Best Friends are Forever...

...so obviously when my best friend from home came to visit a few weeks ago, I had to show her a good time.

My friend Tara and I have been best friends since practically the first day of freshman year of high school. She goes to school closer to home in Connecticut, so I don't get to see her too often. She usually comes to Boston at least once and year, and this was the first time she had come to visit since we both turned 21.

Naturally, going out in Boston is more expensive than going out in other places. I knew she had to pay a lot for a train ticket to come to see me, so I didn't want her to break the bank on one night out on the town. So, I decided to round up some of my friends and take her out on one of my favorite not-so-expensive bar crawls.

If budget had allowed, I would have wanted to take her down to the Faneuil Hall area, but once it hits about 10 p.m., $10 covers for each bar visited is not the most economical thing. So, we started off on Boylston St. at the Pour House. This is, by far, one of my favorite Boston spots. The food is CHEAP and it's only 21+ after 8 p.m., so it's a fun place to grab a bite for all ages. All their beers on tap come in 22 oz. glasses and are quite reasonably priced. After grabbing dinner and a few beers, we backtracked down Boylston towards Copley.

Our next stop was Vox. It's a little more upscale and the atmosphere is more late 20-somethings after work than college kids. But, every single martini I have had there is fantastic. I knew Tara would love it because she has a sweet spot for Lemon Drops. My personal recommendation is the White Crantini.

We then ventured back in the other direction on Boylston, bypassed the Pour House and made a stop at the Cactus Club. Best Margaritas in Town. I kid you not. In every flavor imaginable. And I'm not even a huge fan of tequila. And how could you not love a restaurant with one of these perched on top of the bar:

After our margarita, we made our way to our last stop of the evening, Tiger Lily's. There is nothing really phenomenal about this restaurant, but almost every single one of my really fun bar-hopping nights has ended at Tiger Lily's, so I wanted to keep the tradition going. And their scorpion bowls are pretty great.

Oh, and did I mention that none of the places we went charged a cover? So, the moral of the story is, if you are at a loss for ideas on what to do for a night out, definitely give my full-proof Boylston Street bar crawl a try. I can guarantee its success because Tara is already counting down until the next time she can come visit and go out.

This gives a new meaning to "liquid dinners"...

Hello hello. Four days until spring break and counting. I've been so all consumed with midterms and projects and work and signing a lease on a new apartment, I'm surprised I can still count. I'm going to try to update like crazy this week so I won't be missed too much when I'm gone being a beach bum for 9 days.

So I found this article from the Boston Phoenix about food-fused cocktails. Apparently, there is a new trend in the Hub towards cocktails accented with food. I, for one, love a drink with perhaps a pineapple or orange wedge. Blue-cheese olives and oysters in my martini? Not so much.

The story definitely mentions some interesting one. At 28 degrees, they boast the prosciutto-and-melon martini. At the Good Life, they can offer you a cucumber martini.

My favorite, however is one of the specialties at Ivy:

...Ivy (49 Temple Place, Boston, 617.451.1416) has a hearty cocktail that will satisfy your palate and your stomach. The Leaning Mary-tini ($12) is an antipasto of tomato, olive, and fresh mozzarella on a skewer, soaking in citrus vodka, house-infused horseradish gin, fresh lime, and V8 juice, and finished with a salt-and-pepper rim. Basically, it kicks the Bloody Mary’s ass to a gory pulp.

As interesting as all these concoctions sounds, I think I am going to stick to keeping my dinner and drinks separate.

Oscar Time

So it's that time of the year again. The Academy Awards are this Sunday. For some reason, I'm not too excited about this year's Oscars. I've only seen two of the films nominated for best picture, which I'm a little ashamed about. I'll definitely admit that I'm pulling for Little Miss Sunshine. I'm also very excited that Ryan Gosling got a best actor nomination for Half Nelson. It's a fantastic movie and if you haven't seen it yet, you should.

So, if you are more psyched about the Oscars than I am, there are some really cool Boston-area Oscar parties going on this weekend. This article from the Boston Globe lists off some of them.

I, on the other hand, am going to be on my couch, hopefully catching up on my movies.

Spring Fever

It's not even spring yet, but I think I officially have spring fever. Or perhaps just spring break fever. I cannot stop thinking about my upcoming trip to Puerto Rico. This is making life difficult, considering I should be buried under a mountain of pre-Spring Break midterms, projects and papers. March 3rd cannot come any sooner.

Now on to more relevant topics. I came across this really cool site today. Chowhound is a blog for people who live to eat. It's a national site, but is broken up by geographic areas. The best thing about it: You can post any food or drink-related question on their message board, and other users will respond to you. You can ask anything from recommendations for the best Fenway-area bars to where to go and get the best Thai food. So if you are ever stuck for an idea of where to take that friend from out of town, Chowhound might help you find the answer.

Fat Tuesday

I apologize for my week-long disappearing act. I have been hiding out in the loft at my parent's condo in Connecticut f0r the long weekend. The best place I can think of when I need a break from the city. The only downfall: My wireless Internet connection is less than stellar.

That being said, I'm back in action and counting down 11 days until I am sunbathing on the beach in San Juan Puerto Rico. But on to more relevant topics.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. If your Catholic, this means the start of 40 days and 40 nights of not eating meat on Fridays and giving up something you hold near and dear to your heart until Easter. This also means that today is the official Mardi Gras, or as some like to call it, Fat Tuesday. And since we aren't really too close to New Orleans, some Boston-area hot spots are throwing Fat Tuesday bashes of their own.

On the front of today's Boston Globe Sidekick, they listed a couple good suggestions for ways to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Tequila Rain is having a SoCo Lime party with a Mardi Gras theme. Dick's Last Resort in Fanueil Hall is also hosting a Mardi Gras party with a best-dressed contest and a craw fish-eating contest.

Coincidentally, these are also the two most popular events for today on HeyLet'sGo Boston. If you are in the mood to go crazy and try to snag some beads, you know where to go.

Alert: Another Awesome Site

It makes my day when I find new and fabulous sites to share! This one is absolutely amazing. It's called Hey Let's Go Boston.

This site sorts events by day and popularity, which means that it's constantly updated with the most current event information. It also breaks it up by nightlife, culture, music and activities. This is convenient for finding the best event suited for whatever mood you are in.

Today's most popular event is the St. Single's Day Party at Upstairs on the Square, and event to mark the new holiday, "St. Single's Day."

Another cool feature of the site is that you can create a profile and RSVP to events that you will be attending. You can also see the profiles of other people who will be attending the same event, which makes for a great networking feature.

More cool features: being able to upload pictures from events and message board on a huge range of topics.

This site is definitely being added to my favorite links.

Anti-Valentine's Day

So I know this is fairly typical, but I really, really don't like Valentine's Day. I haven't had an actual "Valentine" since I was 14 and my boyfriend and I spent the evening watching TV on his couch...with his parents.

That being said, I usually make a point to try to organize something for my single friends and I, where we can forget about everyone out there having romantic dinners with their sweethearts. I'm not trying to sound bitter, but I've found that it's way easy to be single on Valentine's Day and still have a fantastic time.

I was quite excited when I stumbled upon this article on Citysearch: "Anti-Valentine's Day Planner." I was all ready to do some research on the best places to take your sweetie on February 14th, but I thought this was MUCH better.

The article splits it up by places for the ladies and places for the guys, but I think that all of their suggestions would work for co-ed groups. Honestly, I prefer the suggestions for the guys.

I, however, already have my own anti-valentine's day plans. Wine, appetizers, wine, chocolate fondue, wine, and my best single pals. I've got about six valentines this year.

Boston Wine Expo

Now this is one of the weekends where I wish I had an unlimited supply of cash. Or a better paying job.

The 16th annual Boston Wine Expo is happening today and tomorrow, February 9th and 10th, at the Seaport World Trade Center.

450 wineries. 1,800 wines. Sounds like a dream come true. Usually, I'm not picky when it comes to wines. Give me an $8 bottle of Sutter Home, or even a $4 bottle from Trader Joe's, and I'm good to go. But this wine expo just sounds way to exciting.

In addition to many, many wine tastings, the Expo is going to feature 15 celebrity chefs, including Ted Allen (from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) and famous Boston chef Todd English, who are going to cook up some gourmet deliciousness for participants to taste.

Tickets for the expo are pretty pricey, but if I had so extra cash, I would definitely be going. A one-day ticket is $85 and a two-day ticket is $120.

Likes like I'm going to spend the weekend dreaming of fine wines, when I'll actually just be drinking cheap beer.

Future Sex/Love Sounds

Justin Timberlake may be one of the best performers that I have ever seen.

I know a lot of people still think he's just that guy from 'NSYNC. But seeing him last night as a solo act put any thoughts of his days in 'NSYNC far behind.

I had been looking forward to this show for months. And I see a lot of concerts, so that says a lot. I usually don't like huge stadium shows, but I was willing to get some not-so-good seats up in the balcony in order to put myself in the same room as Justin.

We made our way to the TD Banknorth Garden, and got to our seats just as show opener Pink was coming on stage. I was surprised at how well she performed. I'm not a huge Pink fan, but she definitely held her own on the massive stage. I, unfortunately, missed most of her set, as the lines for the bathroom and concessions pretty much wrapped around the entire building.

I finally emerged from the sea of people and made it back to my seat just as the lights went down and "Future Sex/Love Sounds" started playing throughout the arena. The stage took up about 75 percent of the entire floor area. A series of bridge-like structures connected 4 different performance spaces surrounding the main stage. Band members flanked both sides of the main stage and gauze-like screens dropped from the ceilings.

As the music started, Justin emerged from under the stage in a classy 3-piece suit and commanded the audience for next 2 1/2 hours. I had not heard screaming like this since I saw 'NSYNC back during my sophomore year of high school.

Justin managed to play every song of of his album, "Future Sex/Love Sounds" and all of his singles from "Justified." He even did a short version of the 'NSYNC tune "Gone."

He even brought his producer Timbaland on tour with him. I was shocked when I saw him emerge from under the stage right on cue for his part in the song "Chop Me Up."

Justin's dancing was impeccable, his voice incredible, and he proved himself as a legitimate guitarist and pianist.

I could go on and on about the show, but I'm pretty sure I've emphasized all the main reasons why Justin Timberlake is a superstar. Count me in as patiently awaiting his next concert tour.

To read more, check out the Boston Globe and Boston Herald reviews of the show.

Confession #56

Have you ever played the game confessions? Your friend shouts out a number between 1 and 100 and whatever number they pick, you have to tell a "confession" that your friends might not know about you. For me, confession #56 is this:

I am a trivia nut. I don't know what it is, but I have this penchant for storing tons and tons of useless information in my brain. Confession #47 is that I would love to be on Jeopardy! But that's another story...

Why I decided to make my confession is because I just finished reading this article from the Boston Globe Events Calendar about some of the best bar trivia nights in town. I've actually never tried my hand at participating in one of these trivia nights, but I'm dying to. Not sure how my trivia skills would hold up after a few drinks.

In other news, I'm stoked about going to see Justin Timberlake at the TD Banknorth Garden tonight! I'll update tomorrow with some of my favorite Boston area concert venues.

Exploit Boston

So as I was browsing the web today, looking for some new Boston haunts to comment on, I stumbled up Exploit Boston!

This was a very exciting find, I must say. Exploit Boston has been around since 2002 and is a takeoff of Exploit Seattle. The point of this blog is to provide readers with interesting art & entertainment events that are happening in and around Boston.

They ask readers to contribute event ideas. They have an Exploit Boston event photo group on Flickr that anyone can contribute to. The site hosts a board game night in Allston once a month.

Exploit Boston also boasts Exploit Boston Radio, a constantly streaming radio station that plays all Boston-area bands.

These are more than enough reasons as to why I will be regularly checking out Exploit Boston. I love that some of the content comes from readers. And I LOVE that they sponsor a board game night. Apples to Apples, Scattergories and UNO, oh my!

The most recent event posted on Exploit Boston is All Skate Roller Disco at Chez Vous in Dorchester, pretty much the only roller skating rink left in Boston. Seriously, who would think of Roller Disco in Boston? And it's for charity. It sounds pretty awesome. You might want to limit your drinks at this event though.