Around Town

It has been a busy week! It started Sunday night with The Urban Grape Champagne and oysters event and just kept going with The Urban Grape’s Christmas party at Ted Baker on Newbury Street on Monday.

Ted Baker Photos courtesy of my party dates, Daisy and Megan

Ted Baker was opened exclusively to Urban Grape party guests, and they even offered 30% off of their fabulous line of clothing and accessories for the occasion. We sipped wine, ate chocolate, and celebrated the season with new friends. What a year it has been!

Tuesday night I had my Level 2 wine exam at the Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at BU, and I am happy to say that despite my worries, I passed the course. Everyone kind of laughed at a wine exam, but it was HARD. Geography, soil types, grape varietals, classification systems, this course covered a lot of material. It made me realize I have so much more to learn, but I am glad that I am at least off to a start.

Wednesday was a quiet day in for some catching up on freelance work and cooking up a recipe for the Olivia’s Organics recipe contest.

And that brings me to Thursday. It started with some more freelance work followed by a tough hour of spinning at Healthworks, and a walk around Boston.

Something inside of me decided to walk from Back Bay to a Red White Boston event in Kendall Square. . . in four inch heels. Ouch.

All of that aside, Boston is so pretty this time of year.

Cold enough, but the light is just so different than summer, so serene and beautiful.

Taking my time walking through the Public Garden, I took in all of the little details.

Mrs. Mallard and her crew were decked out for the holidays.

While these ducks braved the cold for a dip in the pond

And a bunch of scary squirrels swarmed around me as I tried to photograph their friend

I made my way down Charles Street, decorated tastefully and looking more European than ever.

My walk took me across the Longfellow Bridge, providing great views of Boston and Cambridge.

And finally to Kendall Square’s Venture Café where Red White Boston was holding a pre-party for the Mega Tweetup going on later that evening. Red White Boston was the host of the wine part of the event, and though I had to leave early for another event, it was very cool to check out the space at Venture Café.

This open space can be used for free for various events and is used to foster collaboration on projects, networking, and just as a great meeting place for people from all sorts of places and experiences. A neat idea, no?

In addition to the wine, they also had some fresh, fantastic local beers. The space is brightly lit, open, clean, and full of great energy. I am definitely glad that I was able to stop by!

As you can see, it was an exciting week, and there are actually more recaps to come! I love this time of year, especially the multiple opportunities to spend time with lots of great people.

How was your week?