Blue and orange. Good companies and good stories. Work hard and play hard. Bicycles and sunny days. Meetings and beer. High heels and jean jackets.

Some things just pair perfectly at Mixte.

Turns out working with The Wine Pub for nearly two years is another match made in Mixte heaven.

You know that at Mixte, we cherish our community. Heck, our office is only down the street from where some of us live. No one gives us a healthier channel for that affection than The Wine Pub. When we’re ready to brag and boast and shout from the rooftops about how much we love where we live and the small businesses that make our home so special, we think of The Wine Pub.

Sandy Hanshaw opened The Wine Pub in Point Loma almost seven years ago. Since then, she’s managed to seamlessly merge her passion for living a healthy lifestyle with her other passion – wine. Turns out, Sandy’s not the only person sharing these passions. A recently launched Wine Pub original, “Vino Vinyasa” hit Point Loma’s sweet spot by combining yoga and wine on The Wine Pub’s dog-friendly patio. I mean, who wouldn’t want this?

When I think of our relationship with The Wine Pub, I think of things that intertwine, grow together and make each other better. I wish I could find the right metaphor, but what I’m saying is we lift each other up.

In our time working with Sandy and The Wine Pub team, we’ve challenged ourselves to continue innovating and bringing fresh ideas to what a local, small business can do to give back to its community. Everything The Wine Pub does revolves around about giving back. Even The Wine Pub’s own anniversary party is spent honoring the unsung, backyard heroes of Ocean Beach and Point Loma each November. Talk about humble. We almost have to force Sandy and her team to take credit sometimes.

Thankfully, we never have to force them to have a party.

When we get awesome media for The Wine Pub, which happens often, it fills us up inside much like a good meal and an even better glass of wine – except instead of wanting to go to bed afterward, we feel excited and inspired.

We love listening to Sandy tell her story. We love watching her reflect on her journey through a hospitality career and into being the owner of a wine bar only a few blocks away from where she lives. It’s a journey of being a breast cancer survivor, and how that experience has shaped her world and her business, in turn shaping her community. It’s a journey of exploration and travel. It’s a journey of bringing good people together. It’s a journey full of fun and laughs and keeping-your-chin-up’s. It’s a journey of love. It’s a story with a happy ending. Or beginning, depending on how you choose to look at it.

When Sandy shares her story, she’s inspiring without preaching. She recalls the pieces of her past that brought her where she is today and sprinkles it with laughs, jokes and joy.

She simply shines.

Perhaps one of Mixte’s favorite things about The Wine Pub is its bike friendliness. It welcomes people on bikes and always accommodates bike riders. I’m sure if you told Sandy that you wanted to buy wine and bring it home on your bike, she would personally help you get your bike set up so the wine wouldn’t break (we may or may not know from experience).

The Wine Pub’s annual event, Bike For Boobs, even hosts a bike ride around Shelter Island and a silent auction to raise money for The Breast Cancer Fund – a cause very near and dear to the hearts of everyone who loves The Wine Pub. Which is a lot of hearts.

In the end, it’s a simple concept. Bring people together over delicious wine, beer and food. Give back to the community that has given to you. That’s it.

For some in this world, life is about doing as little as possible and reaping the biggest reward. It’s about money. It’s about profit. It’s about the bottom line. It’s about being the biggest. It’s about being the most powerful. It’s about more more more.

Thankfully, despite tremendous success, this couldn’t be further from the truth for Sandy and The Wine Pub. You can feel that as soon as you walk in. You’re immediately greeted with warm smiles and treated with kindness because when you’re there, you’re more than a customer. You’re a neighbor. You’re a friend. You matter.

And this matters to Mixte. We treasure our community. We treasure our friends. We especially treasure our wine.

And so, when you think about it, it’s really no surprise that Mixte and The Wine Pub teamed up and continue to grow together like a metaphor I can’t quite place. We’re just the perfect pairing in more ways than one, and that fills us up than any gourmet meal ever could.