Night of Lights, Half Moon Bay, 2012

The annual Half Moon Bay Night of Lights was a success again this year. We intend to be more prepared next year so that we can participate, but we had fun spectating this year.

Here's what we saw:

Homemade Vanilla Extract Recipe

Homemade vanilla extract!

Ingredients:

10 vanilla beans, split lengthwise - be careful to keep the gooey-inside-seedy-stuff in the pods.

1 liter of Vodka

Directions:

Place the vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka and seal.

If you're going to give these as gifts, find some pretty clear glass bottles and make smaller batches.

Store in a cool, dark area such as a kitchen cabinet for 3 weeks, shaking the bottle every week. Three weeks is the minimum, store it 6 months for the best flavor. After using, replace with more vodka. The same beans will continue to flavor the vanilla for up to a year.

Repainting the Forklift

We have really fantastic employees. One of our FACE (Facilitating Awesome Customer Engagement) team members took it upon herself to strip the paint off the forklift (which we use for loading and unloading all of our product); sand it; prime it; wet sand it; and then paint it. Now she's just waiting for the guy to come this week and paint our logo on it.

I love the people I work with!

Christmas Tree Stands On Sale

If you're in Palo Alto and in need of a Christmas tree - stop by Whole Foods on Emerson. Then bring in your receipt, and this coupon, to Palo Alto ACE Hardware and get 15% OFF any tree stand in stock!

Black Friday at ACE Hardware

We have some great coupons, sales and deals for you this weekend!

Stop by any of our locations - Palo Alto, Willow Glen, Half Moon Bay and San Mateo for incredible savings!

Fixing Broken Christmas Lights

 

Tip of the Week:

Got an old set of Christmas lights that are not working?  Our Sales Associate, Jorge, suggests trying the LightKeeper Pro fixit gun.  It comes complete with instructions and batteries!  If for some reason you are unable to get the string of lights working, then bring them in to one of our locations - Half Moon Bay, Palo Alto, San Mateo or Willow Glen.  We have teamed up with "Lights for Life", an organization that recycles your lights to raise money for cancer survivors.  Come and visit us for more details.  We look forward to seeing you!

Repair Cafe Palo Alto

We had a blast at the Repair Cafe in Palo Alto a few weeks ago. To see what it was all about, check out their great photos and write up at RepairCafe.org!