A Bevy of Boston Bloggahs

[not pictured: yours truly.. someone has to take the pic!]

Last night I met up with some fabulous Boston Bloggers at The Pour House on Boylston St. It was great to meet everyone and I'm psyched to have a few new blogs to check out! Next time we'll definitely have to find a place with some big tables for everyone to sit at. Plus there are a few more bloggers I am determined to meet at the next one! You know who you are ;)

The attendees:
Susie from Everybody Loves a Boston Girl
Chelsea from We Are Not Martha (another Susie blog as well!)
Sara from ComfortSource
Amanda from In Development
Pam from Cave Cibum
Susan from Transient Travels

Sara brought some AMAZING cupcakes from Sweet on Mass Ave. Glad I got a picture after most of them were already eaten! lol

After a couple of beers, everyone went out their separate ways.. Lauren, Gus, Henry & I took advantage of Boylston St and crashed a couple of hotel bars and what not.. obviously ended up at Deep Ellum in Allston for a nightcap. Fun times! [L-lo and I pictured at the Lenox Hotel below]

Tourists & the City

So on Saturday I had my first blogger meetup EVER!! I met up with WeezerMonkey in Boston since she and her husband flew in from the west coast for her college reunion. OMG its so much fun meeting a blogger in person! Because you're all like.. is this going to be weird? Considering i've never talked to her before. but NO.. it was totally awesome! More like.. we'd be a force to reckon with if we lived in the same city!!

gotta love Alicia Keys 'wannabe' cousin belting out "No One" during Pride Day at Fanuel Hall!WeeMo learned that I turn into quite the tourist every time I walk around downtown Boston. And I have poor driving skills when it comes to navigating around the city streets! Plus it was awesome her hubs came out to lunch with us- and turned into a semi- paparazzi when asked to take some candid/posed shots of us! lol.

WeeMo & her Hubs meet some of the local fans that flock to me everytime I go out...

hhmmmm LA would totally be like a Graceland-esque place to visit! Just need to accrue some more vaca time. i heart blogger bffs!!

Am I the ultimate fighting champion?

me and UFC fighter Jorge Rivera (I love how his fist is practically the size of my head!)

WHAT a weekend! Saturday night Gus, Ali, and I went to watch Joe (one of Gus' groomsmen) in his first professional fight. The event was called 'Untamed 21' sponsored by Full Force TV and it was held in Plymouth -about an hour away. As you can see on the Fight Card, Joe kicked some butt and knocked his opponent out in 2 minutes! The Octogon girls were very impressive as well. I tried to take some good pics but the lighting in there was not made for my Canon Powershoot. Boo. I did grab a picture with a UFC fighter and coach at Gus' gym, Jorge Rivera, pictured above. He's fighting on the next pay per view fight next wknd!

Here are a couple more pix..julie and ali, Octagon girls in training!!

1st Annual Boston Bloggah Happy Hour!!

As I mentioned before, Susie from Everybody Loves a Boston Girl, and I have been working on getting all the Boston Bloggers out there together for a Happy Hour! I know June is a busy month for everyone, but it'd be great to meet some of you! And, for anyone who enjoys a great road trip, what a fabulous weekend to come visit!

We'll be in Downtown Boston on Saturday June 14th, while the Red Sox are playing on TV (its an away game in the 'Cleve)

If you are interested in hearing the location and getting an Evite, email me at jqmancini @ gmail-dot-com and we'll send it your way. Just make sure to include a link to your website.

Cinco de Mayo!!

There are a bunch of yummy Mexican restaurants/bars near our house so Saturday we set out with some friends to go celebrate the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla (thanks wikipedia!).

Debbie Q even made an appearance to have a mother daughter mojito!!!

Some highs and lows..

High: winning $50 on the Kentucky Derby on Big Brown
Low: tearing up over my frozen strawberry marguarita when a horse was euthanized shortly after the race. I still want to cry and watch Seabiscuit.. and get sad just typing it out.
High: Having an excuse to play with maracas at a bar
Low: Losing a bet over who sang "Achy Breaky Heart". I thought it was for sure Garth Brooks, but Gus knew it was Billy Ray Cyrus. If I had won- I would've made him go to the opening night of SATC movie, where we would get Cosmo's before and after the film! But since I lost, I got dragged to go see Iron Man.
High: Iron Man turned out being AWESOME! If you're going to get forced to see a comic book movie- this one was hilarious and action packed.. go Robert Downey Jr!
High: cooking a yummy Rice and Chicken salad before we went out so we'd have something to munch on instead of ordering pizza. Everyone came over after the bars and chowed down, I was very proud.
Low: Waking up to a sink with a broken bowl and a broken glass. And having NO CLUE how it happened!
High: no drunk dialing the Pizza Guy!!
And on a super high note..

we got MARIO KART for wii!!!!! It has little steering wheels for each player and as soon as we get enough practice in- you can go online and play against anyone you want! You may send me your stats and apply to challenge gus and julie...

Its Good to have Goals

Recently the Rochester Boston Coalition embarked on an impromptu bar crawl. And by that I mean I like to call it a bar crawl even though it consisted of two places.. SoHo recently got changed to the Brighton Beer Garden, which is a great call on their part because SoHo was turning a little too club-ish for my liking.. After some yummy lunch, beers/sangria, we headed over to my favorite bar, Deep Ellum.

Six of us, still in detox from vacation earlier this month, came up with the brilliant idea of making a Deep Ellum Draft. What's that you ask? Welp, Deep Ellum in Allston has the most delicious cocktails ever, so we decided to hold a draft (much like the NFL one I'm sure most of your boys were glued to to the tv this weekend watching) where we each pick a cocktail on the menu (24 total= 6 of us = 4 drinks each = factor in most of the girls settling for 2).

The "Neva have I Eva drank every drink on The Deep Ellum menu"* event will probably be taking place in the near future. That also gives us a little time to work out some sponsorships, like free pretzel and beer cheese appetizers from their menu?!

Its good to have goals!

And sorry, I don't have an iPhone so my camera phone pics look like they came straight from 2002!

*Name subject to change.

Happy Marathon Monday!

BTW.. I decided to run my 26.2 miles last night, because I dont really like attention too much..
mwhahaha i crack myself up.

a deep google chat with Lauren, considering we were only the few people working today in Ma! Prequel: L-lo's office is right by the Boston Marathon finish line
Congrats to my friend Emily who kicked ass today and ran for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! (with an awesome time of 3:49!) I think I could do a 2K in about 3:49 at the moment, cos i'm still in vacation mode.

Viva la Mexico!!

Oh Mexico.. it seems like yesterday I was lying by the pool drinking a Miami Vice (half pina colada/half strawberry daiquiri).. but now i'm in this cold new england early spring consisting of 60 degrees and windy. The trip was amazing, it was so much fun going with a bunch of friends, because as much as a vacation getaway with the hubs is fabulous- its nice to have other people around. The boys can run off and go jet skiing, while the girls can sit by the pool and work on their tans. We stayed at the Reef Club in Cozumel, and somehow got upgraded to their 5star Aura resort, which made us feel like a bunch of A-listers (that sometimes do lifetime movies and make random commercial in Tokyo..)Most of the days consisted of lying next to the pool, eating yummy food, drinking lots of drinks, playing rounds of ping pong, making up pool drinking games, and usually passing out by 9pm.. We rented a Jeep Wrangler to take a trip around the island, and found a lot of beautiful deserted beaches and small tiki shacks filled with Coronas, Tequila and Dos Equis.. The waves were huge and we got to play like little kids at the beach, breaking out the boogie boards and getting devoured by the waves (i think i still have sand in my eyes).how funny is this picture [below]?! I feel like if there were an OC esque show based in Boston, this would be the cover of the DVD!
One day we even went snorkeling! This is huge for me, considering the last time was 16 years ago and I went in Disney's Typhoon Lagoon "swim with the fishies" pool and made a huge scene because I screamed my brains out through the snorkel (apparently I don't like seeing fish when I'm underwater). When the boat dropped all the people off in the water this time, it was hilarious b/c it totally reminded me of Titanic. All the girls were screaming looking for someone they knew. I still spazzed out a little when I saw the fish swimming underwater, but then one of them came RIGHT UP TO ME and looked me in the eye so at that point, I screamed, swam over to Gus and jumped on his shoulders and he had to swim with me clasping to him the rest of the time! We got a hilarious pic of us underwater from the boat crew, but I gotta scan that in (and justify paying $12 for my thighs looking huge underwater!)
Got a lot of cool pics, heres a taste of the trip. OH BTW, if you ever go on a group vacation with friends, be prepared to get asked if you are swingers by about 90% of your bartenders!!!! Like I would share the hubs with anyone.. they would get a knuckle sandwich and leg sweep from me. Although there WAS a clothing optional rooftop bar we checked out later on in the week (while we kept our clothes on, the only nudes we saw were this old couple that hogged the hot tub) Don't worry no one wanted to go in after they got out!

gus doing pilates on the beach. unfortunately I passed on this and drank cervezas insteadthe entire time I had planned on getting a group shot of us holding an issue of The Improper Bostonian (so they'd put us in their next issue), but of course that never happened so I figured I'd take one at the airport, which i obviously can't submit now, so i should get some sort of use out of it!

Two Places at Once Today

Heyy come check me out guest bloggin' over at Gorgeous Footsteps in the Sand! I dish on some ANTM hawtness, coffee tables, and more!

In the meantime, I leave you with the Hills Spoiler.. I just can't quit you LC.

couple things..
-Did Spencer's sister go on Extreme Makeover?
-Justin Bobby still looks damn cute
-Heidi & Spencer still have not learned how to act.. cos I ain't buyin' what they're selling.
-The season looks ridiculously awesome
-But it ain't no SATC spoiler!!!

Lauren is 25 and Neal is 128!

With a couple birthdays to celebrate last night, the RBC took in a dueling piano show at Jake Ivory's in Boston (right next to Fenway Park). Awesome time! But I'm surprised I had my voice this morning, because our table was the loudest one there. The pianists sang a lot of fun songs, and even got some Rap ones in there (Flo-rida!!). I blame lots of Champagne and raspberry stolis for waking me up at 6am and not letting me fall back asleep this morning. Oh well, SO worth it. The title of this post is what the teleprompter at the bar said in honor of the two birthdays, not sure how they got the 1 before the 28, but nonetheless our table cracked up every time it popped up. Neal, you don't look a day over 95! UPDATE: picture is posted!Neal with his great granddaughter Jenny!The Birthday Girl!Not sure why my eyes look batshit crazy in this picture! But I love it..

I didn't know they made awards for 10th place?

So the results are in for the 20SB awards here. And sadly enough, the JQ Lounge did not win for best design, but the good news is, at least a very pretty blog won! Plus a bunch of friends that I voted for woo hooo!

But I'm going to pull a Zoolander and give my acceptance speech anyways..

First, I would like to thank my Intro to HTML class that I took freshman year at college. Sure I didn't get what href meant and managed to accidentally delete my 'mock website about puffins' 5 minutes before our exam ended, and settled with a C, but that C gave me the 'c'onfidence to try and make this little blog into the orgasmic blast of color and polka dots that keep you coming back.

I'd also like to thank alcohol, that ties into this bar themed design. And makes me hilarious.

Rocco, you're my muse.. keep chasing your tail and sitting on my feet when I type of these posts, but please don't try to eat my socks because thats just annoying and frankly.. it tickles.

Gusman, I promise I will one day learn to shut the MacBook off and just watch a tv show with you.

To the homegirls that leave me comments even though they can just email me and actually get a quicker response, but they know I love to blog and am an attention whore that likes comments too :)

And last but certainly not least.. my bloggettes.. y'all are funny and cool, and I have even found a few girls out there with a television obsession as big as mine! When is 20sb going to put together a conference where we can go party?! Vegas, yes? Fine I'd EVEN settle for California!

**This is the part, where the Emcee comes in and says "But Julie Q, you didn't win?!"**

And when I leave to go drown my sorrows in a Mocha Orange Frappacino!

blogger U

I wonder what it would have been like if blogging was the cool thing to do back in college. I, myself, started blogging a few months after I graduated... hhhhmmmmmm

Yay! college was fun, it would have been cool to document it
Nay.. college was FUN, it wouldn't have been cool for future employers to see said documentation

Yay! I actually would have had so much free time to blog since going to bed at 2am was considered very very early
Nay.. it would've taken away from my Instant Messenger convos, I usually had about 15 going at once.

Yay! Sorority drama = I would have been like Gossip Girl outing half the doushebag girls in the sorority. Don't get me wrong, the other half of the ZTA's immediately became my best friends and partners in crime (some featured in the picture above when we road tripped it to Panama City, Florida)... but come on, if it wasn't a sorority, I would have told a few of the girls they were hella lame.. and lacking in personality.
Nay.. Gossip Girl is anonymous. I am way too loud to try and pull that off.

Yay! The Gusman. Our college story is pretty funny. I'll dabble in it sometime. I've never laughed so much than when we started dating (end of our sophomore year).
Nay.. ESPECIALLY when we broke up for a few months junior year at RIT. All and all the best thing we could've done to have a future together.. but lets just say, it was like when Ross and Rachel broke up considering we all shared the same friends. WE WERE ON A BREAK (okay ross..) It would have made for some classic posts nonetheless..

Yay! College Life Crisis. SO MUCH BETTER than a quarter life crisis. because you have no responsibilities (what the hell is a utility bill and/or car insurance?!?)and you can go to a bar every day of the week and not be judged. (and your body can handle going to a bar every day) Now i go out for 2 nights in a row on the weekend, and it takes me 4 days to get rid of my headache!
Nay.. Being broke.. brokeness doesn't make for good blogging in my case (or good makeup!)

If you had a chance to go back.. would you have blogged during college?

I obviously would have, who am I kidding!

My Jaclyn is Engaged!!!

Jaclyn's rep HAS confirmed that Chris proposed to Jac this past Thursday evening! Jaclyn is my sorority sister from college. Congrats to the newly engaged couple! The rep didn't have too many details yet, but did tell us that it included a tres romantic dinner, Chris getting down on one knee and poppin' the question with a very bling'd out rock [just last week sources spotted him at Harry Winston].

Her camp has released this picture in which Jaclyns mom & manager, Lisa, picked up these Minnie Mouse ears when the excited lovebirds shared the news with them on vacation in Florida this weekend!We hear that The JQ Lounge and Blonde Thoughts are the two front runners to ink a deal for the wedding pics! Stay tuned..

Why I Heart Jaclyn

To: JQ
Subject: Dream Job

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wrg/510620940.html

I totally thought of you!
-Jaclyn

Why don't they have any of those jobs in Beantown?!??

update: My hubs for some reason thinks that I should apply to it anyways- because it sounds like its purely web related- but i'm pretty sure it sounds like you have to be NYC based..

Christmas Came Early!

Today I got a awesome surprise in the mail! Katelin from Gorgeous Footsteps in the Sand sent me a copy of 20th Anniversary Edition of The Princess Bride. I had put a banner up on the blog about a month ago b/c they were having a promotion and she was sweet enough to send me a copy!

Hmmmm did you see into the future and know that I wouldn't be winning a NaBloPoMo prize?!?

Thanks again Katelin!!!!

Ted Leo Tonite!

Caught up with Erica this morning (haven't seen her in forever!) to grab a mani/pedi. Let's just say the lady pulled off a similar scene from Dumb & Dumber to clean up these babies..

OPI's Linkin Park After Dark for the Mani (felt it was fitting for the concert tonite!)And OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Red for the toesies (I totally copied Erica on this one)For some reason Rocco was against getting his paws done.. Have a good Saturday night!

My Maple Cake Brings all the Boys to the Yard..

Reading the directions about 30 times, introducing myself to a mixer, and a quick run to the store by Gus, because I thought I could substitute butter with Country Crock = my Chocolate Glazed Maple Spice Cake was successfully created.
Rocco was a very helpful Sous Chef. Except he got a little excited when it called for Confection Sugar!Dine & Dish posted the recipe. And might I suggest some Champagne/Riesling Punch to go with! Here's how you make it, thank you mom!Debbie Q's Cham-pag-nan-yay Punch
-6 oranges, sliced thin
-1 cup finely granulated sugar
-two bottles Riesling
-1 large block of ice
-3 bottles champagne

1. sliced oranges in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar
2. pour one bottle of Riesling over fruit and let sit for 1 hour
3. pour mixture over block of ice in punch bowl
4. add remaining Riesling and champagne

Thanksgiving RBC Style was very fun. RBC stands for the Rochester Boston Coalition. And we even have sweaters made that say that. So you know its legit..Must get Lauren's approval before I post any kareoke videos that I shot throughout the evening!

Nice Little Saturday

Didn't NaPaBloMo know this was going to be a low key weekend for the JQ Lounge? Friday night consisted of Dinner at Biaggio's followed by me trying to watch Friday Night Lights at 9pm and falling asleep about 30 minutes later.

This morning I hung out with Ali (aka Maid of Honor). We did some shopping at DSW, Filenes Basement (they only closed the DT Boston location), and TJ/Maxx. I was on the lookout for a baby shower present, and she was doing some home goods shopping because she just bought a condo! We then took a ride over to see her new place, and I can't WAIT til she moves in. I told her I'm going to watch all the home shows and start taking notes...

Baby Shower Stuff:
My cousin-in-law, Cindy, is having a baby shower next week! I've never been to a baby shower before.. very excited. I made the invites for it (but I changed the information to make it more JQ Lounge worthy and to keep the location disclosed cos of the stalkerazzi)
Here's the outfit I picked up for him today.. so cute.
THEN when I came home, the Sephora Fairy dropped off all my goodies. Gotta love the Friends & Family 20% off coupon. Here's what I got..
Very excited to try Benefit's Bad Gal lash, only because I'm obsessed with 'That Gal', I figured anything from Benefit is awesome.Again, have heard only good things about Benetint. I just could never get over the fact that it was $28... Thanks Lisa W for sending the coup my way! JQ Lounge readers: email me if you want in on these savings!

Yay! Lip Gloss! Yay! Smashbox!

[makeup photos from Sephora.com]

Plus Sephora sends you lots of goodies for ordering online. I got a sample of Cargo Bronzer, some expensive hair conditioner, and Christian Dior J'Adore Dior. Smells yum so far.

Yes I know I'm a jerk for buying all this stuff for me before the holidays. Bah hum blush.

Leaf Peeping in Upstate NY

Above: Thanks Lisa W for sending this pretty shot of the ceremony!!

the princess in the tower!

What a fun weekend! Jenny and Neal are officially wife and hubs, enroute to Aruba for a week as we type.

The Recap:

Gus, Lauren, Henry and I woke up early early Saturday morning to travel to upstate NY. The Belhurst Castle in Geneva to be exact. The weather was a little on and off on Saturday during the rehearsal, but cleared up, warmed up, and stayed perfect for the rest of the wedding activities. The rehearsal dinner was held in Watkin's Glen on a Cruiser that sails along Seneca Lake (where all the great upstate NY wineries are) with about 80 guests. Above: Jenny & Neal the happy couple!Above: Jaclyn, Meg, moi, & Lauren
Doesn't Gus remind you of Andy from the office in this pic??
Saturday night turned into quite the party, staying up pritty pritty late and maybe even dancing in an empty jacuzzi singing kanye west with the bride-to-be and little sister Rachel *still debating on whether or not to ever watch that video I somehow took during this karaoke fest*
Above: a mini sephoraSunday, the wedding day, was absolutely beautiful. We all got our updo's at Unique Touch in Geneva. Complete with Momoses that Jenny's mom arranged :) The rest of the morning/early afternoon was makeup time with the Bride! Jenny had visited Sephora quite a few times before the wedding, and had lots of fun new items to play with. We even rocked the fake eyelashes, which I probably will never wear again due to it irritating my eyes and bugging me all night (but at least it paid off in all our pictures). I didn't get a picture, but Jenny also wore a Red Sox Garter belt (which is why I think the Red Sox are in the World Series- thank you J!)Above: my hubs, dingo, vig, wad, dmitriy, turnerAbove: The Sweethearts Table!Above: turner, moi & dingo
Above: the bride!!! and Matt WAbove: The Newlyweds!!!!Above: Matt (sarah's hubs), me, vig (who is doing an awesome Blue Steel), & sarahabove: lisa g (of blonde thoughts & conserving made chic), lauren, moi, and jaclyn (of conserving made chic!)
This was my first time being a bridesmaid. Although all us girls were nervous, Lauren or someone kept reminding us "Don't worry, they don't care about you, everyone is going to only stare at the bride anyways!" Ha, that actually helped :) The bouquets were so pretty, and Jenny called the bridesmaids her gorgeous chocolate truffles (b/c of our cute ballerina-like dresses). The ceremony was beautiful. The sun was shining, our best buds were saying their vows, our Origins Ginger Glimmer body cream was shimmering in the sun on our shoulders, and I sniffled for most of the ceremony. (I was afraid that if I cried my fake eyelash would fall off and land on my nose without my noticing!!!! It didn't)
Above: me and my favorite girl from NYC, Lisa W
Reception consisted of a lot of dancing, two extremely glowing and happy newlyweds, a lot of open bar, a lot of catching up with RIT alumni that we hadn't seen in a few years, a lot of changing into flip flops, a lot of taking pics, and a lot of fun.I even made myself a guest bartender, going behind the bar to pose with the awesome bartenders. Love how I spilled wine over my dress, just to make this pic more dramatic!!
-----------------------------------------------

A couple ridiculous quotes overheard throughout the weekend.lauren and henry, featured in most of these quotes.

Gus: Julie why are you driving so slow?
Henry: Maybe she's a Leaf Peeper.
Julie: Gus, this is a country road, and Henry, what the hell is a Leaf Peeper?
Henry: Its when old people drive around slow and look at leafs and trees.

BTW wikipedia states "Leaf peeping is an autumn activity in areas where foliage changes colors. Leaf peepers' are those who participate in photographing and viewing the fall foliage."

And it could just be my new favorite phrase.

~

On the shuttle bus ride to the Cruise.
A girl talking to an older couple on the bus. We'll keep her anonymous.

Girl: "Did you see the leaves?"
Couple: "Yes, they look beautiful!"

I'm sorry but I still tear up laughing when I was telling that story in the car ride. Think about that sentence. Did you see the leaves? (aka pretty fall foliage) What was the couple supposed to say:
"No, are those the flappy things on the trees?"
"Oh- I thought those were giant broccolli stalks in the ground"
"Listen- I'm old, not stupid"

~

Lauren: Henry you're probably lying.. like remember the time you told me that there's no wind if it gets too cold?
Gus: [breaks out in laughter]
Julie: What?
Lauren: Yeah, I was asking him all these questions about skiing on our way up to Sugarloaf, and he told me not to worry b/c if the temp hits a certain number, the wind stops.. i'm too gullible.

Click here for the rest of the wedding pics. (until I actually get the ceremony pics- its hard/impossible to take them when you're in the wedding party). Jenny & Neal- Congrats, it was an amazing time!!

LWL Friends Kickin' Ass & Takin' Names

In February I participated in the Ladies Who Launch Boston Incubator, with plans to jump start my invitation side project, Dolce Nota. I met 8 awesome women who wanted to leave the corporate life and follow their passion (and some of them had already done that successfully). Its been about 7 months since our last class, and its awesome to hear all of the cool things they are doing. I myself am in a rut, slowly but surely designing my website. But I just wanted to give a few of the