All nine of the Adventure Auction Lots are sponsored by a Russian River Valley Winegrower member and the money for each lot will go to raise funds for educational programs and future events. There are many reasons why Single Night will be epic, but these Adventure Lots is one part of the night that we are most excited about.

We guarantee, these Adventure Lots will be the most fun you will ever have at an auction.  Check out this video to find out a bit more:

We all think our Adventure Lots Videos are the best, so we are asking you, our awesome Facebook Fans, to vote for your favorite one! Please visit our video tab on the Next Generation Wine Facebook Page and click LIKE on your favorite Adventure Lot video.

The video with the most ‘likes’ will win.

*Though you do have to be a fan to ‘like’ a video!

To make this even more fun, we will be giving away one round-trip ticket for a future trip from Horizon/Alaska Air AND a ticket to Single Night to one random Facebook fan who participates!

Winners will be announced next week, so make sure to vote right away!!

Thanks!

Some restrictions from Horizon/Alaska Air:

• Travel Valid thru – January 28, 2011
• Blackout dates – Nov. 23,24, 27-29, Dec 22-24, 26-27, 2010 & Jan 1-4, 2011
• Fare Type – Unrestricted Coach Class
• Route Authorized – Roundtrip on Horizon Air/Alaska Airlines in the Continental US, Alaska and Canada (excludes Hawaii and Mexico)
• Other restrictions may apply

I am on week 1 of drinking a Vibranz Kombucha each day.  This is the new Kombucha company based in Healdsburg that just happens to be one of my clients.   They also just happen to make a kombucha that TASTES GOOD (most taste like vinegar, but it was something that would make me feel better after a night of drinking)!  Kombucha lovers claim an assortment of health benefits with this drink; everything from the claim that it detoxifies the body, improving digestion to lowering cholesterol, increased energy, creating sharper eyesight, better skin condition, and fighting cancer (of course, everything either causes or fights cancer).  So I decided that I wanted to test this out by drinking one each day and documenting how I feel.  I haven’t blogged about this yet but I have been writing my thoughts down (in an actual notebook).

I am on day 1 of riding my beach cruiser for my new exercise routine which will include getting away from my laptop and bike riding, hiking, joining a gym and taking Zumba classes with friends.  After my ride around the neighborhood I felt great, but it is the motivation beforehand that I seem to lack. I am constantly going to meetings with clients and networking that I have somehow convinced myself that the time it takes to work out isn’t worth it.  I am forcing myself to think differently on this.

I am also on month 1 of my new idea to treat myself to an afternoon of relaxation.  As you may know, I work constantly.  I am definitely not complaining because I love what I do.. I mean, who else can say they get to eat, drink and tweet for a living… Not many!   The problem is that I don’t take time to work on myself.  I have decided I need to make an effort to fix this.  Today I was treated to a facial at the office’s of Cynthia Bailey (aka @Cbaileymd).  Only the Best Skin Care is her dermatology office in Sebastopol, Ca.  My esthetician Sara treated me to a paraffin hand wrap and a head massage.   Oh, and to top it off, take a look at the view from my room.

Next month I plan on treating myself to a massage or some acupuncture to relax me.

I know I am not alone with the problem of not taking time to work on myself, but I am determined to change this and get back into shape.  I will keep you posted on my progress.

Friday, April 16 has been named the official Foursquare Day.

To those who don’t use Foursquare, we are a bunch of crazed stalkers who tell people where we are at all times.  But for those in the ‘know’ it is a great marketing tool for people and businesses!

After tomorrow, anyone who comes in contact with myself or any of my other Foursquare/Twitter Sonoma County friends will see Foursquare in action.    Hopefully we can even show those who disbelieve that it actually is a great marketing tool, one that businesses should be at least paying attention to.

We will be swarming the Brasserie Lounge at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek for snack and drink specials for first time Foursquare friends, drinking wine flights at Cellars of Sonoma and hanging out at Third Street Aleworks for some beer and appetizers.

I wrote about the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in my Sonoma County Online feature on my Two Five Media blog a few weeks back because they were the ONLY business in Santa Rosa to have a special deal on Foursquare  (Now, Third Street Aleworks and Cellars of Sonoma both have specials).

The official Twitter name for tomorrow is @4sqday and the official hashtag for the Sonoma County Wine Swarm will be ….. #4sqSR or  #4sqdaySR. I am thinking the shorter the better though.

So make sure to tag your Foursquare check-in’s and tweets with the hashtag!  If you are a newbie or want to learn more, just ask me.. I will be sure to be at one of these three places tomorrow!

More details:

• The Hyatt is trying to get a swarm badge, which means if 50 or more people check in, everyone gets a badge.  First time check-ins also get a free drink.  There will be other specials too!
  • You can earn up to three badges just by checking in – First-time users get the Newbie Badge, if we get 50 people to check-in, a Swarm Badge and all check-ins to the Brasserie will get the FourSquare Day Badge (remember, Foursquare changed the rules, so you actually have to be there to get points of a badge!) More info, click here.

• Third Street Aleworks is doing happy hour pricing ALL DAY for check-ins… Oh, and if anyone takes away my mayorship they get a free t-shirt! (Not that I am gonna allow that!) More info, click here.
• Cellars of Sonoma is giving away a free flight of their wines to anyone who checks in!  More info, click here.
  

See you in Santa Rosa!

+Shana.

Our first task was to throw a party….

Not just any party, but an event that showcases what makes the Russian River Valley stand out among most other wine regions – The focus on single vineyard wines.  Thus Single Night was born.  I will go into more detail later, but Single Night will be a night where other young wine lovers can go and be educated on where there favorite wine comes from.  In addition, there will be some amazing food, music and other special promotions that I cannot discuss at this moment.  My favorite part about this whole event (other than the fact that I get the honor to help out with promotions) is that there will be 8 different “Adventure Lots”  -  Auction lots that are much different than any of the boring ones I have heard about or been to in the past.  These Adventure Lots are made for groups of people, thus would have to be bidded on by a group of friends.

I am not sure about you, but I KNOW my group of friends would love to go wine tasting and get to go on a specialized hot air balloon ride with one of my favorite winemakers….

More details to come!!  For now, find us on Twitter and Facebook:  @NextGenWine or Facebook.com/NextGenerationWine!

One year ago I walked into the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau to pick up tickets I had won from @InsideSonoma for Barrel Tasting 2009.

One year ago I met the “Great” Tim Zahner, Marketing Director of the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau.  One year ago he asked me if I wanted to teach social media classes to Sonoma County businesses that signed up through the Bureau.  Oh, and one year ago I said yes.  This meeting that I thought would just be a simple hello ended up kick starting my marketing career and small business ownership.

I realized after this meeting that I could actually turn my passion of social media, marketing and Sonoma County into a business.  Now I sit here at the Two Five Media headquarters, watching the Oscars on Philp Wyers’ second computer monitor, writing a press release for Vibranz Beverages, a new kombucha company that  I am working with and realizing that I haven’t seen A SINGLE movie in 2009 that has been nominated for the Academy Awards.   Not even Avatar.

I know I have been busy this past year since Tim and Keri from @InsideSonoma believed I could help Sonoma County business owners with their online presence.  But so busy that I didn’t see a Pixar or Quentin Tarantin film.  Wow.

What I have been up to:

• Started consulting on social media for wineries from my home in Healdsburg.
• Started blogging more about wine and going to more and more events, building up my knowledge on varietals, how wine is made and why a spit bucket is important.
• Started teaching classes to Sonoma County businesses with the tourism bureau.
• Took over Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s online presence because of a chance meeting with her daughter at a wine event.
• Traveled through the South on my market research study on Millennials and wine (with @TheBeerWench) called Project Y-ine.
• Spoke at several different wine, food and hospitably events/conferences/meetings.
• Found an office and took my business to the next level with my partner Philip Wyers by starting Two Five Media, a full service digital marketing agency.
• Worked with Tim and Keri once again for the first annual Sonoma County Restaurant Week.
• Started working with Vibranz Beverages, a start up kombucha brand based in Healdsburg.
• Finished my first website JS Makeup Artistry with Philip Wyers, him as creative director /web designer and me as the project manager/copywriter.
• Worked with so many amazing clients in the wine, food and technology industries.
• Began the process of starting up even more new projects, to be announced VERY soon!

Even though I am a relatively young small business owner, I have been in the marketing industry for almost ten years and I couldn’t imagine my life in any other industry.  This has been one amazing year, one that I am so thankful for.  Thank you to Tim and Keri and all of my clients that I have had the pleasure of working with.   I cannot wait for even more great years with Two Five Media and Sonoma County…

Maybe even a year where I get to see some movies….

And it was amazing….

I have gone into detail on all my other blogs, so here I will just add some of my favorite pictures from the past month.   Yes, they all have to do with food…..   I am thinking my next client needs to be a gym.

Valentine’s Day.. yuck.   Rain.. yuck.  Superbowl.. Meh.

This year I now get to look forward to an entire week of eating and drinking at some of my favorite Sonoma County restaurants…  Okay, if you read my tweets you may be asking yourself, “Why is this week any different, Shana eats out all of the time?”   Well, this week, local restaurants will be offering special pre-fixe menus, showcasing the best they have to offer with a focus on local and sustainable ingredients.

The idea is that some of the best restaurants in the county (Zin, Bistro 29, girl & the fig, zazu, dry creek kitchen, Pazzo, Barn Diva, Relish Culinary, Syrah, Pizza 707, Starks Steakhouse, etc. etc. etc.) will be serving three-course dinner menus at $19, $29, or $39, depending on the restaurant.   A full list of the delicious menu’s can be found here.

I was asked to be in charge of the week’s online presence, so please make sure to say hello and let me know about your Sonoma County dining experiences on Twitter at @SoCoRestWeek or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SonomaCountyRestaurantWeek.

Also, take a look at what the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau has up their sleeves… A contest for diners to win gift certificates to participating restaurants just by doing what you already do:  Eat Out in Sonoma County!

The Wine Road is hosting their 18th annual Winter Wineland event where wineries all throughout Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley and Alexander Valley will be pouring wines, among other fun events.

This year will be my first year attending this event, but if it is anything like other Wine Road events, I will make sure to plan for the unexpected… And most likely will spend most of my time at my “happy place” Michel-Schlumberger.  This year it is a bit different.  This year, they are actually a client of mine and I will be helping out with online promotions for them.  So yes, they are a client of mine…. But also (in my own opinion) they have the best Winter Wineland theme –

The Winter Wineland Olympics at Michel-Schlumberger will be hosted on January 16 & 17th

Many Winter Olympic “stars” have signed on to make appearances just for the event, pouring wines and helping with the Michel-Schlumberger Winter Games.

New Releases will be poured (yes, I am talking about Malbec), paired with food from Relish Culinary Adventures and playing some of your favorite Winter Games with a MS twist.

Another winery that shouldn’t be missed (and yes, is another client of mine) is HANNA Winery & Vineyards.  They are going back to the 50’s during the two days of Winter Wineland with poodle skirts, classic cars, your favorite 50’s foods and even an Elvis impersonator…  Both their Alexander Valley and Russian River tasting rooms will be open.

If you haven’t already bought your tickets, then go here to purchase them for only $40… The price will go up after the 11th!  So make sure to get them before-hand!

While I have been a bit slow on the wine blogging, I am still active with my wine drinking and once I get everything done that comes along with starting a new business (licensing, banking, tax stuff,etc. etc.) then I should have more time to get back into blogging (fingers crossed).

I have my Funny by Accident wine blog and should probably keep ShanaRay.com separate from my wine blogging, but for now I am at a standstill trying to juggle all of my brands. 

Any suggestions on what I should do? Should I keep ShanaRay.com has my wine blog, or transfer my wine blogging over to Funny by Accident completely??  Just curious….

So, as for now, this is my website where I write about wine, food, beer, shoes, unicorns and some social media.

Whatever the shiny object that gets me excited that week is….

Today’s shiny object that has distracted me from my work is my new Christmas tree sitting in the Two Five Media headquarters.  Here is a sneak peek at it with lights on it.  Ornaments and more pictures to come soon.

Good friend, Hardy Wallace (Lifestyle Corespondent for Murphy Goode) will be the main presenter, discussing different social media sites and guidelines/tricks for each.  Keri Hansen, my co-presenter for the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau will be teaching people how the Tourism  Bureau uses Social Media.  Matthew Ashcroft, a local Internet Professional will be  helping attendees to get started.  And I will be coming in to talk about how social media marketing starts off with a strategy, giving examples of case studies from brands I have worked with.

To see the pdf of the Wine Road Invitation, click here!

Though, just note this seminar is only for Wine Road members only…  If you are interested, I am setting up a series of more seminars that revolve around the hospitality industry starting in Jan 2010!  Email me if you want to know more!