What I'm writing this week...

Building business: Napa Valley Plastic Surgery Associates
In 1936 Rose and Fortunato Martini purchased a corner of a prune orchard on the northern edge of Napa. They built a restaurant, naming it Martini s Napa Valley Inn. The popular eatery was razed in 1974 to build Lyons Restaurant...

Former restaurant to become medical offices
Today, it s one of the busiest intersections in town, but in the 1930s, the corner of Jefferson and Trancas streets was home to a prune orchard, in what was then the northern outskirts of Napa. In 1936 Rose and Fortunato Martini purchased a corner of...

California foreclosures hit 4-year high
Residential foreclosure activity in California reached its highest level in more than four years in the third quarter, reported real estate data company DataQuick Information Systems, but Napa lenders report more encouraging news. Lending institution...

What I'm writing this week...

Blessing of the animals

Napa High grad launches biker wear for women

Whole Foods comes to Napa

Help Wanted

Napa store naturally takes care of skin

Hispanos Unidos

Images from Chinatown

Found this week...

Found this week, at Wal-Mart.
Black trench coat with contrasting detail.

I don't usually look to Wal-Mart for much of anything, but after seeing this ad twice, once in InStyle and once in another fashion magazine, I investigated.

A trip to my local Wal-Mart revealed more than 20 of these black poplin coats with satin-like off-white piping. Sizes ranging up to 14/16, I believe. Price: $39.95. On sale on Walmart.com at $31.00, only XS. Turns out Wal-Mart sizes run large, I ended up with the XS, which says size 0-2. I'm usually more of a 4 or 6.

$39.95 was a bit more than I would want to pay for clothing from Wal-Mart, but this coat is cute. My middle daughter, the fashion forward one, also gives it a thumbs up.

Report from the playground to follow.

What I'm writing this week...

Napa home prices, days on market up
Napa businesses eye city s plan to offer downtown free Wi-Fi
All in the family
Building business: Queen Anne Court, Old Town Napa

What I'm looking for...

H&M Black Cape.
As seen in Lucky and Marie Claire Magazine. An associate answering the phone at the NYC H&M said, "We don't have that yet."

To be continued....

INC International Concepts puts best foot foward

Anyone who's shopped at Macys likely knows of their private label INC, International Concepts. "Fashion Forward" but at more moderate prices, INC is a runaway, or should I say, runway hit for the masses.

I love INC. I'm only able to buy a few select items at full price, so I regularly scour the sales racks for deals. Over the past couple weeks local Macy's have had a number of discounts, usually 30% off merchandise already marked down at least 30% originally.

Lately, I've purchased two silk knit tops, with a low neckline and twist detail, short sleeves, one in sky blue, the other black. Each were $12 marked down from $49 originally. I've also found a glitter flecked blue paisley print blouse also marked down to $12 from $69. I had eyed that very blouse months ago at full price.

I shot a couple new INC items with my camera phone, planning to return when they're on sale. I might be gambling on mark-downs, though. Macys often hosts 10-15 percent off sales for using Macys cards. But there's a catch -- INC is usually excluded along with Coach bags, Lladro, and other designer items. Sheesh, give a bargain shopper a break. Put INC on sale more often!

The INC website online shows a whole lotta black and white, but I found more color at Macys Fairfield. Having shopped at most of the Macys in Northern California, little ol' Fairfield's Westfield Mall has one of the best INC selections around. Way to go Fairfield Macys INC buyer!

Lastly, there's only one word to describe the INC/Project Runway merger. Fab-u-lous!!

INC at macys.com