Fall has Come to Boston

A free food & wine event lured us out to Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain last weekend.

More Deal Sites

Groupon started it all and then the flood came - Living Social, CoupMe, BuyWithMe. My personal opinion is that Groupon is still king, but here's an update on more coupon sites and which are still worth it.

Prepare yourself, there's a lot! Just be careful you don't overdeal it.

Groupon - Still the best. Still the most well presented. And now with the Groupon app, the easiest to use.

Living Social - Almost irrelevant now. Many deals are out of Boston, and they have way to many coupons for Brazillian blowouts (weren't those declared toxic?) and yoga classes.

CoupMe - They often have really amazing massage deals, but the rest of the deals are bunk.

BuyWithMe - Getting better and the cool thing is that their deals often last a week, so you can sit on it and decide if it's really worth it.

DigDeals - Great rotating sale of actual gift certificates that get mailed to you. Not a big selection, but always quality places.

Yelp Deals - Just launched this week. Not sure how frequent they're going to be or how good, but the first deal was $50 for a massage. Not bad.

Bloomspot - A higher end deal site, like stays at a French country inn, or limo rides.

Eversave - Most deals tend to be in the suburbs. Lots of spa deals.

KGB Deals - Questionable name. They had $6 movie tickets on sale, but now it looks like they haven't officially launched in Boston yet.

DealOn - Not launched yet.

Zozi - Local, National and Travel deals for around the world. They mostly sell hotel coupons and deals for activities like kayaking in Baja or photography classes in Boston.

Plum District - Mostly geared towards moms, but recent deals have also included Target gift cards and Bruegger's Bagels.

Tippr - Looks like they just steal deals that others have done.

Homerun - Well designed site. Looks like most of their deals are for small things like a $2 pitcher of sangria at Tasca or a $2 glass of wine at Davide's.

Dealster - Many are outside of Boston, but there's some amazing deals like $30 for 4 oil changes.

DealsforSchools - Some decent deals, like $30 for two facials, hair cut and pedicure. Bonus is that part of the proceeds go to schools!

Sites that bring together all the deals:

DealMap.com

Coupz.com

DealSurf.com

DealGator.com

More on Vermont

I couldn't get enough of Vermont, so I went back again this weekend.

Okay, I had to go for work. Not normally would I inflict on myself 3 1/2 hours of driving by myself without needing to. I spent most of my waking hours working. But nonetheless, it was a good trip.

Most of the week was spent in Burlington. My work last week was mostly canvassing, my work consisted of long walks amidst the gorgeous autumn trees. I made sure to get to American Flatbread to have some Zero Gravity beer. Still the best brewery I've encountered yet. Sadly they don't carry six-packs, but I did grab a case of Rock Art and Trout River.

We also got to stay at a friend's parents house in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Vermont. It was practically like staying at a retreat center. It was also the same place we camped out at after my friend's wedding party there. It was nice (and warm) to be inside too! Here's some pictures from the wedding to give you an idea of just how gorgeous it was . . .

Discovering Vermont

VT Weekend

Chris and I take Columbus Day Weekend off to discover Vermont. We find out - it's great! Click above for the photo tour. Warning: we took a lot of pictures of beer.

A Weekend on the Waterfront

It's really easy to forget that you live on a waterfront in Boston. Its a bit out of the way for those of us that work downtown or even Back Bay. Thankfully, for those of us with bikes, it's just a quick jaunt down to the water. With the big dig behind us and the Rose F Kennedy Greenway freshly green, there's no more pleasant place to be than the harbor.

First event on the water was Friday's Harpoon Oktoberfest which turned out to a

lso be under water. The event was held outside their waterfront breweryThere were three tents, with pools of water between them and rain pouring down. We tried to run between the raindrops, but without much success. So our pints had some Boston rainwater, but by the third we didn't notice. We were busy noticing the amazing German oompah band and folks in chicken hats.

Saturday I volunteered at the Boston Local Food Fest with Corporate Accountability, gathering petitions for their Think Outside the Bottle campaign. Right on the waterfront outside the Children's Museum we were afforded a beautiful view of downtown Boston across the water. We also got a ton of local, amazing food. This was the best free stuff event I've ever been too and I loaded up on samples of cheese, chocolate, crackers, pita, salads, apples and more.

But really, the waterfront is great even without big hullabaloos. Plenty of park benches and greenspace abound. Perfect for picnic lunches during the work week, or wine and cheese while watching the ships pass by at night.