The Los Altos United Methodist Church (LAUMC) ad Harpeggio present “20 Harps for the Holidays” with holiday harp music, solos, ensembles and featured guest artist Natalie Cox on Saturday December 3, 2011 at 4pm at the church: 655 Magdalena Avenue, Los Altos.  The program includes a festive selection of traditional carols, classical music, and a variety of holiday and Christmas music.

According to the Harpeggio website: “Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for children (4-12) and $12 for seniors (60+). For more information and to buy tickets, please contact Stephanie at (408) 366-8810 or email events@harpeggio.com”

The LAUMC website lists more events online too.

Halloween is almost here and it is time to get creative! Sereno’s in on the spirit too.   Each year, Sereno Group Real Estate offices in the San Jose and Silicon Valley area have a Halloween pumpkin decorating contest for kids.  Winner’s pumpkins (and names of winners if parental permission is received) will be advertised in our local papers after the contest is finished.

Contest Rules:

No Carving

Decorate your own small pumpkin, or pick up a complimentary pumpkin at one of our offices in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Soquel/Santa Cruz, Los Altos, or Palo Alto.

3 age groups: toddler, early elementary, late elementary

All contestants will receive a gift goodie bag

One grand prize per age group, per office, will be awarded

Any carved or punctured pumpkins will be disqualified due to rotting

All entries must be dropped off at your nearest Sereno Group Office by Friday, October 21st at 5pm.  Judging will happen the week of October 24th during our regular real estate marketing meeting.

Where and when can you drop off a pumpkin?  Please find the office locations and hours below.  We are looking forward to seeing some wonderful kids’ creations!

Downtown Willow Glen (part of central San Jose) offers fabulous strolling, dining and shopping. It’s a great destination spot, whether people want to go there for an afternoon, an evening, or a lifetime (read about Willow Glen real estate here, and ask me about Willow Glen neighborhoods).

Recently I had a friend visiting and I wanted to introduce her to this neat, historic and scenic part of Silicon Valley. We stopped in to Grapevine, a wine & cheese bar, one evening after the California Association of Realtors Conference & Expo in downtown San Jose.

The service at the Grapevine was extremely good with friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable staff.  Menu offerings were extensive with varied wine and appetizer selections.  The ambiance was pleasant too, with great views onto the avenue, plenty of light and comfortable spacing between tables. In this age of frugality, it’s fair to mention that pricing is reasonable, too.

Colleen and I very much enjoyed the 60-90 minutes we spent at the Grapevine wine & cheese bar.  We each had a “flight” and tried 3 types of wine apiece and also ordered a yummy hot appetizer which featured artichokes, cheese and bread.  It was a great combination and very unhurried too.

Want to enjoy a little leisure time in beautiful Willow Glen? Take a little time and pop into the Grapevine Wine & Cheese Bar and try the offerings. You’ll be glad you did!

1389 Lincoln Avenue, Willow Glen – San Jose, CA, 95125

hone: (408)293-7574

http://www.grapevinewillowglen.com

The summer of 2011 will go down as one of the coolest in decades for Silicon Valley (or, as my hairdresser joked, “summer was canceled“).  Live entertainment goes on and daytime productions are more comfortable than usual so get out there and enjoy the offerings in the west valley areas of Los Gatos, Saratoga and San Jose before we finish out the warm season!

Free music in Los Gatos:

Did you know that the town of Los Gatos features three different concert series each summer?  There’s Music in the Park (Sundays), Jazz on the Plazz (Wednesdays) and Vasona Vibrations (Saturdays).  I posted every concert date/time and info on each venue on my Live in Los Gatos blog.  See the entire list of the free summer music in Los Gatos here (there are 10 still to go!).

Fiesta de Artes in Los Gatos – art and wine festival

An annual tradition in Los Gatos each summer is the Fiesta de Artes on the Civic Center Lawn (on Main Street near Los Gatos High School) and this year it’s back on Aug 13 & 14 2011. Running from 10am to 6pm both Saturday and Sunday, this is a much beloved Art & Wine Festival (the only one in Los Gatos).  Visitors will enjoy loads of musical entertainment, a variety of food and wine, and more than 150 vendors.  Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, the Fiesta de Artes has been a part of summers in Los Gatos for over 30 years.  Come on out and enjoy!

For more information, please visit http://www.lgfiesta.org/

Shakespeare in Silicon Valley

Take in some of the magic of the bard!  The Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival runs through August 6th – this year the offerings include Macbeth (we saw it opening night – well done!), Twelfth Night and Charley’s Aunt.  Check out showtimes and other info on the website at http://www.LGShakes.org  or get tickets online:
http://www.festivaltheatreensemble.org/tickets/

Another venue with Shakespeare is Shady Shakespeare, up at Sandborn Park in the hills over Saratoga.  This year’s run began just a couple of days ago and continues through early September. What’s playing?  Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Read more at http://www.shadyshakes.org.

And finally, you can view Shakespeare at Montalvo this year, as Shakespeare Santa Cruz comes over the hill to perform.  (If my memory serves me correctly, they used to do so at the Paul Masson Mountain Winery in Saratoga in the 80s and early 90s – at least I recall taking in some of Shakespeare’s plays there in my younger days!).  This series runs only in September and includes The Comedy of Errors plus a more contemporary show, Danny Scheie.  (As always with Montalvo, this is not the most affordable of the venues – but the setting is lovely.)  Learn more at http://www.Montalvoarts.org.

Looking for a weekend getaway in the San Francisco Bay Area?  Consider Los Gatos or Saratoga – great dining, shopping and entertainment year round, but never more than in summer!

Tomorrow, Saturday July 23rd, e-waste items will be taken by West Valley Collection & Recycling at no cost in two locations from 9am to 2pm:

1. The Los Gatos United Methodist Church – 111 Church Street, Los Gatos, off Main Street by Los Gatos High School
2. Campbell Church o Christ – 1075 West Campbell Avenue, Campbell. Entrance around back, please enter on Hedegard Avenue

What can be accepted: TV monitors, computers, laptops, DVD and CD players, printers, scanners, vacuum cleaners, electronic toys and games.

What cannot be accepted: sorry, no kitchen appliance or light bulbs.

Silicon Valley residents, mark your calendars!  Plan to be at the Pruneyard in Campbell to listen to the Michael Jackson tribute band, Foreverland!

The band will be onstage Wednesday, July 27th, starting at 6pm, to help raise funds for Portera.  This is the 3rd annual event and it promises to be a lot of fun!

Since this is a fundraiser, donations of food, gently used clothing and cash are very welcome.  Please read all about the event on the downtown Campbell website.