Make that 350 days in the life .....

Well, one of the things I can categorically state about being a real estate agent is that, all good intentions aside, there are times of the year when you are lucky to have an extra ten minutes, let alone time to be artfully blogging. The last two weeks have been one of those times.
Here's the inside scoop:  sell one house and one townhome, do home inspections, do follow up inspections, discuss inspections, list new property, take pictures of new property, design flyer for new property, price another property, show homes in Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, West Orange, South Orange and Verona. Spend much too much time making appointments to show these homes when people don't call you back or don't like the time you want to come. Answer feedback requests from other agents, ask for feedback requests on your listings. Keep current with blossoming new inventory due to lack of snow (early spring market). Help train new agents. Explain the difference between a condo and a coop. Explain that when the doorman said that dogs are not allowed, but if you own a dog when you buy into the building, you get to keep it, he was wrong. Explain visiting dog policy. Feel guilty that you stop answering your cell phone after 7:30 for one night. Print sign to put above your desk that says "Breathe".

This Sunday, 2 - 4pm, open house at 1283 Valley Road, unit #5.  Wouldn't you like to live in a renovated 1 bedroom condo that allows dogs, even after you move in and haven't brought a dog with you as original furnishings, and has a large shared yard to walk said non-original dog, within 3 blocks of the New York direct train with a Montclair mailing address and low Clifton taxes for less than it would cost to rent and have a tax deduction?  Confession: I had to go back and add commas to that sentence, as I'd already forgotten to breathe. And while my cell is still off, I did send a text.

All Me -- the Life and Times of Winfred Wembert

I opened my email this morning to the newsletter update from the upcoming Montclair Film Festival to find a shout-out for MAM's Thursday night free screening of the award-winning documentary film All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Wembert.  An African American artist who grew up in the segregated South, the film opens a window on a not so distant, and frankly, disturbing past. Montclair resident and film producer Mark film director Vivian Ducat, Urman and Wembert will host a question and answer session after the screening. 7pm *tonight* Thursday February 16th -- the Montclair Art Museum is located at the corner of S. Mountain and Bloomfield Avenue, with ample parking behind the museum across from Whole Foods.  I'm excited!

Valentine's Smiles ...

It's here -- that day when husbands and boyfriends and girlfriends and wives the world over try to figure out just how to make a manufactured holiday (well, not really, there is good old St. Valentine) special.  As I find them today -- here are some of my recommendations:

Fairies in a jar.  Posted on Facebook by PinkFlamingo61 DIRECTIONS: 1. Cut a glow stick and shake the contents into a jar. Add diamond glitter 2. Seal the top with a lid. 3. Shake.

Joanne's Red Velvet Marshmallows.  Homemade and available at Raymond's on Church Street.

Not for sale but, who can (except the allergic) resist kitties?  Posted on Facebook by Miru Kim, an amazing Korean American artist.

I'm taking suggestions, too!

Making Art Affordable

The Montclair Art Museum has a mission -- once a year, they host a juried sale of art works by regional artists, all with price tags under $500.  Applications are now being accepted for this year's show, which will take place on Saturday, June 2nd.  The application deadline is April 2.
The fair itself is a free event, with museum admission waived for the day as well.  Just exactly how do you think most collectors got started?
To inspire you, the Museum's new show, Look Now, Modern and Contemporary Art from Private Collections just opened Sunday featuring works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Louise Bourgeois, to name a few, that are rarely available for public view.  Get your Guggenheim on!

Flowers Healing Arts is not Healing with Flora

I have to admit, I've been driving by the sign in the window at 460 Bloomfield Avenue for months, wondering to myself:  What is this business going to be?  Montclair has always seemed to have at least one foot in the camp of alternative modalities.  I remember seeing notices about Starseed, and their shamanistic drum headings, in the summer of 1994. But I was confused by Flowers Healing Arts.  Was this healing with plant essences? A new type of florist? An arts group bent on Japanese ikebana?
Driving home from dinner tonight, I saw that the paper sign had changed to a real one in that distinctive script, and that a picture of a Buddha was visible through the window, a reception desk beckoned.  Whoever they were, it looked indeed as though Flowers Healing Arts was open for business.
Google quickly satisfied some of my curiosity:  Flowers is a Dr. S. W. Flowers, and Healing Arts are what he offers. And not just any healing arts, but according to their web site, a host of truly holistic treatment options from the "first Board Certified Medical Specialist in the US to obtain Board Certification Acupuncture and Herbology".  I'm intrigued, aren't you?

Feeling Royal?

You don't have to be HRH to to shop at the newly opened Duke and Duchess on South Park Street. I'm sure I wasn't the only person pushing my nose to the glass in late December as Aldrick Bradley and Antony Hine worked to get their new fashion-forward Montclair boutique open to the public. The minimalist and urban-edgy interior and elegantly spaced clothing racks beckoned, and, having stopped in last Saturday to check out the threads, I can report there's now a place for the Barney's crowd to pick up a top or frock and at much better than Manhattan prices. A welcome addition, if you ask me, and more in keeping with the Montclair I remember before Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie brought their studied chain store artsy-ness to town. Have you ever wondered how all the clothes in Anthropologie cost about the same? What is up with that $128 price point, anyway? Is that the perfectly researched profit margin price?

Speaking of threads, however, if you're interested in supporting local boutique talent and your esthetic runs more to a Cape Coddish/Martha's Vineyard weekender, do check out Thread on Watchung.  We don't really need small business Saturday to get us to shop local, do we?

Keeping a Breast ...

I didn't have to come back from SE Asia to catch all the buzz about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure short-lived decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood projects (while signing on for pink shot gun shells as a fundraiser, mmmm) but what I did find (and I'm a big fan of solutions, not just idle internet griping) is alternative avenue to support breast cancer research for those so inclined.  Street art bad boy Shepard Fairey has family members with first-person experience with the disease (his mother is a breast cancer survivor) which helped guide his selection of the Keep-A-Breast Foundation for a limited edition T-shirt campaign.
Other current Obey Clothing campaigns support Urban Roots, which introduces school kids in urban areas to actual hands-in-the-dirt farming and Dark Wave/Rising Sun -- Japan relief efforts.
What does this have to do with Montclair?  We're a humanitarian town, that's what!

How to Have an Artful February

Yes, I  know, it's Super Bowl Sunday -- and with the Giants playing, I probably should be opining about football. But I figured I'd take the road less traveled and point out to anyone who is looking for an artful Valentine's Day gift that the Montclair Art Museum is having a sale at their very most excellent gift shop through February 10th. Montclair has always been an artist's town and the museum has a long history of hosting quality exhibitions. On view now, George Inness: Private Treasures, showcases work by the former Montclair resident who has been hailed as the father of American landscape painting. With a historical collection that spans several centuries and a noted Native American collection, the museum also hosts contemporary work and intriguing workshops and seminars, as well as houses the Yale School of Art with classes for children and adults. If you haven't stopped by lately, you really should.

What happened to winter?

So, I left town for a few weeks thinking I'd have a cat sitter knee deep in snow plus a totally POed cat when I returned, as that's generally what happens around here in late January.  The next thing I know, I'm checking the whether from Java, getting ready to pull out my puffer coat only to discover while it may be only 8 degrees in Frankfurt (where we transit) it's in the 40's and 50's here at home.  Ah home!  Amazing how good that sounds when you know you're not likely to have to soon freeze to death.

Now, here it is Saturday morning, and I just know this nice woman is not cooking breakfast down the street (or at least, not here in New Jersey) so I need to cast about for other breakfast options.  Does anyone know where to get a good Indonesian breakfast (funny how you can develop a real love for friend rice in a few weeks).  I'm all ears.  Meanwhile, I'll probably drop by my favorite Raymonds if I can squeeze in past the weekend brunch rush.
Thank you to Melissa and Nicolette for guest blogging while I was away -- it's always fun to read your friends' take on the town!