Category Archives: dark chocolate

November 8, 2007 · 4:48 pm

Women Just Wanna Travel the World with Their GirlFriends…

Avenue of the Giants

Did you know that according to AAA, Girlfriends Getaways account for about four percent of all USA Leisure travel and the leading reasons women want to getaway is to bond with friends or family and to
escape from their daily responsibilities. The most popular activities while on a Girlfriends Getaway are dining out, shopping, spa-ing and going to the beach or pool.

Sweet Safaris Eco-Tours have it all and Much Much More…

Explore the scenic wonders of the northern California coast and southern Oregon’s treasures
An intimate gathering of 8-12 women, mothers and daughters, gal pals, work associates, bachelorettes, and new best friends, laughing, singing, sampling chocolates at factories, savoring yummy desserts,
shopping, spa-ing, snapping picturesque photos of white sand beaches and Giant Redwood forests, sipping fine wines, snacking on Thai, Chinese, turkey burgers, fish and chips, whale watching, organic farming, Solar Living, Mt. Shasta, Carmel’s famous 17 mile scenic tour, and so much more… Sleep in a yurt, cabin, farmhouse, camp out underneath the stars (seasonal), sample unique B&B inns and indulge in
upscale, stylish hotels …

Ten days leisurely driving along the northern California coast. Our last stop will be Ashland, Oregon, a chocolate mecca and home to year-round Shakespeare Festival. A dream come true. Share this holiday
with women you love to spend time with. Make it an annual tradition. Optional horseback rides along the beach at Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay. A refreshing vacation package for sun and fun lovers includes
gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, scenic rejuvenation and chocolates, who could ask for anything more?

Ask about upcoming Eco-tours to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and luxury tours to Hawaii, that include a spectacular cruise to New Zealand and Australia…

Women just wanna travel the world with their Girlfriends!

http://greengoddessesguide.googlepages.com/home

I am a published travel writer and co-author of five romantic travel guides, originally from NYC. I have lived in Monterey, Burlingame (SF airport area) and Bodega Bay and know many local favorite hot spots, secret surprises and can share insider’s tips about writing travel stories. This summer, as you know, I took this grand tour along the California coast to Ashland, Oregon with my wonder dog. I have traveled around the world and lived in Bangladesh, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, India, Israel,
Singapore and Thailand (as well as NYC, Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada). I have also driven across the USA numerous times.

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Filed under AAA, Adventure, auto club, B&B's, Bay area, CA, California, Carmel, chocolate, dark chocolate, dogs, dolphins, dreams, eco tourism, environment, food, girlfriend getaways, green, Hawaii, luxury travel, moms, Monterey, Nevada, New Zealand, Oregon, organic, Pacific Grove, pet travel, San Francisco, Solar Living tours, sustainable travel, travel, wild women, wine, women travel, writing

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October 31, 2007 · 11:49 am

Women traveling together… what a goldmine…

I did a search for women traveling for chocolate and came up with a goldmine of resources for women travelers, women traveling together, not much re: chocolate travel but below are resources for women travelers… wine, arctic adventures, books, travel writers, girlfriend getaways, business travelers, exclusive hawaiian vacation homes, new zealand, canada, adventurous, gutsy women and much more…

AAA came out with a recent study not too long ago which says that girlfriend getaways account for approximately four percent of all US leisure travel and the leading reasons women want to getaway is to
bond with friends or family and to escape from their daily responsibilities. The most popular activities while on a girlfriend getaway are dining out, shopping, spa and going to the beach or pool.

Here are some of my own resources as well as some that I found:


http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/women/bestwomenwebsites.shtml


http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Travel/Women/?skw=women+travel


http://www.globecorner.com/q/WT981430.html


http://www.powells.com/subsection/TravelTravelforWomen.html


www.HawaiiHideaways.com, Anne Pawsatt Dressler’s spirit of Aloha makes her #1 in my book and she is a Conde Nast rental specialist extraordinaire, if you are looking to rent an excquisite vacation home (of the exclusive million dollar variety), give Anne a jingle and tell her I sent you.

Million-Dollar-Mama.com

What the wonderful, kind and generous Valerie McDermott told me about the AAA study and her findings/trends she has noticed…

We have seen a couple of trends in recent months most pointing in the beach and spa direction. Texas has become a popular destination for women. Texas offers exciting nightlife and great shopping in cities like San Antonio and beautiful luxury spa resorts like the Lake Austin Spa Resort.

Florida continues to be popular with destinations like Miami Beach and their unique boutique hotels or a more active and relaxing getaway like The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort in Longboat Key, Floriday where you can lounge on the beach, take a mixology lesson or get your own cute tennis pro to teach you some new moves!

We are also seeing the baby boomers getting in on the action. These women want to experience life to the fullest and a very popular getaway for this demographic are the group tours. Gutsy Women Travel offers beautifully put-together getaways to such locations as Tuscany, British Columbia, Napa Valley and New York City. These tours are perfect for the woman who wants to see it all but may not have like-minded friends so they go for it solo! Most of these tour groups not only allow solo travel but encourage it and chances are you will meet friends for life.

On the other end of the spectrum — bachelorette parties are hitting the road. Women are marrying a little later in life and not settling for the male stripper and a local pub crawl. They want spa getaways, bikini bootcamps like Bella Vita in Ft. Lauderdale, FL to get into shape for their big day or weekends of shopping, spa-ing and nightlife in Chicago or San Francisco. Of course their is always Las Vegas.

http://www.jennifersjourney.com/index.html, Bev Sanders has taught women how to surf in Las Olas, Mexico forever, it seems, she is a previous client of mine in Carmel, CA, she has now dedicated these new women adventures to her sister who recently passed from cancer…

http://www.arcticladies.com/


http://www.aa.com/content/urls/women.jhtml?anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=women


http://www.womenof.com/Articles/et_5_7_07.asp

http://www.writtenroad.com

the fabulous Jen Leo, travel writer, author/editor of hilarious travel books such as The Thong Also Rises… we never did catch that cuppa chocolate…


http://www.adventureassociates.net/adventures/womentours.html

http://www.journeywoman.com/#

http://www.womenstravelnetwork.ca/


http://www.usatoday.com/travel/deals/inside/2006-07-26-safe-womens-travel_x.htm


http://www.wildwomentravel.com/


http://www.travelsisters.net/


http://www.gutsywomentravel.com/europe-travel/8d-amsterdam-rembrandt-bruges.asp

http://www.womansworldtravel.com/?src=overture


http://www.womentravel.co.nz/


http://www.womenstravelclub.com/index.html


http://www.women-traveling.com/


http://www.exploretravel.com/


http://www.womenwine.com/index.aspx

http://www.gonomad.com/womens/womensTravel.html


http://businesstravel.about.com/od/womenstravel/Womens_Travel.htm

http://www.adventurewomen.com/


http://www.womenstravelmagazine.com/

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Filed under AAA, Adventure, auto club, Bay area, California, Canada, chocolate, Conde Nast, dark chocolate, food, girlfriend getaways, gutsy, Hawaii, Jen Leo, Las Olas, New Zealand, San Francisco, Surfing women, The Thong Also Rises, travel, USA Today, wild women, wine, women travel, writing

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October 27, 2007 · 12:03 am

Chocolate California…


Puppy’s surgery went well yesterday, other things went completely awry… The meds made her weird, crying and just plain strange. Today she is better, sleeping a lot due to pain meds and surgery… The pin removal seemed a lot easier than the other surgeries. Still, she is to be off the leg pretty much for another month… Goddess help me ! A couple of times when I took her outside, she did not want to come back inside… so we sat in the sun for awhile. She wanted to investigate the bugs, grass, and wildlife… I just enjoyed the peace and quiet and warmth of the sunshine.

I wrote a very short review for Gusto about San Francisco area chocolate… I will write more soon since California is what started my writing about chocolate. It is the chocolate state for chocolate travels.

http://www.gusto.com/california/sanfrancisco/City1668784Reviews.html

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Filed under Bay area, bugs, California, chocolate, dark chocolate, dogs, Gusto, peace, pin removal surgery, San Francisco, travel

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October 24, 2007 · 4:33 pm

The Elusive Search for a Cure for Ringworm…

Speaking of chocolate, ok, try this quiz (beware these quizzes are fun and addicting):

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofchocolateareyouquiz/

and

What’s Your Power Bird?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourpowerbirdquiz/

What Breed of Puppy Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatbreedofpuppyareyouquiz/

Are You More Cat or Dog?
http://www.blogthings.com/areyoumorecatordogquiz/


What’s Your Travel Horoscope?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourtravelhoroscopequiz/

Now for all of your Green Goddesses out there, my new A Green Goddesses Guide to the Galaxy website:

http://greengoddessesguide.googlepages.com/home2

and now on to the Ringworm Cure Search is On…

I tried what the vet gave me

I think the antibiotics she was given after her surgeries may have contributed to the ringworm… which is a fungus…

I tried tinactin

I tried aloe vera, plant and juice

I tried tea tree oil (seemed too strong so I stopped)

I give her yogurt, she loves yogurt, and probiotics to give her tummy the good bacteria she needs (the vet gave her biodophilus)…

one pet lady person keeps calling and emailing me to shell out a hundred or more bucks for a whole blue algae product supplements… which I have not tried…

I tried vinegar

her paws may be itchy, she keeps licking at them either out of boredom or itchdom, so the vet suggested that I immerse her paws in vinegar for 10 minutes, yeah, sure, right, lots of luck with that … have you ever tried to immerse a 50 pound dog in anything? hah! I have been able to pour some vinegar on her toes and swab them with vinegar soaked cotton balls… but immerse her, in what universe?

I am giving her vitamin c and magnesium in her doggy food, plus olive leaf, and oregano oil (herbal capsules)…

and the vet also gave me iodine gel, which took away the bruising, she bruised herself last Sunday, but not the ringworm, well, I would not count the iodine out as a cure, but she started licking and eating the tasty iodine gel off her rump, which gave her the runs, so I stopped putting the gel on her for a couple of days…

yes, she’s got a cone and I would/should put it on her head… but she gets so disoriented and off balance from it and has such a difficult time getting comfortable, ie, sleeping, with it on that I use it only on a limited basis… like when I need to go outside.. and want her a bit tipsy so she will sit down, stay down, and not do anything like jump on the couch or bed while I am out…

call her tipsy… conehead, bonehead, bug, bub, and bubbalicious… and cc writer…
some of her nicknames… I also sing to her… and make up songs, like If you’re hoppy and you know it wag your tail… if you’re hoppy and you know it wag your tail, if you’re hoppy and you know it and you’re not afraid to show it, if you’re hoppy and you know it, wag your tail… if you’re silly and you know it, wag your tail, etc. and my puppy has a first name, it’s c c c c c, my puppy has a second name it’s c c c c c…
ok, this is what happens when you are bouncing off the walls with a dog in tow…

she’s so smart, now when I take her out, she has started sniffing along the way to prolong the walk, and once we get outside she tries to make a run for it… or she will sit down and wait and sniff the air, to see what’s out there… why hurry… sure, I have got all day to stay outside in the cold at 6 a.m. to watch my dog sniff around instead of doing her doggy business…

maybe I should try chocolate to cure her ringworm… ONLY KIDDING… ok, not funny… well, any other ideas?

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Filed under animals, cats, chocolate, Dalmatian, dark chocolate, dogs, food, green, mutts, natural health remedies, organic, ringworm, travel

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