Living in Tampa Bay. Loving it!

You've just moved to a new hometown and your boss is having a party -- kids not included in the invite. What do you do? If you are lucky enough to live near family, it's probably not a problem -- this time, at least. Otherwise, how do you find someone to babysit your kids in an area where you know nobody?

That's where Sitter Soirees came in, for us. It was kind of like speed dating, but we were meeting babysitters who had been interviewed and invited by the women who created this cool new way to find babysitters.

We brought our daughter with us when we attended the soiree at The Grape, a hip wine bar in International Plaza. The 2-hour event, complete with drinks and hors d'oeuvres, a goodie bag, and a binder of babysitter resumes, was fun for all of us, and our daughter was welcomed. (good, since we didn't have a babysitter!) It started out with introductions from each of the babysitters, and then we got to mingle and talk ad-lib with each of them.

It's a cool new idea! We really enjoyed the evening, and now we have a number of babysitters we can call in a pinch. Check it out at http://www.sittersoirees.com.

Blog penned by: Nicole Doyle

A.J.'s Assistant, Meet me at http://www.ajsellstampa.com/MeetMyAssistant