Archive for Oakland
Rainbow over the Bay Bridge
Posted by: | CommentsHave you see this amazing photo of the San Francisco Bay Bridge taken by Lisa Bettany (@mostlylisa)? This photo has made Bay Bridge a trending topic on Twitter today.
Photo taken by Flickr user Lisa Bettany
Dinner and Drinks in Oakland
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the reasons I started this blog was to motivate myself to get out more and try new things. This weekend I went to Oakland. I decided I love the East Bay and I don’t go there enough so I’m going to start going there more. Now that my neighbor Amy (who I used to hike with every single day at 7:30am) moved to Oakland I have much more incentive to go there. I have a friend to visit! By the way, Amy has started her own catering business and she is the best caterer in the world. The name is Relish Catering. You can like her page here on Facebook.
On Friday night, I went to visit Amy and we strolled down College Avenue in Oakland. College Avenue is AWESOME! Full of restaurants and bars! We ended up at Somerset because we liked the feel of it, classy yet relaxed. We started out at the bar and had a delicious drink the bar tender recommended. It was a Ginger Limeade with Hangar One Kaffir Lime with ginger syrup, served up.
After our drink we decided we were hungry so we ordered some salads to share. The lighting in the restaurant was dim with candlelight so my phone photos did not do justice to the food and drinks.
Roasted Beet Salad with “arugula, ruby grapefruit, avocado, gorgonzola and champagne vinaigrette 9″ and the “Grilled Corn Salad poblanos peppers, tomatoes, red onions, queso fresco, crispy tortillas chipotle dressing”.
Somerset is located at:
5912 College Ave.
Oakland CA 94618
510.428.1823
Globetrotters and Twitter
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We took the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters this weekend. It was fun. Although, I have to admit I think the target audience is more for 10 years old and under. LOL
Our teenagers (17 and 19) were troopers and enjoyed the evening. At one point, I looked around and realized just about every family in the audience had children under the age of 10. But we all decided to embrace our inner children and have fun even if we were a little bit older than everyone else in the stadium.
I love the music and the spirit of the Globetrotters. It’s all about having fun, which is my mission for 2010. The tricks they do are absolutely amazing. They make basketball look so easy.
If the Harlem Globetrotter’s pass through your neighborhood I highly recommend embracing your inner child and going out and having some fun!
My Twitter friend @PoButler was also in the audience with her kids, we tweeted and found each other. She was sitting about as far away from me as she possibly could but we still saw each other and waved. My kids thought I was a bit strange for getting all excited and waving across the stadium to my Twitter friend. Even the Globetrotters are on Twitter.
The Harlem Globetrotters
Posted by: | CommentsI have officially gone nowhere this week. I hunkered down and have been seriously focusing on my business and being very productive. The only time I have left my home/office is to walk to the trails to go hiking with my dog. Thank goodness for my dog demanding his walks or I might not have gotten out at all.
My goal for 2010 is to have more fun! (Inspired by @Fun_Master) So… tonight I’m very excited to be going to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Oracle Arena in Oakland! The last time I saw the Globetrotters I was very young, maybe 8 years old but I do remember really enjoying the show.
Have you ever seen the Harlem Globetrotters?
I like what one of the Globetrotters in this video said about spreading joy: “You can spread joy for at least 2 hours for someone each day no matter where you are in the world.”
Being Authentic in the Bay Area
Posted by: | CommentsOne 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.
Cafe Gratitude
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Last week one of my favorite Twitter friends Lissa Rankin was talking about Café Gratitude (and making me hungry for some yummy raw food). I knew Lissa would have great things to say about Café Gratitude so I asked her if she would consider writing a guest blog post for me. Turns out she had already blogged about Café Gratitude on her blog Owning Pink but she told me to feel free to use the blog post here.
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
Montclair Village in Oakland
Posted by: | CommentsThis week I discovered a neighborhood in Oakland, CA called Montclair Village.
Photo by Maynard
I drove dear daughter to volleyball camp at St. Mary’s College in Moraga and decided it was best to stay on the East side of the Bay instead of driving back and forth over the Richmond-San Rafael bridge twice in one day. Since I had 3 hours to kill, I stopped by to visit Amy who works nearby in Montclair.
I had no idea Montclair had such a charming downtown full of boutiques, cafes and restaurants. I was hungry so Amy suggested we try the local Taqueria Las Comadres. They have a great early Happy Hour Special: $1 Soft Tacos and $2 Fish Tacos. I think the Happy Hour Special goes from 3pm – 5pm but I’d recommend calling first to confirm.
Las Camadres is a cute little Taqueria with tables inside and out. We ordered the fish tacos and sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. The tacos were great!
Las Camadres is located in Montclair Village
2081 Mountain Blvd
(between La Salle Ave & Medau Pl)
Oakland, CA 94611
510.339.9002
Independence Day Around the Bay
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What are you doing for the 4th of July? I’m going to a BBQ at a friend’s house on Stinson Beach and still deciding if I’m going to a firework show this year or not. I just did a little research on Bay Area firework shows. Here’s my list so far… if I missed any please let me know.
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.
