Wicked Cheap in Boston

I have a request, America.  Please, can donuts be the Next Big Thing?  Cupcakes have had their time to shine but lets really get down to business here.  Because if we’re being honest, this is me on most days:

Months ago, while getting pedicures, my good friend Beth brought up the idea of a Boston Donut Tour.  The idea was simple, travel around to all the locally owned bakeries and donut shops and try them.  In one day. And then try not to barf.  Challenge accepted.

But the problem was that neither of us own a car, and come to find out all the good donut places are kind of spread out around the area which would make getting to all of them in one day by T a pain in the booty.

That’s where Hailo comes in.

Have you heard of Hailo? It’s one of the more useful apps out there (after Candy Crush Saga, obvs).

Using the Hailo app, you can hail a taxi (licensed and legit), track its progress getting to you, enter your destination, and link it to your debit or credit card so you don’t have to fumble around for your wallet.  You choose the amount of tip you’d like to include and it’s all taken care of.  A summary email is sent to you shortly after you get out of the car, and you can even rate your driver on the app.

Right now, Hailo is available in 11 cities including Boston.  The number of drivers who are part of the Hailo program is growing every day so taxi availability is getting better and better.

Some of my tips for using Hailo:

1. Make sure the pick up address is correct (you can fix it by touching the pencil icon), sometimes the GPS gets close-but-not-quite.

2. If at first you don’t succeed….in finding a cab, keep trying! Sometimes the app will tell you there are no cabs available in your area, though if you search again in a minute one may pop up.

3. The app makes it very easy to get in touch with your driver, so you can call him if necessary.

4. Check your email! Hailo will occasionally send out codes for free credits that you can use on your next ride!

The full recap of the donuts will be over at the Hailo Boston Blog, but I’ll let you know now that the clear winner is Union Square Donuts in Somerville which reopened just in time for us to try. The day consisted of attempting to change the lyrics to Beyonce’s “Halo” to pertain to donuts.  None of these attempts were captured on camera, sadly.

Special thanks to:

Beth, for planting the seed of this idea and for being my troubadour.

Tim at Hailo for hooking us up!

And all of our Hailo drivers for bringing us safely to donutopia.

Want to try out Hailo for yourself?  Download the app and use code BOSMAY2013 for $10 towards your first Hailo ride! Expires June 1.

Disclosure: I received cab fare credits to be used during our adventure.  All opinions are my own.

Like many of us here in Boston, I’ve run the gamut of emotions this past week and a half.  The word I’ve kept coming back to when trying to talk about all this is “surreal”.  It’s surreal to see your office building on the national news.  It’s surreal to see the street you walk on literally every day be blown up.  It’s surreal for the entire country to be talking about the place where you live.

I work within what had been cordoned off as the crime scene and was unable to get into my office for over a week.  It was a difficult time trying to get back to some sense of normalcy when nothing felt normal at all.  And if it was that difficult for me, I can’t imagine how it must be for those who were closer, who saw it happen, who are hurt or have hurt loved ones.

Boylston street was opened back up to the public on Wednesday.  And, yes, it was surreal.  Windows were still boarded on a few store fronts.  The FBI markings were still on a few doors.  But the people were back.  Boston is back.

For more photos of the memorial, visit the Wicked Cheap in Boston Facebook Page.

During my time working from home, I was contacted by SpotOn and asked if I would like to be featured as they opened up their services to the Boston area.  My first thought was that I didn’t want to.  I was overwhelmed.  I had headed up to New Hampshire for a few days and I didn’t want to think about Boston much.  But then I decided that was silly.  One of the things I love most about Boston is that there is always something to do, and SpotOn highlights that beautifully.

(Scroll down the homepage and click through the “local trendsetters” to see my little bio.  Yes, I screencapped it.  I’m pretty sure this is my first time being called a trendsetter and I had to mark the occasion.)

SpotOn is a time-centric search and discovery platform.

Connect your calendar, and our sophisticated algorithms will intelligently analyze your lifestyle to surface things you’d actually want to do, at the times you’re free to do them.

I occasionally get these offers to try out new sites and write about them.  Thing is, I’ll only write about something if I really do like it and think it will be useful to you, my faithful readers.  SpotOn is pretty darn cool.  Link it to your Google Calendar (or don’t, it’s not necessary but is a nice tool), and search your area for things to do tonight, tomorrow, this weekend.  Then save the event to your “wishlist” (it’s a lot like pinning) so it’s all right there when you’re planning your week. It’s all very user-friendly, intuitive, and sleek.

SpotOn asked if I would put together a wishlist to share.  Being me, I put together a list of all FREE events coming up this weekend.  Check it out here!  And be sure to share your fun event wishlists with me!!

(I was not compensated in any way for this post.  They didn’t even ask me to write one.  I just liked it that much.)

You must not lose faith in humanity.  Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. – Mahatma Gandhi

At 2:50pm I was in Kenmore Square, about a mile away and headed towards Copley Square.  I had a massage client later that afternoon near the finish line.  My plan was to walk down Boylston and cheer on the runners as they turned left off of Hereford and could finally, finally, see the end of their 26.2 miles.  I never got there.

I’m not taking poetic license when I say that at that moment I was thinking “I really love this city.”  It was bright and sunny, though still chilly.  The crowds at Kenmore were huge and loud in the best way possible.  There’s a certain reverence for the Marathon here.  Sure, some use the day off as an excuse to start drinking early, but it never seems to get out of hand.  The crowds line the road, cheering for everyone and no one.  It’s family-friendly.  It’s positive. I had out-of-town massage clients on Saturday and I told them that this was my favorite weekend in Boston and I was glad they were here.

After finding out the extent of what had happened, I turned back and headed home through eerily quiet streets.  My phone buzzed with text after text from friends who knew I was going to be in the area making sure I was ok.  I’ve never been so grateful for technology.

I wrote the following on my personal Facebook:

Whenever something horrible has happened elsewhere in the past few years, I’ve wondered how it would feel if it happened in Boston. Sadly, I don’t have to wonder anymore. I’m shocked and sad and wish I could wake up and realize this didn’t happen. I’m choosing to focus on the good I saw while walking home today – strangers helping each other, holding each other, asking “are you ok?”, people coming out of their apartments near Kenmore to offer water and blankets to the runners. I’m grateful that everyone I know is safe, and for all those who contacted me to make sure I was. Be good to each other.

Like so many others are saying today, it’s important to notice the good in people that comes out during a dark time.  I’ve never bought into the idea t that Bostonians are rude and unfriendly and I hope that stereotype can be shut down for good now. Ignore the media’s speculation and rumors about who did this and why.  Don’t lose hope in the good.