In the year since they opened their Poet and/the Bench lifestyle store, jewelry atelier and art gallery on Locust Avenue, Jeffrey Levin and Bonnie Powers have crisply established their space as a hub of creative energy. Their next event certainly fits that mold.

On Dec. 10-11, Poet and/the Bench is hosting therapist, artist and educator Jill Valle's “I Am a Woman Who” campaign, which uses photography and confessional writing and seeks to “explore the threads that connect women to other women in the world, no matter what their backgrounds or experiences.” 

In approximately one-hour sessions, women can explore the meaning of the prompt “I am a woman who...” with free-writing and discussion with Valle on participants' expression of this theme and the threads that connect your writing to that of other women in the world. Valle then crafts a backdrop, which participants can keep after the session, and Valle will take their portrait in front of that backdrop, which Valle calls "your powerful expression of truth."

“The premise of the project is a celebration of our unique self-expression and examining how we identify ourselves as women, as individuals and as human beings," Valle says. 

The 411: Jill Valle's “I Am a Woman Who” campaign hits Poet and/the Bench on Dec. 10-11. A session costs $200, includes a free-writing session, a backdrop and a link to your digital portrait. Book your session. All proceeds after expenses will be donated to organizations that support those with inherited BRCA mutations and breast cancer.

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Sara Kirsner Stith knows a thing or two about getting just the right gift for a bridesmaid – she’s been one 12 times.

So it’s no surprise that after more than a decade in the fashion industry – much of it spent running her own clothing line – the longtime fashion designer has built a burgeoning business around a line of glamorous-yet-comfortable robes that serve as the perfect gift for a bride to give to her maids.

“There’s always somebody getting married,” Kirsner Stith says with a laugh. “And it’s a piece that you can have for years – it’s comfortable, pretty clothing.”

That business, Doie Lounge, is named after Kirsner Stith's grandmother, “who even in her 90s was always impeccably dressed, glamorous, and had an enviable confidence – a true style icon,” Kirsner says.

As her six-year-old business continues to blossom, the Mill Valley native recently completed a circuitous journey back to her hometown. Kirsner grew up here, largely in the Scott Valley and Northridge neighborhoods, and attended Park School, Marin Country Day and Redwood High. She attended the University of Vermont and then lived in San Francisco for a few years after graduation before heading to the Parsons School of Design in New York after catching the fashion bug.

​During her time in New York, Kirsner interned with both Marc Jacobs and DKNY before working for Ann Taylor. With educational and real-world experience in her pocket, Kirsner took a leap of faith, launching her own clothing line in New York, later moving it to Los Angeles in 2008. Kirsner’s first collection included a robe and a number of pieces that “felt like pajamas but that you could wear them out to lunch – items that were comfortable but also really beautiful,” she says.

While the clothing line continued to prosper, Kirsner found that customers continued to ask about the robes, so much so that she decided to focus squarely on them in 2010. Made with eco-friendly fabrics, Doie Lounge’s line now includes 16 of the original signature robes in different colors and prints, as well as an all-silk line and a “destination collection,” which features shorter sleeves and limited edition prints.

Two years after she shifted to focus on her line of robes, Kirsner was drawn back to the Bay Area but decided to maintain her factory in LA. She got married earlier this year to Mill Valley-based OXB Studio Architects Partner Chad Stith, and they moved from San Francisco to Mill Valley, thus completing the circle.

“I have always wanted to move back to Mill Valley, and now that we’re here, it’s just amazing,” Kirsner Stith says. “Having grown up here, I always knew I'd want to make my home here someday. It really felt like the right time to come back home.”

Kirsner Stith is already connecting with like-minded businesses, as she has a trunk show set for Saturday, Dec. 3 (12-4pm) at Dolls and Dandy Nail Lounge, and she's participating in The Hivery's Holiday Market on Wednesday, Dec. 7 (5-8pm).

“There are just so many great restaurants, shops and businesses popping up here,” she adds about her hometown. “It’s getting to be a destination of its own and people don’t need to go into the city as much anymore. There’s just nowhere else I’d rather live.”
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The 411: Doie Lounge sells its products direct to the consumer from its website. MORE INFO.

When Strawberry resident Paige Hillegass launched her Uber-meets-dog walking business Bucky Dog earlier this year, she did so with two major goals: add a personal, localized touch to a business that she says too often has professional dog walkers packing a slew of pups into each walk to make it work financially, and to make a strong commitment to Kiddo, the local educational foundation that supports arts, physical education and technology programs in the Mill Valley School District.

Done and done.

Hillegass says her Bucky Dog service, which seeks to directly connect active dog lovers with dogs looking for some much-needed outdoor jaunts, has seen remarkable success in its first year. And due its commitment to donate $1 from each walk and $3 from each night of boarding to Kiddo, Bucky Dog has raised $3,627 in that span. 

"I was quite surprised by that number," Hillegass says. "We really are having a big impact, and it's because of the customers. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do this."

In case you haven't heard it yet, Bucky Dog is named after Buck, (known by most as Bucky), a black labrador retriever who became Paige Hillegass’ sidekick after her freshmen year at Washington & Lee University in Virginia and was by her side day and night until died in June 2006, not long after his Sweet 16 birthday party and almost immediately after Hillegass found out she was pregnant after years of trying to do so. FULL STORY.

The 411: Bucky Dog connect dog walkers with dogs. MORE INFO.

Cece Bechelli could easily be excused for coasting at this point.

The longtime Mill Valley resident has been teaching kids and adults to dance since 1978, when she founded the Happy Feet Dance School on Miller Avenue. But instead of passing the torch to her kids and giving those happy feet a rest for a minute, Bechelli’s giving the organization a rebirth, expanding the curriculum, adding lectures and a film series on the history of dance, particularly the roots of rhythm tap dance, Happy Feet’s speciality.

“What’s so cool about what my mom is doing is that we’ve been teaching kids these dance forms for years, and now we’re incorporating the deep-rooted history and traditions of dance,” says Caitlin Bechelli of the summertime curriculum expansion. “Tap is our own art form. It’s a style that is very unique to America.”

“The history of tap dance and the history of America are closely intertwined,” adds Cece Bechelli. “Tap is America's own indigenous dance form with roots from African and Irish dance. The fusion of these two forms, along with other European forms, resulted in a hybrid which came to be known as tap dance. One of the consistent threads throughout the compelling history of tap dance is seen and heard through the rhythmic freedom and artistic expression of generations of tap dancers.”

If that sounds like a nearly three-decades-old organization that isn’t resting on its laurels in the slightest, that’s the way the Bechelli family wants it. And while the elder Bechelli is driving the expanded curriculum and historical focus – she’s getting her master’s degree in Humanities at San Francisco State University and is currently teaching an undergraduate course there called “Values in American Life” – she credits her daughter with making it all possible.

“Having Caitlin back as assistant director has been a huge shot in the arm for Happy Feet,” she says of her daughter, who started dancing at the age of two at Happy Feet, taught there during high school and graduated from UCLA in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in World Arts and Cultures/ Dance. “It allowed me to go back and get my master’s, and it’s allowed us to grow our enrollment significantly, something we couldn’t have handled before Caitlin came back. Most of all, it’s been super fun.”

A native San Franciscan, Cece Bechelli trained in Irish, tap, jazz, ballet, modern and acrobatics in her youth, eventually falling in love with tap dance. She became a member of The Lorna Fordyce Professional Dancers, winning the title of Miss Dance of Northern California in 1979, and competed in a national competition in New York City.

At Lorna Fordyce, Bechelli met her future sister-in-law and dance partner, Sheri Bechelli, who’d won the title of Miss Dance of Northern California the year before Cece did. Twenty years later, Cece and Sheri Bechelli joined with dancer Patti Meagher to form The Step Sisters, a tap dance trio that has performed extensively ever since, including a pair of sold-out shows opening for acclaimed dancer Gregory Hines at the Marin Center.

Cece Bechelli’s interest in teaching dance was blossoming in 1978, and her brother-in-law Pat suggested she make connections with recreation departments in southern Marin. When she did, she learned there was an appetite for children’s dance programs – and she seized the moment to establish a dance school in Mill Valley.

​Opening that year in the building that contains Marin Theatre Company on Miller Avenue, Bechelli moved Happy Feet four years later to a 2,600-square-foot, bowling alley-shaped former auto repair garage on Montford Avenue right off of Miller. They’ve been there ever since.

Happy Feet offers classes in tap, jazz and ballet for anyone three years and up, and their Tiny Toes class  parent-child program goes as low as two years old. In the summer, they offer dance intensive classes that include those three styles as well as forms like African, Irish, Hawaiian, Flamenco, Bollywood and Cuban.

In addition to their work at Happy Feet, both Cece and Caitlin work with the Mill Valley School District to provide dance instruction to kindergartners via Kiddo!, and they regularly serve as choreographers for the Throckmorton Theatre’s Throckmorton Youth Performers’ productions, including 42nd Street in 2015.

“Mill Valley is such a unique community,” says Caitlin Bechelli, noting that she and her siblings Kelsey and Matt were dancing at Happy Feet as toddlers. “With the school district and Kiddo, there just so much emphasis on supporting the arts here. And these kids have so many wonderful opportunities to learn and explore art.”
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And while Happy Feet’s rebirth is a product of hard work and a continued quest for inspiration, its longevity has had another delightful outcome: “We’ve had tons of former students come back with their kids over the past five years,” says Cece Bechelli, who won a Milley Award in 2003 for her artistic  contribution to the Mill Valley community. “They almost feel like my grandkids. It’s just wonderful.”

The 411: Happy Feet Dance School is at 15 Montford Avenue. They're performing at the 2016 Winterfest celebration on the Depot Plaza at 1:15pm. All photos courtesy Happy Feet Dance School. MORE INFO.

Cece Bechelli and Caitlin Bechelli of Happy Feet Dance School
​perform a tribute to Duke Ellington and the Whitman Sisters:

Happy Feet Dance School's Holiday Hoofers dance at The Redwoods in 2015:

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On Thursday, Nov. 10 (1:30-3:30pm), don't miss the Outdoor Art Club's Village Craft Market, featuring variety of imaginative items created by OAC members, including ornaments, baby quilts, knitted sweaters and caps, jewelry, foods and photo notecards – all one-of-a-kind gifts for friends and relatives. OAC, One West Blithedale. MORE INFO.

Visitors to the Mill Valley Public Library's Children's Room will have much more to look at than the myriad shelves of books this month, as Mill Valley artist Roy Forest has installed his Giant Pencil sculpture there.

"One of my all time favorite sculptures, that I've made, was this 10-foot Pencil that was part of my original Forest Tool Company series," Forest says. "It was made in 1995 and has been exhibited many times at various exhibition halls, art galleries, and art festivals throughout California. Every time it was shown, the children seemed to marvel at it with a true sense of wonder, laughter, and delight."

"It is such a treat to share this with the Mill Valley Public Library," he adds. "Art is about inspiration, opening a door into other ways of thinking and expanding one's imagination. Knowing that countless children (and adults) will see and be influenced by this delights me to no end!"

The 411: The Mill Valley Library is at 375 Throckmorton Avenue. MORE INFO.

The Mill Valley Public Library has long been deserving and accustomed to receiving accolades, and the latest comes from the popular Blog for Lifestyle and Travel, which featured our local landmark on its "20 Libraries That Will Make Your Forget About Netflix" list.

Here's what they had to say: "Surrounded by redwoods, this warm and beautifully decorated library is a must-see if you find yourself in the area. The building contains a lot of natural wood, fine art, and handcrafted furniture. The library even has a working fireplace to add to the ambiance. You can also enjoy time out on the deck with floor to ceiling windows overlooking redwood trees, a stream, and a park. The Mill Valley Public Library is an absolutely picturesque environment to sit back and unwind with a good book." FULL STORY.