Kickstart Your Holiday Shopping This Weekend

FRIDAY
• Black Friday arrives a week early in Corte Madera! Mimi the Sardine is preparing for the holidays with a sale Friday and Saturday. Save 50 percent off children's goods, including cloth lunchbags and baby bibs. Save 20 percent off homewares. While you're shopping, enjoy samples of cheese, wine and other delights. The store is located at 305 Montecito Ave., Suite A.

• Haute Jewels in the Corte Madera Town Center is getting into the spirit of the season with a canned food drive Friday through Tuesday. Bring in canned goods or non-perishable items and receive equal credit toward the purchase of jewelry.

• Poet Laureate Kay Ryan will discuss her new work, The Best of It: New and selected poems, at Dominican University on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.

• Journalist Peter Eichstaedt returns to the Congo to talk to survivors of a bloody war in Consuming the Congo. Eischstaedt will share his adventure at Book Passage at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY
• Check out handcrafted goods from local artists and perhaps find that perfect, unique holiday present for a loved one. Participating artisans include: Jonathan Braun (pottery), Beverly Brunelle (jewelry), Pattie Grey (mosaic art), Derby Hat Divas Heather Kenney and Stacy Kitchin, Rich Sigberman and Michelle Sixta (photo prints and more) and Tracy Strong (decorative paper gift boxes).
The sale is Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Community Room in the Skylark Apartment complex, 14 Skylark Drive, Larkspur.

• Looking for a way to make your hobby pay? A group of marketing specialists will share tips and advice during a seminar to help local women turn their passion into a paying career. "Promote Your Passion" is Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at Best Western in Corte Madera.

• Medicine woman Rev. Ophelia will help show a path through the possibilities in life with her lecture at the Corte Madera Town Center's community room, located on the second floor of the administration building, 1:30-5 p.m.

• Late night talk show regulars Corey Henderson and Dan Rollman have packaged their obsession with world records into The Recordsetter Book of World Records. Get inspired to set your own record when they stop by Book Passage at 1 p.m.

SUNDAY
• World travelers are invited to take a trip with author Barry Brukoff through his book Temples of Cambodia during a presentation at Book Passage at 7 p.m.