 The Shabby Chic-obsessed North Shore finally gets a hit of mid-century modern in Roberta O’Connor’s new Salem boutique, Cabin Fever. The native of Brazil has imported a vintage furniture collection that includes designs by Sergio Rodrigues, Giuseppe Scapinelli, and Novo Rumo—South American names O’Connor promises will soon carry the cache of Eames, Saarinen, and Jacobsen.
In addition, Cabin Fever proffers American favorites like Jonathan Adler pottery, table and bed linens from Dwell Studio, vases and bird feeders from Perch, and Publique Living wooden trays. Continue reading “First Look: Cabin Fever” »
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 You’ve always had a mean downward dog (and super cute yoga pants), but this summer there are even more options around town for getting in touch with your inner yogi.
On Wednesday afternoons throughout July, from noon to 1 p.m., perfect your pyramid pose at free outdoor classes in Copley Square. Weather permitting, all are welcome to slap down a mat in front of Trinity Church. Plus, participants can enter to win a year’s supply of SmartWater, a $100 Shaw’s gift card, and a $100 gift card to Back Bay Yoga Studio. (To sign up for this week’s class, drop a line to laura.smartwater@yahoo.com.) Continue reading “Bostonista Loves: Yoga Mania!” »
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 Summer days require office escapes. We do our best to make these excursions seem work-related, so we recently headed to Grand to check out what’s new.
Owner Jon O’Toole and his partner, Wendy Friedman, buy from San Francisco, New York, and even Poland, collecting what they would like to have in their own homes rather than trying to stay relentlessly on-trend. That philosophy tends to yield organic goods that are both edgy and clean, and definitely not Pottery Barn-simple. Continue reading “Lunchtime Shopping Expedition: Grand” »
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 Because we’re nothing if not dedicated employees, this Bostonista spent Friday and a precious summer Saturday in the funky, dirty, sweltering hot fields of the tri-annual Brimfield Antique Shows, shooting fall fashion.
As far as work days go, it wasn’t all bad: Scouting for locations among vendors selling vintage eyeglasses (dating as far back as the 1790s), purple velvet ottomans ($495), oddly compelling Chilly Willy drinking glasses; and larger-than-life sized lawn pieces (Palmetto horses, Luigis) was actually pretty fun. Continue reading “Dispatches: Behind the Scenes at Fall Fashion” »
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 Seth Riney is a systems engineer, and he looks like a systems engineer, in that he’s a little thicker around the middle than some guys in their mid 30′s, but still has boyish good looks. So, it was surprising to find out that this cutting-edge car service owner actually bikes from Cambridge to Everett everyday. In other words, he not only talks the talk, he walks the walk. Well, bikes the walk, anyway.
Riney is the president and founder of Cambridge-based Planet Tran—a hybrid-only car service (read: Priuses) that’s taking over the corporate ride scene, one contract at a time.
Four years ago, Riney decided to take advantage of his technology background to set up a cutting edge dispatching system that uses the Internet, Nextel text paging, and GPS to help arrange pick-ups. Although Planet Tran is young, this former software consultant’s business has grown 50 percent in the past year. By way of comparison, other local car services saw an average annual decline of 40 percent. Continue reading “This Fleet is Green” »
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 Most clothing designers have a carefully cultivated “story” that condenses their background and inspiration into perfectly press-worthy sound bytes. Local designer Bless Mazarura’s story, however, really does go beyond fashion.
After escaping poverty and abuse in his native Zimbabwe, Mazarura enrolled at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. Three years ago, he began designing Bless by Bless Couture, a collection of part-rocker, part-urban Ts, tanks, and sweatshirts emblazoned with a phoenix design. Continue reading “Inspired Fashion: Bless by Bless Couture” »
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 While Boston heat waves (like the one we’re experiencing right now) usually transform the masses into frenzied A/C fiends, we usually get by just fine. But what about our four legged friends who share in that stifling misery?
We asked four area animal experts for advice on keeping your pets cooled down and safe as the mercury continues to rise. Continue reading “Chill Your Pet Out During the Dog Days of Summer” »
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 Last Thursday, in the spirit of the holiday, I decided to gain some independence of my own. Independence, that is, from split ends, blow-dry burn, and weak, straggly tresses. My hairstylist had been hinting for a while that my long blond locks weren’t so much locks as lank threads of over processed straw. And, after taking a few turns on the beer wheel at Bukowski’s—Bostonista’s happy hour dive of choice—I finally agreed.
A few hours later, duly shorn and sober, I left the salon with a Sienna Miller-esque shoulder-length ‘do. Did I miss my pony tail (which has now been replaced by what a co-worker aptly termed “the nub”)? Sure. But not over-much, considering I also left the salon with a preview sample of the newest yet-to-be-released hair “It” item from Kerastase.
Continue reading “Mini-masochist: Kerastase Noctogenist” »
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 Here at Bostonista, we take pains to support the local economy, even when our 401ks are tanking. So despite the downturn, we’ve been shopping all along. Others, however, have not, which is why the sales this season have been particularly, if heartbreakingly, stellar.
That leads us to Louis Boston bi-annual sale, and your plan for getting the most out of it. Continue reading “Bostonista How-to: The Louis Boston Sale” »
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 An 8:30 a.m. Friday meeting is a tough pitch, even for a publicist to the stars. But we’re always game for trying a different workout, so we dragged ourselves to Equinox at an ungodly hour last week to check out what’s new. (Also, we understood smoothies would be involved.)
It was a rough morning—we arrived five minutes late, profusely apologized, and then realized that we were the first ones there. No one else showed up for another half an hour, so we eventually received what amounted to personal training.
The first class on the agenda was supposed to be Climb-Max, new to the Boston Equinox this month. However, the class was at 9. And we were still waiting for other people to arrive. So we kind of skipped it. But we’re not totally lazy: We picked up the phone to ask our Equinox-going New York friend, who has been doing Climb-Max there for a few months, what it’s like.
Continue reading “Summer Equinox: New Workout Round-Up” »
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