Should you let someone from one of the state's hottest clothing shops re-organize your closet?
If your wardrobe is in pain, but your bank account is healthy, consider CoCo-to-Go, the new roadshow from the CoCo Pari Boutique (www.cocopari.com).
Sara Beth, the Red Bank boutique's traveling consultant, arrives at your home and eyeballs your closet. Assuming she believes the patient is worth saving, she will return with armloads of goodies for you to peruse.
She brings Valentino to Moschino, Louboutin to Laurent. It all depends on you—your look, and your needs.
As a special incentive to NJ My Way subscribers… the store will reduce its requirement of a $1,000 retainer to $500. That's the amount you need to put down to set up your first visit. The money—all of it—goes towards your new wardrobe. We know you will find something to buy!
Coco Pari's Red Bank flagship (there is also a smaller store in Deal) is 10,000 square feet, and three stories of every designer label you can name. Even some you won't find in Neiman Marcus. Open late (11 p.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays, it attracts some of the town's trendy club hoppers.
If you order CoCo-to-Go, you'll get the individual services of Sara the stylist. A designer wardrobe that fits your image. It's all sans the trip down the Parkway to this cabaret of couture.
Sara won't discuss individual clients, she says it's all hush hush confidential. But she told us business is booming. Call her at (732) 212-8111 and don't forget to mention NJ My Way, so you get the discount. Join this club, and you may never go near a mall again!
By the way, we apologize to our friends at the Salt Creek Grille in Rumson, for mistakenly referring to them as the Salt City Grille, in last Wednesday's Rooms With A View. Help make it up to them, by reserving your table there soon!
At 300 plus bucks an hour, legal advice isn’t cheap. So from time to time, in the spirit of giving you stuff for free… we throw in some pro bono legal briefs.
We turn to Kinnelon’s own Gary Chester, author of See You in Court, A Trial Attorney’sLook at Crazy Cases, Ludicrous Lawyering, and Dubious Decisions (www.amazon.com).
First, Gary says, driving while using your cellphone isn’t just dangerous. You can be ticketed if you are stopped for another infraction, and it turns out you were on your phone as well. But also your phone records don’t lie.
A New Jersey driver who was injured in a car accident lost her lawsuit because her cellphone records showed she might have been chatting at the time … and actually caused the crash.
And, score one for divorced moms! Gary says when a dad tried to back out of paying college tuition because he wasn’t consulted about his daughter’s college pick… the judge backed up mom. It’s something to consider when you hash out a child support agreement.
Finally, if you head down to Ocean City this summer, it would be smart not to feed the seagulls. And cheaper. The town will slap a $500 fine on anyone who feeds the scavengers. That should keep bird mess at a minimum.
The real news, … it’s safe to wear your white shorts to sit on those boardwalk benches again.
Check out Gary’s book, and feel free to write him at
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with questions or suggestions.
It's cold. You're home and the kids are so bored they threaten rebellion. Options? Bundle up and get out!
Cabin Fever Cure: Art
There's music, theatre and crafts for kids ages 6-10 at Duke Island Park , Bridgewater . $25 for the four week series that starts Saturday, $8 for individual sessions. Call the Somerset County Parks Commission (908) 722-1200 ext. 226 or visit www.somersetcountyparks.org .
Cabin Fever Cure: Nature
The New Jersey Audubon Society ( www.njaudubon.org ) sponsors a nature program for families at the Plainsboro Preserve (609-897-9400). Environmental educators show kids ages 6 and up how to build connections to the natural world. Saturday: 3:30-5:30.
Shake the Hips
Jumps, tumbles and stunts at the National Cheer and Dance Championship Saturday and Sunday, Wildwoods Convention Center . Call 1-866-52-CHEER or go to www.cheertech.net .
Check the Hippos
Button, the hippopotamus at Adventure Aquarium in Camden , turns ten and you are invited to the birthday party, all weekend. Young and old will learn words in Swahili and about the role of hippos in Africa 's rivers. www.adventureaquarium.com
Kids Playing
Way before Wii was hip, back before Barbie or GI Joe, kids made toys from wood, old string, plastic scraps, cardboard. Jaime Jimenez photographed children in his native Dominican Republic playing with carts, kites and hobby horses made by their own hands. See his pictures at the Paterson Museum , (973) 321-1260. Catch a peek at http://mijuguetes.com/
Kids' Play
A musical by Theatreworks/USA ( www.theatreworksusa.org ) based on the children's classic The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Saturday 2 and 4 p.m. at Kelsey Theatre , Mercer County Community College . (609) 570-3333. $10 adults, $8 seniors, students and children.
Grownup kids can go to www.njmonthly.com and click on the "get out" link, for some more mature suggestions!
A great meal in a great setting. Isn't that what we all look forward to, as winter winds down and muy frio gives way to al fresco?
Our own New Jersey Monthly restaurant and food expert, Rosie Saferstein, knows where you can find the right combo platters. From north to south, she says, you’ll savor each bite as you take in the fabulous scenery.
Rosie says start at Arthur’s Landing, (www.arthurslanding.com) and eyeball the skyline across the Hudson. New chef Michael Haimowitz has managed a mouthwatering menu makeover.
Head down river to the Liberty House,(www.libertyhouserestaurant.com) in Liberty State Park. The food is gourmet American, you can toast Lady Liberty from the glass enclosed wine room in the lobby.
Another great site for sights is the Highlawn Pavilion(www.highlawn.com) atop the Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange. It’s historic--Edison reportedly worked in a room upstairs in the villa-- and romantic-- a good place to pop the question.
If you prefer inland waterways? Rosie picks Zoe’s By The Lake(www.zoesbythelake.com) in Sparta. Excellent French food compliments your view out the windows onto Seneca Lake.
Go down to the river in Rumson -- reserve a table for two at the Salt Creek Grille (www.saltcreekgrille.com).. Rosie says its the best view and steak place on the Navesink.
Also down the shore, Rosie’s “A” list includes the sizzling hot Avenue(www.leclubavenue.com) in Long Branch-- it’s the picture of style on the boardwalk.
And cloned from Beantown's Newbury Street is Sonsie(www.sonsieac.com) on the Pier at Ceasar’s. The huge enclosed glass pier, with floor to ceiling windows, is the setting for this classy steak and fusion eatery.
Our e-newsletter from Nordstrom this week contained 26 pages of spring dresses, each with more than twenty dresses displayed. Too much information!
We know the dress is back. This has come down from on high, in every fashion magazine, on every blog.
It’s hard enough to get used to the thought of wearing them for more than weddings, fundraisers and funerals. We need dresses that work everyday, without going through hundreds of choices.
Here’s one answer, right in our backyard. Simplify. Pick classic styles, get custom fittings. Go to www.dvlllc.com for a look at Danielle Van Looveren’s line of clothing.
From a studio out back of her home in Chester, overlooking a pool and a country field, Danielle designs, sews and sells.
Danielle likes to work in silk and cotton. Her youthful spring line of dresses -- soft and feminine in tasteful patterns and colors, will take you from the office to that afternoon wedding in style.
Her silk collarless jackets over textured sleeveless shifts announce you as a CEO. Or the chic host of the party. But you won’t have to cash in your stock options to carry this away.
If you like the fabric, but reject the style? Danielle will customize a pattern for you for $350. Add the cost of making the dress... you’ll still pay less then you would buying from a better known designer.
Love the dress, but not your jewelry? Danielle will create a necklace made from similar fabric.
A percentage of all of Danielle’s sales goes to organizations that mentor women for roles in the business world.
So pay a visit to the little studio overlooking the pool and the field. You’ll find something that has your name on it, maybe a few things. You’ll satisfy the fashion police, without sifting thru hundreds of dresses and styles. Now if only Danielle would create some shoes!
When the world makes you crazy, we’ve found the perfect escape: The Floataway Pod (www.floataway.com).
It looks like a small Prius without windows or tires. You can enter with or without a bathing suit. Just raise the motorized top and step into the antiseptic calm blue orb.
You sit in the silent dark, in ten inches of water heavily steeped in Epsom salts. You dream without sleeping. It runs $95 for your session.
At the Elite Wellness Center(www.elitewellnesscenter.com) in Emerson, they call it R.E.S.T. , or Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy. The center website lists more than two dozen ailments where the floatation chamber may be useful, including diabetes, anxiety, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Spa director Philip Gotthelf says the treatment works especially well for migraine sufferers.
There are only two Floataway facilities in this country. The other is on the left coast. In Europe, there are flotation centers booked hour after hour, as pod users zone out.
Back in Emerson, a young mother, Karen Barouk took a pod break from her newborn. The total lack of any noise or light made her “refreshed” and “completely relaxed.” Barouk began her sessions during her pregnancy.
Imagine, giving a pod session as a gift to a stressed out friend, co-worker, or even boss. They’ll check in, check out, and chill. One hour a day-- totally unplugged.
