Howard, I had to bow out. I have a client who needs her hair done today at lunchtime. See you next time though. Trisha

I like Nancy's idea of being helpful and offering advice to your customers instead of blatant advertising. I attended Nancy's Publici-Tea event and came away with a whole new perspective and set of skills for marketing my hair salon and for writing articles for my Seattle PI column. She really makes the lightbulb in your head come on!

Thanks for bringing this topic up. I think there are a few things to do on Valentines if you are single this year..more so than ever before. So you can celebrate your "singleness" and go out with! Here is a link to my website which lists some Valentine ideas for singles or couples. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/eastsideuptown/ One year, when I was single, I went out country line dancing at the Little Red Hen in Green Lake. Most of the dancers just show up and dance with whomever. There's also free salsa dancing lessons on Thursday nights at the Vertigo Lounge in Bellevue with dancing afterwards. Lots of singles.