A Week in Napa

Photo Credit | Rex Gelert

If you're my friend on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter you know that I spent a lot of time at The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa this week. Tuesday I jogged through the vineyards to Napa's Grape Crusher Statue and jumped in the pool (two things that despite how many times I've been to the resort I had never done). After getting changed I attended "Taste of Siena" which was highlighting some new dishes from Chef Mike Collins, the new executive chef.

Wednesday we had a meeting with the management of the hotel to discuss some of my media successes and ideas for the future, especially as they get ready to open a 131,000 square foot expansion in Spring of 2012 (more on that later). After the meeting I drove back to the office, but first stopped at Symposium Restaurant in Davis for some very tasty Greek inspired pizza.

On Thursday I headed back to Napa to help Oyster.com (travel site affiliated with the Travel Channel) with a photo shoot. They couldn't have picked a better day to come. The sun was out and the resort looked amazing as always. The Entertainment Cave was set up for an evening banquet, the grape vines on the hillsides were beautiful, the boardroom was set for an executive meeting and so much more. After the photographer left I had an afternoon tour of the expansion that will add an 8,500 square foot ballroom, outdoor event space, 165 luxury guestrooms (all with patios or balconies), a fitness center that looks out onto the vineyard and olive trees and the Crush Ultra-Lounge, featuring six bowling lanes, a restaurant/bar and a cafe.

Meritage Resort Expansion Time Lapse from Meritage Resort on Vimeo.

Next up on my itinerary - room service and my first ever massage. Spa Terra, located in the 22,000 square foot Estate Cave (also home to the Entertainment Cave and Trinitas Cellars Tasting Room), has been recognized as not just one of the top spas in the Napa Valley, but worldwide. The locker room has a jacuzzi and sauna, the relaxation room was the perfect spot to unwind before my massage and my 50-minute Terra Massage was so soothing. One of my co-workers later commented "that's why you look so relaxed" after I told them what I had done earlier in the day.

Thursday evening, after I had another great dinner at Siena, I headed to Downtown Napa to meet up with a few of my co-workers at the monthly Culinary Crawl.  I met them at Gotts near Oxbow Public Market and then we headed to John Anthony, a local wine bar. KTVU was doing a story about the event and the re-birth of Downtown Napa, so after a glass of wine we went in search of the live truck and were even able to help the reporter by giving her a bottle of water when she was thirsty.

The week finished on yet another high note when Joan Rivers came to Napa's Uptown Theatre and The Meritage. I've been working with her production crew for the last few weeks to make it happen and all went flawlessly. They shot a scene for her reality show in her suite, ate some great food and then were off to the show (after I got a picture with Joan of course). The show was great, I laughed a lot, even though it did use a few words I try to avoid using myself (Napa Patch review).

Today it is back to reality, I cleaned the house, mopped the floors and the laundry is going.

The Meritage Resort and Spa and the Napa Tourism Improvement District are clients of AugustineIdeas. My guest room, spa treatment and meals were provided by The Meritage Resort and Spa. Tickets to the Joan Rivers show at Uptown Theater were provided by Joan Rivers and/or her production company. All opinions expressed are my own.

Taylors!

It was a great food weekend. Yesterday I went to WinCo, although it may not be known for its gourmet food, I love their potato wedges. I ordered 1/2 pound and it was gone before I checked out, I paid for an empty bag.

 Today after church, running and the gym I met a friend at Taylors in Loomis. Although I've heard great things about their milkshake list I had no idea what to expect. The milkshake list was huge (it reminded me of the beer list at Yard House) and I settled on a Strawberry-Banana Shake with a Turkey Burger (I had to be kind of healthy to counteract the huge milkshake). It was fantastic and I cannot wait to try some of their other creations.

Talking Twitter at #AMASV

After a friend had to go out of town on business at the last minute, I was asked to fill in during today's American Marketing Association Sacramento Valley luncheon. My topic ... Twitter.

Below are a few of the things I told my groups as they came by to talk (each table discussed a different topic). I've also included a few of the things I had planned to say, but in 10 minutes didn't have the chance. I know it's not an exhaustive list, but my goal was to give a brief introduction on how it could help their business start on Twitter.

1. Everyone that is on Twitter quit and then started again. Yes, even I signed up for an account, used it a few times, forgot about it and then eventually came back to it.

2. Be conversational. I don't know a single person that loves when a company (or a person) only provides one way information that tries to sell them stuff. Every good company interacts. Royal Caribbean has an almost daily post asking "Where's Royal?" and then shows a picture of a port their ships travel to. Yard House restaurant says thanks to customers who check in on Foursquare or mention them on Twitter. There are so many great examples. Converse with your audience first, then also let them know you sell something.

3. Network. There are a few ways to do this. First you can find people on Twitter who are writing about your industry, follow them and engage with them. Yes this is very similar to #2. It's also important to go to in-person events. It can be a Chamber Mixer, a Tweetup or a charity dinner. If you're not actively meeting people in real life (IRL) and online, you are not fully benefiting the power of social media. One of my favorite local examples is Chick-Fil-A Arden Fair. They engage with customers through Twitter and they're at events almost every day of the week including SMC Sac, River Cats games, the Sacramento Zoo and tweetups.

4. Be where your customer is. I love Twitter. However if my friends weren't on Twitter it wouldn't make sense for me to be on it, I like asking them questions, providing answers and just seeing what they are up to. The same is true for business. If your customers and potential customers are not on Twitter, it's a waste of time. You have no one to be conversational with.

5. Search. Twitter is an open platform, you can search for almost anything that people are saying. Hashtags are an amazing invention, but even without them, it's still easy to find something. When someone mentions "Napa" in a tweet, @NapaDowntown (client), might just reply back to them with a restaurant suggestion or let them know about a new website full of resources.

6. Check out the cool infographic I found over the weekend from Touch Agency. Why? Because someone spent a lot of time making it.

7. Use tools. Tweetdeck and Hootsuite are probably the two most popular programs to manage Twitter accounts, for the record I prefer Tweetdeck (and so does Twitter, they bought it).

8. Klout. It's not perfect, but it does help measure how interactive you (and others) are on Twitter. The more people you interact with (and that interact back), the more likely you are to have a higher score. Klout also lets you know who you influence, what topics you are most influential about and provides some other good insights. In my opinion it's not perfect, but it's the best tool of its kind.

9. ROI. Although it's difficult to say, there was a recent study that said a Facebook fan spent an average of $71.84 more per year at a major retailers if they "Liked" that retailers' Facebook page. I would imagine Twitter numbers are similar. Most people just want to increase their followers, I however say it's more important to follow and be followed by the right people. You can pay services that will get you 20,000+ "likes" on Facebook or that many followers on Twitter, but that does no good if they don't interact with your brand and never shop in your store.

10. Complete your profile. I want to see a picture of you or your logo, not an egg. I want to know where you live or do business and I want a brief description of what your do, what you sell or what you're going to tweet about. It's not that hard and it's the basic information you should provide if you want people to follow you.

What are your tips for Twitter and social media in general?

Food Trucks!

Top: Wicked'wich; Bottom: Drewski's

I had a fantastic time at Future Ford in Roseville tonight during the Food Truck Roundup. This weekly event brings together all of Sacramento's gourmet food trucks to a single place, allowing people like me to get a taste of what they have to offer. Since I had already had Mini Burger Truck (see blog post), I decided to try out three other trucks: Drewski's, Mama Kim's and Wicked'wich.

All of the food was delicious. @MamaKimOnTheGo offers truly gourmet food, I had a fresh cream puff thanks to @YetAnotherSusan. @DrewskisHotRod and @WichOnWheels both make amazing sandwiches, @lttlewys and I split sandwiches so we could try both (Pastrami and Korean Beef).

Read more: Articles from Roseville Press-Tribune and Roseville Patch.

Mama Kim On The Go

Wicked'wich

Drewski's Hot Rod

A Trip to AT&T Park

AT&T Park, Main Gate

After purchasing a ticket package at Costco a few months ago my family and I finally went to a San Francisco Giants game. Although they didn't win, we still had a great time watching from our "View Level" seats and surprisingly it was my first time to AT&T Park, so I just had a good time walking around.

Since I didn't feel like paying to go across the Bay Bridge and more importantly $30 for parking and the hassle of driving in San Francisco, I took BART in from Concord. The round-trip fare cost me $11 and I got to take a nice walk along the Embarcadero and through the Ferry Building on my way to the game, while I took a more direct route on my way back. I caught the train with no issue and had a seat the entire ride in both directions, it was splendid.

Once I arrived at the park I walked around the outside of the stadium to see the statues, check out McCovey Cove and even went in to the most crowded store ever, the Giants Dugout Store right before a  game.

Once inside the park I walked up to where the rest of my family was sitting (we were all coming from different cities, they were still in Capitola this morning), we lounged, watched the game, ate some great food (yes it's expensive, but our tickets came with $10 each to spend on food and drinks).

Sorry for all of the pictures, but like I said, it was my first time ever to AT&T Park.

Kid-Sitting Success

Well I successfully kid-sat six amazing kids for more than 12 hours, granted they were sleeping for some of it and are still asleep now. We played outside, did a craft project (see picture), ate pizza, enjoyed story time and everyone went to sleep at their bedtime. In my book, that is success.

Capitola

This weekend my family spent time at my favorite California beach destination ... Capitola. The city by the sea offers a small town atmosphere, walkable streets, shopping, a gorgeous beach, wharf/pier and my favorite ... Pizza My Heart and Zelda's. It was great to hangout with my aunt and cousin from Texas, along with my cousin's friend, my brother, his wife and my nephews, grandma and my parents.

Between the beach, running to the mall and back (there wasn't room for me in the car), listening to great music on the wharf, visiting "the brick," eating fabulous food (cooked by my family and the good people at Pizza My Heart) and making s'mores it was a fabulous weekend. I was just sad that I had to leave and they got to stay. I will see most of them on Saturday at the Giants game at AT&T Park (my first time going there - yes I know that is sad). Before that though, I will be kid-sitting six amazing children while their parent's (and youngest brother) go on a quick trip to San Diego.