Can it be!? New Coffee Shop on Bedford St!

My keen eyed buddy, LP, wrote me to say I should go check it out - there was a new coffee shop en route to Bedford Street!  I was on vacation and busy surviving a cranky baby's reaction to half a billion hours in the car, and proceeded to both celebrate and then immediately forget about it when I got home. 

Luckily, we took a stroll around the block tonight and - all of a sudden the clouds parted and the angels sang - and there it was!!!  It's Lorca Stamford at 125 Bedford and I already love it. 

My new hero's website is adorable but kinda sparse. She explains that she went from architecture to unemployment to a reconnection to Spanish roots and churros/capuccinos. She got her coffee legs at the fabulous and award winning Neat in Darien and now she's coming to make Bedford a little more awesome. You can see some of her progress on her blog.   

She says she's opening her doors in the fall, so I'll be very busy holding my breath until then.

Fondue for Fido

photo from jinwesst, flickr.com

OPIN is not just a misspelling of the opposite of closed - it's also the Outreach to Pets In Need. They are an organization devoted to finding homes for homeless animals, and they are having a fundraiser on June 27th from 5-10pm.

Join them at the Melting Pot (14 Grove Street in Darien) to support their good cause.

You gotta make reservations, so call 203-656-4774 to put your name on the list! There's a prix fixe menu with appetizers, salad, entree and dessert for $44.95/person. You can have a veggie option if you ask for it.

Each meal you enjoy is $5 toward helping OPIN's mission. You can also see pictures of animals who need a good home - who knows? Maybe you'll find your next best friend.

Weekend Shenanigans

What are you up to this weekend?  No clue?  Lemme help...what about:

- Go see firefighters doing their best Iron Chef impression. It's the Second Annual Fairway Market Firefighters Food Face-Off. It's underway on Saturday, June 16th at noon in the Fairway parking lot (699 Canal Street), and it features a grilling competition between local heroes from Noroton Heights, Darien and Stamford. Go cheer on your favorite and enjoy free samples, music and giveaways.

- Enjoy a fun, outdoor charity event with dad for his big day! Serendipity Magazine is hosting an event called Horsing Around for Charity. On Sunday, June 17th from 1-5:30pm at the Greenwich Polo Club in Greenwich, enjoy great food, experts BBQ (the art of summer!), live music by the Short Bus, microbrews, shopping events and facepainting for kiddies. There's also a competition for the craziest pants - how Father's Day-ish! Tickets are $40 in advance or $45 at the door, but kids 12 and under are gratis! The event supports the efforts of Pegasus Therapeutic Riding, which offers therapeutic riding for children with physical, emotional or cognitive special needs.

- Do some good in the world! This Sunday, June 17th at 9am, get your hands dirty at Rogers International School doing a little landscaping. Bring your weed-whacker, your gardening gloves, your kids and your community spirit to help put a little polish on a local resource. Meet at 9am on school grounds at the flag poles (202 Blachley Road in Stamford). RSVP to Jeff Cordulack of Audubon Greenwich at 203-613-8813 or at jcordulack@audubon.org.

Wednesday Warning: Total Eclipse of the Art

So Franklin Street Works, our officially awesome art enclave, has a very cool event on tap for WEDNESDAY (aka tomorrow) night. It's a night o'entrepreneurship called S#!T/Storm (you'll see why) with two special guests:

 - Sam Sagnella, the brains behind EveryTornado.net, a site devoted to tornado education through first hand video.

- Jeff Schram, designer and programmer who of Schram Industries who did some crazy Twitter data gathering experiments on his oh-so-cleverly named PoopStats.com. He's taken on the very important cause of tweeting "#pooping" - which apparently describes the contemporaneous activity of said tweeter - klassi! 

The event features a little talkin, a little lookin and some fancy pants social media-n'.

It's everybody's favorite price - FREE - and gets underway from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. at Franklin Street Works on Wednesday, June 13.

The Horses are Here!

This morning, beefy guys in neon colors were putting the ponies in place all over town! Hooray! Some are gaudy, some are groovy, but all the sculpture series horses scream summer to me, and it's made me smile. Check them out and be glad for shorts, shades, surf, sand, the soon-to-be arriving Plan B Burger Bar in the mall and all the sunny goodness the next few months have in store.

Garden Paaaarty!

flickr.com, Rob Ellis'

The Bartlett Arboretum is launching its summer concert series again. We went a few times last year, and it was tremendous. The setting is lovely and the music is always good.

For $10 ($6 if you're a member) you can watch a great little concert on the grass. Bring a picnic dinner, a bottle of wine, chairs/blankets, your squirmiest kids (if they're under 12, they're free) and you're all set! The event takes place from 5-7pm every summer Sunday from June 24th to August 12th.

First up, on June 24th, it's Orrin Star who has racked up awards playing banjo and mandolin in a style described as "Arlo Guthrie-meets-Doc Watson." He made enough of an impression that Garrison Keillor invited him to play on A Prairie Home Companion, and a good way's back he was the National Flatpicking Champion. Here he is playing Stars and Stripes Forever on the mandola.

Sick!

photo from MarilynJane, flickr.com

So I'm sick...and not just in the head this time. Coughing, sore throat, fun stuff. So I need something to get my mind off my body and get excited about summer. Here's what I've come up with:

- Hope in Motion. This weekend, on Sunday, June 3rd, the annual race is on again. Registration is open now, and you can sign up right here. The event benefits the Bennett Cancer Center at the Stamford Hospital. It starts at Columbus Park, and you can walk it, run it or bike it. Walking or running? It's a 5k. Biking? Your choice of 10, 20 or 50 miles(!). It's a great community event, a lot of fun and a good cause all rolled into one. Besides, my husband looks cute in shorts.

- Horsin' Around Stamford Downtown. For the past five years, Stamford's summer calling card has been set in sculpture. It's always exciting to see what the artists make and learn about the theme of the year.  This time around, it's all about horses. There will be 40 originally designed fiberglass horses all over town on display from June to August. You can check out artists' progress if you pass by what used to be the music store near the downtown Target. You can also attend an opening party for the big event on June 12th. Be sure to RSVP by June 4th.

- Bedford Street Promenade. Starting June 16th, for three Saturdays from 6-midnight, Stamford Downtown is offering the Bedford Street Promenade again. It was so much fun last year. The street is closed to traffic and open to pedestrians. Restaurants up and down the street have extended outdoor dining - places like Bradford's, Brick House, BUtterfield 8, Lola's, Picante, Remo's Tengda, Tigin and the brand new Hudson Grille. The Hudson Grille folks have put up their new sign - I'm excited to check it out!

Alright, I'm off to get better...*cough cough!*

Mavis Staples in Concert

It's not everyone who can say they were proposed to by Bob Dylan, but Mavis Staples can. That's a nice little piece of trivia, but Ms. Staples is a living legend. Mavis Staples was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and by VH1 as one of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll.

You can see her in concert in Greenwich on Saturday, May 19th. She and Rob Mathes will appear at Christ Church Greenwich (254 E. Putnam Ave., Greenwich).

You can buy tickets online here (just scroll to the bottom). Rob Mathes, identified by Maya Angelou as one of her favorite African American spiritualists, will join the lineup along with Tawatha Ageewho (who regularly performs with Aretha Franklin).

Tickets are $40. Pretty sweet deal for such an amazing evening!