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Boston has become such a great beer city over the years that I have lived here. In my last job, I set up trips to Massachusetts for travel and food writers, and I would often have the opportunity to send them to some beautiful hotels, great restaurants, famous museums, and fun local food and beverage experiences. One place that I sent writers to but had never visited myself was Night Shift Brewing. The response was always so positive, yet I never made it up there. When getting ready to visit friends this weekend, we decided to go to Night Shift for a beer tasting.

 

Night Shift Brewing

Night Shift’s space in Everett, just outside of Boston, is open, bright, and industrial, with a tasting bar and plenty of seating. There were people hanging out tasting beer and reading, people with food they brought in, and a couple of large party type groups when we were there. It seemed like a great place to spend an afternoon, and many other people agreed!

Night Shift Brewing

Night Shift Beer tasting

I loved that Night Shift lets you do a flight one beer at a time rather than taking them all at once. It gave us time to sip and sample, review what was available at our leisure, and it meant our beers were always fresh.

I also loved all of Night Shift’s owls, which are everywhere.

Night Shift owl

We did two different flights so that we could taste through a bunch of beers without having too much. One of my favorites was the Cape Cod Cranberry Weisse, which was tart, bubbly, and a delightful pink.

Night Shift Beer On the lighter side, I also loved the Somer Weisse, which reminded me of a gingery, lemony kombucha.

 

Night Shift Brewing beer

On the darker side, I loved the Einbeck, which had notes of honey and the Hologram, which is chock full of coffee flavor. We picked up a growler of each, along with their Bean Porter, a heavenly dessert of a beer aged with vanilla and coffee beans. Yum.

We had such a great visit to Night Shift and could definitely see ourselves going back again and again to pick up beer for friends’ houses, the boat, and to enjoy at home.

Do you have a favorite local brewery?

Tags: beer, beer tasting, Boston, weekends

Good morning! I wish I could say it is a bright and beautiful Monday here in Boston, but it is not. No more snow please! It’s starting to mess everything up, from work to social activities to getting anywhere. Having trash day delays? Also a major problem. I feel like we have way more trash than ever these days, or maybe I am just noticing it more now that it’s so difficult to get rid of? At any rate, I am hoping for a bright, warm, sunny day sometime soon.

One thing that recently made my day in a stretch of gloom was being nominated for a Liebster Award by a blog I love, Boston Chic Party. The Liebster Award is dedicated to sharing blogs you love, all with 3,000 or fewer followers. The questions are a fun little glimpse into the blogger’s thoughts. My answers are below. I nominate Made in Sonoma, Pop Bop Shop, and the Jogging Concierge.

I’d love to hear from all of you though; feel free to answer a couple of the questions in the comments if you would like!

Q: What is your blogging process?

I have a running list of blog topics. It’s always the most fun when I have been busy, whether when I return from a big trip, have been cooking a lot, or have been going to a bunch of events. I try to keep the list a mix of wine reviews, travel posts, restaurant recaps, and my own cooking adventures both to keep it interesting for me and to appeal to readers’ interests. I hope it’s working; it’s been fun for me!

Q: What was the best thing to happen to you this week?

Our new, semi-feral kitten Poppy has started to let me pet her. She was born outside and never had human contact until we rescued her, so she is skittish and afraid. It’s taken a lot of patience, but it’s amazing to see how far she’s come.

Q: If you had one super power what would it be?

I would definitely choose teleportation. I love to visit new places and to see family often, but I hate the whole process of getting there.

Q: Are you a cat person, a dog person or neither?

Both! We’ve had our original cats, Smuckers and Scout, for 10 years. Then, as fate would have it, this past summer, a sweet young cat had four kittens in our yard, so we now have the mama cat and one of her babies. I never imagined having four cats, but these two just happened into our lives, and what is life about, if not making space in your heart for those who need it most?  I do want to adopt a dog someday soon too, probably once the cats are all settled. Above all, I am for adoption of pets ONLY. I volunteered at the MSPCA for years, and there are amazing pets of all ages, sizes, breeds who need loving homes.

Q: What was the last song you listened to?

Waterfalls by TLC! My friend and I just bought tickets to the NKOTB/TLC concert at the Garden in June, and I am SO excited!

Q: Do you prefer morning, afternoon or night?

I am a morning person for work. Any big projects, especially anything analytics-related or content creation/writing-related is best done in morning. I am an afternoon person for working out. My ideal schedule would allow me to run at 2 or 3, then head back to work for a few hours.

Q: Are you extroverted, introverted or a mix of both?

I think I am a mix of both, but more introvert-leaning. I think  I am pretty outgoing a lot of the time, but I am also very much in my head.

Q: What fashion trend can you completely not stand?

Tights as pants. There is a time and place for leggings, but I have seen too many inappropriately worn, thin pairs of tights masquerading as pants. Fabric is your friend!

Q: Name one thing you can’t live without and why.

I take this question to mean inanimate object (as opposed to say, a person), so I definitely would say my iPhone. I love to be connected/am addicted to being connected.

Q: Finally, if you could achieve one thing from blogging, what would it be?

It’s already happened! Blogging for almost six years has connected me with some of the best people I know, both professionally and personally. I honestly can’t imagine my life without all of the opportunities that have come from blogging, whether it be blogger events, meet ups, or travel.

Tags: blogging, life, lifestyle

There are so many more than 10 things I want to do in our beautiful Commonwealth, but I thought a list of 40 might be too much! This list is mostly Eastern Massachusetts based; I have a ton of love for the Western part of the state too, perhaps that’s a list all on its own? A few weeks ago we were trying to decide what to do for the weekend when I started thinking about all there is to do here. Since we’re soon going on a very big adventure, we’re sticking close to home and on budget the rest of the time. Below is a list of 10 things I want to experience sometime in the next couple of years. Have you done any of the below? Or do you have a list of things you want to do in the place you call home? I would love to hear them in the comments!

Mt Greylock

1) Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – I have lived in Boston since 2002. Wow. Typing that makes me feel old! I have sent journalists on FAM tours to the museum, but somehow I have never gotten there. This is one I hope to accomplish this winter.

2) Climb Mount Greylock again, but this time spend the night at the top at Bascom Lodge with friends and great food and wine.

3) Run a race on Spectacle Island – We’ve taken the boat to Spectacle so many times and have even spent the night. I would love to run the island sometime.

4) Tea at Bond at the Langham and the Four Seasons and the TajI love afternoon Champagne tea, and I would love to explore some of the elegant and luxurious teas in Boston.

5) Spend a lazy week on Martha’s Vineyard – We spent the day on the Vineyard a couple of summers ago, and we have been talking about going back ever since. I would love to swim, cook seafood, and explore on bikes and on foot. How relaxing does that sound?

6) Take dance lessons at the Boston Ballet – I was obsessed with ballet growing up, and though I am old and inflexible and out of shape, I would LOVE to take classes again.

7) Visit the Boston Public Library courtyard on a regular basis – I used to do this when I worked in the area. That space is so beautiful, and I would love to spend more time there.

8) Take classes at Harvard Extension – I took a PR writing class there years ago and it was great. It really helped to launch my career

9) Visit the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States SenateI love the JFK Library, and I will actually cross this item off my list when I attend a GBCVB event at the soon-to-be-opened addition next month.

10) Go out to an oyster farm and get fresh oysters, learn about the process, etc. – I learned about East Dennis Oyster Farm when I worked for an agency that had the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism as a client, and I have wanted to go out with them since.

Tags: Boston, Food, hiking, lifestyle, Massachusetts, outdoors, oysters, tea, things to do, Travel, vacation

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