This weekend I'm in luck. With the Golden Globe awards last week and the Academy Awards coming up, I have been thinking movies. More specifically, I was afraid I had made the same mistake I made back in the fourth grade. With the popularity of the movie Titanic, I was invited numerous time to go see it with my friends. Unfortunately though, I always had something else to do when they asked me to go. Thinking the super-popular movie would be around forever, I never ended up seeing what my friends called at the time "the best movie ever" in the theater.
Fast forward to 2006. I was so excited to see the trailers for the movie The Departed which was magnified with all the city's publicity buzz around it. The combination of great actors with a great director made it a "must see" movie on my list since the day it came out. However, I experienced some bittnerness when once again I had waited too long and the movie had gone out of theaters.
Thankfully, the movie is currently up for Best Motion Picture of the Year for the 79th Academy Awards. This attention has spurred the Boston theaters to re-release it beginning this weekend.
I may have let Leo's big screen debut pass me by, but rest assured I am not going to let it happen again.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Hair I am
Finding a good and inexpensive salon in Boston can be tricky. You don't want to get ripped off, you don't want to go to a place that is too upscale and snooty for it's own good, and you don't want to get stuck with an inexperienced stylist who has just learned how to use a pair of scissors.
Not being from the city, it's not like home where you go to the same place you've been going all your life. It's even difficult to ask your friends for suggestions, because chances are they are as clueless as you are and save the trips to the hairdressers for when they go home.
For the most part, I too have waited until I got home to see someone I know and trust. Aside from that, I know I will be saving at least a few bucks, a definite advantage of doing anything outside of the city.
But for the times when a haircut just can't wait until someone offers me a ride home, finding a salon in Boston was necessary. In the past, I have found a couple of good places, each on Newbury Street. Salon Marc Harris and GSpa have each done good jobs and have a really friendly staff. Marc Harris charges about $40 for the most inexpensive stylists. GSpa costs a little more, but thanks to a coupon in Glamour magazine I got full highlights and a haircut priced down from $260 to $130. Not a bad deal, but still not ideal on a student's budget.
So today I took advantage of a good deal on the Citysearch Web site. Just visit the the site and search Runway Salon on Newbury St. The site offers a printable coupon for a $25 for a haircut and blowdry. Just make sure you tell them when you call to make an appointment, and chances out they will set you up with a junior stylist. Upon reading the reviews on the site, most people get Erik. I had him too, and he was young, but super friendly and knew what he was doing and very quick to offer suggestions. Unlike other salons, he washes your hair too, which like most other nice salons, includes a relaxing head massage. The coupon saves you at least $20 for the visit, and although it's only usable for your first appointment, (if I don't have a coupon for another place), I'll be returning.
Not being from the city, it's not like home where you go to the same place you've been going all your life. It's even difficult to ask your friends for suggestions, because chances are they are as clueless as you are and save the trips to the hairdressers for when they go home.
For the most part, I too have waited until I got home to see someone I know and trust. Aside from that, I know I will be saving at least a few bucks, a definite advantage of doing anything outside of the city.
But for the times when a haircut just can't wait until someone offers me a ride home, finding a salon in Boston was necessary. In the past, I have found a couple of good places, each on Newbury Street. Salon Marc Harris and GSpa have each done good jobs and have a really friendly staff. Marc Harris charges about $40 for the most inexpensive stylists. GSpa costs a little more, but thanks to a coupon in Glamour magazine I got full highlights and a haircut priced down from $260 to $130. Not a bad deal, but still not ideal on a student's budget.
So today I took advantage of a good deal on the Citysearch Web site. Just visit the the site and search Runway Salon on Newbury St. The site offers a printable coupon for a $25 for a haircut and blowdry. Just make sure you tell them when you call to make an appointment, and chances out they will set you up with a junior stylist. Upon reading the reviews on the site, most people get Erik. I had him too, and he was young, but super friendly and knew what he was doing and very quick to offer suggestions. Unlike other salons, he washes your hair too, which like most other nice salons, includes a relaxing head massage. The coupon saves you at least $20 for the visit, and although it's only usable for your first appointment, (if I don't have a coupon for another place), I'll be returning.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Add that to the list...
Warning: Not everything that is great in Boston can be cheap, so this weekend I decided to splurge.
So I have a new restaurant to add to my (fairly lengthy) favorite's list. Although it's fairly new, I was very surprised I hadn't heard much about it. However, the one friend who had been highly recommended it, so we decided to check it out for ourselves this weekend. The name of the restaurant is Rustic Kitchen, and it replaces the old 57 Restaurant attached to the Radisson Hotel on Stuart Street.
I have to be honest though. Even if the food was atrocious it would probably still make my favorite's list on the ambiance alone. When you enter the large restaurant with multiple bar areas, you are first impressed with the large woodstove that sits at the far end of the restaurant. After that, the high ceilings featuring wine labels are a unique touch and even more impressive are the light fixtures varying in different areas of the restaurant give you a nice feeling that you are no longer in Boston.
After being seating in a section I didn't even realize was still part of the large "kitchen," we were given an extensive wine list along with bread and olives and a hummus-like mixture with olive oil. For an appetizer we decided to get some of the brick oven pizza which was tasty but nothing spectacular. For dinner we had veal, linguini with crab and butternut squash tortellini. We were all more than pleased with our dinners. The service was great and not rushed, so after our meal was done, we decided to enjoy our surroundings for awhile longer.
The entrees include a variety of meats, fish and pastas that average about $20 each. While not too expensive, the combination of wine, appetizers and drinks made it a definite splurge. If you're looking for something new, this is the perfect date place as well as for a group of friends. So next time you're in the neighborhood of PF Changs and Legals, take a little detour and try something new. Bon appetite!
So I have a new restaurant to add to my (fairly lengthy) favorite's list. Although it's fairly new, I was very surprised I hadn't heard much about it. However, the one friend who had been highly recommended it, so we decided to check it out for ourselves this weekend. The name of the restaurant is Rustic Kitchen, and it replaces the old 57 Restaurant attached to the Radisson Hotel on Stuart Street.
I have to be honest though. Even if the food was atrocious it would probably still make my favorite's list on the ambiance alone. When you enter the large restaurant with multiple bar areas, you are first impressed with the large woodstove that sits at the far end of the restaurant. After that, the high ceilings featuring wine labels are a unique touch and even more impressive are the light fixtures varying in different areas of the restaurant give you a nice feeling that you are no longer in Boston.
After being seating in a section I didn't even realize was still part of the large "kitchen," we were given an extensive wine list along with bread and olives and a hummus-like mixture with olive oil. For an appetizer we decided to get some of the brick oven pizza which was tasty but nothing spectacular. For dinner we had veal, linguini with crab and butternut squash tortellini. We were all more than pleased with our dinners. The service was great and not rushed, so after our meal was done, we decided to enjoy our surroundings for awhile longer.
The entrees include a variety of meats, fish and pastas that average about $20 each. While not too expensive, the combination of wine, appetizers and drinks made it a definite splurge. If you're looking for something new, this is the perfect date place as well as for a group of friends. So next time you're in the neighborhood of PF Changs and Legals, take a little detour and try something new. Bon appetite!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Kerry at Northeastern
Being a student at Northeastern, I try to take advantage of as many things as possible when it comes to on-campus activities. Usually, events require I present my Husky card before I am let into a certain event. Since a student activity fee is charged to my card every semester, I try to put these dollars which I have no choice in opting out of. But tomorrow Northeastern is the home of an event where anyone is welcome.
If you think John Kerry has been drowning his sorrows after losing the presidential election a couple of years back-think again. The Massachusetts Senator is going to be on campus tomorrow afternoon at his second annual Massachussetts Procurement Conference and Business Expo. What this means in English is basically a full day where Kerry is taking time to recognize the small businesses that keep the state going.
Hosted by Mayor Menino, the highlight of the all-day affair will come at 3:30 when Northeastern's new president Aoun will introduce the Senator. According to Northeastern's Office of Government Relations, newly appointed governor Deval Patrick will also be present and is set to speak. If you're really into learning more about the business world, the doors open at 9:15 in the Curry Student Center with the exhibitions to follow. If anything, the event is a good and super-close opportunity to see some of the city's most influential people mixing and mingling among us "common folk."
To attend the event and for more information, just vist John Kerry's own Web site at http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/corner/procurement1_07_participant.html.
If you think John Kerry has been drowning his sorrows after losing the presidential election a couple of years back-think again. The Massachusetts Senator is going to be on campus tomorrow afternoon at his second annual Massachussetts Procurement Conference and Business Expo. What this means in English is basically a full day where Kerry is taking time to recognize the small businesses that keep the state going.
Hosted by Mayor Menino, the highlight of the all-day affair will come at 3:30 when Northeastern's new president Aoun will introduce the Senator. According to Northeastern's Office of Government Relations, newly appointed governor Deval Patrick will also be present and is set to speak. If you're really into learning more about the business world, the doors open at 9:15 in the Curry Student Center with the exhibitions to follow. If anything, the event is a good and super-close opportunity to see some of the city's most influential people mixing and mingling among us "common folk."
To attend the event and for more information, just vist John Kerry's own Web site at http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/corner/procurement1_07_participant.html.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Boston on the cheap
Being a student in Boston means endless possibilities when it comes to entertainment and having fun. But you don't have to be a student to want to find new and unique places and events while keeping an eye on your wallet. While the options are out there, we all tend to fall into patterns where we do the same thing, week after week. While these things may be fun, they also can become predictable and mundane, which is unnacceptable when living in a city with so much to offer to its hundreds of thousands of twenty-somethings. I don't want my college experience (and more importantly my time in Boston) to pass me by. My goal as a Boston resident is to live life more like a tourist rather than a student who has lived here for the past five years. The objective of this blog is to live life a little more outside the box, go places I may not have considered going before, and share my experiences with you all in hopes that you too will take advantage (and listen up when I have found something is not worth the trip)!
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