With New Year’s Eve, expiring gift certificates, and friends visiting from outta town… well.. I was out and about a LOT this week. 

On New Year’s Eve, I had to hit up the South End Library and swing by Pure Hair, so of course, I went to Myers+Chang (@myersandchang) for dim sum. Ok, ok… let’s be real, I based my errands around going to M+C. ;) Braised pork belly buns, wok-charred brussel sprouts with caramelized onions, tea-smoked pork spare ribs (fall off the bone amazing), and Taiwanese-style cool dan dan noodles (not pictured because I may have instantly nommed them as soon as they hit the counter).

During the week I was nursing a bit of a cold, so I was all over the soup at Flour Bakery (they don’t have a Twitter handle - but chef @JBChang will sometimes tweet about specials). They change daily, which I love, and they come with a big ol hunk of bread. Check their site for details because Fort Point, Central Square, and the South End all have different soups. 

Tuesday evening, I went over to Brasserie Jo (@BrasserieJo) for my very first visit! Started off the evening with a Boston Pops martini… I’m a sucker for St. Germain and this cocktail mixed that with Absolut wild tea, honey and lemon. 

My friend Becca got their Mussels Riesling Mariniére. It comes with pomme frites, but to my dismay she got brussel sprouts. Well, those were really good too. haha 

I got the Classic Duck a’ Orange with braised red cabbage and a potato galette. 

And with a shove (well, tiny push) we opted to share the strawberry and cream crepe. That cream was incomparable. 

I heard from Lee Sherry (@LeeASherry) that Pigalle (no Twitter, but follow chef @Marc_Orfaly for some updates on the yumness) over in Bay Village had complimentary appetizers at the bar Tuesday through Thursday from 5-7PM, so of course we made our away down for some cocktails and apps. Pictured below, falafel and a pork bao (they made a special mushroom bao for my friend Tarah who doesn’t eat pork).

We also had, not pictured, small portions of their butternut squash soup, pasta bolognese, and a roasted beet terrine layered with beet puree alternating with a creamy horseradish layer.

On Thursday, I went over to my old stomping grounds around Davis and visited Hana Sushi in North Cambridge (maybe a 5 minute walk from the Davis Square T - on Mass Ave). My friend Shawn and I had some great cuts of sashimi along with a spider roll, a spicy tuna roll, and a super yummy behemoth of a roll the TNT - shrimp tempura, cucumber, tobiko, crabstick salad, avocado, spicy tuna with special sauce.

And last night, I paid a visit to Legal Test Kitchen with some friends visiting from outta town. We went for it and started off with the large shellfish tower. Shrimp, crab, and oysters.

I had the truffled lobster mac and cheese and may or may not have picked on my friend’s LTK Paella (fish, shellfish, grilled chicken, and chorizo in a roasted tomato broth over saffron risotto), and the lobster wrap (lobster, avocado, bacon, and chipotle mayo on grilled flatbread). 

BTW, I have these all up on Foodspotting (@foodspotting), a really awesome app that let’s people upload pictures of their favorite dishes at restaurants. What’s REALLY cool is if you connect Foodspotting and Foursquare, whenever you “want” (it’s a button underneath each pic) a food, it adds to your Foursquare To Do list. I can be indecisive with menus, especially new ones, so this is perfection when I go to new restaurants.

What have you been eatin’ this week? Photo reply if you want! :) 

Saw a tweet from Thomas Edwards (via Chad Ochocinco) today asking his followers if romantic movies give women unrealistic expectations and ruin relationships. I’m on both sides of the fence.

As a single lady, a part of me sees these movies and wonders, will I ever meet a guy that gives a damn? In movies, you see men buy fields of flowers or even travel through hell for a woman … but getting a real life guy to even plan a date can be like pulling teeth. I also think blaming the media is an excuse for folks to not be thoughtful. 

On the other hand… seriously? You know how expensive it’d be to actually buy a field of flowers? I’d settle for one Gerber daisy and even that can be $5… which as a startup gal, I know equates 3 boxes of pasta and 1 jar of sauce at Trader Joe’s (which can be 12 lunches)! haha

Verdict? Women (at least the ones I know) don’t expect fairy tale romances… but we would love to meet guys that are thoughtful and show some initiative. Put yourself out there and we’ll do the same. :) 

PS - TV has also ruined expectations… check out the video below from HIMYM. This gal told this guy she really has no time for dating and only gets 2 minutes for lunch. So what does he do? Come up with a 2 minute date that’s better than most of the 3 hour dates I’ve been on. ;P

HIMYM Date for 2 Minutes from Turgay Berberoglu on Vimeo.

… and donate a couple bucks (or more if you can afford it), to some really awesome organizations in your neighborhood.

I’ve been getting a lot of end of the year newsletters from non-profits that I’ve been involved with in some way and since I can’t donate to all of them, I’m hoping some folks out there can! Pass this along and make sure to donate before midnight on Saturday, December 31st to have it count for 2011. :) I’ve included a lot of Boston orgs, but there are some national ones too! 

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (@afspnational) National + chapters in Ireland and Israel 

• Preventing suicide and reducing stigma through media and public education
• Make a donation online, call toll-free, mail a check or money order, or make a gift of stock

AIDS Action Committee (@AIDSaction) Boston, MA

• New England’s largest and oldest AIDS service organization
• Donate $30 to cover the cost of a HIV Rapid Test, $60 pays the utility bills for someone who’s sick, $100 provides counseling for someone struggling with diagnosis, $300 provides over 3,000 condoms, $500 provides food for at-risk youth for a month! 
• Donate online!

Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence Boston, MA

• Their mission is to eliminate family violence and strengthen Asian families and communities. 
• Donate online

Autism Speaks (@AutismSpeaks) National

• Autism Speaks’ goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. 
• Donate online 

Boston Cares (@BostonCares) Boston, MA

• In 2011, Boston Cares mobilized 3,200 teams through which 25,000 volunteers served 70,000 hours in support of 300 schools and nonprofits
• For every $1 invested in BC, payroll returns at least $4 of value to the community through volunteer labor, supplies, equipment, and other services. 
• Donate online 

Back On My Feet (@backonmyfeet) Baltimore/Philly/Indianapolis/Boston/DC/Atlanta/Chicago/Dallas/NYC

• A nonprofit promoting self-sufficiency of those experiencing homelessness by engaging them in running to build confidence, strength, and self-esteem
• $30 provides a running shirt & shorts, $50 a winter running uniform, $100 member celebrations
• Donate online (and see more ways your contributions help their members)

Boston Living Center (@LivingCenter) Boston, MA

• The largest HIV/AIDS community resources center in New England
• 137 new members were welcomed in 2011
• Nearly 40,000 nutritious meals were served
• 2,105 individual peer support sessions were held between a trained Peer Leader and a member in need
• They introduced an individual-level, evidence-based health intervention - Choosing Life: Empowerment! Action! Results (C.L.E.A.R.) that offers skill development and motivation for individual behavior change. 
• You can donate online or mail in a donation to Boston Living Center, 29 Stanhope Street, Boston, MA 02116. Oh and their Dinnerfest fundraiser/raffle is on 2/26/12. Tickets are $50, and starting 1/1/12, they’ll be $60. 

Citizen Schools (@cschools) California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Texas

• Since its founding in Boston in 1995, Citizen Schools has been re-imagining the learning day to bring more time, more talented adults, and more relevant learning experiences to middle-school students in low-income neighborhoods
• They provide extended learning time for middle school students in 18 cities coast to coast
• Hands-on learning taught by AmeriCorps education and volunteer experts from all fields, from science to law to finance and community service
• Donate online!

Citymeals-On-Wheels (@citymeals) NYC

• Citymeals serves more than 16,000 homebound elderly New Yorkers with nourishing meals for frail bodies and companionship for staved souls
• 100% of your donations will be used for the preparation and delivery of meals 
• $39 provides six weekend meals, $64 donated is one Emergency Food Package providing 77 non-perishable food items, $128 donated equals twenty holiday meals
• Donate online

City of Hope (@CityofHope) Duarte, CA

• Designated as a comprehensive cancer center, City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases 
• Donate online! Any gift you make by December 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.  

Cradles to Crayons (@c2cboston @c2cphiladelphia) Boston/Philly

• Helping kids-in-need feel safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued
• $25 helps 1 child stay warm this winter
• Donate online Boston or Philly

Community Servings (@communityserv) Jamaica Plain, MA

• CS prepares and delivers 3,340 lunches and dinners each week to the homes of almost 700 individuals and families who are homebound with an acute life-threatening illness
• $25 provides a week of food for a CS client
• Donate online

Destination ImagiNation (@idodi) National/International

• Destination ImagiNation is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for students to learn and experience creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. 
• Every year, they reach 125,000 students across the US and in more than 30 countries
• Donate online

Friday Night Supper Club (@FNSP) Boston, MA

• Since 1984, FNP has served nutritious meals to the homeless and hungry in Boston
• FNSP serves approximately 250 meals every Friday to some of Boston’s most vulnerable citizens
• Donate online

Greater Boston Food Bank (@Gr8BosFoodBank) Boston, MA

• GBFB distributes more than 36.7 million pounds of food and grocery products to a network of 550 food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters in eastern Massachusetts
• For every $1 you give, GBFB can provide nearly 3 meals to those in need in eastern Massachusetts
• You can donate online and there’s even a chart that shows how much food will be given out thanks to your donation. 

The Home for Little Wanderers (@thehomeorg) Boston, MA

• The Home for Little Wanderers is the nation’s oldest child welfare agency and one of New England’s largest
• Serving children and families in at-risk circumstances
• Donate online

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (@LLSusa) - Nationwide 

• Fighting blood cancers
• Blood cancer research has always been a gateway to new therapies for all cancers. Of 39 new cancer drugs approved by the FDA in the past decade, almost half (19) were approved for patients with blood cancers. Five have already been approved and 13 are commonly used as treatments for other cancer patients. All 19 drugs are being tested for patients beyond those for whom they were first developed, including 11 that show promise for patients with solid tumors and non-malignant diseases. An investment in blood cancer research is an investment in all cancer.
• Donate online 

Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a food rescue (@lovinfoodrescue) Boston, MA

• A non-profit organization that facilitates the recovery and distribution of perishable and unserved foods that would otherwise be thrown away and wasted
• Food is delivered directly to local crisis centers, soup kitchens, and other social assistance entities
• Donate online

March for Babies (@marchforbabies) National

• Money raised goes to support programs in your community that helps moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies
• Donate online

MassChallenge (@MassChallenge) Boston, MA (although startups are from all over the world)

• The 2010 MC Finalists raised over $100MM in funding and created 500+ jobs in less than 12 months. 
• Donate online

MSPCA-Angell (@MspcaAngell) Massachusetts

• The MSPCA-Angell is a renowned leader in animal protection and veterinary medicine
• They are not funded by any national organization
• Donate online! Their most faithful donors will match gifts up to $500,000 if you donate before midnight 12/31. 

Music Drives Us (@musicdrivesus)

• A recognized 501(c)(3) charity organization that funds music education programs, supplies, instruments to schools, sponsors music therapy programs, and more
• Donate online

National Multiple Sclerosis Society (@MSsociety) National

• The Society helps people affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, and providing programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.
• Donate online

On the Rise (@OnTheRiseInc) Cambridge, MA

• A non-profit daytime treatment center that serves women in crisis and homelessness throughout the region
• Donate online or print out a donation form to mail in

New England Center for Homeless Veterans Boston, MA

• NECHV provides homeless veterans with the tools for independent living
• Learn more about the structured programs that NECHV has in place
• Donate online

Passim (@ClubPassim) Cambridge, MA

• Passim, a nonprofit arts organization, creates an interactive and inspiring music experience for all, building a vibrant community for artists, students and audience members through its legendary listening venue and school of music
• 2011 Passim Iguana Fund Recipients announced… over $33,000 was award to 20 artists in 2011
• A donation to Passim gets you discounts to tickets, access to free members-only events, special pricing on offerings thought the Passim School of Music, and enables Passim to build on its now 54-year-old tradition of unique programming

Pablove Foundation (@pablove) Silver Lake / Los Angeles

• The mission of The Pablove Foundation is to fund pediatric cancer research and advances in treatment, educate and empower cancer families, and improve the quality of life for children living with cancer through hospital play, music, and arts programs
• Donate online

Pine Street Inn (@PineStreetInn) Boston, MA

• Pine street provides permanent housing, shelter, job training, and street outreach to Boston’s homeless men and women
• Donate online

Playworks (@playworks) National

• Playworks is a nonprofit supporting the movement for play in our schools and communities with a focus on maximizing recess and play in schools
• This year they’re serving more than 300 schools in 22 cities nationwide, providing play and physical activity every day for more than 120,000 students in low-income schools
• Donate online

Project Bread (@WalkForHunger) Massachusetts

• Project Bread is dedicated to alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts. 
• In 2011, they helped fund 443 emergency food programs in 129 communities, serving over 65 million meals
• They answered more than 46,000 calls on their FoodSource Hotline. 
• They expanded their Chefs in Schools program in Lawrence and Salem
• Provided nearly $130,000 to 21 communities to create new summer meal sites
• Launched a texting campaign to bring summer meals to kids
• Helped over 2,800 families and individuals apply for SNAP (food stamps)
• Raised over $3.6 million through the Walk for Hunger
• Donate online

Room to Grow (@Roomtogrow_Org) New York City/Boston 

• The mission of RTF is to enrich the lives of babies born into poverty. 
• Invest in the physical expansion of the Boston program as it becomes home to RTG’s new national headquarters
• $500+ investments will be recognized in a permanent art installation displayed in their new space
• $5,000+ investments will be recognized in a permanent art installation and unique naming opportunities
• Donate online or mail a check with your gift designation to Room to Grow National, Inc. 142 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116. 

Science Club for Girls (@SCFG) Eastern MA (Cambridge, Lawrence, Boston, Newton, Fitchburg) and in Pokuase, Ghana

• Building science literacy, sisterhood, and self-confidence in girls and teens
• $25 = 3 brand new dissection kits for their marine biologists, $50 = sponsors an overnight museum trip for one 5/6th grade girl, $75 = sponsors one girl to attend a day of their Vacation Week program
• Donations allow them to deliver free programs to over 1,000 girls
• Donate online

Share Africa (@ShareAfricaOrg) based in New City, New York with an affiliate in Kisumu, Kenya, Africa

• They empower African women, children, and entire communities devastated by AIDS
• Donate online

Small Can Be Big (@SmallCanBeBig) Boston, MA

• Keeping families from falling into homelessness
• By giving over $200,000, their donors have kept nearly 200 families and 400 children from going homeless
• Donate as little as $1 online

Somerville Homeless Coalition (@SHCinc) Somerville, MA

• SHC works every day to end homelessness and near-homelessness in Somerville and Greater Boston
• Donate online

Tenacity (@TENACITYtweet) Boston, MA

• Tenacity has served over 20,000 Boston students who otherwise would lack a safe, productive, and healthy after-school and summer environment
• Their high-quality literacy and tennis programming not only builds academic skills and improves fitness, they also foster the development of strong bonds between their students and caring staff
• $50 provides SAT prep for their students, $100 supports their College Prep retreat, $250 funds a child in their summer program
• Donate online or by phone

The Theater Offensive: OUT in Your Neighborhood (@OUToffensive) Cambridge, MA

• The TO connects young people, neighbors, local businesses, and community groups to work against homophobia, bullying, and racism
• Your contribution could be the difference it takes for one more person in your neighborhood to stand up against bigotry and hate and to support a young LGBT neighbor
• Donate online. Year-end gifts are tax deductible

Women’s Lunch Place (@WLPBoston) Boston, MA

• WLP is a daytime shelter for poor and homeless women and their children that is open Monday through Saturday all year long
• 99% of their funding comes from individuals, corporations, and local foundations, which has enabled the Women’s Lunch Place to maintain its unique approach of caring for a severely marginalized population of poor and homeless women
• Donate online, by mail, or by phone

Zumix (@Zumix) Boston, MA

• Zumix is dedicated to building community through music and the arts
• A $50 donation provides a youth with a month of instrumental music lessons, $100 provides a semester of Sprouts programming for a young student, $250 sponsors a gig on their Street program’s two-week summer tour throughout New England
• Donate online

And of course, you should always support your local arts organizations and museums and whatnot! Did I miss your favorite NP? Comment below and I’ll try to add them before midnight 12/31. :) Otherwise, I’ll feature them in a #charityTuesday post slated for January. 

Funny enough, I first heard about the free Boston Python workshop for women from Tuan Pham. While this particular workshop of theirs is geared towards women, men are welcome as guests of female attendees (he snuck in with Abby Fitchner… heh). I’ve been trying to wrap my head around programming by using sites like Code Academy, not to become a coder myself ( I heard somewhere that “learning to code” is the new “I’m writing a novel”) but to understand everything a little bit better. Startup life has made me slightly insatiable and ever since Vsnap CTO Claudia started me on mocking user interface design (a lil out if my comfort zone as a community manager), I’ve had an interest in everything that makes up a website. Vsnap runs on Groovy/Grails, but I couldn’t turn down a free programming workshop even if it was Python. I also couldn’t turn down free pizza. 

The workshop was this past Friday night and all day Saturday at the Stata Center (MIT). It was led by Jessica McKellar along with a slew of volunteers from Google, Oracle, and grad students from BU and MIT. I really dug the helpful vibe and the general feeling that knowledge is power and learning to code will help you change the world. :) I’ll fully admit, having no coding experience, there were a few times where I got lost, but nonetheless, I think it was a great foundation for Python. 

On Friday night we began our journey with a very well documented, self-guided tutorial. If we had any hiccups, there were plenty of volunteers to go around. At the end of the night (about 2 hours worth of work), we had a quick “quiz”/check out with one of the volunteers. I did fairly well and breezed through most of the exercises since a lot of the tutorial was repetitive (in a great way) and easy to follow. The less guided portion on CodingBat, online code practice for Java and Python, was a little more daunting. 

On Saturday we got to play with WordPlay, ColorWall, or Twitter. 

Playing with ColorWall was fun and I caught on quick. I even changed the code for ColorWall to have it flash and match the colors of my outfit. I swear I’m not that girly, but it was pretty cool to do. 

Next up was Twitter. If Abby and I had known that we’d be tapping into the Twitter API on the big screen,  we might have stopped tweeting with the hashtag. (Well, no… #lies)

Some of the volunteers did a few demos of things they’ve worked on, but I don’t have pictures to display. :/ It was great to see how Python works in everything from games to graphs that put Excel to shame.

To wrap it all up, Jessica sent an awesome follow up today, encouraging us to practice practice practice and to attend events. Some helpful next steps included (copying this part straight from the email):

My brain is still kind of melty, but I’m really glad I went to the event. Thank you to all the volunteers that gave up their Friday and Saturday to teach us n00bs! Special thanks to Abby who walked me through a bunch of it (and who was a fellow attendee). More thanks to The Python Foundation for sponsoring! Stay tuned to the Boston Python Meetup page (or follow them on Twitter @BostonPython), they do a free workshop every couple months and their next project night (all levels) is January 10th at Microsoft New England. 

My boss, Dave, always tells me that our memories change each time we recall them. That could be true and my memory might be going… but… tweets are forever. This is the story about how I got my job at Vsnap.

I first heard about the pay-it-forward networking event, Ruby Riot (nothing to do with Rails), from Jake Cacciapaglia (Runkeeper).

Thanks to my incredibly supportive network, I had gotten enough gigs to get by after I left my job in January. Long story short, I had given my boss 2 months notice (that’s how I roll) because while I was mostly comfortable and it paid well, I didn’t see a future in it for me. Mid-May, freelance work was slowing down and I had promised myself that once I hit a big financial wall, I’d move back in with family in NY/NJ. On top of that, most of the freelance was social media/off-site and it seemed silly to live paycheck to paycheck just to pay rent. I had gotten a few offers for full-time gigs, but nothing I was head over heels about. 

I had kinda given up on finding my dream job in Boston, but I decided to go to Ruby Riot to say bye to friends. There were even some packed boxes in my room. Timing really is everything.

The event was supposed to have 400+ attendees. I had been adding the hashtag #RubyRiot to my tweets and Dave had reached out to me from the Vsnap account, which only had a few tweets at the time and his picture was tiny. I didn’t even know his last name. All I knew was that he might have been friends with Chad O’Connor and had caught an episode of my web show with Lex Schroeder, Why Not Boston. 

The line for Ruby Riot was LONG and I waited in the rain for 30+ minutes. TOTALLY not my thing. The sign (picture below) was a joke that made it into the real world (thanks Georgy for that last bit). Later on, I poked holes in the top of the sign, and used my headphones as string to hang it around my neck. heh

Once inside the plan was to get a drink, say hi to a couple folks, then head out. Seeing my friend Jenny had checked in on Foursquare, I figured I should try to find her since I hadn’t seen her in forever. We ended up going upstairs and almost immediately I bumped into Chad and he introduced me to Dave. We got interrupted and I started chatting with someone else before I could figure out who he was. My friend Morgan First (Second Glass) then interrupted that conversation saying, “You should REALLY talk to Dave”. To be completely honest, the night’s events are a bit hazy. I may have had a drink or two. :) I do remember Dave taking out a cocktail napkin with a grid of asynchronous/synchronous video and telling me where he saw Vsnap fitting in. Who was this guy? :) 

Dave sent me an email to meet up that Friday. I was under the impression that he wanted to chat about doing some freelance work or even just get my feedback on Vsnap sans drink in my hand. After all, I have been paid in pizza/beer for helping folks out with their beta (and totally welcome that) in the past. During our meeting, he offered me a job. Not out of nowhere, he had already talked to mutual friends and folks I had worked with (which I had no idea about at the time). I would be Vsnap’s second employee and he wasn’t quite sure what my title would be, but I’d be doing a little bit of everything. I told him I needed to think about it. Saying yes was a HUGE decision… 1) I had already told my family I was moving 2) taking a job at a startup is a BIG risk 3) my net worth was the equivalent to a few boxes of pasta 4) since Vsnap was just getting started, it’d just be me and Dave for awhile. I didn’t even research him before our meeting because I had no idea it’d be a job interview. (Put that in your notes, job-seekers… haha)

Despite all that… I had this gut feeling that I should take the job. Shout out to my friend Dan, for reminding me to keep that feeling on the top of the pile. 

Dave got into MassChallenge a few days later. After working on some freelance with him and chatting with everyone that knew him, I was beginning to think I should take the leap. Then…

Sometimes I forget that Twitter is public. haha So when Chad retweeted what I had said… 

I figured I should probably tell Dave before the internet found out about my acceptance before he did…

Then a few weeks later… 

I could talk about what happened after that, but there’s no Twitter proof. ;) And here we are… it’s my kinda 6th month anniversary with Vsnap (depends on what constitutes a start date… heh). It’s been a CRAZY 6 months. Just because you find a job that makes you jump out of bed in the morning, doesn’t mean everything else will suddenly fall into place. But… I’ll save that for another post. :)

I will say that joining Vsnap has been one of the best decisions of my life. Thank you, Dave for this incredible opportunity and for keeping me in Boston. Another thanks to Matt Lauzon (Gemvara), Cort Johnson (Terrible Labs), and John Clark (Indivly) for organizing Ruby Riot! I’ve been trying to #PayItForward ever since, helping folks find work and giving out recommendations.

Here’s to people finding work they can be passionate about, the incredible Boston startup scene, and to people staying here in MA! More posts about startup life and job hunting to come. :) 

Nope, this probably isn’t the Save the Date that you’re used to or that my mom insists is coming soon.

January 31, 2012 - My birthday slash the first fundraiser in the Benefits For Brains series. Mark it. I’ll be doing my first triathlon this summer and raising money for the Massachusetts General Hospital Neurology Department. I’ve got my letters of endorsement from MGH, so if you’re a vendor/restaurant/etc who’d like to donate to my auction, please reach out! benefitsforbrains (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also shoot me an email if you’d rather be updated via email. My donation page will be up on the MGH site soon and a blog that will be all about fundraising/training. :) 

(That picture above is not our logo, but I wanted to get you in the brainy mood.)