The “appmosphere” is forever expanding and contracting on my phone.  I download new apps all the time and some prove indispensible while others go unused.  Some I begin to use right away, others sit dormant for a bit until I get into the habit of using it.  Some apps I use for their intended purpose and others I use in a less straightforward ways.  I use Yelp as my “yellow pages” (remember those?) to look up phone numbers and a map to get directions quickly.  I use Urbanspoon to help me choose restaurants around me.

Mommy Nearest is a newer app (we just had our 1 year anniversary) and has just launched in Boston.  Mommy Nearest is an app that takes questions discussed by parents on the playground or over and over again on parent lists such as: Arlington Parents, Cambridge Families, Huron Village Parents, JP Moms, and Garden Moms, and puts it in a useable format.  That information is sorted and organized with Martha Stewart-like precision and detail and then neatly packaged into an app.  Now that the app is live, it is an interactive experience that parents can contribute to or just refer to.

Part of the reason I started a blog, many moons ago, was because I have been a member and manager of online parenting groups every since my children were babies, but I wanted to find a way to make the information being shared in the groups more accessible to parents outside these groups.  I wanted to find a way that parents could easily search for information without sifting through page after page of forum discussions.

Now, as one of the contributing Boston Experts for Mommy Nearest I have the opportunity to put my escapades around town with the kids to good use and share my findings with you.  I am a researcher.  I have always been a researcher.  I am also a planner.  I drove my mother nuts as a child asking to know what was for dinner first thing in the morning, and asking for a run down of what the day ahead would be like before she’d even had her coffee.  I was also the child who never wanted to miss out on anything.  It turns out these are qualities that are a bit of a nightmare for the parent of said child (sorry mom) but great for a parent sharing with a community of other parents.  If it is going on this weekend, there is a good chance I know about it.  If I love an experience I have had somewhere I want everyone else to be able to experience it too.

The more the merrier.  So, I hope you’ll join me over on Mommy Nearest, by downloading the app.  You’ll find weekend guides, neighborhood guides, and plenty of reviews that will hopefully help you get out and enjoy the city of Boston, or any other cities you visit in your travels.