East West Bookshop for spiritual books, yoga and meditation items, lots of jewelry and a fascinating selection of scarves. They have exquisite crystals and geodes on display and I always like to look at their tea selection.

Big Frog of Mountain View can print anything on a t-shirt. No exaggeration, anything. Bring them a picture that your child created, a photo of your pet or your favorite quote—they can put it on a shirt or a tote-bag within 24 hours. I love this place.

Book Buyers on Castro is the place to go for calendars. They have about a million of them in stock at this time of year. And wouldn’t a vintage book by their favorite author be a wonderful holiday gift? Used books always feel like they have soul.

Daiso in Mountain View is a Japanese dollar store with lots of cute bento boxes, teacups, chopsticks and mysterious things in packages that you can’t read unless you know Japanese.

Mountain View Lock & Safe Co. has stocking stuffers, like the ‘hiding place’ can of Aqua Net hairspray, bug spray or other household products. I also like the Hide-a-Key rocks. And I’ve always been a fan of cool little brass padlocks.

Villa Rouge has hip cowboy rain boots and their aromatherapy candles have a cult following.

Boutique 4 has sexy party attire and some outrageously fun jewelry. Any girl would love a gift certificate from this cute store on Castro.

Gift cards are always a hit. How about one from Morocco’s Restaurant,  Don Giovanni’s,  Cascal or Scratch? Or dance, yoga or Zumba classes from For The Love of Dance? Or take that special someone to a wine tasting at Artisan Wine Depot or Savvy Cellar.

And did you know that the Humane Society of Silicon Valley is having an adoption special for the holiday season? Yes, most adoptions are only$10 and they’re hoping to find homes for 1000 animals before the year ends. Maybe your family needs a new four-footed-friend.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year celebration. Please  remember to shop, eat and exercise locally. Thank you for being a fan of the city of Mountain View and reading this blog for the last 2 years. I look forward to a wonderful 2012 in our community. And it’s true, I really do love Mountain View.

Remember a while back when Forbes magazine said that Mountain View was #4 on the list of the top 25 places to live in the country? We loved hearing that news. And yet approximately 44% of the students in the Mountain View Whisman School District are on the free or reduced lunch program. It’s really quite disheartening to find out that there are so many people in need in our community.

This is really a wonderful opportunity for our community. Local merchants who are willing to contribute are getting promoted, the non-profits around town are getting extra funds at the time of year that they need it most, and residents get to have that awesome feeling that you have after you give to someone in need.

Chamber of Commerce CEO, Oscar Garcia says, “Great cities create value for the community, support local businesses, and help neighbors help each other.” I like the idea of neighbors helping each other, especially at this time of the year. The Holiday Fund raised about $60k last year and the goal this year is $85k. If we all do a little something, we can make big things happen. I love Mountain View.

The “Halloween Never Ends” activities will be November 4^th and 5^th, 2011 from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Tickets are $15.00 at the door.

There are all kinds of stories that you’ll hear if you go on a tour of the beautiful Victorian Rengstorff house. Some of the reports over the years are that you can see a woman looking out the front windows of the house at night. She just stares out over the marshland. People have also said that they heard “crying” sounds and “thumping” noises coming from the house.

Visit the Rengstorff House, or the “R” House website for details about upcoming events, or call 650-903-6392.

The Rengstorff House ENVIRONMENTAL DOCENT-LED WALKS

Every Tuesday & Fourth Sunday of the Month, 11:00 a.m.

RENGSTORFF HOUSE TOURS & EXHIBITIONS

Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

CHAC is a non-profit in our community that provides mental health services for anyone in need. They offer counseling, therapy, support groups, classes, and educational programs to local kids, adults, and families. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds. They also work is 34 of our local schools. They offer students no-cost counseling and therapy. They offer local families with young children developmental screenings, classes on early literacy, school readiness, health and nutrition classes, plus they give referrals to other local resources if necessary. CHAC offers all of these services in a variety of languages. Basically, CHAC is working miracles in our community and the Art & Wine Festival is one of the ways they raise funds to make these miracles happen. This year they raised $7,800 from the parking lots.

If you have a chance, you should take a few minutes to look at CHAC’s website to better understand all that they do to help local families live happy, healthy lives. I’ve been inside their office a few times and each time I learn about something else that they do for Mountain View. I’m happy to pay for parking to help this wonderful organization.

Another fabulous way that the Art & Wine festival helps our community is through the SOAR Scholarship Program. SOAR (Student Outreach and Advancement Resource) is a scholarship program that the Chamber of Commerce started a few years ago. The first year, 3 scholarships of $1500 were awarded to local college students. The program has grown tremendously and the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce is hoping to award 20 local students with the scholarship in the spring of 2012.

SOAR is also a mentoring program for the students. Each student is carefully matched up with a young professional who will be able to offer them one-on-one mentoring, counseling and support as they make decisions about which college to go to, what classes to take and how to be successful in an academic setting. Sometimes they just need a few words of encouragement from someone who is willing to listen. Many of these relationships will last a lifetime. The Art & Wine Festival funds this program.

The Art & Wine Festival is so much more than cute wineglasses, live music and beautiful artwork. After all the food vendors and artists have packed up and gone home, something happens in our community. The funds raised during that early September weekend trickle down to the organizations that make a big difference for so many people in Mountain View.  That’s what makes this such an amazing place to live and work. We care about each other. I really love Mountain View.

There will be a nice variety of wines available to purchase by the glass. When the Chamber of Commerce selects the wines that they will offer at the festival they always consider the weather. The forecast for the weekend is in the high 70s. That is perfect temperature for drinking a cold glass of sangria or a Tied House Cascade Amber. They actually have a “wine tasting panel” that determines which wines are best for our community. What a lucky group of people they are!

Our festival is well known for the fabulous music, everything from rhythm & blues, classic rock, jazz, Motown, and dance party to Celtic. There will be 14 different bands performing, including Natasha James, The Silicon Valley Houserockers, The Groove Kings, and Cream of Clapton.

The festival will have a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on Sunday at 11:00 am. There will be a Comcast Pigskin Lounge for football fans and a cool new Cuda lounge, which will have flat screen TVs and comfy couches for sports fans. The Community Stage is back again this year. It’s in the Kids Park and it features all kinds of local talent. It’s always fun to see someone you know up on stage. And there’s one really cool new twist to the festival, it’s the Pago app. You can download the app to your smart phone and buy your drink tickets and festival glasses via your smart phone. No more waiting in line. We all like festivals, but we hate waiting in line!

The festival is Saturday and Sunday, Sept 10 and 11, from 10 to 6 both days. Ride your bike and park it at the free bike parking lot that is provided to the community by Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. It’s in the parking lot of St. Joseph’s Church at the corner of Castro and Church Streets. Your bike will have someone watching over it and keeping it safe the whole time you are enjoying the festival. That’s what I’m going to do and I’ll see you at the festival.

Friday, July 15^th – Cuesta Park, 615 Cuesta Drive, Mountain View – featuring “Despicable Me”

Friday, July 22^nd – Whisman Park, 400 Easy Street, Mountain View – featuring “How to Train your Dragon”

Friday, July 29^th – Eagle Park, 652 Franklin Street, Mountain View – featuring “Megamind”

Friday, August 5^th – Stevenson Park, 750 San Pierre Way, Mountain View – featuring “The Princess and the Frog”

Friday, August 12^th – Sylvan Park, 600 Sylvan Avenue, Mountain View – featuring “Toy Story 3”

Friday, August 19^th – Rengstorff Park, 201 S. Rengstorff Avenue, Mountain View – featuring “Tangled”

Be sure to bring a lawn chair or a blanket to sit on. There will be popcorn and light refreshments provided, but wouldn’t it be fun to stop by your favorite pizza or sandwich place and bring dinner for your family. I love Maldanado’s Pizza on Rengstorff. The movies usually begin around 8:30pm. I just love free movies in the park!

They also have all kinds of Japanese dance and Taiko drum performances. One of my favorite things about the festival is the plant sale. They have lots of unusual little plants that you wouldn’t normally see in a garden store and they’re reasonably priced. There is a room full of hand-crafted items that members of the Buddhist temple have been making all year. You’ll see beautiful crocheted and knitted household items for sale. There will be a large Ikebana and Bonsai exhibition. There are festival t-shirts for sale also. I love it when I get to take home a t-shirt.

The festival is Saturday, July 16 from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday July 17 from noon to 8:30 pm. The Mountain View Buddhist Temple is located at 575 N. Shoreline Blvd. They have a big parking lot and it’s very well organized so that everyone can park pretty easily. This festival is something special and it shows the diversity and beauty of our community. The annual Mountain View Obon Festival and Bazaar is just another reason to love Mountain View.

Castro Street will be closed to traffic from 5 pm to 9 pm so we can mingle, say hello to our neighbors, and dance in the street. Enjoy restaurants, shopping, kids’ activities, farmer’s market, live music and custom/classic cars on display.

Bands will be playing from 6:30 – 8:00pm as follows:

July 7 -  Department of Rock – (Rock N’ Roll from the 70′s to Now)

July 21 -  Evolution – (Tribute to Journey)

Aug. 4 -  The Colony Street Band – (60′s through the 90′s)

Aug. 18 -  The Groove Kinds – (Dance Party)

Once again there will be the Chinchilla Rescue organization with some furry little Chinchillas that are up for adoption. You can’t actually adopt one during the Thursday Night Live, but you can meet them and learn all about how to adopt one in the future. There will also be the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation. They match up families with dogs and cats that are looking for good homes. Last year they were very successful at finding loving homes in Mountain View for some pets that wanted to move to our fabulous city.

Our favorite face-painting artist, Susan will be back. She’s very talented and kids of all ages like to have her artwork on their face. The Farmers Market will be here as well. There will be hourly activities for the kids, including bubbles and sidewalk chalk art. Our Police and Fire Departments will be out with squad cars and trucks for kids to look inside, sit in and ask questions.

Local non-profits will be out to talk about what their organizations are doing for the community. I always love looking at the vintage cars and meeting the people that created them. Retailers have all been invited to bring out tables or racks of merchandise and our restaurants will be ready for the crowd. As always, there will be wine, sangria, and beer for sale near the stage. I just love downtown Mountain View.

We all know what an amazing event the annual Art & Wine Festival is, right? This year will be the 40th annual festival. Each year it get’s bigger and better. Are you interested in being a volunteer at the festival? You can pour wine or beer or you can sell glasses or drink tickets. Lots of people volunteer with a group of their friends, family or co-workers to make it even more fun. A few days after the festival is the big “Volunteer Appreciation” party for all of the people who volunteered.

Each September about 200,000 people flood into downtown Mountain View and eat at our restaurants and see how spectacular our city is. The festival helps support the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce and there’s no way it could be done without the help of the community. That’s where you come in! Go to the Chamber of Commerce at 580 Castro Street, anytime, even if they’re closed and fill out a form and drop it in the mail slot to become one of the 500 volunteers who help us put on the biggest party Mountain View has ever seen. It’s a fun way to spend the afternoon and it’s guaranteed to be good for people-watching. See you at the festival.

I went to the parade with my dog when she was a little puppy. I was trying to “socialize” her like they told me to do in her puppy school. We sat down on the edge of the curb along Castro as watched the parade. There were all kinds of people stopping to talk to her because she was an adorable 4 pound puppy. She seemed to love the attention. I remember thinking how well-adjusted she would be because I was doing such a good job socializing her. Everything was going great until a clown on a bicycle came riding up to us.  He was honking his clown horn at us. He had on traditional clown face paint, a big red ball on the end of his nose, a clown wig, and giant clown shoes and my dog has never been the same. She’s afraid of people with red noses, any kind of horns that sound like clown-horns or anyone acting weird while riding miniature a bicycle.

A word of advice to new puppy owners: leave them at home or at the very least, protect them from the clowns. I still love Mountain View, but now my dog is afraid of clowns…