Just bring your salt shaker into your garden

Everything is Green. Everything is pure. Everything is home-grown in downtown Mill Valley, or so it seems. People pass by my office with their "all natural" baked goodies, solar cooked pizzas from Stefano’s (the only solar powered pizzeria in the US, mind you), and freshly hand squeezed fruit smoothies all day long. Now, I find this an interesting contrast to when I worked at the Strawberry Frank Howard Allen office where cars were lined up and down the street to get into In-n-Out Burger and McDonald's. Perhaps they think that while walking down the street they will be seen by everyone, but they are invisible in their cars? No matter...

I happen to be blessed (got in long time ago) with a large lot and a huge (mostly) level yard. At the bottom of my yard sits a vegetable garden and every year my kids and grand kids plant our summer garden with the prerequisite tomatoes, pumpkins, pole beans and corn. That's it. We get our summer/autumn blooms and we're happy and done until next year.

So, I was very intrigued when a fellow Mill Valleyian told me that she was planting a vegetable garden in her front yard this week. "What can you plant now?" I asked. She said she had planted lettuce, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, parsley, mint, rhubarb, radishes and on and on. She plans to eat only what springs up in her color coordinated, organic garden. She even planted a blueberry vine! I examined her garden and said, "Wow! What's that beautiful red berry vine growing over there on your garden wall?” "Oh that,” she said, “is my plastic Christmas decoration vine. I guess it's time to take it down."

As I said goodbye, and chuckled over mistaking the decoration for the real thing, I immediately raced home to Google "year-round vegetable gardens."

Do you garden? What do you find grows best in our Southern Marin climate?

Carless in Marin

Broker's Tours for new (and not so new) listings are on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week in Marin. I'm sure that you have seen the cavalcade of shiny, luxury cars winding their way through your neighborhoods. Last week my agent friend Dana and I decided to carpool together. When we met downtown I looked at her car and said, "Don't you drive a BMW convertible?”

She said, “Yes, but I'm having a car dilemma, so I'm test driving my husbands new Toyota. My BMW always needs repairs and we have four vehicles between the two of us.”

"Funny you should say that," I responded. “I'm driving my husband's Jeep because the lease on my Lexus is up and I don't know what to do. We have three cars for the two of us. I considered giving one to my perfect puppy Leo to drive, but he couldn't see over the steering wheel,” I joked.

We agreed that determining which car to drive can be a dilemma: buy or lease? American or Foreign? 4x4 for trips to Tahoe or compact for commuting? Large enough to schlep clients, signs and grandchildren, practical enough to be affordable and eco-friendly…

We pondered this as we carefully planned out our house tour by order of importance:

1. Catered luncheon by SUPER CHEF So and So

2. Lunch will be served

3. All other types of food offerings

We spent four hours driving from San Anselmo back to Mill Valley and everywhere in between. We were amazed that her husband's car was able to beat the yellow light on a u-turn, double park in front of fire hydrants, and not slip off the edge of the long and winding road to the top of Redwood Avenue in Corte Madera!

Gliding back into her parking space downtown, we decided that if we gave up our current cars and downsized to two vehicles per household, our husbands would be thrilled to drive their “spare” trucks, wash our “new” cars, and keep them filled with gas, right? We also would be taking cars off the gridlocked streets of Marin and save on wasteful monthly expenses in the form of additional loans, upkeep and insurance. 

Let's hope this is a new trend!

Parking, please.

 One of my main reasons for goin’ downtown is that it is so close from my home's red front door to my office's red front door that I could walk everyday. Good exercise, good for the environment, good idea!

However, despite my good intentions, I drove my SUV there the first three days. The first day was legitimate because I couldn't walk carrying my computer and all my new desk supplies. The second day I needed to look cute in my high heels, and the third day I was just too lazy.

Parking in Mill Valley is easy if you're a local and know your way around, right? After several loops around town past two hour metered parking spots, all full by the way, mysterious "Employee Only" parking spots, and lots of red curbs, I lucked out and found the perfect four hour free spot. The space fits two cars perfectly between two residential driveways. No lines to park between, no meters, no RSVP stickers needed (whatever they are). 

Day one I pulled right in to this magic spot, in front of a similar SUV, went to the office, worked on a few deals and went home. Day two I went right back to MY spot. This time the SUV was also parked there but had moved forward about a foot and a half. I parked carefully, went to work, mapped out a few must see homes for my buyers, and went on tour. The third day the SUV had left me a space suited for a Volkswagen Bug. Nevertheless, I managed to park without protruding into the driveway. I later returned to a note on my windshield warning me that I was "getting too close" to their driveway – phew, at least it wasn’t a ticket! info@millvalleypd.org

From now on I think I will park my car in front of my own driveway. It's much easier and almost as close, unless of course it's raining, or I have a blister on my toe.

You Gotta Have Heart

 How many times when you were goin’ downtown have you noticed that Mill Valley is goin’ to the dogs, or most assuredly has gone to the dogs? I walk my perfect puppy Leo there several times a week and he has a plethora, abundance, cornucopia of dog bowls to choose drinking (bottled, pure spring, organic?) water from. Practically every business has a water bowl of varying shapes and sizes to pamper our pets. So when I asked my new manager Andy where our dog bowl was, he said, "We've been talking about getting one for a while." When I asked my new office mates why there was no bowl they said, "Because we can't decide on which one to get."

Seeing as there are endless options, I decided that if we are going to treat Leo and all the other dogs to a water bowl, I needed to take matters into my own hands. But it couldn't be just any dog bowl - it need to be the right one for our office. So what kind of bowl would give off just the right vibe...? Well, Frank Howard Allen's motto is "Love where you live." My motto is "Specializing in the Heart of Marin," my license plate has a heart on it, February is Heart Awareness Month, and it's Valentine's Day. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

As luck would have it, while walking through Target the perfect bowl, or I should say bowls, jumped into my hands. There was a set of three heart shaped plastic nesting bowls! What a coup! The big red one now has fresh water (sorry just tap) every day outside our office door. And inside, the other two bowls have dogie treats and people treats (chocolate Hershey Kisses). So, whenever you are passing by, with or without your dog, feel free to stop in for a treat. 

How I Saved the (Hair) Day

Before I made my final big decision to move to the downtown Mill Valley Frank Howard Allen office, I went to see how it felt to be there. What's not to like? Beautiful historic old building with window seats nestled beneath small paned windows. Sun streaming through all day, friendly desk neighbors, quaint location, or as Realtors like to say, "quintessential" Mill Valley. I'm in!

While I was smiling about my good fortune, I heard a noise. A kid crying? Dog howling? Mother yelling? 

I went outside to see what it was, and there I found a woman sprawled face down on the ground! When I asked her what happened she said that she was rushing with her puppy to her hair appointment and fell while running down the driveway. Jaylina came out from her clothing consignment store next door and I asked her to bring a pillow for the woman's head. Then I asked her if she wanted me to call 911 and she said, "No, I really hurt my ankle but I don't want to go to the hospital." So I said," Let's call the paramedics! Usually at least 4 or 5 really hot, I mean qualified, young men show up to help." 

Lo and behold, I was right. They were really helpful! They were however, afraid to go near her growling puppy, so after zipping him in a baby's sling around her neck, they attended to her injury. After about ten minutes she and her puppy hobbled off down the street. The EMT's may have saved the day, but I saved her hair appointment!

Goin’ Downtown

After living in Mill Valley forever, and working in Real Estate offices from San Rafael to Strawberry to Greenbrae, I finally decided to move my business to the downtown Mill Valley Frank Howard Allen Real Estate office, located at 25 East Blithedale Ave. 

As I sat at my desk on my first day in my new digs, I realized that what seems like the entire town passes by these windows. There is a never ending parade of people, kids and dogs, so it has occurred to me that it might be fun to blog about a snapshot of what I see outside these windows and around downtown.

On that first day, for example, I caught a glimpse of a young mother carrying her smiling infant boy while her daughter, in her sundress and Ugg boots, skipped ahead to get an ice cream "with 4 flavors."  I recognized the mother immediately since she grew up next door to me and now owns her own slice of heaven above Miller Ave.

"What are you doing Molly?” I asked. She said that a good friend of hers had recently been laid off without any benefits and is now jobless in Mill Valley, so she and her children were going from store to store buying her gift cards to help her get by. So far they had been to Rite Aid, the Mill Valley Beer Works, and were now on their way to Noci Gelato. "What else could she possibly need?" I joked, making light of the serious situation. So we laughed, shrugged our shoulders, gave each other the "What's this world coming to?!" look, and a great big hug.

And I retreated back into my new office, thankful.