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 have been seeing this image circulating around the social networks and it has really stuck with me. I’ve always been a supporter of local, independent businesses but when things get busy and life gets stressful sometimes it’s easier to just go to the nearest Starbucks instead of seeking out an independent, locally owned cafe.

Working in downtown San Francisco you can spin in circles, walk any direction and in less than a block you will most likely find a Starbucks.

I wanted something different. I wanted to get my coffee at an independently owned place but I didn’t know where to go. Until… I opened my eyes and realized there is an Italian style cafe located near my office called Palio Paninoteca. Actually I didn’t open my eyes and look around, I looked down at my iPhone where I was trying out a new program called LevelUp. It’s a program that lets you pay with  your smart phone. I’ve been wanting to try one of those programs for awhile and for some reason this one called my attention enough for me to download the app and try it.

While searching the current locations accepting LevelUp I discovered this cafe just down the street. When I signed up for LevelUp I got $5 credit and noticed Palio Paninoteca offered $2 credit so I decided to head over to Palio Paninoteca to check it out and enjoy my complimentary lunch. I didn’t realize they served lunch in addition to coffee and gelato. Yes I said gelato!

Palio Paninoteca’s lunch consists of soups, salads and sandwiches (paninis) prepared in advance (kind of like going to the counter at Whole Foods). So far I’ve tried 2 of their salads and they are delicious! Today I had the spinach, avocado, mango salad. Yum!

While trying out my LevelUp for the first time I happened to meet the owner of the cafe. She showed me how to pay with my phone. We got to chatting and that is when I learned that Palio Paninoteca is an independent, local, woman owned business. They’re also green and serve your food in reusable ceramic dishes. Bettie Scodel is a single mom and the owner of both Palio Paninotecas. She’s also a very hard worker. She gets up at 3:30am every day to be ready to serve breakfast to the hungry masses passing through.  She proudly told me of her two children in college. She’s the perfect candidate to help me keep up with my Miss Representation pledge of featuring women doing cool things around the Bay Area.

Two thumbs up to Palio Paninoteca and to LevelUp. I had a great experience with both. I’m looking forward to enjoying many more coffee and meals using my LevelUp at Palio Paninoteca.

If you find yourself in downtown San Francisco around breakfast or lunch time give this place a try.

Oh, one more thing! I emailed LevelUp yesterday to see when there were going to be more locations in San Francisco and they said they are adding more everyday! I also told them I would be mentioning them in my blog and they offered my readers a special code! If you want to try LevelUp (it doesn’t cost anything) they will put $10 credit in to your account if you use the code SALLY when registering. When registering be sure to click on the blue link that says: Have a promotion or friend referral code? to get your $10 credit! So go sign up for then let me know and maybe we can meet for a coffee at Palio Paninoteca.

Palio Paninoteca is located on the corner of Montgomery and Clay St in the financial district of San Francisco. They also have a location near UCSF. More info here: www.paliopaninoteca.com

A few weeks ago, thanks to Twitter, A Band of Wives and a hamburger joint, I met an amazing woman named Shasta Nelson.

Shasta Nelson, MDiv (@girlfrndcircles) is a relationship strategist, life coach, and founder of GirlFriendCircles.com, a womens friendship matching site in 35 cities across the U.S. She blogs weekly at Shasta’s Friendship Blog and for the Huffington Post.

In an effort to keep up with my Miss Representation pledge I’m going to be featuring local Bay Area women doing cool things. I’m starting with Shasta Nelson who agreed to be interviewed and share her favorite things to do around the Bay Area.

Please tell us a little bit about Girl Friend Circles. What exactly is it? Who is it for? GirlFriendCircles.com is a womens friendship matching site. We match women up in small groups in local cafes and wine bars to meet other women their age (from 21-65) who are interested in investing in new friendships. Often it’s because we’ve just moved or gone through some other major life change, but research shows every 7 years the average woman replaces half her friends so it’s a pretty normal need. We’re in 35 cities across the U.S. including Marin, San Francisco, and the East Bay!

What do you love most about the Bay Area?
The culture. It’s hard to describe but I love the open-mindedness, the diversity, and the overall sense of support that there is for all kinds of people, ideas, and ways of life.

Where is your favorite place to hike/bike?
Living in the City, I love heading to Lands End (there is the most beautiful labyrinth on the edge of the cliff!), walking along Crissy Field, and city hiking up all the hills on long evening walks!

Favorite place to eat? Best romantic date restaurant?
I love Saha’s (Arabic Fusion) for a special dinner out, Helmand’s Palace (Afghan) for their vegetarian special plate, B Star (Burmese Fusion) for their drinks and fun flavors, and Top of the Mark for romantic views and martinis.

Favorite place to meet up with girl friends for coffee/tea/Happy Hour?
I’d love any cafe that had my friends– I’m not picky at all! We sometimes meet at Cafe Divine in North Beach for their indoor/outdoor seating and easy menu, but our favorite places are just hanging out in each other’s living rooms. Being in a home feels more special than a restaurant these days!

If you had an out of town guest visiting for a day who wanted to see the Bay Area what would you show them?
I tend to think the most special experience of San Francisco is a day spent as much like a local as possible: breakfast at a neighborhood cafe, long walk along the water toward the bridge, lunch in some awesome ethnic restaurant, then cater to their need for tourism by seeing how many landmarks we can take their picture in front of (sea lions at the Pier, the Painted Sisters homes, Ferry Building), drive through Golden Gate Park on our way to watch the sunset at the beach and then end with an evening at Yoshi’s Jazz Club.

You can get to know Shasta a little better by visiting her YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShasGFC

Girl Friend Circles is also on Facebook.

I’m talking about a wife as in someone who is there to support you, inspire you and be there for you in sickness and in health.

Women: Don’t you wish you had a wife? Well now you can and you don’t have to be gay to have one! (But if you are gay, that’s okay too.)

All you have to do is join the online group called A Band of Wives (ABOW) and you are instantly married to a supportive group of wonderful women. Seriously, it is that easy.

A Band of Wives was founded by the amazing Christine Bronstein.

I joined back in February when I discovered them via the Marin Magazine article about online communities that we were both featured in.

At first I didn’t know if this was the right group for me. I was a little intimidated by all the hip, beautiful and successful women. Then I attended a few of their events and realized they were also friendly, genuine, authentic and caring women. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

A few weeks ago, I discovered Bistro Burger in San Francisco. I loved their turkey burgers SO much, I went there 3 times that week. They had one of those fishbowls on the counter where you put your business card in for a chance to win a free lunch. I never put my business cards in those things but for some reason I decided to this time. The next day I got an email saying, “Congratulations you won a free lunch for 4 at Bistro Burger”.  I was super happy but was wondering who I was going to invite. I didn’t have 3 friends in the financial district who would be available to lunch. This was about the same time I had the realization that my only real complaint about my job was that I really missed those coffee and lunch dates I used to have in Marin with my Twitter friends when I was self employed.

I remembered super-star wife Leila (@mizbohemia), the Director of Operations at A Band of Wives, lived in the city, so I invited her to join me for the free lunch. She agreed.

Then I got the idea to ask on Twitter who works/lives in downtown San Francisco and I got a response from someone who just happened to also be a member of ABOW! Shasta (@girlfrndcircles), owner of GirlFriendCircles.com and I invited her to join us for lunch. She said yes! We had room for one more at lunch so Shasta invited Jessica (@50womenproject), author the 50 Woman Project and she said Yes!

On Friday, we all met at Bistro Burger (in Trinity Alley) and were greeted by John who congratulated us and took our photo. I’m guessing the photo is going to show up on their Website under the Happy Winner section soon.  Bistro Burger sells veggie, turkey, chicken and regular hamburgers along with salads so there is something for everyone. And they’re really, really good! You can order your burger without a bun if you’re doing the Sugar Divorce, like I am. They’re also on Twitter at: @BistroBurgerSF

It was a nice day so we sat outside. Our little lunch turned in to a 3 hour magical, brainstorming session.  We ended our lunch full of ideas and inspirations for our own various projects. It’s amazing how the power of group intelligence can get you unstuck from a rut. That’s what A Band of Wives is all about; connecting women, and igniting the spark in all of us.

Thank you Twitter, Bistro Burger and A Band of Wives for connecting us!

Here are the 3 dynamic wives I had the pleasure of dining with:

Jessica Buchleitner, Shasta Nelson, Leila Radan

 I told you they were all hip, beautiful and successful!

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.

Last weekend I got to play tourist around the San Francisco Bay Area. Patty Dost (my virtual friend turned real friend years ago) came to visit from Indiana. Patty has never been to San Francisco before so we had a very packed weekend of activities to cram in to just a few days (because she was also here for work).

Patty said she wanted to see all the “typical tourist attractions” so I did my best to show them to her.

We started out on Saturday evening with a drive from the airport through the city. We passed through City Hall, Chinatown, the Financial District, drove through North Beach, the Marina and finally over the Golden Gate Bridge. She got to witness some of our micro-climates withing her first hour of visiting. It went from clear and sunny at SFO airport to foggy and cold near the Bridge.

On Sunday, I took her for the full tourist adventure. We started out on the Larkspur to San Francisco Ferry passing two very famous prisons (San Quinton and of course, Alcatraz). Having both of those prisons in the Bay makes me wonder what kind of ghosts from the past linger around here.

Our ferry landed at the beautiful Embarcadero Ferry Building. We then made our way through the building and out on to Embarcadero where we passed through all the street venders and artist on Market Street. We headed up Sacramento Street (through the Embarcadero Centers toward the Financial District – FiDi). That’s my secret shortcut from the ferry to the Financial District. Patty wanted a hamburger and I knew of a few places in the FiDi area that served hamburgers, what I did not know is that the WHOLE Financial District shuts down on the weekends. It was like a ghost town around here! Nothing was open! Patty was probably thinking, what kind of a big city is this that is closed on Sundays. I used my handy dandy iPhone to search for hamburger restaurants near FiDi… and finally found a place called Murphy’s Pub that was open! Patty got her hamburger!

Next we passed through Chinatown where Patty found some fun gifts for her family. After Chinatown I made Patty walk up a short hill that she described as long and steep… she is lucky I didn’t take her to Fillmore Street. #justsayin

Then we took a Cable Car to Fisherman’s Wharf. Patty could not believe I had never ridden on a Cable Car. I tried to explain to her that only tourists ride on Cable Cars… they are more trouble than they’re worth for locals (at least for me). We rode the very crowded Cable Car, got barked at by the operator – Stand Back! Stay Behind the Line! and held on for our lives as it cruised down hill.

We then hopped off and wandered a bit around Fisherman’s Wharf where Patty purchased some more kitsch. After that we headed over to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions and then walk through the middle of the Pier so she could see what all the hype was about. (It’s a fricken mall on a Pier, I personally don’t ‘get’ the hype). I have never in my life seen Pier 39 as crowded as it was this past Sunday! OMG you could not even walk. Picture a bar where you have to squeeze through people to get from here to there… well that is what Pier 39 felt like, so we got out of there as fast as we could.

*This is what it used to be like. For some reason, there are a lot less sea lions at Pier 39 now. Seems they moved to Oregon or something. Lots of Bay Area folks do that, Oregon is more affordable.

At this point we only had about an hour left to get back to the ferry and I was a little concerned with time because there was a Giant’s game that I knew was overflowing on to our ferry because the Giant’s ferry had sold out that day. Patty was tired from all the walking and steep hills of San Francisco so when I saw a PediCab sitting there on the street I grabbed him and asked him for a ride back to the ferry building. Now this is a tourist attraction I always wanted to try. The very strong man peddled us back to the ferry building along the Embarcadero. I think this was my favorite part of the day.

After our ferry arrived in Larkspur we walked across the street to the Marin Brew Co. where I had a planned an impromptu TweetUp and about 10 of my favorite Tweeps showed up to give Patty a real California welcome!

If it seems dark around here tonight at 8:30 it’s probably not a power outage, although it may be with this weather.

Tonight is Earth Hour and not just in San Francisco. Some of the famous landmarks around the world will be turning their lights out in honor of Earth Hour. To name one, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Will you be turning your lights out?

More info on Earth Hour 2011 here: http://sf.funcheap.com/earth-hour-2011-city-turns-lights-hour-sf/

I found a great Sushi place in the Financial District of San Francisco. I think they are only open for lunch.

Sushi Umi has lots of vegetarian choices too!

I think I found my new favorite roll!

The Garden Roll: asparagus tempura, garlic eggplant & avocado $4.95

It’s really, really good! Try it.

132 Bush Street (Between Sansome & Battery)
San Francisco, CA 94104
415. 834.9898
11AM to 3PM M-F

http://sushiumisf.com

I love that this picture was taken today, February 1, 2011. Historic streetcar, fog and a B&W lens on my iPhone Camera+ app. Taken from the bus window.