS. Join The Marin TweetUp Community to hear about upcoming TweetUps.

Thank you for passing this information on to the local restaurants in Marin.

For more information on TweetUps see past blog post: What is a TweetUp?

]]> http://sallyaroundthebay.com/2012/01/calling-all-marin-restaurants/feed/ 1 http://sallyaroundthebay.com/2012/01/weird-winter-weather/ http://sallyaroundthebay.com/2012/01/weird-winter-weather/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:03:50 +0000 Sally_K http://sallyaroundthebay.com/?p=4447

This has been the strangest winter I have ever experienced in the Bay Area. It’s been sunny and beautiful. No rain. I know this weather is probably not a good thing but worrying and whining about the fact that we haven’t had any rain is not going to change the fact that we haven’t had any rain. I have to say I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and views. I think I remember last year we got some record rain fall and Tahoe got some record amounts of snow. Maybe it is just the earths way of balancing things out.

Thanks to this odd weather I have been able to get some beautiful photos.

Taken from the bus right after crossing the bridge in to the city.

Taken from behind the Ferry Building.

Taken from the bus while crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge in to San Francisco.

 Hope you are enjoying this weird winter weather!

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over
because there’s nothing you can do about them,
and why worry about things you do control?
The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
Wayne Dyer (via BrainyQuote)

To see regular morning sunrise photos, taken from the bus, on the Golden Gate Bridge, be sure to like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SallyAroundTheBay

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!

I had to go all the way to LA to meet a super cool woman from Marin.

MoreMarin

This last weekend I was down in LA with Celia who was presenting at AEA (American Evaluation Association). Celia put together a rock star team for the presentation & I was lucky enough to be included in the after conference dinner. I got to sit next to the fabulous Felecia Gaston (from Performing Stars of Marin AND The Phoenix Project) who told me about an event she was organizing for Veterens Day in Marin City.

Performing Stars of Marin’s Annual
Veterans Day Parade
11-11-11
Honoring the Bay Area Tuskegee Airmen

Parade starts at 11am at the Manzanita Recreation Center.
630 Drake Avenue
Marin City, CA

Looking for something fun to do this Sunday?

How about stopping by @TamHolland‘s Art Thing? Actually it’s called Under the Sun Flea Market but for some reason I can not remember that name so I keep calling it @TamHolland’s art thing.  Tamara (aka @TamHolland on Twitter) makes cool stuff like…

Greeting cards. Luggage tags. Checkbook covers. Magnets. Business card holders. Collage goodie bags so you can make your own cool things.

Bean Up The Nose Art will be selling all sorts of goodies at the August “Under The Sun Flea Market” at Beach House Style on Sunday the 28th. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 779 Center Blvd. in Fairfax, CA.

The Marin Twitter Gang will be meeting up there sometime after 1pm so stop by and say hi. #TweetUp

All are welcome! Hope to see you!

Check it out! This event was even mentioned on the Sunset Magazine site!

Full disclaimer: @TamHolland sent me an absolutely beautiful bouquet of flowers today to thank me for inviting the tweeps to her art thing but I had plans to put this post up BEFORE the flowers came. It was actually on my list of things to do after work today list. It was such a wonderful surprise to come home and find this gorgeous bouquet of flowers waiting for me. Thanks Ms. Tamara! I love my Twitter friends!

I got my car fixed! A few months ago my car was parked in a parking lot when dear daughter came out and found this very large dent in it. Thankfully, the woman who hit the car stayed and took full responsibility.

Unfortunately, this was my brand new car.

Good news is we found an awesome auto body repair guy to fix it. My car is like new again! Ray from AutoBody Express did an amazing job putting my car back together. He was fast and very detail oriented.  I’ve been to other auto body repair places in Marin before and have never had great service like this! They also handled all the insurance communication so I didn’t have to deal with it. Here are the before and after pictures.

Thanks AutoBody Express for doing such a great job making my car new again!

AutoBody Express is located in the Canal area of San Rafael (behind the Canal Alliance)

They are also on Facebook!

AutoBody Express
86A Belvedere Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-454-1881

Mountain Biking Marin is holding the last all Women’s cross country mountain bike clinic of the season on August 28th! They’re keeping this clinic small so if you are interested please fill out the assessment form here and contact Celia at Mountain Biking Marin for more information!

This clinic is Women Only – All Levels and LOTS of FUN!

Read about one of their past all women’s mountain bike clinics here: http://mountainbikingmarin.blogspot.com/2010/06/hot-mama-mountain-bike-clinic-was.html

So what are you waiting for? Go for it!

I take the bus to work everyday. I go from Marin County to San Francisco, which means I cross over the Golden Gate Bridge. To entertain myself on the bus I take photos through the bus window using my iPhone and post them to Facebook and Twitter. I often play around with the look of the photos using the  Camera+ app on my phone. Here are some of my recent shots. It was a foggy week.