• by Kelly Samardak , May 5, 2010

Tonight's Industry Party Scene And Beyond, New York

I am hat-dancing in my seat today. Why? Because it's the happiest day on earth, Cinco De Mayo, the sun is shining, the humidity is taking a friggin' break, and we're alive! Today I'm heading to one of my favorite venues, meeting a new batch of agency types, and tomorrow I'm apparently helping to celebrate the new NYC headquarters of a certain Webby Award-winning online pub hub. Let's see if you'll be there!

First, it's time for Maritime! By far one of my favorite places to shoot and to sip is the North Cabana of the Maritime Hotel. It's an instant transport off the crusty sidewalks of the city to a warm elegant fantasy island of sorts. This party is celebrating Jet Blue's new route to Punta Cana -- a bit of a campaign ménage a trois among Jet Blue, DailyCandy, Brugal Rums (my favorite part of the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism). It's going to be a saucy night, I can feel it.

Once I've had my fill of the beauteous cabana, I'm going to cha-cha-cha on over to Woods Witt Dealy & Sons for their 3^rd birthday/Cinco De Mayo party. The invitation, a small boy with a moustache playing a bass drum, promises "Margaritas! Tequila! Cerveza! Aguacates!" and because I'll be more than fashionably late, I can safely assume everyone will be very, very welcoming to the ole camera. Loosen up those buttons, people!

Thursday it's all about girlie-girl stuff and tech media puff. First, it's the "Redbook MVP Awards: Beauty That Makes Sense." You know what doesn't make sense? An 8 a.m. breakfast ceremony the day after Cinco De Mayo. Margaritas the night before usually = ugly nonsense, not sensible beauty. Wish me luck. The breakfast is at Bryant Park Grill, so I may just sleep on a bench over there so I don't miss it.

Thursday night it's back to the non-pickled variety soiree with the folks at Mashable throwing a headquarters-warming party at 92Y Tribeca. Hey! I think this may be my virgin voyage to 92Y! Always the smartypants over there, the Mashablers gave guests an up to +2 invitation extension, so I'll be rolling deep. I have a feeling the crowd will be a lot like the usual people so I decided to invite some real weirdos. Am I kidding? Maybe so, maybe not. Let's just hope that this guy isn't invited.

Friday I'll be out of the office heading to Buffalo for my granny's 87^th birthday! Believe it or not, I can't wait. Something raw and bare-knuckled about Buffalo appeals to me nd I'm excited to return after at least a decade. And then, of course, next Monday we start all over again!

Keep those invitations coming (but not those day-of uninvites!) - send to kelly@mediapost.com and you're in Just An Online Minute!

Photos from all kinds of parties are always in the Flickr collection. Catch up !