😍💐 Here comes the BLOOM

🫵 Are you just as obsessed with this “Best of Boston” list as we are? Boston magazine is asking readers to share their favorite restaurants, businesses, and Bostonians that should make this year’s cut. Drop your recs here!

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

If a painting and a flower had a baby … It’d probably look something like the MFA’s annual “Art in Bloom” event. From May 2 to 4, nearly 50 works of art from the museum’s collection will be transformed into floral arrangements by local garden clubs and floral designers.

Here’s what to know: 

💐 Art in Bloom has been around for almost a half-century. 49 years, to be exact! It was first dreamed up as a way to boost ticket sales. And let’s just say, it worked: It's become “an annual right of spring” in Boston, said Linda Chernoff, the MFA’s director of special events, with other museums taking a page out of the MFA’s book. The results speak for themselves.

🖼️ If you squint right, anything can be a bouquet. Besides trying to avoid repeats, pretty much any piece in the museum’s collection is fair game, Chernoff said. Statues, paintings, ceramics — it’s all on the table, and in many cases, the more abstract the art, the more interesting the floral arrangement. An assignment one florist finds difficult can be really exciting to another, she said. 

🤫 That said, don’t ask us about what’s on this year’s list. That’s strictly under wraps until the event opens. Personally, our fingers and toes are crossed for a few nods to the new “Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits” exhibition. 

🌸 So … how exactly do you translate a painting into flowers? The florists consider everything from the art’s colors, to its shape, movement, history, even public reception, said Jimmy Guzman, an event consultant and frequent Art in Bloom contributor. Pro tip: When you’re looking at the arrangements, he recommends paying attention to the colors, shape, and motion of each piece; and, if there are florals present in the art already, how they make their way into the arrangement. 

🙋‍♀️ This year, YOU can get in on the action. Guzman will be actively designing a giant botanical piece in Gallery 168 all weekend, and you’re invited! Visitors can drop by in five-ish minute increments to help him with the process one-on-one, from arranging to processing florals. But don’t expect to just show up and place a few flowers. Guzman wants it to be an emotionally fulfilling, community endeavor: “I just want to be vulnerable and open … talk to people from all walks of life, create something meaningful together,” he said.

👀 Need to see it to believe it? You can grab tickets here.

🥳 We interrupt this newsletter to DEMAND everyone say happy birthday to Mother B-Side herself: Our head of content Emily Schario! Without Emily and her many, very specific talents (including sniffing out the best deals, never getting embarrassed filming videos in public, and writing perfectly punchy subject lines), the B-Side would have never been born. Happy Birthday, Emily!!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming …

🚴‍♂️ No LED lights. No instructor yelling “TURN IT UP” over a Britney remix. Just you, your bike, and 15-100 miles of scenic Cape Cod coastline. Second Summer Cycle is back on Sept. 14 with a choose-your-own-adventure charity ride benefiting over 20 local nonprofits. Ride solo or convince your group chat to join, then coast into a finish line celebration with food trucks, cold brews, and the kind of coastal vibes that make all the chafing worth it. Register now.

👭 Boston wants you to buy a house with your besties. Seriously! The city just dropped its new co-purchasing housing pilot program, which will partially fund the purchase of some multi-family homes. Here’s the deal: First-time, middle-income homebuyers can get up to $50,000 in zero-percent interest deferred loans to purchase a multifamily home with another household. The caveats: You gotta pay at least 1.5% of your share of the purchase price, live there as your primary residence, and have less than $100,000 in liquid assets. Find more info here.

🚇 It’s that time of the month again … Time to review upcoming MBTA service changes! First thing’s first: Red Liners, through the end of service TODAY, shuttle buses will replace service between Ashmont and JFK/UMass. Here are the deets. Looking into May, the only major weekday shutdown will be a nine-day stretch for Orange Liners between North Station and Oak Grove. As for weekends, Red Liners and B branch Green Liners will get one shutdown each. Don’t worry, we’ll remind you, but in the meantime, find more info here.

🌡️ In New England, May is the new July. New Englanders typically think of May as the gateway to summer: Sunny days and cool nights. But in recent years, May has started to heat up. Mass.’ typical high May temp hovers around 68 degrees, but with Boston seeing higher-than-average numbers of 70- and 80-degree days over the past three to five years (last May set a record for highest evening temps) that number is climbing. That said, thanks to El Niño and La Niña, this year could be a slight reprieve. Fingers crossed.

😋 Where does the Boston Globe’s food critic eat on her days off? Allston, apparently. The Globe’s Devra First doesn’t often get much choice in where she eats. But when she does, you can bet she’ll be slurping some sundubu-jjigae at Kaju Tofu House (with a side of pajeon, kimchi, and scallion pancakes), flexing her spice tolerance with Mountain House’s dumplings in chile oil and Chiba tofu, and finishing with dessert at Meet Fresh, where you can’t go wrong with shaved ice, tofu pudding, or melon jelly. Check out her other picks here.

QUICK QUESTION!

👯 Speedfriending with A.R.T. | Friday, May 23 | Aeronaut Allston | Looking to meet people in the area? Here’s your chance! Free entry for all, and B-Side members get a free beer!

🤑 $1 Wings x B-Side Trivia | Wednesday, May 28 | Sam Adams Downtown Taproom | Get $1 wings and play free trivia with us, hosted by Emily! B-Side members get a free beer!

👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 The Dating Game Live | Friday, June 6 | Aeronaut Somerville | Watch B-Siders and their friends play this match-making game from the 60’s. Members get to apply, nominate a friend, and get one free 5-ounce pour. *members only: fill out this form to apply or send to a friend!

🥵 Rhythm N’ Spice Hot Sauce Fest | Saturday, May 3 | The Foundry, Kendall Square | Set your taste buds on fire with a lineup of global hot sauces, cocktails, music, dance, art, and more. Members get $7 off their ticket!

Note to Bill Belichick: Don’t bring your girlfriend to work.

ICYMI: The former Pats coach was recently interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning about his new book, “The Art of Winning.” And the convo certainly went viral … but for all the wrong reasons.

Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend and former pageant queen, was a constant presence through the interview, quite literally lurking the background for most of it. So like any good professional nosy person, host Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick how he and Hudson met. 

“We’re not talking about this,” Hudson interjected, creating a textbook awkward moment. Seriously, you have to watch it.

The internet unsurprisingly jumped down Hudson’s throat, going as far as calling her actions “elder abuse” (note: Belichick is 49 years her senior). But Hudson clapped back on IG with a screenshot of an email of Belichick expressing frustration with promoting his book, teasing that a “full statement” would be dropping soon. Consider us sat!

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

😬 Thanks for reading! Gia and Emily may or may not have spent 30 minutes listening to this podcast analysis of the incident.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Second Summer Cycle, for supporting local journalism and offering a chance to pedal toward a brighter future. 

💬 The results are in: 33% of readers say they’d become a B-Side member if we lowered the price. One reader said: “I love you guys, but in this economy??” Let’s just say … be careful what you wish for ;)

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].