stellargirl returns

all about the beer

Last night, P'unk Ave hosted another fantastic Junto.  This month's topic was Free Beer. And yes, there was plenty of free beer!  In bottles we had the Chris Matta wheat brew, and from Grain Star Brewery, a nice keg of luscious porter. 

The panel discussion centered around the Open Source movement.  The 3 panelists included: Howard Ross (homebrewer and web developer), Robert Hall (Adobe Community Expert and Flash master), and Tom Boutell (Open Source maniac).  The moderators were Kelani Nichole and Alex Gilbert. The panel discussion focused on the Open Source movement vs. proprietary software development and wandered into the maze of patents (a future Junto) and even touched on recipes: from the very microbrews we were drinking to food recipes.  Engaging conversation all around.  If you couldn't make it last night, check out this photoset on Flickr.

If you are now feeling crazy thirsty for some beer, you're in luck! A new Two Guys on Beer episode came out today!  Drink up!

girls' night with the DS lite

Check out my new Nintendo DS Lite!  I attended "A Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming" party on Friday night, hosted by my pal Marisa and sponsored by Nintendo.  Nintendo really wants to tap into the female market and works with the lovely ladies at Brand About Town to host parties in cities all across the country.

Our party was held in a beautiful loft space in Old City, complete with fancy furnishings, food, candles, candy, and lots of DS Lites stacked on little tables at each station for us to play.  Upon arrival, we were each given a charm bracelet and were told that once we completed each game, we'd receive a charm for our bracelet. Once we collected all of the charms, we got a special surprise!

There were 4 games in total: Nintendogs (my niece has this and loves it), Mario Kart (very fun), a crossword puzzle game (I guess I wasn't that into it, because I totally don't remember what it was called), and my personal favorite Brain Age.  Brain Age was the last game I played, and I was hooked.  It's pretty nerdy, but I was thinking that my brain could use a little exercise.  Guess it was my lucky night because that game turned out to be a special surprise along with my very own DS Lite! Yay!

As you can see, I haven't even opened it up yet... I am a little afraid that I might get addicted.

DS Lite party pics on Flickr >>

isepta is the wave of the future

There's been an unstoppable buzz in Philly and on Twitter lately about iSepta, "Simple Septa Schedules on the Go", the amazing iPhone application put out by the rock solid development team of Randy Schmidt and Chris Conley (aka ümlatte), skinned in a beautiful interface design by Jason Tremblay.

Randy dreamed up iSepta back in March during a day where he was was riding the rails.

Within minutes, many of Randy's friends started responding to such an idea, myself included. We've all experienced frustration trying to navigate the Septa schedules (see below).  It's not that they don't do the job, they could just do it so much better.  How do I read this thing?

That's where Randy, Chris and Jason stepped in to make it happen. iSepta was released to the local community for design feedback, usability, user experience, etc.  Twitter was used as an open forum for people to find out about the app, test it on other devices like Blackberries and on the web, and now SMS!  As you can see below, the interface is so much easier on the eyes.

Well today is the big day, iSepta has launched! Click on over to the ümlatte blog for a detailed summary of the project and all the latest news.  This is a big day for Philadelphia!

i'm a guest poster on Tiny Choices today!

As you may have heard me mention before, Tiny Choices is a super blog about all the tiny choices one can make to lessen his/her impact on the environment. My friends Jenn and Kari started this blog just under a year ago, and have amassed an incredible amount of research, anecdotes, reviews and challenges. They've shared a lot about their own tiny choices as well as encouraged TC readers to share theirs. You can share YOUR perspective by taking the Tiny Choices Survey today!

In the meanwhile, check out my post all about my love for rubber yoga mats. I picked one up recently and I am loving it! It's a much better option than the typical yoga mat which contains PVC, a plastic which introduces highly toxic chemicals into the earth and your body. Rubber is a renewable natural substance that comes from the Para rubber tree. My favorite benefit is the amazing traction that it provides. Try one out!

springtime fun

The last few weeks have been action packed with spring activities.  I just posted a heap of new photos on flickr but here's the rundown of the new sets:
(click on a photo to launch the set)



National Mechanics Brunch Tasting
Our friends at National Mechanics were kind enough to extend an invite via Twitter to come taste their new brunch menu before it officially launched.  We sampled a few different varieties of Bloody Marys, omelets filled with many different fresh and delicious ingredients, sweet french toast with yummy strawberry sauce, and many other savory goodies.  If you're looking for a new place to check out brunch in Old City, be sure to hit up National.

 


Junto: Creative Communities
The monthly Junto event for May centered around Creative Communities.  The panel featured 3 pioneers in different creative communities: Olive Prince of Susan Hess Modern Dance, Sara Selepouchin (aka girlscantell) of Etsy Teams, and John Freeborn of Space 1026. Read a great summary of the event (and sign up to be on the email list) on the Junto blog.

 


Fork You Live at Foster's
Dips and dippers indeed! Scott and Marisa whipped up a delicious array of yummy dips including hummus, mango & tomatillo salsa, and an amaaaaaazing basil / sundried tomato / pepperoncini / cheeeeese concoction.  Keep your eye on forkyou.tv to see this latest episode as well as get the recipes.

Annual Twin Birthday Bash
I've been friends with Michael and Andrew since the early days of college, so I've been lucky enough to celebrate quite a few birthdays with them over the years. A lot has changed in those years: wives, houses, new cats and cars... but it's nice to drop in on a very tight knit group of friends and throw back a few.. we even got to enjoy an authentic Carvel Fudgie the Whale cake! Yum!

 


Headhouse Square Farmer's Market
Yesterday was a perfect spring day for checking out the Headhouse Square Farmer's Market, seeing live bluegrass music, and hanging with some really awesome women (including lola!).  It truly was an unexpectedly perfect afternoon!

Hope you're all enjoying Spring!

fork you live: this saturday! dips and dippers!

Come on out to Foster's Homeware this Saturday at 2pm for a fun filled Fork You Live episode featuring the always effervescent Marisa and Scott. Bring your tastebuds for a delightful spread of dips and dippers and all kinds of tips and tricks to make 'em delicious. And Scott might say a funny thing or two!

Hope to see you there!

villa di roma tastes good.

A few weeks ago my friends and I hit up Villa di Roma for a good old fashioned Italian meal.  There are few places in Philly (in my opinion) that top Villa di Roma when it comes to Italian food.  First off, it's smack dab in the middle of the Italian Market on 9th Street between Christian and Carpenter Sts.  Second, the food is truly awesome: chock full of carbs and cheese, the whole bit.  But seriously, it tastes very FRESH and very COMFORTING. 

Going with a group is always fun. It's a good idea to get several carafes of the house red to keep the party going.  Start off with some fried asparagus swimming in a rich garlicky butter sauce - and be sure to save some of your bread for mopping this up this gooey deliciousness.  Save the heart attack for later.

As for me, I am a creature of habit and pretty much without fail consistently order the baked rigatoni. It's probably one of the most sinful foods one can consume.  However, like I always say, you gotta live -- right?

And don't hesitate to order the cheesecake.  You'll thank me.

Villa di Roma
936 S 9th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147-3935
215-592-1295
[map]

i'm not even a food blogger...

...but I was lucky enough to attend last night's Philly Food Blogger Potluck hosted by the effervescent Marisa McClellan, one half of Fork You and a fantastic food blogger for Slashfood.

Marisa's table was piled high with an assortment of cheeses, sweet treats, and a variety of homemade dishes representing many different corners of the world. Philafoodie supplied an array of wines to complement our palates. All in all, it was a delicious evening and I met some really great people (some of which already read my little blog, hooray!).

I would really love to have a complete collection of all of the Philadelphia food blogger's blogs and post it here (as well as add to my feed reader). I'll try and get that together and share it with you!

I lifted this photo from Marisa's personal blog, Apartment 2024 to share a visual of her bountiful table.

simon gets a baby brother

OK, so you are probably like "Who the heck is Simon?!" Simon is my friend Leah's little Boston Terrier mix that she has had for over a decade. He's a real sweet character and I got to know him a little bit when Leah and I used to work together and Simon would come to work every day.

Many of Leah's friends already know that a new addition has been made to her family, but this picture below not only makes me want to run, not walk, to go adopt or rescue some kind of dog, but I think it will also make you smile for the rest of the year. Enjoy!

Introducing the cuteness that is Nigel:

(photo courtesy of Leah)

friendly reminder: indy hall party THIS saturday!

Hello friends! Just wanted to remind you to be sure to stop by the Independents Hall kick off festivities happening this Saturday, September 1st. The party runs from 5 to 7 at the space [map], but follows with a local bar crawl that will finish at our local geek watering hole, National Mechanics.

If possible, please RSVP at the Upcoming.org event listing (which has all sorts of information about what's happening). See you there!