2010 in Review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 12 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 41 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 106mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was December 6th with 48 views. The most popular post that day was 4 O’Clock Beer.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, bostonblogs.com, ampersandboston.com, twitter.com, and mail.live.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for fanny littmarck, ampersand boston fanny, ampersand boston south end sunday, ampersandboston south end sunday, and south end sunday ampersand boston.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

4 O’Clock Beer October 2010

2

[out]&About October 2010

3

The South End Sunday October 2010
2 comments

4

&Media November 2010

5

Recipes[&such] October 2010

Happy Holidays from &Boston!

I couldn’t pack my bags fast enough yesterday as Boston received the first snowfall of the season; it’s about time to trek across the globe to a country blessed with 80 degree weather. I’ll be MIA this Christmas, but for those of you who aren’t I’d like to thank you for following this blog and I hope you have a very jolly holiday with all the snow in the world! (I’m not kidding, I really don’t want it)

Feature: Gold Dust Orphans at The Machine

By: Jeanette Littmarck, Guest Author

This amazing group was founded in 1995 by the performer/writer Ryan Landry. I had never heard of these guys before, when a girlfriend asked if I wanted to go and see it a couple of years ago. She had seen many performances earlier, and loved it. My first thought was “a drag show with songs and dances?”. Would I (mother of 3) be interested in that? I tell you what, these are the best shows I have seen and I am hooked for life!

Holiday Shopping in Boston, Pt. 3 (Gift Wrapping)

I’ve been writing with a heavy focus on the areas and neighborhoods to go to for holiday shopping, but there hasn’t really been much coverage on actual stores. That’s naturally because we all have different things on our wish lists and gift lists so it’s not exactly feasible to suggest individual stores. There is however one thing all gifts have in common: the gift box you deliver them in. Not one to hand over gifts without wrapping them first (and I’m not counting wrapping paper with the store’s logo on it here…) I usually don’t think much about the boxes stores give out this time of year. However, something has changed in that department; as stores are seemingly putting more effort into packaging I’ve found myself all of a sudden caring more about it too…

Holiday Shopping in Boston, Pt. 2 (Beacon Hill)

One evening last week I decided to go for a walk around the most festive neighborhood I could think of in order to really get into the holiday spirit. I hopped on the green line by the Boston Symphony and headed further inbound.

What’s Your Favorite Holiday Drink?

Holiday Shopping in Boston, Pt. 1 (Faneuil Hall & Newbury)

With Thanksgiving behind us we’re heading full steam into the holiday season and it’s high time to start thinking about buying gifts for family, friends, and coworkers. Holiday shopping can be disastrous and stressful; jam-packed malls and throngs of people everywhere, stores of picked-over merchandise, and not to mention the battle of finding a parking spot… At times shopping centers can be great for one-stop shopping, but when it comes to December gift hunting I’ve sworn off malls a long time ago. Why take something fun and cheerful and turn it into a horrible time when you don’t have to?

An Evening at the Boston Opera House

Last Thursday my stepmother took me to the Boston Opera House for an evening of ballet. The performance was set to start at 7:00 PM so I went straight home after work to change into a black, silk dress with straps braided together in a Grecian fashion. Waiting for the Orange line a woman started asking me questions about how to get to Downtown Crossing and excused herself for not having taken the “metro” in a long time. (Probably not since she lived in D.C. or wherever else they might call the T that). For all you non-Bostonians, the Boston Opera House is located about a minute away from the Chinatown stop, on 539 Washington Street. If you intend on driving there for your show, don’t make the same silly mistake as my stepmother and forget to enter the zip code in your GPS! (For the record, it’s 02111).

4 O’Clock Beer

Saturday I had plans to go check out the lanterns I helped put together for the Jamaica Pond Lantern Festival with Spontaneous Celebrations. Before heading over there though, two of my friends and I met up and went to the Sam Adams brewery (also located in Jamaica Plain). As it turned out the MBTA was conducting some type of service on the outbound Orange line, so we had to take one of the shuttles they provided (for free!).

Boylston Street

Starbucks. It’s more than just a coffee shop, anyone would agree to that. I mean, they’re all about the augmented product; it’s part of their business model. It’s a home away from home (who hasn’t traveled out of the country for a prolonged period of time and felt a rush of comfortable familiarity upon entering a Starbucks?), it’s an island in stressful times, and it’s always there when you need it the most. In essence it’s a rock. A warm, inviting, well-caffeinated rock. If such a rock ever existed, it would be Starbucks. Anyway, I’m rambling.