My neighborhood this morning, this afternoon and this evening.

Playing around in the South End with my new ClassicTOY camera app.

When I went to the Director of Convention Center Marketing (my boss) and the Executive Director of the Boston Convention Marketing Center (my boss’s boss) and pitched them the idea of letting me design and implement the digital media portion of our company, I knew it would be a tough row to hoe. First of all I had to get them (and by “them”, I really meant the Executive Director. Yes, you Milt. My boss and I were already on the same page.) to get behind a complete overhaul and redesign of the website.

Our company website. Was designed. In 2004.

TWO THOUSAND FOUR.

And, other than a few text updates. And the addition of a couple of flash videos. HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE.

That’s like 4 billion years in Internet world.

Seriously.

Our website may as well be a Geocities page. (No, honestly? A few months ago I found some plugin that “Geocities-ified” your webpage. IT DID NOTHING TO MY COMPANY WEBSITE. THAT’S HOW BAD IT IS.)

It’s impossible to navigate (there are not one but TWO navigation bars …. with flyouts and drop downs and ….. ugh. I’m breaking out in hives just thinking about it.), it’s not built for monitors made in this decade, it is the most uninviting, useless piece of marketing collateral out there.

This isn’t news. To me or my boss. And in the end I got my wish: a total revamp of the website.

I’ve never designed a website for anything bigger than a small business or a personal site. I typically get hired for more a la carte pieces. So taking on the dinosaur that is AdvantageBOSTON.com was not in the cards for me.

(Seriously – click that link. I dare you. But don’t blame me for your inexplicable and sudden onset of vertigo.)

So after an insanely detailed and intricate RFP/review process (I had at least two 1-2 hour meetings with 6 different web marketing firms … over a two week period. In other words, this process TOOK OVER MY LIFE.), we’ve finally settled on a firm. Even though they’ve been notified, the contracts haven’t been officially signed, so I’m reluctant to talk about who they are – YET. I will pimp them out as soon as we sing here, initial there, agree to name my first born after the owner … you know how it goes.

Anyway, I am obviously excited for the site overhaul – but I am MOST excited for building out MY baby: the community section. This will include a number of things – most notably our blog. (YES. I GOT THEM TO AGREE TO A BLOG. This seems like it should be a GIVEN, right? Come to my office for a meeting. You’ll “get it” then.)

Anyway – I’m looking for topics. I know so many of you out there are Social Media nuts (like me) and in the meetings/conventions business (like me) and some of you are even Bostonians (like me).

What kind of questions do you have about meeting planning? Convention attending? Conventions/meetings in Boston? Tradeshows? Exhibits? What’s going on at the Hynes? What’s going on at the BCEC? What’s all this T5 talk?

Please feel free to comment here, email me at work (jfrazier@advantageboston.com), or @/DM us on Twitter. Over the next several months I’ll be working on developing as much useful content as I can. I’m answering your questions and getting some top industry people involved as well, so ask away!

And while you’re at it, get connected with us!

If you look directly above this post, you’ll see a button begging for donations. Classy, no?

I just registered for a 9k – Run to Home Base – a road race that loops through Boston, ending at Fenway Park to raise funds for local veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

From the Home Base main page:

“The Home Base Program is a new philanthropic partnership between the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital dedicated to improving the lives of New England servicemen and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress disorders and/or traumatic brain injury through clinical care, innovative research, education, family support and community outreach.”

As the granddaughter and daughter of United States Marines, I thought this would be a nice way to honor them and help out local veterans. I have pledged to raise at least $1,000 and need your help. I would greatly appreciate if you could support me and support our service men and women!

You can donate directly here: http://www.runtohomebase.org/runtohomebase/JennyFrazier

For more information on the race and the Home Base program, please visit: http://www.runtohomebase.org/

Thanks a bunch! :)

PS. If you can’t donate, but know of someone who can, please consider passing on the link to my fundraising page!

PPS. I’ve worked out a training schedule to build up to the race, starting TODAY! If you’re curious what my training program will be or want to use it to get a jump start on your spring training, feel free to download the PDF I drew up here. (That’s worth a small donation … right?? Heh.)

Wednesday
Go out of work early! Yay! Went home and had some dinner with my roommate and then headed to Boston’s left bank (Cambridge) to see my friend Jay’s band – the Bodega Girls. I can’t even tell you how fun and amazing this band is. If they’re in your area, go see them. They have some songs on MySpace but to be honest, their recordings don’t even do them justice. You have to see them live. Absolutely worth it.

Thursday
Awesome day with these awesome people:

There was pie, and food, and pie, and more food, and coffee, and Baileys and more pie. SO MUCH PIE.

During the evening my sister put on an episode of Hoarders. Have you seen this show? Oh my god. I threw up in my mouth. Twice. And then proceeded to go home and stay up until 1:30 in the morning cleaning and disinfecting my apartment from top to bottom.

Friday
Headed back over to Cambridge for brunch at the Friendly Toast. Great food. Terrible service.

Later in the evening, a group of us headed over to Harvard Square to see the Donkey Show. This was by far the highlight of the weekend. The show is so fun – you dance, you sing, you’re part of the show … but you’re not. It’s rather impossible to explain. Go see it for yourself. Tickets are $25 for standing room, and trust me, you want standing.

Post Donkey Show a group of us headed to our gayborhood bar for some alcohol-fueled group antics. PS. Thanks SE boys. Hearts, hugs and laughs.

Saturday
This was a very productive day actually. I got a lot of work done (who works on a holiday weekend? THIS ONE RIGHT HERE.) Due to the ridiculous ASSUMPTION that baby showers are held on Sundays and the fact that I didn’t think to check the invitation sitting on top of the gift, I worked through the afternoon only to discover I missed by friend Sarah’s baby shower. Because I’m a terrible friend. Getting sucked into work is a vicious cycle of disaster.

The evening was spent at Danny’s with the Usual Suspects and Danny’s adorable parents. Where Danny’s adorable dad schooled us in Apple to Apples.

Sunday
Sunday was a Tour de el South End. My friends and I started with brunch at Metropolis (great food, again terrible service. UGH), followed by a quick shopping stop at Flock, my new favorite boutique, followed by cocktails first at Ginger Park (formally Banq), then, per usual, at Stella. Eventually we all made our way over to Joe V’s for pizza, wine and trip making plans.

Yeah that’s right. Trip making plans. Vieques? Yeah I’ll be seeing you for a week in March. Bioluminescent plankton? Get ready to get swam with. I’m coming to get you. Oh yeah – and Jean? You better start getting ready NOW. This birthday is going to be the best one yet…

After all … you made it this far :P

WHAT:
The MegaTweetUp is an end of the year celebration, to celebrate the great year that we have had with events in so many different areas. There will be about 200 people at the event, many of who have organized TweetUps throughout the year and are planning for next year, and people interested in holding TweetUps for the first time. It will be a great opportunity to introduce your company/brand to the ever growing new media market.

Here are a few websites to give you some information on BostonTweetUp and the event:

The BostonTweetUp website
http://bostontweetup.com/

The #MEGATweetUp Eventbrite page
http://megatweetup.eventbrite.com/

The Microsoft Website Showing the #MEGATweetUp
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/MEGATweetup/tabid/238/Default.aspx

HOW CAN YOU BE INVOLVED
Want to attend? RSVP: http://megatweetup.eventbrite.com/
Want to be a sponsor? Get in touch with me about sponsorship opportunities.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions and to let me know how you want to be involved.

Thanks,
Jenny Frazier (working with BostonTweetUp)
jenny@alleyesonjenny.com

Look Boston TweetUp has been featured by :
http://blog.eventbrite.com/boston-tweetup
http://blog.viddler.com/djsteen/bostontweetup-tv-21/
http://www.findandconvert.com/blog/2009/boston-tweetups-joseline-mane/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t72ii0AJR-g
http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2009/08/communities-of-practice.html

Top 50 event twitter account by CrowdVine #44
http://blog.crowdvine.com/2009/11/03/top-10-event-twitter-accounts/

This weekend was all family, all weekend. And it was great.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon hanging at my Dad’s with my Dad (obviously), my Mom, two of my Dad’s sisters and my grandparents. It was supposed to be a quick visit so I could drop off my car( long story) that turned in to an all afternoon “Hey we’ve been here for hours, let’s order some pizza” affair.

Saturday night I spent with a whole bunch of friends to see off our good friend Rena. She’s moving to New York and is going to be wildly successful in everything she does – I just know it. I spent the night with her, Danielle/Dink and an assortment of other fabulous people. I finished the night off with the cheesy cab ride home:

Cab Driver: Can I ask you a serious question?

Me: Sure.

Cab Driver: Are you going to be around for Christmas?

Me: Uhhhh …. no? What?

Cab Driver: You’re not? That’s too bad. ‘Cause I need an angel for my tree.

Me: *groan* Let me out here please.

Sunday was a lovely day all around. I spent it with the people I call my “Urban Family”. They are some of the people I love most, and luckily for me, all live right in my neighborhood. We get together once or twice a week, but we decided with everyone splitting up for the holiday to go visit their biological family, we needed to celebrate Thanksgiving amongst our family.

We split up the menu, all brought wine, turned on some music, lit up a fire and had one of the most amazing afternoons into evenings I’ve had in a long time. My friend Pia gave a toast before dinner that was so beautiful, it literally made the whole room cry. I have it on video, but with the crying and all, I’ll keep that for us.

You can however look at some pics. Here, ladies and gents, is the Urban Family I refer to so frequently here, on Twitter & on Facebook. I hope all of you are as lucky as I am to have people like these in your life.

Jon & Pia

Matt, Lisa, Julie & Mary

Adam & Jon

Me & Jean!

Ad & our food!

Me & Adam

Julie

Jean

Danny, me & Matt

Matt, Lisa, me & Danny

Matt, Adam, Jean & Pixel

Back Row: Steve, Julie, Pia, Mary
Front Row: Danny (with Pixel), Jean, Matt, Me, Lisa, Adam & Jon (with Heidi)

The whole set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alleyesonjenny/sets/72157622861349000/

Good question. And I have an equally good answer: busy. I’ve been busy. And to prove it I’m going to let you into my crazy life. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

I went to Miami. It was amazing. I laid on the beach, by the pool, drank some cocktails, went shopping and I hit the spa. I hit the spa HARD. If you ever have some extra vacation days (HA!) and some extra cash lying around (HA! HA!) head to the Fontainebleau. It was a vacation within a vacation there. Also, if you do go – go to Sushi Samba. Go twice. I did. Yum.

I helped organize and attended Dinkstock 2. Eleven bands, Ten hours, One Dink. It was a crazy week leading up to Dinkstock 2, and even crazier morning, but the event turn out was fantastic. My friends and Dink never cease to amaze me with their generosity and talent. My new favorite band officially is Where the Land Meets the Sea. Good god they are awesome. I’ve been listening to their album ever since and I can not wait to see them again.

I hosted my weekly dinner/Glee party. I made baked chicken stuffed with sundried tomato pesto, goat cheese and fresh basil. And it was phenomenal if I do say so myself. Make it. It’s easy. Like your mom. WHOA.

I’ve been working non-stop on my new site design/relaunch. I did a soft launch for about 20 people to get some feedback and constructive criticism so that when I launch it to the masses (you know, the other 20 readers) it will be perfect.

And now on to what I’m doing in the future … future …. future ……..

Attending the Social Branding Event. Tonight. In Cambridge. Will you be there? Come say hello if so.

Working on the Mega Tweet Up! Have you heard about it yet? Has Joselin been on your case to RSVP? If not, I will be from here on out. It’s going to be an amazing event. We’re meeting tomorrow to work on the remaining details and we better see you all, dressed to the nines, ready to walk the red carpet on December 3rd!

So there you go. Happy now? GOOD.

*PS I miss your face! How have you been? Tell me all about YOU now. No really. GO.

1.) Fashion capes:

2.) Booking TONS of Social Media related travel.

So far:

Miami/South Beach, FL || November 5-8, 2009
Truth be told this is more of an escape everything to be able to WORK on everything I need to get done kind of trip. Work includes: my personal site, redesigning my company website (concepts), finalizing my business plan.

New Orleans, LA || December 4 – 6, 2009 … ??
POSSIBLY. And this is just a meet up …. but more than likely I’d have to fly through Atlanta to get there anyway …. why not since ….

Atlanta, GA || December 7 – 10, 2009
Attending IAEE’s Expo Expo for the Social Media Marketing track (obviously). Am looking forward to hearing Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki.

Dallas, TX || January 10 -13, 2010
Attending PCMA’s Annual Meeting. Networking, dinners, networking, repeat.

Did I mention I love my new job?

3.) The personalities on the showfloor at the BCEC for the National Funeral Directors Association … they’re “far from grave”. GET IT??? GRAVE??? GET IT???:

4.) Tory Burch military boots. Sigh:

(As seen on Mary Rambin. I blame her for making them look adorable. And subsequently making me want them.)

5.) Autumn in Boston:

Rainy:

Sunny (and also as seen from my living room):

What are you into today?