Stone Hearth Pizzapolooza! May 26, 2010

My first experience at Stone Hearth Pizza in their Porter Square location was absolutely amazing.  If you are looking for a fresh and varied (and even gluten free) spin on pizza, then look no further than SHP.  Occasionally specials run on sites like buywithme.com and groupon.com for half priced gift certificates - which allows you to try even more of the menu.

Our entire meal was paired with an expert on beer who explained each brew choice and the chef Michael Ehlenfeldt to discuss the mission and history of Stone Hearth.  I found the fact that he imports some of his own vegetables and herbs from his farm into the menu extremely impressive. 

One of our many appetizers - a crispy and savory parmesan flatbread served with their Melanzana (eggplant dip).  Marinated Olives and gazpacho accompanied the meatballs shown below.

My favorite appetizer was the Arugula and Portobello salad topped with a shaved local cheese akin to the flavor and texture of parmesan cheese.  The mushrooms melted in your mouth and found the perfect marriage with the arugula, cheese and light dressing.

We tried many different types of their pizza, my personal favorites being the Homemade Sausage and Carmelized Onion, and the Bacon and Blue.  The entire menu can be viewed here: http://www.stonehearthpizza.com/shp_menu.pdf

The meal was paired with some great beers - the best being the Allagash that has a touch of Bourbon and is aged in barrels.

One of my favorite (and I believe tastiest) events we have had so far.  Many thank yous to Michael, and the rest of the staff at the Porter Square location, and of course Citysearch Boston!

Bokx109 Pool Party - 5/23/10

I learned about the party at Hotel Indigo's Bokx109 through Thrillist Boston (you can signup here: http://www.thrillist.com/signup/Boston) which gave me the information on how to get my name as a VIP on the guest list for the event.

As soon as you walked into the pool area you were greeted by a red carpet and photographer.  The event had Hypnotiq and their drink was much tastier here than the cocktail they created at Hello Stiletto.  I made sure to let them know that.

The poolside area is set up by different types of lounged seating and umbrellas.  Cabanas and tents are for rent on a daily and nightly basis, information can be found here: http://www.bokx109.com/BOKXPoolCabanaDetails.pdf  

I absolutely loved the decor and set up of their outdoor bar, and the seats were quite comfortable too!

My view, as the front row seats were already taken.  Lounging, sunglasses on, easily imagining I was on a beach in Miami as opposed to the reality of still being in Massachusetts.

I needed a rest from the sunshine and heat so I came inside to enjoy the restaurant itself.

I loved the upscale vibe of the bar inside Bokx.  Every Sunday from 1-2 PM The Triple L Show airs Live from the pool, more information can be found at www.wbix.com  The event itself was graciously hosted by Nicole Dupont of Marketing and General Manager Davide Crusoe.  I highly recommend this venue to anyone looking for a change of pace and a deviation from reality - all with an upscale vibe catered to creating a unique experience for every patron.

Hello Stiletto - May 20, 2010

I received tickets to Hello Stiletto through Emmi Sorokin (www.twitter.com/askemmi) an event held at the Copley Place hosted by Shoe Club (link to photos: http://www.shoeclub.us/events-archive.php).  Shoe Club President Melissa O'Shea was on hand and we had the privilege to meet her and learn more about the event first hand.  You can sign up to be a member here: http://www.shoeclub.us/signup.php 

Complimentary cocktails were provided by Hypnotiq.  I recommend the martini over the champagne mixture.

We received a swag bag which contained many coupons to retailers at Copley (including fanastic ones to Banana), among samples of Luna bars, and chocolates!  Here's a picture of myself and Kristen Haley of www.beantownsocialite.com and www.kristenhaley.com, photo credit: Shoe Club.

I would have been happy to show the shoes I wore for the occasion, however, they sadly remained in my car as a token to the car accident they (I) caused on 93-South.  Heel slipped car rolled forward, stop and go traffic and hitting the brake instead of the gas would cause a rearending of the car infront of you.  Needless to say I still had a great night and we continued the event afterwards at Giuseppe Zanotti.

We were treated to complimentary champagne and Godiva chocolates (the models filled my bag with the leftovers at the closing of the event) and enjoyed fabulous shoe upon shoe.

Thank you to the fabulous women that let me take pictures of their feet and assured me that my love for shoes and spending is not something I am alone in.

I ran into Christine Liu, Editor of Citysearch Boston and here you will see a close up of the shoes she fell in love with and her in action with them on!

and the full shot:

Love it Christine!  Definitely looking forward to the next shoe event and hopefully this time I will be able to rock some of my hot shoes.

StyleFixx Boston: May 13th

Won free VIP tickets to Stylefixx through @CitysearchBOS on twitter (Thank you!!) and even managed to get off work early... Traffic was horrific in Worcester, and a parking lot on the pike.  The intention and hope of making it to the ArtBar Opening Party quickly evaporated the longer we sat stalled in traffic.  After two hours we made it into the city, granted the normal ride is only 40 minutes.  

I really do love the Cyclorama, and the red carpet touch outside was appreciated.  Headed over to the table to register and grab our ticket for our bag of swag!

Ticket acquired, drink bracelets secured, naturally our next stop was for a glass of wine.  Unlike Wednesday, Thursday had a 3 drink limit, however the bartenders were great about forgetting to take off our tags, so I would say we ended up with about 4 or 5 glasses of wine each?  I also managed to score two Stella Artois glasses - they were giving them away if you drank the beer, but I just wanted the glass and not mix beer and wine.  I brought my friend Mel and she was great about reminding me that I did not have to work the next day, and to enjoy - so enjoy I did! 

I loved the lights, and honestly was rather overwhelmed by the layout of artisans.  It was hard to distinguish where one booth ended and another began, but each booth was good about letting you know - if you could even make it by the swarms of people.  Almost everything was out of my budget for the night but it was a great sampling of unique pieces you might not find anywhere else.  I fell in love with a black ruffle rain coat, but the $200 pricetag was too much to swing, and with it on I kinda felt like a dessert pastry, with ruffles.  I did end up buying a vintage pin headband from Marisa Daneille's line Pistachio.

I love headbands but find that many make you look like you are on your way to your high school chem class.  Marisa's pieces have touches of class that dress up your hair style and really adds to your outfit.  Pulled up with this as an accessory, or down with it as the true headband it gives my hair a nice subtle touch of charm.  The only other table that stole my heart was Stella and Dot.  I have their viewbook and the contact information for one of their consultants and as soon as I find a date that works for most of my girlfriends will be hosting a party!  More on that to follow... and now for the contents of the SWAG BAG!!

Fuze Strawberry Guava and Cranberry Raspberry.  Orange Vitamin Water.  Chocolate covered Mint Oreos.  2 Rohito eye drops.  Lots of caffeine free tea samples. Kiss Nail Art in yellow and orange.  Nailene press on nails. Shampoo from Avanti Hair Salon. Kiss nail files. Press on nail color. Necco wafers. Luna power bars.

Second Glass Wine Riot One :: Cyclorama :: April 17th, 2010

The Wine Riot so conveniently fell on April 17th, just an ordinary day for some, but a holiday for me.  My birthday.  I am one of those people that absolutely loves her birthday, regardless the number I am turning, because its a reason to see all the people that are so busy in their own lives.  It can be so hard getting together with people because we all are on different pages, but at least with a birthday you have a reason to meld together your different friends and circles for the best time you make it.  Instead of a limo (looked at prices - way to far out of my budget, and coming from Worcester would have showed up drunk on bubbly) my Aunt offered to drive myself and one of my girl friends and pick us up after the event.  We went to the afternoon riot because the night was not ending at 5 pm like the event itself.  

If you have ever been at an event at the Cyclorama you know how it often has the booths that seem to encircle the areas like any sort of convention style show.  Second glass did a great job of organizing the event from its mobile website to the brochure map, which made remembering the better wines easier.  I am a huge wino, and many of my friends that joined me are not, they are more martini or beer girls.  I found the event catered better to those that want to learn what types of wine they prefer, as opposed to someone (Me) who has been trained by wine snobs who she lives with and their 500+ bottle wine cellar.  I tried Upper Crust pizza for the first time and it was AMAZING.  I cannot wait to go to one of their locations and grab an entire pizza to savor for the days ahead.  My favorite part of the show was the photo booth, picture below for your enjoyment.

Event ended and we continued the evening at The Beehive (a place I am most often found) where we noshed on their fantastic buttery extremely caloric pierogies and martinis.  Then my birthday cake celebration was at Haiku in Worcester where I enjoyed seemingly never ending plates of sushi creations by their chef, Kenzo.  Successful birthday and a great time shared with friends and family.

Nantucket Wine Festival Preview 2010

I have been writing reviews for Christine Liu, Editor at Citysearch Boston as the member of an elite group known as the Citysearch Dictators.  I highly recommend following her on twitter (@CitysearchBOS) not only does she provide fantastic insight into the city, she often has giveaways.  Apply to be a dictator here:  http://bit.ly/dictatorsignup 

I was extended invitation to the Nantucket Wine Festival Preview at Liberty Hotel on April 16th on the merits of a list I wrote for Citysearch, see here:  http://www.citysearch.com/list/190821

Walking into the Liberty Hotel was a sensory overload of luxury, no expense spared, all details exquisite. Now on to the event:  noon to two great passed hor d'ouerves and endless glasses of wine (and water!)  I brought my friend Kristen Haley (http://beantownsocialite.com/) or follow her on twitter at: @kris10haley.  I enjoyed conversing with the guests in attendance, and even had the honor of meeting both the President of the Festival (Denis Toner) and the artist behind the beautiful posters (Kerry Hallam).  Kerry was generous enough to write a note to me and sign my poster for this years festival.

As the tasting concluded we continued the celebration at Scampo where we continued to enjoy more wine and even more food with many of the organizers.  One of the best lunches I have enjoyed in quite a long time.

Facebook - the enabler for Stalking 101

I joined facebook in 2004 as soon as it was offered for UMass Amherst and I loved it, especially because it was not MySpace.  You had to be in college to have an account, remember that?

Before going further there are a few disclaimers that should be mentioned:  YOU determine what you share.  If you have a clue you have enabled the privacy settings.  YOU project the image the rest of the social networking community receives.  Those pictures of you taking bong rips?  Might be why you did not get the job.  Most people are smart about it - information is limited to friends or not shared at all.  I have had many Facebook breaks over the past 8 years, but have always ended up going back.

Disclaimers over.  It is the harmless information that affected my decision to leave Facebook permanently.  After leaving college and grad school (basically the extension to my college experience - and a delay of the real world) the importance of party pictures, friending the people I met that weekend, all subsided, and a new use of facebook emerged. 

Friends started posting pictures of their sonograms, their finger with an engagement ring - broadcasting the news instead of picking up a phone or even emailing!  One of my relatives even sent status updates while in labor and that's when I started wondering why I was compulsively checking the news feed of people I had not spoken to since high school.

Dating.  The effect of facebook on getting to know someone borders on stalking.  You do not mean to stalk the guy you met - you are merely reading the information HE provides - his favorite movies, activities, quotes, all information you are supposed to learn over time.  Instead you enter dates two and three knowing it already - which takes the fun out of getting to know someone.  Or you could have a fantastic memory like I do, and forget what you have been told versus what you read on Facebook and end up looking like a gigantic creep when you open your mouth and talk about something he knows he never said.  It is innocent - you truly are not meaning to load up on information - it is just there, and in your defense he put it there.

Flirting, looking drunk, innocent comments - posted on your wall by you or someone else - then are interpreted by the viewer of your profile, and possibly incorrectly because of the subjective nature of the actions.  If you are looking to get upset about a person, or a comment, you are given the "information" needed to read into something the way you want to - causing, NEEDLESS fights and tension.  Maybe the guy who left a post telling you that you are beautiful that caused your jealous boyfriend to get upset is gay!  He would not know because he is just reading one line with no context.  Maybe you did not start out this way - but I believe Facebook enables people to develop qualities that mirror a stalker.

Why am I off facebook?  I found the stress of information overload too much to handle and honestly I was wasting so much time trying to stay on top of everyone's lives and birthdays.  I forgot how nice it was to just call and catch up with your best friend.  I forgot that the time you don't waste is time you have to go to the gym, watch your DVRed shows, or reconnect with that friend that is pregnant.  I also know that since job searching can be ongoing for anyone, and happen unexpectedly - there is nothing I have to worry about being interpreted incorrectly.

As for my relationships - friendships or romantic - the quality has increased.  There is more to talk about, ask and learn - without the one dimensional feeling of reading a news feed.  Have I missed out on engagements or baby announcements?  Probably, but honestly, if I have not been told or learned through the gossip mill then I was not supposed to know at all.  The awkward friend requests you cannot decide whether to accept (your friend's mom, your boss, coworker) no longer is something that even crosses my mind.  I am Facebook free, one month this weekend - and I see no reason to return.