transient travels

My last few weeks have been filled with meet-ups and parties and I love it. I am always up for an opportunity to meet new people and for an excuse to see my friends. I also can’t complain about the random swag I have collected. My apartment is filled with totes, Yelp chap sticks, coupons and more.

As you may have noticed, last week I had a bit of a dry spell with one lousy post, and it was kind of a cop out. The truth is, I have been sick and have had so any commitments at night, that I haven’t been able to thoughtfully recap much of anything.

The cold drags on, but I’d at least like to try and round up some highlights…

______________

Last Tuesday the Red Carpet came to Boston, or more specifically, Cambridge. Thanks to Sara and Leighann of Yelp Boston, I received an invite to Yelp’s Red Carpet Party Gallery Gala, which was held at the Harvard Natural History Museum*. Originally, I assumed the “red carpet” was figurative until I arrived to a line of fashionable Boston Yelpers, meandering down a quite literal, red carpet. There was even a photographer at the entrance capturing a shot of every guest. You can check out me and my crew here.

The museum was such a cool place to have a party. We were surrounded by history and exhibits. At one point, I enjoyed a burrito from Boloco below a whale skeleton.

In addition to showing a bunch of Boston Yelper’s a good time with great food and cool services like manicures and hair styling, the event also raised money for Project Smile, a non-profit organization that donates stuffed animals, toys, etc. to police and fire departments for police officers, fire fighters and paramedics to give to children involved in traumatic situations.

All night we bumped into people carrying what appeared to be a mojito in a plastic cup dipped in red wax – which definitely upped the cool factor – and we just had to have them. After sampling so much food from so many restaurants and independent vendors, we finally entered one of the last rooms, where a line stretched back so far we couldn’t even see the booth – we assumed it had to be the one with the waxed cups, and it was.

Maker’s Mark was behind those intriguing cups and once we reached the booth, we got an interesting surprise…

Don’t let those classy gentleman fool you. They weren’t serving pretty little fruity mojito drinks, they were serving straight up whiskey on the rocks. I’m pretty sure the only difference between a whiskey on the rocks and the “mojito” was the tiny little mint leaf placed on top, at least that’s what it seemed like. While the strength of the drinks came as a shock for all, for me at least, it was a pleasant surprise. On the rare occasions that I choose a cocktail over beer or wine, something whiskey-based is almost always my choice. And what whiskey-lover would complain about a cup of Maker’s Mark?

At the end of the night, I was too stuffed for dessert, but I couldn’t resist a cupcake from Sweet. Luckily, they were nice enough to pack one up for me in a doggy back to go. It was a nice attempt at self control for about five minutes. The second I got home, I devoured that delicious red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

____________________

Jumping back a few weekends, I had the pleasure of attending another event orchestrated by Justine of Brand About Town.  Susie‘s Gap Born to Fit party was a blast.

[Me in a We Are Not Martha Sandwich: Chelsee (left) & Susie (right)]

Obviously amazing food was served, including these cupcakes, creatively baked in cake cones…

We also had the opportunity try on the new line of Gap jeans. My favorite were the “sexy boot,” but because there weren’t any short sizes available, I walked away with a gift certificate to pick up a pair at the Gap! Perfect for my current clothes shopping budget.

________________

A couple Saturday’s ago, we had an epic Boston Bloggah meet-up, complete with a few out of towners and a handful of significant others, at Globe on Boylston. Fabulous bloggers in attendance included  LiLu, Shannon, Julie, Brookem, Jill, Susie & Chelsee, Hannah, Julie Q, Emrlds, Alana, Matt, A Super Girl, Caroline, and Hope. It was such a great time, but unfortunately my camera wasn’t charged so I don’t have any pics. Thank goodness for Facebook.

_________________

And I think I’m pretty much caught up! I’ll be trying to get back to my regular schedule this week and I promise I’ll be catching up with my Google reader soon too – I have missed my favorite blogs.

__________________

*As I clicked through the Harvard Natural History Museum web site when I returned from the Yelp event, I saw that the museum has a  travel program, comprised of 40 trips each year to all 7 continents. The trips are custom-designed and accompanied by Harvard scientists. While they are WAY out of my reach price-wise, I thought it was so cool that I had to mention it.