Monday, March 29, 2010

Smile your on camera

Alan Hutcheson is taking pictures of Mesa this year. This is his blog http://mesaaz2010.blogspot.com/.
Maybe he will turn up at one of our events and capture the direction we are heading, a Downtown Mesa with people, music, life....

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ignite Phoenix 6

The final 18 presentations for Ignite Phoenix #6 are listed below, selected from 70+ submissions they received on one of the widest range of topics so far!
Ignite Phoenix will be March 30th at the Mesa Arts Center!
It's sold out and we are so excited that his is right here in Downtown Mesa. If you are going stop by Nunthaporns Thai or Il Vinaio for a great dinner before the event. See you at de La Cruz afterwards!


Eat Better, Be Better – How Changing My Diet Changed My Life Kristi Setzer
Fist of the Southpaw: Initiation into the Secret Society of Sinistrality Malik R Robinson
Genetically Unemployable Emily Leach
Get Pissed Off And Fight Back – The Power of The Purse and Social Connections Leo Godin
How Improv May (Or May Not) Save the World Jose Gonzalez
Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Cows Amy Heisler
Mastering the Pomodoro Technique in 5 Minutes Greg Head
Nachos: A Metaphysical Journey Dallas Gold
Presentation slide text can make you look stupid Eric Reid
The Greatest American Who Ever Lived: Emperor Norton & The Comforts Of Madness Ashley Naftule
Trust Your Gut Marvin Forte
Up For Grabs: The Claw Game Philosophy Charles Choueiri
Weird Time Evo Terra
Welcome to Arizona, the surveillance state Ross Trumble
What do the hard hat and Wonder Woman have in common? Stacy Holmstedt
You Really CAN Support The Troops! Scott Tiernan
You’ll Never Watch Star Wars the Same Way Again! Dustin Diehl
Your Office Coffee Sucks Matthew Petro

We are so lucky to be a part of this...

I was reading some other blogs about Downtown Mesa and just had to pass them along.
Brittany and Andrew obviously have great taste in photographers who think "Artistic buildings, green gardens, water sculptures and cobblestone alleyways- I love downtown Mesa! " You know great minds think alike and these guys at Visions by Smiddy rock! Wonder if they have offices in Downtown, they should if they don't.
http://www.visionsbysmiddy.net/2010/03/brittnie-and-andrew-engagement-session.html

Then check out what Dorie is doing to one of those awesome houses in the neighborhood. She sure is right that the Arizona State Women's Club needs to cherish their gem in Downtown and spruce her up a bit. "Our historic district is filled with bungalows and tudors and the occasional ranch style home."
http://tuesdayswithdorie.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=12

You know sometimes I want to keep this all to myself and then I realize how selfish that would be, others should have the opportunity to love our Downtown also.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Blog that you should check out and follow

This is an interesting blog that we hope you will join in following!
http://www.mesablogger.com/

Thursday, March 11, 2010

350 project check it out

http://www.the350project.net/dine_local_home.html

How did The 3/50 Project begin?
As many great things do...by accident.

The first week in March 2009 sowed the seeds for what would later become a firestorm—

Monday: Oprah does a show instructing consumers to stop spending money on anything that was non-necessity

Tuesday: CBS News reports that “Consumer spending drives 70% of the economy. When consumers put their wallets away, the economy has trouble making a U-turn.”

Friday: In a guest spot on the Today Show, Erin Burnett from CNBC talks about how psychology plays into the economy and the importance of innovation in times of difficulty

Sunday: Erin’s back, this time on Meet the Press, chiding the national media for taking negative hyperbole into the stratosphere

Mix those together with a deep seeded desire to create a message that’s positive and achievable, and, well...you get a blog post written on March 11, 2009, giving birth to The 3/50 Project.

The next week, I threw together a free flyer businesses could crank out of their desktop printers to hand customers. A week later, a one-page website explaining the flyer. A couple of weeks after that, having received more than 300 emails asking “What else have you got?” I built the website you see today, launching it mid-afternoon on Monday, March 30th.

And in the first seven days, more than 7,600 people found it (8,600+ if you count repeat visits).

Be careful what you blog about. It just might change the world. Or at least someone’s world.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

LA Times knows how great Mesa is... let's own it.

Don Shirley

Special to the Los Angeles Times

March 7, 2010

Reporting from Mesa, Ariz.

What does Forbes know?....
...as Mesa's Blandsville image fades, we visiting ex-Mesans are frequently surprised.

If you know where to look, you'll find plenty of life.

I enjoy a stroll along downtown Mesa's Main Street, where a small farmers market and a crafts fair take place on Saturdays from October through April. The area is spruced up with pretty palo brea trees, green street lamps and a collection of lifelike sculptures on street corners — plus all-local businesses.

Like most of Mesa, downtown is becoming more diverse. One spot, Inside the Bungalow, a charming converted 1916 house, features good coffee, yoga, massages, light lunches and open-mike Wednesdays. I never tasted Thai food during my Mesa years — but now it's on Main Street at the superb Nunthaporn's.

See the entire article at http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-mesa-20100307,0,763068.story