Big Sister Shawna Ellis of Wilmington and her Little Sister Kiyara of Malden recently celebrated their one-year anniversary.  Big Sister Association of Greater Boston asks for a minimum commitment of 12 months in their Community-Based Mentoring program, though many of our Big and Little Sister relationships last for several years, and even develop into lifelong friendships as the Little Sister becomes an adult. Research has shown that mentoring relationships lasting at least one year, particularly for girls, result in more positive outcomes in a girl’s social-emotional development, academic Continue reading >>>

BACARDI® Rums Continues 150th BACARDI® Rums Continues 150th Anniversary Celebration with Annual Legacy Cocktail Competition at Boston Cocktail Summit Top 12 Regional Winners will Advance to National Showcase in Miami     BOSTON, Sept. 12, 2012 - BACARDI, the world’s best-selling premium rum, along with the Greater Boston Beverage Society, will kick off the Legacy Cocktail Competition during the Boston Cocktail Summit, challenging bartenders around the country to create a truly great cocktail that will represent the US in the global final. The Continue reading >>>

BOSTON, Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- BACARDI, the world's best-selling premium rum, along with the Greater Boston Beverage Society, will kick off the Legacy Cocktail Competition during the Boston Cocktail Summit, challenging bartenders around the country to create a truly great cocktail that will represent the US in the global final. The Boston Cocktail Summit will celebrate the culture of the cocktail Continue reading >>>

BOSTON, Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Lose It! has joined Boston.com and The Greater Boston YMCA to kick off the Hometown Wellness Showdown, a four-week health and wellness challenge. Participants from towns in and around Boston will compete against one another to help their town or YMCA earn the title of healthiest in eastern Massachusetts. The challenge, which runs through October 12, 2012, can be accessed at http://showdown.loseit.com and is free to join. "Points" will be awarded for logging exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, losing weight and a variety of other activities. Each Continue reading >>>

Even though the words “There’s no place like home” conjure up images of Kansas, a more regional vision of “home” will be on display during the 2012 Ferguson Greater Boston Home Tour the last two weekends of September. Described as the region’s largest multi-site tour of show homes throughout Greater Boston, the event will be open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23 and 29-30. The two homes that are remodels are open only the second of the two weekends. The 12 projects on the home tour will demonstrate the latest in design, technology and architectural Continue reading >>>

Getty ImagesAttention trendy bars in the greater Boston area: Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand have now both signed contract extensions worth a combined $52.5 million. They will be dancing on you shortly, most likely sans shirts. After Marchand's 4-year, $18-million deal with the Boston Bruins, Seguin on Tuesday agreed to a 6-year, $34.5-million deal through 2018-19 -- a $5.75 million annual cap hit. Both contracts begin in the 2013-14 season, getting in under the CBA expiration wire and before their owner Jeremy Jacobs helps lead the NHL in a war against escalating player salaries. From the Bruins: The Continue reading >>>

BY SOHRAB AHMARI

Omar Salem never thought of himself as the political sort. The Syrian-born orthodontist has maintained a practice in Greater Boston since 2002 and serves as a founding vice president of the New England chapter of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). But Mr. Salem still enjoys “very close ties to Syria,” as he told me during a telephone interview, and when the Arab Spring …

Businesses near the Boston Bruins’ TD Garden could lose as much as $1 million per locked out game, according to the Boston Business Journal. “Roughly each [Bruins] home game is worth anywhere between $850,000 to $1 million,” said Pat Moscaritolo, CEO of the Greater Boston Convention Visitors Bureau. “… Money that is generated outside the four walls of TD Garden. That means spending in the North End, North Station area, spending at restaurants and sports bars, sports paraphernalia, etc.” James Brooks writes that “anxiety is slowly overtaking” shops around the area. Restaurant Continue reading >>>

Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Joslin Diabetes Center have agreed to form a clinical and research alliance to provide coordinated care to eye patients throughout Greater Boston, especially those with or at-risk for diabetes-related eye disease. “Mass. Eye and Ear and Joslin’s Beetham Eye Institute has had a longtime collaboration as part of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Ophthalmology,” said Joan W. Miller, chief of ophthalmology at Mass. Eye and Ear and chair of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “Combining the expertise and resources of these clinical and academic giants Continue reading >>>