Taste of Clearwater

The annual "Taste of Clearwater" event will occur tomorrow the 20th at the Harborview Center. With over 50 local restaurants, it looks to be a fulfilling night out! I've never been so I'm looking forward--a great way to try the food from the locals! The chamber of commerce site has all the info.

The Vineyard of Oz

"Travel with Dorothy and her crew (Toto, too!) to the Emerald City to enjoy dinner by munchkin-sized bites from select area restaurants, samplings from choice wineries and a unique silent auction (oh, my!), in Tampa's only motion picture movie-palace.

This year's targeted food and wine lineup include Bonefish Grill, Cafe Ponte, The Capital Grille, Michael's 717 South, Salt Rock Grill, SideBern's, Andre Lurton, d'Arenberg, Illuminati, Laurent-Perrier, Lolonis, Merryvale, Peju, and Pierre Sparr.

The Vineyard of Oz is Tampa Theatre's 4th annual movie-themed wine tasting and whether you're a good witch or a bad witch, we really most sincerely guarantee you'll laugh the night away in the merry old Land of Oz. Previous themes were Saturday Wine Fever, Raiders of the Lost Cork and Gone with the Wine.

There really is no place like Tampa Theatre!"

I would agree with that statement. This looks to be a very fun event--and a great way to taste some of the yummy vittles from area restaurants. I'm just sad I can't attend!!

For tickets, go here.

Coldplay on 9/14

OK...so this is a bit of a weird post. I am really excited to go see Coldplay. And I was so excited when the tickets went on sale that I bought 2 extra. So, now I have 2 that I don't need. If anyone is interested in purchasing these, let me know (gailany@yahoo.com)! Here's the DL: Section 201, Row G, Seat 1 & 2. Face value is what I'm after: $160 for both.

Tampa Bay Library Consortium

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium offers a large digital book catalog. Once you have a library card from one of the local libraries listed, you will be able to download digital books for free! With the software available on the site, you will be able to "check out" each title for 7 days (longer for certain titles). It looks like a very cool idea, especially for driving. It is a similar idea to a podcast...Hmmm, now I just need to get a library card!!

Increase Donations to Hurricane Katrina Victims!

Planning on donating to help Hurricane Katrina victims? Make the most of your money with matching donations! Here are a couple I've come across:

*The Ellen DeGeneres Show & Warner Brothers will match your donation to the Red Cross! Up to $500,000 matched. Here's the spot.

*Lowe's will match any donations to the Red Cross up to $2 million made *in-store only*. See box at bottom of their home page.

*Until Sept. 30th, Best Buy will match any online or in-store donations to the Red Cross up to $1 million dollars.

*Sears/K-Mart will match in-store donations to the Red Cross up to $500,000.

*The McCormick Tribune will match $.50 of every $1 donated to it's fund of the first $2 million received.

*Join the Oxygen "Oh! Speakup!" Campaign (free sign-up) and Oxygen will donate $1 to the Texas Children's Hospital up to $10,000.

*Also, check to see if your employer matches any charitable donations!! An easy way for it to add up!

Don't forget our animal friends...Donate to the ASPCA!

For a pretty darn complete list of donations made by corporations, CNN is on it.

If you don't have money you can spare, a local Corpus Christie business called Coffee Cup is collecting "comfort items" for the estimated 250,000 people for whom Texas will be caring. You would simply have to ship items to them.