You know me, and of course I have a lot in the categories of “thrifting, antiquing, and yard sale-ing” but I could definitely use more items that have to do with fitness, fashion, and food. I want to hear — what’s on your list!?

To submit just comment below or tweet @popcircumstance and don’t forget to use the hashtag #Summer100. I encourage you to start thinking about your own summer list and to make your own, whether it’s a summer50, summer25, or even a summer10. What do you want out of Summer 2013? The official Summer 100 list will be going live on Monday, June 3rd so keep your eyes peeled!

It’s a museum inside a hotel inside a museum! The 21c in Bentonville, Arkansas is one of three in the country – the others can be found in Louisville and Cincinnati. The idea behind the hotel is to make contemporary art accessible to the masses, while being self-contained within a space that also serves as accommodations. Art is rotated every six months and is vastly different at each property. One of the rules is that all pieces have to be made by  living artist, further perpetuating the idea of connecting people with real, tangible, innovate creation.

I wish I had more time to stroll though each and every corner, as there was something to see around every bend. Stand out exhibits included a glowing tiger in the hotel’s restaurant called The Hive, alongside other faux taxidermy animals created from found objects. One room showed movies in an enclosed space with a giant bean bag chair, and by the elevators was a moving mini-fan wall that reacted to light and sound.

Someday I hope to venture to the other hotel to check out the similarities and differences. Easily, my stay at 21c was the most unusual and thrilling hotel experience I’ve ever had!

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Eileen Cotter is a freelance travel writer who has a few notches in her belt throughout North America, Central America and Europe. In fact, at this very moment she’s on her way to Taiwan!

She currently resides just outside Boston, Massachusetts. While writing for a wide variety of websites and travel magazines, her preferences have been covering various unique festivals worldwide, trying strange foods at tasty restaurants and encountering eccentric landmarks. By far her favorite place to roam is southern Spain and her future dream trip is exploring the Fiji Islands. You can follow Eileen’s adventures via twitter and her personal blog, Crooked Flight.

Guests went all out with their outfits — we saw everything from floor length beaded dresses, gloves, head pieces, and some incredible hats for the gents provided by Salmagundi. (Thanks to Jess McDougall Creative for the photo of Kyle & I!)

The ladies from Wine Club are beyond creative and every little detail was perfect. There was 1920s trivia and a game of “Who Said It” where you had to guess which Jay said which quote (either Jay Gatsby or Jay-Z). Even the wrist  bands for the party were bedazzled to fit with the theme.

It was hysterical when all 210 of us walked from The Hawthorne to Regal Cinemas and collided with Fenway letting out. Quite the sight! If you’d like to see more photos from the evening you can browse Jess McDougall’s event page. It’s safe to say that I’m already looking forward to more Wine Boston events.

Have you seen the movie yet?

The salon is clean, minimal, and perfectly girly with the cutest pops of bright pink. Their party displays and the drinks are always just as beautiful. Once again, who doesn’t love a stripey straw?

The Blo stylists were fabulous as always. I went with loose curls which looked great, but unfortunately went undocumented. Kaitlin (left) of Lux and Concord & Emily (right) both chose the fishtail braid and looked lovely!

Guests also enjoyed polish changes from MiniLuxe, nibbles from Robin’s Candy, and a sampling of wines from Urban Grape right up the street.

Amy Parker of Good Looks Daily and Tiffani Rogers of Style By Tiffani, were on hand to chat spring style. I absolutely loved Amy’s stack of gold bangles and neon clutch.

All in all, it was a nice night of pampering for a great cause. If you find yourself in the South End, definitely stop into Blo and treat yourself (I recommend Juli!)

This post is part of an ongoing partnership with Eventbrite Boston. Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event. It’s also a destination for people to discover awesome events going on in THEIR city! Whatever your desires, hobbies, or interests – from photography workshops and wine classes to food festival and industry conferences, there’s an event on Eventbrite for you to attend! Keep up on the goings-on in Beantown by following Eventbrite Boston on Twitter, liking them on Facebook, or signing up for their weekly newsletter! Planning an event? Go ahead and create an account to get started.

Yesterday the May 2013 show kicked off and it was one of the most crowded I’ve been to yet.  It seems that each time the crowd is a little younger each time, which is exciting! I’m so happy to see the show growing in popularity.

Recently I’ve had great luck at flea markets and thrift stores so I went to Brimfield happy to browse, but only looking for a few small things (Kyle is relieved!) So, want to see what I scored?

I love this little vintage wooden sign. Unfortunately the vendor didn’t know the story behind it, but I couldn’t leave it behind. My sign collection is steadily growing!

I also picked up quite the collection of bottles. It’s fun to mix and match what you find from different vendors and I thought the light sea foam greens and blues were nice for summer. My favorite is the Marmalade jar which will be used as a small vase or pen/pencil holder. Isn’t it incredible to see something 1862?

There were A LOT of wire baskets at this show and I wanted all of them to come home with me. I settled for this small egg basket, which is a really sweet size and was reasonably priced. Who knew baskets were so expensive?

I didn’t want Kyle to be left out, so I scouted a gift for him too. From a pile of small gold mental letters I spelled out a word that’s right up his alley I’m thinking about mounting them onto a board or something that can be hung in the kitchen.

Of course I’m a little biased, but I think all of my finds look quite nice together! The thrill of the hunt is so much fun and Brimfield is definitely worth a trip if you live in the New England area.

I’ve heard from quite a few of you that you’re headed out to the show on Friday or over the weekend. I’d LOVE to do a round up post featuring your finds so please email them to popandcircumstance@gmail.com or tag your instagrams with #Brimfieldfind.

I’m so inspired by these images taken by photographer Ethan Barber in the Public Garden. {You may remember his photographs of Nemo featured here back in February!} The tulips in the Garden are overwhelmingly beautiful and just demand to be captured. I recently snapped some photos there in the early morning light, but Ethan’s photos reveal a more mysterious side of the park.

His shots remind me of the quote from Midnight in Paris – “Paris in the morning is beautiful. Paris in the afternoon is charming. Paris in the evening is enchanting. But Paris at midnight, is magical.”

What do you think? Is Boston more enchanted at night? If you’d like to keep up with Ethan’s adventures you can follow his blog or keep up with him on instagram.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time of year again! The first of the three Brimfield Antique Shows of the season is kicking off tomorrow and I can’t wait to do some exploring. If you’re unfamiliar, Brimfield is the largest outdoor antique show in the country. Thousands of vendors set up in a one mile stretch of field in the small town of Brimfield, MA.

There’s a little bit of everything at Brimfield and it’s overwhelming the first few times that you go. The helpful thing is that vendors are usually in the same spot each time, so once you get a feel for the ones you like — you can make a beeline for them.

The show kicks off tomorrow on May 14th and runs through Sunday May 19th. Personally, I enjoy taking a day off from work to go since weekdays tend to be much quieter than the weekends….but the weekends are great for casually browsing!

This show I’ll be looking for smaller items – croquet balls so I can make more of these babies, old camp lanterns, and maybe a milk glass vase or two. Kyle will officially kill me if I come home with anything bigger than a vase. I’ll be back later in the week to {hopefully} share some of my Brimfield treasures!

Happy Hunting!
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*If you’re not able to make it this time around there are two upcoming shows running July 9 – 14 and September 3-8.

This week has been a busy one filled with fundraisers in support of The One Fund and the Boston Marathon bombing victims. On Wednesday night Kyle and I attended the Boston Strong Party at Cafeteria Boston hosted by Christi Villarreal and Jen Dorman of Boston Bachelorette. It was nice to come together mid-week to drink, eat, and meet new people.

I’m blown away by how Jen and Christi were able to pull together such a dynamic event in such a short period of time (about 2 weeks!) Both ladies live in the Back Bay and the events on Marathon Monday struck close to home. They felt compelled to contribute, and did a fantastic job with the event.

I was also thrilled that the BCAE was able to contribute a gift certificate to the silent auction. Many great businesses from around the city were represented and the auction was a success! I had my eyes on the 5 pack of classes from Pure Barre.

Guests were encouraged to show their Boston pride by dressing in Boston sports gear or blue and yellow (hence the Red Sox hat). I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing Kyle in his marathon jacket.

Cafeteria was the perfect venue. Their second floor is cozy and I absolutely love the chalkboard wall. We enjoyed a wine tasting thanks to South Mart Liquors and the hors d’oeuvres from the restaurant.

UPDATE: I’m so happy to report that Boston Strong Party raised $3,000 for The One Fund in just 3 hours!

This post is part of an ongoing partnership with Eventbrite Boston. Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event. It’s also a destination for people to discover awesome events going on in THEIR city! Whatever your desires, hobbies, or interests – from photography workshops and wine classes to food festival and industry conferences, there’s an event on Eventbrite for you to attend! Keep up on the goings-on in Beantown by following Eventbrite Boston on Twitter, liking them on Facebook, or signing up for their weekly newsletter! Planning an event? Go ahead and create an account to get started.

printed letters taped to the wall as a guide

1. Pick a simple font, print one letter per 8.5″ x 11″ page and cut out each letter.

2. Making sure they’re level, space and tape the letters on the wall.

nails in place and starting to weave the string

3. Hammer nails, keeping them about an inch apart – all the way around the border of each letter.

4. Once all the nails have gone up, start by tying colored string on the first letter and weaving it in a criss cross pattern from nail to nail. You can transition and blend colors or just stick with one if you prefer.

For this hashtag I chose to use embroidery thread so we could easily overlap colors but you could also use yarn, string, or twine.

It’s great to do a hashtag for an event but there are a lot of possibilities. You don’t necessarily need to do a word or a phrase – you can make any shape imaginable. I’m contemplating installing one on a wall in my apartment – or on a large board that can be hung. If you make one please share photos! I would love to see what you come up with.

Sip the Rainbow is coming up on Friday, May 17th at the BCAE. Tickets are still available and it promises to be a fun event!