My life has been filled with all forms of stress lately between work and school, but let’s just say that over the weekend I got by with a little help from my friends.

Maxwell’s is the place to be!

After finishing work at a relentless conference that sucked the life out of me, I was elated to cruise up Pacific Avenue to V-Nails to decompress as my tiny little friends there painted my fingernails red in preparation for the evening festivities.



I hustled home, tossed on my new favorite party dress and some red lipstick, The Sherpa picked me up, and we headed to Maxwell’s Speakeasy private opening where we joined Natasha, Tinkerbell, My Gay Husband, Pappi, KAke, and tons of other people from Tacoma who could all say, “I’m a pretty big deal.” It’s always fun to sit with Natasha at these gigs because she introduces us to all of them as the Puget Sound’s eternal socialite.



Maxwell’s had all kinds of comfort and cool. They’ve broken up the space in a way that each area feels intimate, and they’ve successfully used a booth concept with perfect stripy details. Their menu was floating around (only light apps were served at this opening), and I can’t wait to try their American comfort food that sounds delicious and is reasonably affordable. I can guarantee that Maxwell’s will be added to my list of all-time favorite hangouts.



We would’ve stayed much longer, but I was super hungry, so we ran off to Il Fiasco for a delicious bottle of red wine and a cozy dinner.



After, My Gay Husband and I took off arm-in-arm to end the evening at the Top of Tacoma.

It’s amazing how one magical night with friends can make the overwhelming thoughts from stressful conferences completely disappear.

Love Tacoma does it again

Saturday I headed out for the Love Tacoma Link and Drink where 30-some people hopped on the LINK light rail and we pub crawled at different establishments at each stop along the route. Natasha had convinced two of her new friends to go, Wine Guy and Dallas. We had seen these two guys the night before, and My Gay Husband was immediately enamored with Dallas’ stylish eyewear. My Gay Husband and I both believe that you can tell a lot about a person based on their eyewear.



The Link and Drink itself was all kinds of fun. It was great to meet so many interesting people and share smiles and bevs with these new friends at Alfred’s, The Harmon, The Pacific Grill and Paddy Coyne’s.



After it was over, several of us went to Puget Sound Pizza and listened to people like Alex and Mike belt out some interesting (or maybe I should say loud) karaoke renditions of pop songs that made all of us erupt with laughter.



Wine Guy and Dallas turned out to be amazing partners in crime on Saturday, and I’m very glad that I met them.

Carmen’s hot ticket for this weekend

The Hip-Hop Community Dialogue, at 3 p.m. on April 27, at Theater on the Square, hosted by the incredible and resilient Broadway Center for the Performing Arts.





Tell me where you like to party at sceneofthecrime@hotmail.com.