We’re heading to Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow to soak up the island and visit a few of our Monkey Bed retailers. If you’re on the Vineyard, we’ve got you covered. In Vineyard Haven, check out Rainy Day and ask Heather about anything in the store. Go score some gear or rent a surf board at The Green Room, it’s an outdoor lovers paradise. Head over to Edgartown and say hi to Danielle and Amy at Blue Fish at 11 Winter Street. Going to head out to Oak Bluffs? Stop by the General Store and say high to Mike at 24 Kennebec.
There you go, you’ve got things to see, places to go, people to meet. Get on it! Get out and enjoy the summer, hop on the ferry and soak it up, it’s easier than you think!
We boosted a car and headed up the coast. Ok fine, we rented a Sentra and buckled the “kids” in the back seat, but we headed north from SFO to our friends and rock star designers, Deviant 9 Studios, in Chico this past Friday. The visit was too short, but their hospitality has us pining for another trip. Especially if the lunches at Sierra Nevada brewery, the picnics in parks you could only find in northern california, and the distinctly not refrigerated and trucked across the country food keeps flowing! Oh, and did I mention, we pushed the ball forward on Monkey Bed’s next bag? I thought we were excited about the Urban Blanket Bag, but our new everyday bag due this winter has us tapping fingers AND toes with nervous excitement. More thanks than we know how to give to Greg, Michelle, Carrie, Wendy, and of course, Taos!
It was on to Napa where we got to hang with our old friend Clay and the wonderful Sonja, but not before Sonja gave us a behind the scenes tour of Artesa Vineyards. If you’re into design and architecture, even without the incredible single vineyard Pinot, Artesa is worth a long visit. Literally set into one of the highest hills in the area, the views inside and out at Artesa pretty much force you to stop and smell the oaky goodness.
Of course, how could any of that compare to the rocking beer-can chicken BBQ that Clay put on for us and a few friends. Life in Napa for Ollie the Bulldog seems pretty sweet! Thanks so much to Clay, Sonja and your charming family for such a relaxing evening soaking in the wine-country life.
It was a quick jaunt from Napa to check out Sonoma where I’m pretty sure Heather Margolis fell in love with that perfect combination of places like Fremont Diner (looks like a shack, tastes like a 5-star southern ho-down) and Buena Vista Vineyard where we scored a bottle of their ‘05 Pinot. Which reminds me, we found use #467 for the Urban Blanket Bag…wrapping your wine country purchase for the long trip back to bean-town!
Last stop, back to San Fran for a dinner with our friend Eileen from the good old days at RCA Records and her amazing better half, Mario. Once again, we were treated to an incredible and locally grown meal at Urban Tavern but it was nothing compared with getting to catch up with old friends! We boarded the red-eye for Boston Monday night already comparing calendars in the hopes of finding time for our next trip west. See you soon Northern Cali friends!
And since WordPress doesn’t want to cooperate with putting pictures inside paragraphs today, here’s a few shots from the long weekend!
Feels like yesterday we were heading to LA for a little elbow rubbing. We’re bound for our 3rd home, Northern Cali, later today so it feels like a good enough excuse to post a classic like this!
Hey overworked Washington DC and Baltimore people, it’s Memorial Day. Summer is here! I think it’s time to get out of town for the weekend. Consider this your permission slip. Now hop in the car, and head 90 miles west to Shepherdstown, WV and check out the oldest town in West Virginia, stroll German Street, and look out for events going on all summer.
May is National Bike Month, but we at Monkey Bed think biking to work is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your community all year. REI asked the other day on their blog, Have You Tried Bike Commuting?, wondering what’s preventing 98.4 percent of Americans from commuting by bike. We won’t drone on here with all the environmental, health, and economic issues it helps address, but lets all nod our heads and acknowledge they are huge before we jump right in to shamelessly bribing you to bike to work.
That’s right, we have a bribe to offer bike commuters! We’ll be developing the next Monkey Bed product this summer on the streets of the northeast and we need your help. We’re looking for people in New England or the Tri-state area who commute to work on their bike, or even bike regularly on the weekends. If you’re already at it, reach out to us by e-mail, by leaving a comment, by tagging a Tweet with #bikecommuter, or leaving a comment on our Facebook page. We’ll get you all the details separately, but you’ll be asked over the summer for things like feedback on ideas and help testing prototypes.
In exchange you’ll get one free final product that you helped develop and a couple coupon codes for friends!
Space is limited, so reach out soon. For those of you wondering if now is the time to give bike commuting a try, it is. Start today and then e-mail, comment, tweet, or facebook us to be included in our small bunch of VIP Monkeys!
Heading to Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow to visit a few hot summer shopping spots. What, I needed a better excuse to post this picture of the bay in Menemsha? It’s my favorite spot for some fresh shuckums after all. What’s your favorite summer vacation spot?
We hit the slopes last weekend in our great northerly neighbor, Vermont. To our delight, a fresh 42 inches fell the two days before we arrived to ride the powder! There was more than one of us east-coast skiers out there looking awkward as we tried to find our edges.
Just a quick shout-out to our excellent neighbors from NYIGF, not sure what we would have done without you! Big ups to Kim Kiss from Wolf Designs and Tempe Krieger from Elope for being such rock-stars.
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outdoor lovers paradise. Head over to Edgartown and say hi to Danielle and Amy at Blue Fish at 11 Winter Street. Going to head out to Oak Bluffs? Stop by the General Store and say high to Mike at 24 Kennebec.
