Browsing Category

BOSTON

BOSTON, NIGHTLIFE, RESTAURANTS

Boston: Snapshots From a Fantastic Easter Weekend

Though I’m often out of town for major holidays, Easter is the one special time of year when my family descends upon Boston for a fun-filled weekend. My parents are probably savvier than some locals, given the amount of time they’ve spent in the city over the past 11 years. This is both a pro and a con, as it’s great that they know the city so well, but challenging in the sense that I’m tasked with planning the perfect mix of fun activities, both new and cherished favorites, for them to enjoy. If you were to ask them, they’d probably tell you that I think about these things too much, but I can’t help myself. I have a reputation to live up to (in my mind at least hehe)!

Inspired by our fun weekend, here are a few highlights from our favorite meals and activities. Feel free to take these ideas for when your family is visiting Boston, or when you’re trying to cater to a larger group of five to seven friends!

Continue Reading

BOSTON, FOOD

Food: Sweet Lydia’s Toasted Coconut Marshmallows

Mmmmm….marshmallows! Typically perfect for soaking up hot cocoa or spilling over the side of a gooey s’more, it’s rare that marshmallows are the star of the show…until now. During a jaunt to the SoWa Winter Market, I discovered just how satisfying this confection could be on its own by sampling the toasted coconut mashmallows from Sweet Lydia’s.

Perfectly described as extra fluffy, eight good-sized marshmallows come in a pack for $4.50. While this Savvy Bostonian has only tried toasted coconut, the marshmallows also come in thirteen other tempting flavors like Mocha, Pumpkin Spice and Caramel. In addition to delectable marshmallows, Sweet Lydia’s has other crave-worthy offerings like personalized s’mores (omg!!!) and a cool blog that make her site worth a visit: http://sweetlydias.com/.

Excuse me while I take a bite...

BOSTON, TRAVEL

Travel: Tablet Hotels

Tablet Website Screen Grab

As a passionate leisure traveler with professional experience in the travel industry, I couldn’t resist giving a little love to Tablet. Specifically, the person who puts together the content for their weekly newsletter and TabletTalk blog. My personal inbox is forever clogged with newsletters (which is clearly my fault, I find it hard to pare down), but I always look forward to seeing the unique hotels Tablet selects for their readers. While most are above my budget (it is a luxury travel site after all), I find myself completely sucked in by the clever copy and beautiful photos. Plus, the hotels are unique and full of personality, like No. 5 Maddox St., an all-studio apartment hotel in London’s Mayfair district. Luckily, I can “favorite” them and hope the stars will align and one of the posh places will end up on a private sale site, just in time for my next trip. Crazier things have happened, right?

And, I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to any of my lovely blog readers that so far all of my “favorited” hotels are in London….

Blake's Hotel, London. Have wanted to stay here ever since it appeared on an episode of Anthropologie's Man Shops Globe!

In case you were wondering about Boston, Tablet ranks our beloved city’s top five hotels, in order from one to five, as: Mandarin Oriental Boston, XV Beacon, Ames Boston, Hotel Veritas and Taj Boston.

BOSTON

The SavvyBostonian and The Back Bay Blackout

Not the kind of view I like to see from my apartment

It’s been a long, strange and most importantly, dark couple of days. And, it’s not over yet. Like many Back Bay residents, my week took an unexpected turn with a three alarm fire ripped through a parking garage several blocks from my apartment. As of Thursday night, I’m one of the 1,500 residents still without power (gee thanks, NSTAR). It’s been an interesting 48 hours and I feel compelled to share some of the strange, heartwarming and comical series of events that have keep my little Back Bay world going.

Continue Reading