N. A HELPFUL OPINION; A SHARED BIT OF WISDOM; MUCH-NEEDED GUIDANCE
They're the teachers, services, and experts who turned your baby steps into big kids' leaps.
Joe LaRoche Metrosexual Movers
LaRoche actually makes moving tolerable. Unlike other ape-like movers, he and his guys have designers' eyes – so they'll help set up the new pad just the way you want it. Read more
You Move Me
Metrosexual Movers
The hassles of your last moving day are as widely discussed as those suffered during the breakup of ’04. In both instances, men resembling gorillas played a prominent role.
Gearing up for another big move? Get a little help from Metrosexual Movers. Chief mover and owner Joe LaRoche is a graphic designer and stand-up comic, so he knows not only how to move a divan with a smile but what it should sit next to.
And there are no gorillas here: The team packs with sensitivity and puts plenty of thought into where it all ends up. So it might actually be a pleasure to have another man in the house.
If only for a few hours.
Metrosexual Movers (781-316-8344 or metrosexualmovers.com).
Meg Birnbaum Meg Birnbaum Photography
It all started with a photo darkroom in an attic. A few career paths later, Birnbaum has found her niche: capturing summer fairs with plastic toy cameras to create hauntingly beautiful prints. Read more
Dream On
Meg Birnbaum Photography
To sleep, perchance to dream.
Sure, but a decent snooze can be as elusive as Sasquatch.
Skip the Ambien-Armagnac cocktail and focus on Meg Birnbaum’s photography. The Somerville-based shutterbug creates otherworldly B&W images of everything and everyone, often shooting with a plastic camera to create atmospheric stills.
Birnbaum spent two summers touring New England’s county fair circuit for the series Corn Dogs and Blue Ribbons, snapping old-time rides, kitsch carny games, and 4H youth and their animals.
She also shoots on commission, be it a portrait or a candid (she has a way with the canine set), and does matted and framed prints for a small fee.
Making it that much easier to dream a little dream.
Available at Grand, 374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville (617-623-2429 or grandthestore.com). To see images, go to megbirnbaumphotography.com.
John LaRoche BlueGuava
We go bananas for the sometimes edible, always fragrant herbal arrangements LaRoche creates out of his new downtown floral studio. Read more
Gone to Pot
Herbal Arrangements by BlueGuava
Your leaning toward the herbal persuasion ended when you ditched the dreadlocked cutie. (How he kept that hive smelling of patchouli is anyone’s guess.)
Still, your craving for aromatic herb lives on. Try an herbal arrangement. Floral designer John LaRoche of BlueGuava crafts spiffy table toppers out of freshly picked, fragrant greens (no, Captain Doob, not the kind you toke).
He fills the vase with edible, seasonal leaves (silver sage, mint, basil, pea tendrils, and rosemary) and combines them with native flowers. Pick out the flavor enhancer you most adore, and if it’s in the market, he’ll incorporate it just for you.
Sure to tickle your nostrils, eyes, and palate (beware the munchies), these bountiful bouquets are the next big thing to hit tables in town — which means you better call quick.
Before it all goes up in smoke.
BlueGuava, 839 Albany Street, Boston (617-442-0900 or blueguava.com).
