What I Miss About Boston

It’s now been almost three weeks since I jumped in the car and headed out to the Midwest. While most of my time was consumed with unpacking, settling in and job searching; it’s also given me time to reflect on Boston. For me, the time in Boston was no walk in the park. It was challenging in a number of personal and professional ways. (I won’t bore you with the details.) Boston, also, wasn’t like New York – the city of excitement and never-ending lists of things to do and see. Boston also wasn’t like St. Louis – a city deeply rooted in family, beer and baseball. Boston is unique, and while I went through a lot of ups and down in the two years I lived in Beantown – there are a lot of things I am going to miss.

What I Miss About Boston:

• Boston Bloggers! I still remember the very first little mixer I went to. It was at Cactus Club and there were maybe a dozen bloggers sitting around talking. Nothing formal, nothing official. Soon that morphed into an official group and events I helped plan and run. It was amazing.
• Blogger friends. There’s AV, my Boston Bloggers co-host. She was amazing to work with and fun to hang around with. There’s Alana and Amy (and their men) who planned an amazing conference and didn’t mind me tagging along while they double dated. There’s Kristen who I had an unforgettable time with while sipping drinks in a tent as the rain poured all around us outside the aquarium. There’s Courtney, who emailed me when she moved to town and we became buddies from that point on. There’s Michelle, who’s blog helped push me to run even when I was convinced there was no time to do so.
• Swapaholics. They introduced me to the phenomenon. They let me help organize the events day of. They helped me land some really great swap clothing. Amy and Melissa are entrepreneurs and two fun ladies to be around.
• The proximity to New York City. A short 4-hour bus ride on a cheap MegaBus is nothing compared to the cost and time it would take to book a flight now from Milwaukee to the Big Apple. Plus, let’s not forget the amazing friends, blogger and otherwise, I have in NYC! Nnenna, Alex, Jamillah, Kimberlee, and more bloggers who are slipping my mind as I try to crank this post out.
• Mass Ave Tavern. What can I say – I’m the Foursquare mayor, the Yelp duchess, and the Jenga master of this place. It was my go-to easy dinner option as well as drink option! Fried pickles, excellent buffalo wings, cold Goose Island on tap, friendly service, games to play at the table, great music, host of the holiday Boston Blogger fiesta. This place has it all. I don’t think I’ll be able to find it’s equal here.
• Anthony David Salon. The first stylist to cut my hair in Boston. The only one I really trusted with my hair the two years I lived there. I never got the same cut twice and each one was amazing!! (Yeah that is me looking all gross on the homepage – it’s a makeover video. You are supposed to look gross in the beginning.
• All my non-blogger Boston friends… Way too many to name. Sara, Georgie, Bridget, HiJung, Gemma, Annalisa, Anne, Sam (even though you are in CA now), Rence, Angela, Alex (even though you are in the UK now), Christine, etc…
• The close proximity of restaurants to try and clothing stores to peruse. I loved walking Boylston and Newbury, especially at night when it was easy to window shop and enjoy the walk without running into people every two steps.
• The sense of style. I know, Boston is often ranked as one of the worst dressed cities. But compared to many midwestern places it isn’t doing too bad. In my every day attire of black denim and maxi dresses I have gotten so many comments about being ‘so dressed up’ and ‘where are your relaxed clothes’ that I am beginning to lose heart. I might need a closet overhaul to re-introduce blue denim and heaven-forbid plaid. LOL I refuse to cave.
• The Charles River. Running along that path never got old and it was always inspiring. (Luckily there is a path near my house that I can run and bike along but nothing like the Charles.)
• and then there are littler things that I will miss like Cape Cod, and the overabundance of seasalt and vinegar chips, Sam Adams at every bar, the Big E, hearing fans cheer from Fenway Park, the Boston Marathon, etc…

Related posts:

1. Blogger Profile: Miss Vinyl Ahoy
2. My Last Boston Bloggers Meetup
3. Boston Bloggers at Anthem
4. Boston Blogger Holiday Fiesta – recap