Save Money And The Planet! Black Friday Is Green Friday At All Green Things!

I’ve been in local businesswoman & green living advocate Tanya Peel’s local shop All Green Things a few times now, and I really love the place.  [See the little CurrentTV segment featuring All Green Things]  The way I feel about the store is that it has a bunch of stuff that you already need to live your life, but the greener, sustainable, environmentally friendly versions.

One of the best things about the store too is that Tanya knows the story behind literally every single product.  She has hand selected this stuff, tried it out herself, and stands behind it.  Go there, and ask her a question about a product, and you’ll see what I mean!

She is having a promotion at the store this Friday – Black Friday, or in her case Green Friday – where you can get just about 25% off anything in the store and online.  She blogs:

Black Friday is going GREEN! All Green Things wants to remind you about our 1 Day Event on November 27th, 2009.
Everything in our Store and On-Line is 25% Off!!!!! Spend less on more meaningful, green gifts. Stock is limited so shop early!

On-Line Coupon Code to be entered at checkout: GRNFRI09

Just about everything in the store is on sale, see her blog for a few exceptions.  We all have someone on our shopping list that would love an environmental friendly gift, even ourselves!  Some categories of items Tanya has in her store include reusable bags, bottles, & containers,  baby supplies & gifts (some cool stuff), personal care, pet supplies, home decor and cleaning, and some neat stationary items (including pencils made out of paper that you can feel free to buy for me).  Oh, and don’t forget eco-friendly handbags for the ladies!  There is actually more cool stuff in the store than even online, you just gotta go in and check the place out.

Some of my favorite items:

• Water Powered Clock (a great gift idea!)
• Klean Kanteen Reusable Bottle (environment & human rights friendly)
• Bike Chain Bottle Openers (these things are so cool)
• Scrappy Puppy (this is the coolest looking stuffed doggy, I really want one!)
• And so much more!

Extended Green Friday hours and location info:

Extended In-Store Hours on    Nov. 27th 8AM-8PM
Store Location:
5321 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91364

Man, I really do love that place, so stop in, check it out, and pick up a gift or two, and save some money!! Oh yeah, and the planet.

Popularity: 6%

Chatting With Whitney From Woodland Hills Ice on Friday, November 20th

On Friday afternoon I stopped by the parking lot of Westfield Topanga Promenade to check on the construction progress of Woodland Hills Ice.  I took a few spy photos (which hopefully I will add to this post this afternoon) and I see that the have begun laying the foundation and finished running the electrical service out to the site of the future rink.

After taking some photos I parked my car and was about to head over to Corner Bakery when a young lady approached me.  “Are you Girard from Hills of Woodland,” she asked.  I was busted!  It was Whitney from Woodland Hills Ice, so I took a few minutes to talk with her about the progress of the project and get some background.

Whitney explained to me that she’s never been involved with the ice skating business before, but she does come from a business background.  In about June of 2008 while visiting Woodland Hills, she got the idea that the Topanga Promenade Mall would be a great place to have Winter ice skating.  Crazy, eh?

From then on she has been tenaciously pursuing the dream, including putting together a coalition of skating rink industry companies who have partnered up with her to secure financing and the lease with Westfield.  In fact, Whitney informs me, that the lease has a 4 year term, with Woodland Hills Ice coming back November through February for the next 3 years (that’s through Februrary 2013, folks).

Like many projects of this magnitude, Woodland Hills Ice has been on-again and off-again several times, and only got the full go ahead last month.  Whitney was particularly thankful to Dennis Zine and says that without his support, the project wouldn’t have happened.

She revealed a lot of numbers to me, and lets just say this is a huge investment for Woodland Hills.  She says so far community support has been extremely positive.  We all know that in the west valley there can be extremely limited entertainment options for kids and adults alike, so it’s nice to have something new to do.

While there is still a lot of work to day, as of Friday Whitney remained cautiously optimistic that they’d reach their target opening date of November 25th (Wednesday).

Prices include skate rental and will be $11 for children under 12 years of age, $13 for students and seniors, and $15 for adults.

Opening day and Black Friday specials include:

Join Us On Opening Day: Wednesday November 25!
3-5PM half price skating with free introductory skating lessons

Early Birds: Join Us On Black Friday November 27!
8-10AM Skate for $8 and a free introductory class at 9AM

Also, Whitney says that on warm Winter days where the temperature is above 80 degrees you can come skate in your bathing suit for a discount.  I’ll keep you guys posted on whether or not construction finishes in time for opening day.

Good luck, Whitney!

Popularity: 8%

LAPD Confirms 3 Suspects In Custody In October 5th Alatar Drive Shooting Case

Back on October 5th, a marijuana robbery gone wrong resulted in a Woodland Hills man (who was probably running a pot farm or other drug dealing establishment in his house) being shot in the chest several times.  LAPD is still tight lipped on exactly what was going on at the house, but to refresh your memory (from LAPD Blog):

Los Angeles: A man was shot inside of his home by two suspects inside of his residence in Woodland Hills.

On October 5, 2009 at around 12:30 a.m., the victim confronted two suspects inside of his home in the 4900 block of Alatar Drive and started arguing with them.  During the argument, one of the suspects pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the upper torso.  The suspects then ran away from the scene.  The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he is expected to fully recover from his wounds.

Detectives are looking for two suspects described only as males in a white vehicle.

On Friday I spoke to homicide detective Dave Peteque about another matter, and asked him if he knew anything about this case.  I was happy to hear that LAPD had made three arrests in the case, the most recent of which was about two weeks ago.

Today I received a call from Detective Speer, who gave me a little more information.  He informed me that one of the suspects had fled to Washington state, where he was apprehended, waived extradition and has since been returned to California.  All three suspects have very high bails and are all currently in jail awaiting trial.

Speer went further to commend Detective Jeff Briscoe for his work on the case.  A few more degenerates of the streets, good work guys.

Popularity: 9%