a peek inside the fishbowl

New algorithms search for signs of consciousness in brain injury patients http://t.co/csBRsXeFMi pic.twitter.com/xa70yV1Xrv

— WIRED (@WIRED) October 16, 2014

• How family dynamics at the dinner table affect kids’ weight, time.com
• Nobody Knows What The Hell They Are Doing, 99u.com
• Why You Should Always Say “Hello” In The Elevator, linkedin.com
• Learning to Love Criticism, nytimes.com

On the nightstand: My Ghosts.

We have a winner! Her name has been posted in the comments below this post. Thanks for your entries everyone. Hope to see you at Tiggy’s store wide sale!

Hoo boy. Do I have a great giveaway for Ottawa peeps today.

Many of you are already familiar with Fishbowl patron, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s. They’re a locally owned store (there are five of them in fact) that has a long history of making people happy in the Ottawa area and beyond. Three cheers for shopping local!

Honestly, the store is so full of great stuff I hardly know where to look. Here are a few standouts you may find interesting:

Here’s the good news:

1) Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s storewide sale will be taking place Thursday October 23 to Sunday October 26. It’s a biggie: 20% OFF all regular priced in-stock items. This includes Lego and Playmobile too! (!!) Note that Melissa and Doug merch will be 20% off during the storewide sale (just not an additional 20% off the already 20% off if that makes sense) and it will be 20% off all of October.

2) They’re giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky Fishbowl reader in time for the sale. And guess what? All of the items shown above are all under $50.

You can use the gift card to make a dent in your Christmas gift list, buy an advent calendar, a Halloween costume for your kid, a surprise for your family (like a new board game or puzzle) or something for yourself! (Like the cat popper. I want a cat popper!)

Interested? Read on!

• In order for your entry to qualify, please leave a comment below and tell me what you’d buy with your gift card. That’s it! If you need help figuring that out I recommend taking a look at the Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s website.
• For an extra entry, comment on this Facebook post too. Just let me know you did so in a second comment below.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on October 23, 2014. I’ll contact the winner via email, who will have to pick up their winnings at the Tiggy’s location of their choice.

This is not a requirement of the giveaway, but if you’re a fan of Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s I highly recommend you follow them on Twitter and Facebook for advance warning of sales, contests, and other great insider scoop.

Sounds good? Over to you! Good luck!

Many of you Fishies already know how passionate I am about shopping locally. It’s something I’ve written a lot about here before and try to do whenever I can. It is a perfect fit with my shopping philosophy:

Buy fewer things, that matter more.

I do what I can to be a conscious consumer, and part of that means supporting local businesses. I’m a local business too, and local businesses help pay my wage, so this topic is important to me. When I spend my money locally I am keeping dollars in our community, and ensuring that my neighbourhood stays the vibrant, fun place that I want to live.

A few months ago I was one of five bloggers across Canada who was hired to write about seven different shops in our respective neighbourhoods for a very special campaign. Shop The Neighbourhood is an initiative of Yellow Pages, a company that has a very long history of working with Canada’s small businesses. The Shop The Neighbourhood campaign encourages Canadians to support the small businesses in their communities by making a local purchase on November 29. (You can learn more about the campaign on their Facebook page.)

My job was to visit each local gem in the neighbourhood, interview the owners, and take photos at each stop along the way.

It was really cool to get to know the people behind each store and hear their stories; their challenges and successes. I’m very happy to (finally!) be able to tell you that their stories are now online at the Shop The Neighbourhood website. I’d love it if you clicked over and had a peek. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a new place to visit?

The other part of Shop The Neighbourhood is actually shopping, instead of just reading about shopping. :) I’d be so happy if you marked your calendars and chose an independent shop – any shop in your neighbourhood – and made a purchase on November 29. Whether it’s an early Christmas card, a stocking stuffer for the child/chef/gardener/golfer/cyclist in your life, or something bigger, your support of local merchants will make a big difference. What better way to show how much you love the city in which you live?

Tell me, what’s YOUR favourite local store? Leave a link below and let me know. I’d love to hear about it!