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Cambridge and Boston are like peanut butter and jelly. They’re SO different, yet they go together so well to create an area that is just one of the best places in the world to be. (Can you tell I am in “I love Massachusetts” mode because it’s summer?  Wait 5 months. . . )

Last Thursday night I attended an event with the Cambridge Office for Tourism where they unveiled their Cambridge in 60 Seconds video. The video is so much fun and wonderfully captures the buzz and beauty of Cambridge.

image

The event itself was great as well. It featured some great wine and beer and a display of dips and cheeses along with tasty passed apps.

breads and spreads

 

cheese display

I love being able to live in Boston and work in Cambridge. Cambridge is great for so many things; my favorite is obviously its food scene, but its outdoor space and opportunities for running and kayaking, along with pretty and engaging places like Harvard Square all make it special for me. I should note that the Cambridge Office for Tourism event was held at my workplace, the Royal Sonesta Boston. I realize I also blogged about the hotel yesterday, which was completely unplanned. . . there’s just a lot going on that ties in with a food, wine, and travel blog!

If you’ve spent some time in Cambridge, what’s your favorite part?

Tags: cambridge, Travel

Happy Monday, and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Are you wishing this margarita-filled holiday fell on a weekend? I definitely am!

Today I am excited to be writing my part of the “My Writing Process” blog tour. I was nominated for the tour by my friend Bianca, who most of you may know from the beautiful blog Confessions of a Chocoholic. Bianca is one of my favorite bloggers due to her decadent, mouthwatering dessert recipes and even more to her heartwarming, beautiful stories that weave in food and her family and growing up in the Philippines. I have commented on Bianca’s blog many times that her food and family posts would make for a great book, and I truly hope to be able to read that book one day. I’m also lucky to call Bianca a friend; her smile and energy are infectious, and I definitely wish I saw her more often!

As part of the blog tour, I get to answer the following questions before passing the torch to other bloggers. I hope you enjoy my responses, and I would love for you to answer one of the questions in the comments!

hiking in Connemara

1) What am I working on?

Right now I am working on a lot of wine and travel writing and hoping to move the blog more into a lifestyle blog space. I’ve moved from writing recipe blog posts to focusing on things like “Wine of the Week” posts, and as we very slowly renovate our new old home, hope to share posts on gardening and my meager attempts at interior design. I haven’t been as interested in cooking as I used to be, and it’s nice not to feel pressured to cook something to blog about. Don’t worry, I’m still eating plenty, but mostly simpler, “boring” meals that aren’t super blog-worthy.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There are so many incredible blogs out there in the food, wine, travel, and lifestyle space. It’s hard to compare them at all most of them time! What I love about bloggers is that we so often let our personalities shine through, and who we are and where we are in our lives really shows up in our writing. I focus on writing about wine a bit more than other food bloggers, and the occasional running post pops up (though not lately). Because I don’t have advertisers anymore, I really feel free to write whatever and whenever I want. There have been times in my life where I envied bloggers who got to blog for a living, but I have become truly grateful and excited that this blog is all mine. I do care about whoever is reading, but I believe that writing for myself and having happy writing is what will draw in the people I want to be reading. Welcome!

3) Why do I write what I do?

It’s probably pretty clear that I love wine and food and travel, and I work in Marketing/PR/Social Media for a living. A lot of my passions, interests, and experience intersect on a daily basis, and the blog is a natural outcrop of that. This blog is almost five years old, and my writing has definitely changed as my place in life has changed. There was a time when I was working for myself when I had a lot more time to blog every day and my blog was a way of attracting business. Then I focused much more on what would draw attention from the outside world in order to create work opportunities.

4) How does your writing process work?

My writing process really heavily depends on what’s happening in my life, events I attend, time to cook, wines I have tasted, etc. I keep a running document of topics I want to write about, and I try to strategize a little bit. For example, I try to spread out travel posts about certain trips, knowing that it might be a little tedious to read post-after-post about my travels. Plus, it’s fun for me to have some content saved up; when I’m not traveling somewhere fun or don’t have events to attend, I love having something tucked away to write about.

 

I’m passing the My Writing Process on to Erica and Jen.

Erica is another blogger friend who I wish I saw more often. We share a love of dining out and Sonoma and Napa wine country, and she always seems to have recommendations on places I haven’t been.  I love her travel posts in general, as well as her adventurous spirit, and I especially love photos of her cute dogs. Erica appreciates a good cocktail as well as all of the great restaurants has to offer.

Jen’s blog is new to me, but it’s called Vino Travels. . . what’s not to love?! Jen focuses on Italian wine, something I don’t have too much experience with. Her love of Italian wines extends beyond just wine and into a sense of place and culture. Jen even got married in Italy!

I look forward to reading more about others’ writing process in this blog tour. Thanks for reading!

Tags: bloggers, blogging, Food, lifestyle, Travel, wine, writing

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and it is definitely a time to treat mom, grandma, or another special woman in your life. Our new home’s yard has been teeming with all sorts of flowers and plants since it started to get warmer, and every time something new pops up in the garden, I call or text my mom to see what it is. She and my nana, who is with me in spirit, taught me so much about gardening growing up, yet I still have SO much to learn. Still, I marvel at the colorful life popping up all over, and it makes me feel closer all the time to two women who I love more than anything.

When Uncommon Goods reached out to me to see if I was interested in sampling one of their products in the lead up to Mother’s Day, it was hard to decide what to choose. From wining and dining to gardening, they have so many incredible, unique, and quality items. Since I am currently obsessed with readying our garden for Summer, I chose a beautiful blown glass Solar Light Garden Stake.

solar glass globe

The light is so beautiful. both by ay and by night. It appears to be a delicate, blown glass globe but in actuality is very sturdy and is standing up to the elements. By day, the sun glimmers off of the fun colors, and by night, it’s a little fairy lantern lighting the side of our garden bed. Assembly was super easy; it came in just a few pieces that popped together.

Items like this globe and the may other gift ideas that Uncommon Goods has to offer are perfect for a Mother’s Day gift or for a housewarming, shower, or other occasion. To check out the full line of beautiful gift ideas available at Uncommon Goods, please visit their website.

Uncommon Goods isn’t just for Mother’s Day; they have plenty of gifts for other occasoins:

http://www.uncommongoods.com/gifts/by-recipient/gifts-for-women

http://www.uncommongoods.com/for-her/gifts-for-her/gifts-for-mom

Uncommon Goods is a company that’s easy to love. I seriously covet much of their website, and their representative was a delight to work with. Here’s a bit more about Uncommon Goods.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, UncommonGoods is a privately-owned retailer that endeavors to feature unique designs and handcrafted gifts created in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals or people. We run all our operations out of the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal, including our warehouse where the lowest-paid seasonal worker starts at 50% above the minimum wage. We make it our mission to support and provide a platform for artists and designers; in fact, half of what we sell is made by hand. Most of the products we carry are created right here in the USA, and about one-third of our entire collection incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials. At the core of our company is a great respect for the integrity of the creative individual and the belief that it is our responsibility to use our business to impact the world in a positive way.

Highlights:

• B Corp: B Corporations use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. We are proud to be a founding B Corp since the B seal means that we meet a rigorous standard on a wide range of issues, including wage levels, environmental impact, and giving back to our community.

• Studio Tours: An exclusive look inside the workspaces and minds of our uncommon artists and designers. Find the faces and inspiration behind some of our customer’s favorite products. You can even take a step inside our own creative studio!

• Design Challenges: Get your work out there and join our community by participating in our product design and art challenges.

• How to Make It Events: Our panel series connects local artists and designers and empowers creative professionals to improve and develop their businesses. Past topics have included Scaling up your creative business, Implementing green practices in your designs, and Collaborating, networking, and the influence of your social network.

• Voting Tool: Get a first look at our newest arrivals and help our buyers decide which products will become the next UncommonGoods!

• Uncommon Knowledge: Is your DNA unique? Where does the growler get its strange name? Did Washington chop down a cherry tree? Find the answers plus dozens of other surprising stories and curious facts on our blog!

• Better to Give: As an independently-owned business, we have the freedom to support causes we believe in and to impact

the world in a positive way. With every purchase you make, we’re proud to donate $1 to the non-profit of your choice. Since we started the Better to Give program 12 years ago, we’ve donated over $700,000 to charities around the world!

Our Non-profits:

• RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN carries out programs to prevent sexual violence,  help survivors, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

• American Forests protects and restores forests worldwide, helping to preserve the health of our planet for the benefit

of its inhabitants.

• Women for Women International provides women survivors of war with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-su ciency.

• City Harvest strives to end hunger in communities throughout New York City through food rescue, distribution, and education.

 

I received this product from Uncommon Goods for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Tags: gardening, gardens, gifts, home and garden, lifestyle, Mother's Day, product review

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