Maine. The Sunshine State.

America, I'd like to thank you for the great weekend we had celebrating the 4th of July in Maine. 2 days of relaxing by the lake thanks to the generous invite from Nals & Gennylite.
I'm such a nice Skipper who help refueled the boys who were hard at work floating around in the lake!

Even though I didn't see The Lake House, I picture this as something similar to it...Dogs on a Dock could be my favorite thing (oh yeah, that's me zooming in on these people while on the boat). Creepster.
I was so stoked to grab a picture of the Mallards, but then I was told they were LOONS. Who woulda thunk.
This immediately made me think of Weekend at Bernies!!!
Gorgeous sunset!
I could get used to waking up to this view every morning.
Next time I think we'll just fly up to Maine to visit them.. Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! And yeah, go visit Maine. Its good times.

Rock Paper Scissors.. shoot!

As part of the magical gift bag I received from the Healthworks Blogger Bash last month, one item was a complimentary makeover from Rock Paper Scissors.. the new hip salon on Newbury Street. Since I'm trying to grow my luscious hair out, Tracey invited me to come in for a shine treatment & blowout.

The location is perfect. For those of you who haven't been to Boston (sorry to hear that, first off) Newbury Street is the place to be. Shopping, good eats, celeb watching, people watching.. its all included on the Rodeo Drive of Beantown. Plus after checking out their website I was shocked (and thrilled) to see how great their prices were..

And I LOVE the decor inside! Its exactly how a salon should be styled. My hair stylist was Mia and she was awesome. One big fear of mine is going to a salon and not clicking with the person doing your hair- I would never want to deal with 1+ hours of awkward silence. Mia was so fun, except I felt terrible when my US Weekly I was reading broke the news that Jake and Vienna had in fact, broken up. Plus it helps when you run into friends who are also getting their hair did too!

After telling her my obsession with Tay's bangs from Rachel Zoe Project- (see below)Mia confided to me that the Hairo Hair Clay is how to achieve this look. So I picked up that as well as the Hairo Styling Creme.

Thank you very much, Mia and Tracey! You made me feel faboolooos and now have a slight addiction to shine treatment. Will definitely be back!

If you want to check out Rock Scissors Paper to get your look glammed up (DO IT!), email me at jqlounge at gmail dot com and I'll send you some fun referral discounts.

Just don't hand me a tambourine..

This past weekend we flew up to Buffalo to an amazing wedding for our friends Lauren & Henry. Now these two were part of our college crew, just 2 of 6 of us that ended up moving to Boston and living minutes away from each other, continuing the fun times every weekend (just not broke in a Basement Campus Apartment). They started off as singles that I swear always had a super secret crush on one another, hanging out with ToughGuy & I, and Gennylite & Nals (names have been altered, duh) = 2 annoyingly cute college sweetheart couples.

Pic from a weekend getaway to VT maybe '06?And then after a great friendship, what do you know.. they started to date! I could not have written a better storybook ending when they got engaged a couple years later right before our big vacation to Aruba!

The wedding day called for scattered T-Storms (a bride's worst fear) but as luck would have it, it was sunny and hot out all day. And in a twist - it poured for 2 minutes during their dinner when everyone was already inside eating.. and it was dry about 10 minutes after that!

ToughGuy and I got to walk down the aisle as Bridesmaid and Groomsman :) Yep you can finally see that he is exactly 1 foot taller than me!

When you sit at a table with us fine RITers who haven't seen each other in awhile.. we make sure you toast at least 10 times before dinner. I'm not kidding.

I can't believe Nals & Gennylite are going to have a baby in 1.5 months!! So excited!

The bride picked out the fiercest bridesmaid dresses and hot pink shoes to match. The perfect compliment to her classic gorgeous wedding dress!
L&H had an amazing photographer, Megan Dailor, who already posted a sneak peak of pictures on her blog! If you are planning a wedding in Upstate New York, definitely check her out.

A couple of favorites featured on her blog..

How cute are they?! There is nothing more classic then a handsome guy in a tux kissing his beautiful happy bride's hand. Oh man!

Their venue was at the Park Country Club.

I think everyone should have a picture of them and their friends all jumping. This picture of us is awesome! Check out Megan's blog to see a bigger image :) I don't know how all the boys jump so high.

And the title of this post?? Welp, my husband managed to get ahold of a tambourine after an open bar and decided to have a Dance Off with some of the other groomsmen in tuxes. This dance looked less like Dancing with the Stars and more like Stifler at the Gentlemen's Club in American Pie 3 (a very underrated movie!)

Again, Megan the photographer was amazing and able to capture this...

No words. Except CONGRATS TO L&H! Have a fantastical time in St. Lucia!

SATC Weekend in NYC!

It all started with a Direct Message on TwitterHmmmmm. I wondered if she was kidding or not. AngryGirlfriend aka Victoria had been one of my favs on Twitter. Sometimes she tweets and I think.. WHAT? That is SO something I would say.
So a bunch of msgs back and forth that week and a Girls Weekend in NYC had been planned!! 2 months later, I hopped on the Amtrak and hit up the Big Apple.

I'd met Internet friends in person before and have been lucky enough to adore every single one of them. First there was WeezerMonkey, then the bevy of Boston Bloggers that I've met and loved since our first Happy Hour, and now it was AngryGirlfriend.

Got into Penn Station and attempted to take the Subway to Victoria and her wonderful boyfriend's Apartment. Since I was a lost little Bostonian asking people how to get to the T, finally a girl who had the same Longchamp purse as me guided me to the right track and I was off! Few stops later, I'd made it to Wall Street and a familiar face yelled 'Julie!' She'd even brought her new little puppy Jonas to welcome me as well :)
We walked a block over to her place and I did a doubletake wondering if she is filming for the next season of Real Housewives of NYC. What a fancy apartment building.. with a doorman! (can you tell I get out much?)

Since I knew they'd toss any Red Sox presents I brought for Jonas the second I left- the gift of L.L. Bean was the best New England souvenir for a French Bulldog as cute as Jonas!The weekend was SO MUCH FUN! We brunched at Essex where having 4 mimosa each- we basically were able to catch up on both of our life stories (even though we're pretty much open books on the web already)

There was lots of walking. We walked through Chelsea, Lower East Side, Union Square, a couple blocks before Times Square (but I could see all the hoopla from a mile away). And my Tory Burch flats weren't too comfy by the end of the day. But hey, no complaining when its Fleet Week and there are Sailors everywhere!The movie was at 4:35pm and we headed there early to wait in what would be a gigantic line of SATC fans. A bunch of her friends met up with us to see the movie - so we had a great group of ladies in tow.
Let's just say, the theatre was packed and as soon as the 50 minutes of previews were over- and the movie started... you heard a bottle of champagne pop open. Since its my blog, I could have just said it was us being sassy, but I didn't even think about bringing the bubbly!

The movie was very fun and silly- and it was nice seeing Carrie and the girls on the big screen. The plot was a little whacky- I wish it was based in NYC for more of it. BUT the fashion made it all worth while. As well as the commentary from the ladies sitting in front of us.

After the movie, we walked a few (7+) blocks to a Hotel that one of the ladies said had an amazing Rooftop with a perfect view of the city. It was so worth the walk, because the view at Ink48 was gorgeous. Cosmos and movie talk. And I wanted to introduce YummyMummy and AngryGirlfriend because 1. Their Blog names are equally awesome & 2. YM was in town as well! But she caught the movie later on in the day. So ladies, I'm introducing you via the JQ Lounge.

Moral of the story: made a really good friend this weekend and I have the Internet to thank! (and Victoria too, obvs)

PS. Boston is looking forward to seeing you soon!

Spinning & Cocktails, the tough life of a Boston Blogger

Leave it to Healthworks to throw a party incorporating 2 of my favorite things in the world: working out and yummy cocktails. Okay, so the working out part might be a lie, BUT operation get off my butt and get more active has been going pretty well the past month or so.
An amazing thing we noticed when walking into Healthworks was how great it smelled! This cannot be a gym.. this must be a spa. But guess what? There are no meatball guys walking around! Ladies only. Sweat that smells like flowers ladies only.

Right when you arrived at the Healthworks Blogger Bash, you were given a sweet Siggi's tote with some amazing goodies inside (more on that later) and were prepared a lovely Ripe Mocktail!

Chelsee grabbed this picture of Alicia and I before the Spin Class. My Aerie Shirt said Don't on the front, and then Sweat it on the back. Gotta love statement tees that are true. Us three were partners in crime in the back row of the spin class! There were a lot of giggles.

My first Spin Class was fun! Except honestly my butt may have fallen asleep the first 2 minutes on the bike. You sweat profusely, but the way they split all of the routines up, and the fun crazy songs they played? It went by a lot quicker than I was expecting. And you felt great after.

Vita Coco was waiting for us after the class!It was then time to get ready for part 2 of the Blogger Bash. And head over to The Liberty Hotel for some drinks and eats at Alibi.We Are Not Martha had the best background of this place:
'it used to be a historical prison and when they remodeled it the architecture and design teams kept a lot of the original parts of the prison in tact… which is why you see all the bars and other prison paraphernalia floating around! And they played on the prison idea by hanging celebrity mug shots all around Alibi, too! It’s fun!' -chels

There was a NASCAR Party on the Patio! Lots of fancy cars parked outside.
RIPE & Double Cross Vodka teamed up to create the most delicious drinks ever!! Bloody Mary!
My favorite was this strawberry amazingness.
Carrots 'N' Cake posted the recipe for it too!! Tina you are the BEST!

Strawberry Collins
Ingredients: 2 oz Double Cross Vodka, 1 oz of Drinkripe Sour Mix, 2 whole strawberries, 4 sprigs of basil
Directions: Muddle strawberries & basil. Add Double Cross, Drinkripe Sour Mix & Ice. Shake well & strain into high ball glass filled with ice. Top with splash of soda. Garnish w/Basil leaf.

But don't have too many of these and drive home, or else you may be featured on the wall at Alibi...... Love you, Paris!
The food was SO GOOD. There was gourmet pizza, caprese salad, tuna tartare & more.
Alicia was my muse for the evening!
I cannot get over how fun it is to sit around at this bar!!
My favorite thing to do when hanging out with Foodie Bloggers is to take a picture of them in the act of snapping a pic of all the food.
VIP Spinsters.
There were a lot of cool new (to me) Healthy Lifestyle Bloggers who attended, I've checked out their blogs.. and they are very motivating! They had some great recaps as well (where I grabbed some of the group shots from! hehe)
Carrots 'N' Cake, Crunches for Cupcakes, Emily Eats And Exercises, Food. Fitness. Fashion, Healthy and Sane, The daily craic, Travel Eat Love, Tri to Cook, Fiteralla, and of course, my favs We Are Not Martha and The Clean Plate Club!

Thank you again to Judith, Hannah & Healthworks! Seriously, it was wicked fun. And looking through the Siggis swag bag that evening when I got home was the only thing that kept me from crying during the DVR of Grey's Anatomy Season Finale! There was a Healthworks giftcard for a 50 minute massage, popchips (did they know I'm obsessed with popchips?), a gift certificate to Zyrra for a custom bra, Mad Hectic Oatmeal, Siggis coupons, a SkinHealth Center spray tan ($65 value!!), a hair makeover at Rocks Paper Scissors Salon, a City Sports Boston T-shirt (a staple for a Bostonian to have), and a few other fun things.

AND FOR YOU!!!
Local ladies who want to check HealthWorks out, they were awesome enough to share a 3 Day Membership with JQLounge readers!! Sign up here to check it out! I'm totally going back and trying out a Spin Class. They have locations in Boston, Cambridge, Chestnut Hill and Salem.

And they blog, too!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!