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.

Tonight is the last night to see Tommy so if you are looking for something fun to do tonight I suggest going to see Tommy! They serve beer and wine at the venue. I had a Belgium White Beer and it was quite tasty.

After the play was over we hung out for a bit and I got to meet one of the actors (I met on Twitter), Alex Rodriquez who is an amazing dancer and singer with a beautiful smile. Alex has so much energy and passion on stage it just makes you smile while watching him. I asked Alex if he’d be interested in being interviewed on Sally Around The Bay and he said yes so we should be hearing from him in the upcoming weeks.  He told me his next project is Rent.

The theater is located in The Mission District. As we were walking back to our car (which by the way we were wishing was  a Mini Cooper because it would have been SO much easier to park) I decided I was hungry so we stopped at the first Taqueria we found open: Los Coyotes Taqueria. I ordered 2 fish tacos ($2.99 each) and think they may be the best fish tacos I’ve ever had in my life! Celia had a baby burrito. We liked how they offered different sizes of burritos. She said it was tasty. The tacos and the burrito hit the spot. If you like Mexican food then the Mission District in San Francisco is the place to go. There are endless Taquerias to try.

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No, this is not my Mini. It was the Mini in front of me today.

Do you remember these songs?
Acid Queen
Pinball Wizard
I Believe In My Own Eyes
I’m Free

This Tony award-winning musical runs October 16-November 7, 2009, at The Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, home of the company’s wildly successful and critically recognized productions of The Rocky Horror Show in 2008, as well as Bat Boy: The Musical in 2005.

For more information about showtimes and the cast visit their Website at www.tommysf.com.

Of course, it would be so much cooler if I were driving to the city to see Tommy in a Mini Cooper!

They are talking about me because of the blog post I wrote about my Big Mini Dream. Since writing that post I’ve discovered a whole new world of Mini lovers!

Thanks Miniology!

Because of my dream I am writing an open letter to MiniSF (see below).

Dear MiniSF,

I have a dream! That dream is to drive a MINI all over the San Francisco Bay Area and blog about it! MiniSF, if you were to give me the car of my dreams I will blog, tweet and Facebook about my MINI adventure wherever I go. My virtual friends are ALL over the Bay Area and the internet. They are social networking queens (and kings). I will take pictures of my MINI in front of restaurants, in front of boutiques, parked near hiking trails, at the beach, in San Francisco, next to the Golden Gate Bridge, at the farm, in Napa, with a mountain bike on it, with my dog in it, everywhere!

Like I said, I have a BIG mouth so I will tell EVERYONE about my new MINI. I will tell all the restaurants I visit, the store owners and especially all my virtual friends via Twitter, Facebook and all the other places people listen to me. I will even play a fun weekly game on my blog titled Where’s MINI?. In this game, I will take photos of my MINI parked in prominent Bay Area places and ask my readers to tell me where my MINI is parked. I will also tell every newspaper in the Bay Area about my cool new MINI.

I will constantly tweet about my MINI and how much I love it! I will also talk about my MINI on Facebook and post pictures of it. Basically, I will be your social networking dream girl!

Owning a MINI would be my dream come true! Everyone that knows me KNOWS that I REALLY want a MINI. I can picture myself walking out of the next restaurant I’m at and seeing MY MINI parked in the parking lot and I will have a BIG smile on my face.

In addition to driving my MINI all over the San Francisco Bay Area I will drive it around the country to visit my many virtual friends who are cheering on my dream! I would love to tweet about my dream becoming a reality and watch all my friends re-tweet it and blog about it!

@MiniSF it’s your move now! I know MINI is all about fulfilling customer’s dreams…

The way I see it, this is Win Win for both of us!

Thank you!

Sally

Thank you!!!!

PS. @MiniSF had no idea I was going to do this. Actually I had no idea I was going to do this. I’ve been thinking about how to approach them for a very long time and when I found them on Twitter yesterday I got so excited I couldn’t stop myself. (I have a Big mouth and then my Big Twitter following got on the Band Wagon and encouraged me!)

I want my name to be displayed on this sign!

Thank you!

To be continued…