tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73538289560736127102024-02-20T10:34:32.282-08:00Sonoma Coffee TalkSonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-3997740158175392592010-06-14T14:44:00.000-07:002010-06-14T14:46:49.060-07:00New Artist at Sonoma Coffee Cafe<h1>Adam Heffler / Foobix Design</h1>http://www.redbubble.com/people/foobixdesign/<br /><p>I have been unwittingly cultivating my style for my entire life, as it is an evolution from the doodling that has kept me enraptured since I was first able to wield the tools of the trade. It wasn’t until after college that I realized the true importance of what I was doing. I began seeing the my art as an urgent demand for further exploration. So I took up the Micron pen, and never looked back. Now here I am, creating very small, complex images that flow through my hand like some sort of otherworldly calligraphy, expressing themselves on the paper as a great totemic story.</p> <p>The flurry of tiny, interrelated shapes, usually only spanning a few square inches, creates a sense of motion, where the eye freely darts from shape to shape, cluster to cluster, and form to form. Within this process, many people find different things in my art. Sometimes they see things that I see, and sometimes something new – a pleasant surprise! I have come to appreciate the spectrum of interpretation that my art can bring. I have noticed that certain elements persist – birds, prehistoric imagery, and fish – these might be considered to be a thematic backbone, and greatest mystery of my work.</p> <p><strong>For purchace inquiries, commission requests, and general interrogation, you can contact me at FoobixDesign at Gmail dot com.</strong></p> <p><strong>Current Exhibitions and Events</strong><br />June 5-6, 12-13 – <a href="http://www.proartsgallery.org/ebos/index.php">Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios</a></p> <p>May 1 – June 30 – Solo Show – <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/sonoma-coffee-cafe-berkeley">Sonoma Coffee Cafe</a> – Berkeley, CA</p> <p><strong>Past Exhibitions – Solo</strong><br />2009 <a href="http://www.arizmendi-bakery.org/">Arizmendi Bakery</a> – Emeryville, CA<br />2009 <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/marcus-richard-h-od-optmtrst-alameda#hrid:fBMXHS_aS2utGIpe7FyOBg/src:search/query:Dr.%20Richard%20Marcus">The office of Dr. Richard Marcus</a> – Alameda, CA</p> <p><strong>Past Exhibitions – Group</strong><br />2010 Think Green 2 – <a href="http://www.expressionsgallery.org/">Expressions Gallery</a> – Berkeley, CA<br />2010 The Modernists – Expressions Gallery<br />2010 Past, Present and Future – Expressions Gallery<br />2009 The Color Show – <a href="http://www.slateartanddesign.com/">Slate Art and Design</a> – Oakland, CA<br />2009 Holidayland – <a href="http://www.blankspacegallery.com/">Blankspace</a> – Oakland, CA<br />2009 Dramatic Characters – Expressions Gallery<br />2009 Gone Fishin’ – Expressions Gallery<br />2009 Spring Has Sprung – Expressions Gallery<br />2009 Suggestion of Sensuality – Expressions Gallery<br />2008 Off The Mark Studio – Vallejo, CA<br />2008 Summer Salon: Hot Art – <a href="http://www.greensboroart.org/">Center For Visual Artists</a> – Greensboro, NC<br />2008 The Greensboro 200 – Center For Visual Artists<br />2007 All-Member Juried – Center For Visual Artists</p>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-23295856534880183232010-03-02T11:18:00.000-08:002010-04-29T11:42:17.627-07:00Long time no talk<span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">It's been awhile since I've posted anything. Some of the baristas are doing latte art and etching to make your drinks look nice as you take a sip. We now have paninis, wraps, and fruit & yogurt parfaits made fresh. The great thing is we use many organic ingredients that we purchase from local vendors: organic ham, turkey and chicken from Delmonte Meats; organic produce from Berkeley Bowl; organic Fair Trade coffee, etc. So much has changed here and we will continue to perfect it with the help of customer suggestions and opinions. We appreciate all the suggestions and opinions from everyone because we want to make this a community coffee shop for</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">you</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">!</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"> It's great to get to know everyone by name and if we don't know you by name, just introduce yourself. We all try to remember your order so we can make your drink a personalized drink. I'm horrible with blogging and doing social networking, but add us on Facebook (durantscc@gmail.com). I guess I better go back to work... I love my job :)</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-13510825244813360012009-04-27T19:49:00.000-07:002009-04-27T19:54:06.800-07:00Windy<span style="color:#006600;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">Wow! It's cold outside... Our outdoor seating is useless, so we decided to put some inside the shop. More seating inside = good. It seems like everyone would rather have it inside than outside. So, we did what everyone asked for. The decor looks kind of off, but at this point no one cares. I'm happy to see that people are loving the cafe. Many more changes to come. I'm sure summer will be slow with all the students gone, but when you come back I think there will be a lot of changes returning for the next semester. Anyway, I'm off to serve coffee/espresso. </span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">See you again Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sonoma</span> Coffee Cafe</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-90033273546537137192009-04-21T18:27:00.000-07:002009-04-21T23:23:21.442-07:00Long time no post<span style="color:#009900;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#009900;"></span><br /><span style="color:#009900;">It's been awhile since I last posted. This attractive customer asked me why the posting stopped. So, thanks to her I'm back posting on here. If anyone reads this, I'll point out who it is that asked me that question. Anyway, it's been 5 months now and we are open until 11 P.M. It seems that staying open later is going well. Outdoor seating is now available. I'm so glad that we have it because it's been so hot and I'm happy to see people using it. We have couple of new drinks that people are loving. The Snickers and Milky Way latte. Hot, iced, or blended, it's a yummy treat. We have some upcoming drinks that will be released some time soon so keep asking when it's coming and we may bring it out sooner than we planned. Well, I'm out of here. Thanks for reading if there are readers out there. :)</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-12435847659012478982009-03-02T12:12:00.000-08:002009-03-02T12:37:43.402-08:00Rain, rain, rain<span style="color:#003300;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#003300;"></span><br /><span style="color:#003300;">Wow, it's been raining pretty good don't you think? Anyway, we're planning to make a few adjustments here at the coffee shop. There is a new store opening up right next to us. They are called Beta Lounge, a new wine, beer, sake, and food place in Berkeley! So the new change will be our hours. We do plan on staying open late! It will not be an immediate change, but look out for it. We will post it in East Bay Express, on our site, and posted on our windows. Please comment on our blog for suggestions if anyone does read this. I hope everyone is having a good day and hope to see you soon.</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-57598345441240190752009-01-25T12:54:00.000-08:002009-01-25T13:06:32.766-08:00Just Chatting<span style="color:#006600;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">How is everyone? We just wanted to drop in and say hi. I'm not too sure how many people read our blogs, but I just wanted to say hi to new and old readers. It's been a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">roller coaster</span> ride for us. It's not easy being a business owner trying to compete with the other big coffee shops, but with the support of local neighborhoods and students, it's been getting better. We always wonder how we can reach out to everyone and make improvements. We would like to thank everyone's suggestions and we continue to try and make Sonoma Coffee Cafe a better place. I wish we had a bigger store, but hopefully we can expand as we get more customers in. The spaces next to us is empty and we would love to occupy that space and have longer hours in the future. Everyone that has been posting on Yelp has helped a lot and thank you for the word of mouth. It does help with the community spreading the word. We hope to do more things as the months go by. We are going to do some samples soon so everyone can try the different selections we have to offer. It can be overwhleming when you look at our menu, but we are more than happy yo explain it. I can understand that it's not your normal ordering menu than the rest of the coffee shops. We are offering something different and so far the response has been great. Well, I just wanted to say hi and hope to see you here. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-27297326099964185372009-01-13T22:22:00.000-08:002009-01-13T23:09:11.646-08:00Human Being<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">Hello Berkeley,</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">This isn't my usual kind of posting, but I felt I needed to write this. Last night a "homeless" man came into the store and asked to change two dimes and five pennies for a quarter. Now, couple of weeks earlier another "homeless" man came in and wanted two dimes and three pennies for a quarter. I was not falling for it and said no. He then turned away and went across the street to another business. So, last night the gentleman simply asked for the exact change and the last experience I had my initial response was no. I wasn't even thinking and judged him. All he wanted was change to make a phone call. I felt like a jerk. He said to me he can't believe what people were saying to him that day and was having a bad day. I apologized and I told him I hope he has a better day and he left. He came in tonight and I greeted him and asked if his day was better. He was shocked that I remembered him and said, "Today is another day and it's never the same day." He bought a cup of coffee and sat down at our bar stool near our pastries. I decided to talk to him and have a chat. He was telling me how he was having a tough time and trying to get back on his feet. Now, some of you may be thinking he is trying to ask for something or trying to scam. No, he just wanted someone to talk to and needed to take a break. I got to know this gentleman a little bit more and he was an educated man with a lot of life experience. I had to close and he was off to find shelter for the night. I'm guilty of judging someone and I have no right to judge someone or anyone. I'm not saying every "homeless" person is like this person I met, but everyone is a human being. Sure, we walk down the street and get asked for money, but maybe some of them say hi just to be acknowledged and feel human. Maybe this is what Obama means by "change". We need to treat each other like human beings. We need to look at the person next to us and listen, understand, and somehow help each other. I hope that gentleman gets back on his feet. Hey, I hope he has the success story like the guy from Pursuit of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Happyness</span></span>. I would like to believe that is the direction he will take, but either way... he is a human being. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">Good night Berkeley</span></div>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-26814941494248622912009-01-12T16:09:00.000-08:002009-01-12T16:26:51.566-08:00Happy New Year<span style="color:#006600;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">Happy New Year! It's been awhile since we posted. Did everyone have a nice holiday? We all did here at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sonoma</span>. One of our employees fell asleep before midnight..., but had fun so that's all that mattered. We can't wait for everyone to come check us out. One of our customer said they had an experience here and that's what we're trying to do. She liked the fact that we joke with them and they don't feel like they are just buying coffee. That was really nice of her to say that. We do offer fee <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Wi</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Fi</span> for customers, comfy chairs, and personality. Another guy came in a few weeks ago wanting to buy personality. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">LOL</span>. He said we need to market that more. Hey, we do give free shots of personality with every drink. Just ask for it and we'll give you more shots of personality. I'm hoping the community and the City of Berkeley do love us. We hope to stay in this neighborhood as long as we can. I know it's not easy with this economy we are all in, but we hope that we can bring a smile and contribute something in this "change". </span><span style="color:#006600;">Check out our photobucket page. We have customer pictures as well as customer art near the bathroom on the chalkboard wall.</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/durantscc">http://photobucket.com/durantscc</a></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">Well, I'm out of here Berkeley. I hope you enjoyed my blog for the day. Please leave comments. See you around.</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-53033414142962841292008-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:002008-12-15T20:20:10.386-08:00Been here a month<span style="color:#006600;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#006600;"></span><br /><span style="color:#006600;">It's been awhile since we posted. It's been over a month now since we opened. Wow, time goes by fast. How is everyone doing? Holiday is here already!? Wow, we haven't gone shopping at all... <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hmmm</span>, maybe coffee is a great gift to friends and families. Some customers have asked for gift cards and yes we are capable of doing that, but we are didn't do it this year. We are trying to get our name out there and when the need for it comes, we will have it for everyone. We will start loyalty cards in the near future. For now, we are hooking up our usual customers. Please bear with us and thank you for your support. We just put some blinds up to keep it cooler in the shop and tinting as well as windows will be following. We will not make the tinting dark because we think being able to look outside while having a nice drink make you feel warm and fuzzy. I thought of something the other day. I had a customer sleeping at one of our tables. The customer had his head down. One of our employees pointed that out to me, which I don't mind. Here is when an idea came to my head. If you are ever at work and you have your head down and someone catches you, just wake up and say "amen". That way others won't think you were sleeping. ***<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sonoma</span> Coffee Cafe is no way responsible for the outcome of this. You shouldn't sleep while on the job and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">should've</span> bought coffee from us.*** Anyway, we are about to close and we're ready to call it a day. See you all later.</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-54517518519487458992008-12-05T20:31:00.000-08:002008-12-05T20:45:45.875-08:00Week 3<span style="color:#33ccff;">Hello Berkeley,</span><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">We are having a lot of fun with the customers and joking around with them. We do try and sell our personality, but our coffee is really good. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hmmm</span>... that wasn't a good business pitch, but we don't care. We love people coming in and chatting with us. Thank you everyone for coming to our shop and visiting. We encourage interaction with the employees and also smiles. :) Cal game tomorrow! Go Bears! We will do some sampling so please stop by. Oh, to the people at Xtreme Pizza, you guys rock. I was really clumsy tonight and dropped a whole calzone. Yikes! I was tired and hungry and that just made my day worse. The manager comes and asked what happened and I told him my story. He was very kind and made me another one. Great food and great customer service. Anyone ever go to Loony's? Another place that is AWESOME! I can honestly say that everything there is goood. Everyone there is super nice and the set up is awesome. If you're a sports fan, don't miss out on this place. Well, almost closing time, but I just wanted to say thank you everyone and have a safe night.</span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-60305618576873298972008-12-03T12:06:00.001-08:002008-12-03T12:20:15.738-08:00Day 19<span style="color:#006600;">Hello Berkeley! We're happy to see a lot of our returning customers and smiles on their faces. We have a lot of people come in the day, but our afternoon is slow. It's ok because we're here for you any time of the day. It's great to see people are still finding out about us. Our night time customers are slowly coming in. We do plan on staying open later if it does get busier. We know finals are coming up and our permit only allows us to stay open until 11 P.M. If we do get a lot of customers and request for it, we will open later for you! Please let us know what we can provide for you and it can be done. On a different subject, how is everyone doing with finals coming up? I remember the days of late night cramming and drinking coffee. I used to get a bucket of ice filled with water and put my feet in it to keep me awake. Try not to get tempted with your friends asking you to go out and party or hang out. I know it's easy to say yes, but you really pay the price later. Anyway, good luck everyone and you get to enjoy a long vacation after finals! Talk to you later. </span>Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7353828956073612710.post-77674297825246444332008-12-01T14:24:00.000-08:002008-12-01T14:47:37.303-08:00Hello BerkeleyHello Berkeley! We are located on 2131 Durant Avenue (corner of Fulton and Durant). Today is day 17 and we are happy to see new and our usual customers. We would like to thank all the feed backs from everyone and we are continuing to make changes in order to make this a community coffee shop for you. We love to change things up in here because a new look is not a bad thing. We think of it as getting a new haircut or styling your hair. We are currently working on having sliding glass windows and shading our shop. We thought it was going to be a cold winter when we opened, but the weather has been warm and heats up our shop. :( Thank you for bearing with us. Look out for our employee drinks that will be posted soon. We are tempted to have customer drinks as well..., but that's later down the road. We see the great reviews from Yelp and I hope we continue to see more. We love it when people stop in and give us suggestions, so please post on Yelp as well. We believe that Sonoma Coffee Cafe here in Berkeley is your coffee shop. Everyone puts in their suggestion and we make it happen. Our dream is to be that coffee shop that everyone goes to study, meet a friend, hangout, relax, and come in to chat with us. Just like someone posted on Yelp about being a Friends/Cheers kind of place. We hope to continue serving you with a smile and laugh together. Till then, see you next time and have a good day.Sonoma Coffee Cafehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514044239786543442noreply@blogger.com0