Haddonfield celebrates Mother’s Day with a weekend of sales, free roses and goodie bags for Moms and Mom-to-Be, plus specials on massages, skin care and a bra-fitting event. Read all about it, www.shophaddonfieldnj.com.
Go Fishing
No boat? No problem. Hook up with a fishing club like the Fish Hawks (www.fishhawksnj.com) and they’ll arrange a ride along with someone who has.
Go Golfing
Join the Executive Women’s Golfing Association (www.ewgannj.org) and polish up your strokes. What better way to crash the Boy’s Club?
Go for Brunch
Visit the Café at Grounds for Sculpture (www.groundsforsculpture.org) in Hamilton Township for a Mother’s Day Brunch, with music for brass composed by members of Northern New Jersey Camerata.
Go for Art
There’s a Mother’s Day sale at an exhibit of works by artists with disabilities, Saturday 12:30-5 p.m. at the studio-gallery of Arts Unbound in Orange; call (973) 675 2787 or check www.artsunbound.org.
Go Vegan
Buy Mom—or yourself—a great faux leather bag from Matt and Nat (www.mattandnat.com). There’s a nice selection at Tia’s Place (www.tiasplace.com) in Jersey City.
Go Rock
Tonight’s not the night, but Friday is…for ‘70s rocker Rod Stewart in concert at the Continental Arena. Eight p.m., $53–$125. (201) 935-3900, (866) 448-7849 or http://tinyurl.com/23cel8
Go Rutgers!
Rutgers celebrates its 122,000 graduates (or is it the other way around?) at Alumni Weekend. What a year for folks on the Raritan! There will be dinners, get-reacquainted campus tours, a golf tournament and the annual parade down College Ave. www.rutgersalumni.org or (732) 932-1766.
Happy reunion to Calista Flockhart ’88 and James Gandolfini ’83…and don’t forget to stop for a beer at Olde Queens, a young 74 years old in ‘07. If you’re a Rutgers grad, you don’t need the address! But here’s their MySpace, profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48318013
We’ve written about some places that made our list for great meals without a lot of fanfare. We also took you along to our favorite Ladies-Who-Lunch spots. Not to mention some rooms with great views.
We asked that you pick your favorite restaurants, and share them with us.
You wrote us about lunch at The Dining Room in Montclair… (www.thedining-room.com). The restaurant is offering a special $35 all inclusive Mother’s Day Menu. We also love the Early Bird menu—is this Florida or what? They’ve got fondue, too.
We heard from Philip Privitera, executive chef at the CSide Restaurant in Jersey City (www.csiderestaurant.com). He has plenty to brag about when it comes to food and views. Check out Cside, for Mother’s Day and everyday, now that the weather is on our side.
Friends suggested Rosemary and Sage (www.rosemaryandsage.com) in Riverdale. This boxy, quirky restaurant has a creative menu, but the real show is the service, with every member of the Farber family – from 10 year old Hannah on up, on the floor, taking orders and ferrying food. And despite what the website says, they’ll be open on Sunday for Mother’s Day.
Our final pick: if Mom likes flamenco, reserve a spot Sunday at Sabor Bistro (www.saborlatinbistro.com) in North Bergen (there’s a second Sabor in Hawthorne). They’ve got dancers, but the food is the real show. Try the nueva paella or the roast pork and you must (Doctor’s orders) leave room for the mango cheesecake.
There’s a nice list of restaurants with Mother’s Day specials at www.njmonthly.com/rosie/rnews.html, thanks to our favorite, most famous New Jersey foodie Rosie Saferstein. Better reserve today…your mom will thank you.
Keep giving us your restaurant picks; when you speak, we listen!
Give us a great spa package… like the chocolate rub-down: Go to @ease spa in Hillsdale (www.at-easespa.com) where they brush us, oil us, and slather on rich chocolate.
We are wrapped in golden foil like a Godiva… After our shower, we feel cocoa buffed all over!
Speaking of dipped in chocolate, have you seen these chocolate banana bouquets from the folks at www.ediblearrangements.com? Or the citrus blossom? Send them our way, please!
Or gift us a day at Dieci Spa (www.diecispa.com) in Livingston, where they’ve perfected the Essence Of Italy; a succulent honeysuckle and lemon treatment that brings out the fruit and flower of our special self.
We love our exercise, at home-- and at the gym. When we can’t get to the gym, bring the gym to us. Book personal trainer Christine Conti, (www.contifitness.com) who helps every woman bring their sexy back. Or sign us up for Christine’s Cardio Tease classes in Brick or Manasquan, and you may just see another side of your mother!
Surfing is so hot—and Mom just may be a surfer girl at heart. Find a listing for classes at www.surfline.com/surfology/schoolsearch.cfm?searchbox=NJ and get us a package of lessons. Throw in the wet suit and the board from LBI’s Ron Jon (www.ronjons.com) and we’re ready take the plunge. Next step, go to www.surfdiva.com and send us on the week out… a Costa Rican surfing vacation!
If your Mom is truly the head of the family, get her a gift card from Cache (www.cache.com) because that’s where Carmella buys her clothes. How do we know?
Finally, Moms are the chauffeurs. But what about getting a private chauffeur for us? We know a great guy with a shiny black Lincoln Navigator-- relax Dad, he’s a professional driver-- who’d tote us around for a day or a week or two. You can reach Ron at 917-696-0918. Tell him we sent you and enjoy the ride!
They call Ocean City America’s Greatest Family Resort. Scrubbed clean and full of healthy fun. Also, dry as a bone.
Call us grinches, but after a long day of wholesome family bonding, we like nothing better than a glass of wine with dinner at a nice restaurant. So when we heard that eleven new restaurants had opened in Ocean City, we wondered: why???
Now, we know.
Asbury Avenue shopping. Just one block in the heart of OC’s downtown shopping district tells you what the big deal is.
Start at funky colorful Collete Boutique, corner of 9th and Asbury (609-525-0911). It’s Betsey Johnson (www.betseyjohnson.com) and clones—we bet you’ll walk away with a colorful summer tunic for under $60, or a party dress from their great selection.
For what lies beneath, pop into Pretty Woman (www.prettywomanintimates.com). The intimates are so revealing you’ll forget this is a G-rated town.
The arts community is thriving on this block. Drop by the Ocean County Fine Arts League (943 Asbury Ave., 609-814-0308), where local artists’ works are on display. Or try the Accent Gallery (www.accentgallery.com).
Follow the signs to the Glass Frog Studios (920 Asbury Ave., in rear, 609-398-7510), where Lynda Mitchell-Marino is making lovely customized stained glass windows for luxury houses up and down the shore. Click above to see a video of this painstaking process.
Break for lunch at Scully’s (955 Asbury Ave. 609-391-1111), one of the brand new eateries. Admire the beautiful dishes, scooped up from a nearby casino—and you’ll like the food too.
Top it off with coffee from Java Jakes, a home-grown college grad’s new Internet café complete with computers, cable TV and retro furniture. It’s so new, there’s no phone number or website— but you’ll find him next store to Denovum, (910 Asbury Ave. 609-814-9084) the funky furniture store with the deco fascade.
You can have wine with dinner anywhere—well almost anywhere. But we guarantee you won’t find a block like this one anywhere else. Stay dry!
You love your Yoga and Pilates, but need a little something that gets you off the floor and moving in a different direction?
Let the rack, aka the Gyrotonic (www.gyrotonic.com) machine help your stretching, adjusting and flexing. Not any home gym—this piece of equipment. It resembles a medieval torture device, complete with ropes, pulleys, bolts and stirrups.
We asked Toni Ferrer (201-209-9205) who trained with the Gyro Master Juliu Horvath, to demonstrate the Gyrotonic method in her Jersey City studio. The machine provides the resistance, your muscles are strengthened and flexed.. Deep breathing helps control your movements.
Toni – born in Spain, arrived here headed for a career in finance. But she caught the Gyrotonic bug, and finds life as a professional Gyro trainer more rewarding. “I felt at home in my own body- energized, peaceful and calm,” she says.
Toni strapped her student, Glenny, into the device, and started her off with wide circular movements. Twisting and turning, Glenny starts to resemble human pizza dough.
The menacing machine becomes friendlier. There is soothing music, the quiet push-me-pull-you—and Toni’s voice as she drilled and encouraged.
There are do-it-yourself versions of the Gyro—not as large or imposing, but equally effective. Warning: the assembly process may require a mechanical engineer at your side.
Gyrotonics. Strap yourself in for a workout. You’ll feel like a new person when you come off the rack.
From Affenpinschers to Havanese to Yorkshire Terrier, you’re bound to find your favorite small dog at the Delaware Valley Toy Dog Fanciers Association (www.dvtdfa.org) group show and obedience trial. It runs all day Friday at the Mercer County Park ice skating rink, West Windsor.
Unleashed…
It’s a Barefoot Grape Stomping Party at Four Sisters Winery in Belvidere, Saturday starting at 7 p.m. $55 per person. For reservations call (908) 475-3671 or hit www.matarazzo.com/Winery
Planted…
A rite of spring in the Garden State is the yearly plant sale at the New Jersey Botanical Garden (www.njbg.org) in Ringwood. Perennials, annuals, vines, veggies, herbs, shrubs and even trees go on sale to the public this Saturday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. NJBG members get first pick at a Friday evening wine and cheese reception. You can join up at the door: $25 per year, $40 for families and $20 for seniors or students. No charge for the public sale.
Green…
Bring your old cell phone, PDA, computer or printers to the parking lot at Temple Emanu-El (www.tewnj.org) in Westfield, Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Newer models are refurbished and resold. The really old stuff gets recycled.
Sing Along…
With the new Jersey sound of My Chemical Romance (and a gazillion other bands) at The Bamboozle (www.thebamboozle.com) in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, Saturday through Sunday. Or check out Hoboken’s Spring Arts and Music Festival (www.hobokeni.com/festivals.asp). Headliners include Dr. John and the Demolition String Band, plus hundreds of artists and crafts people. Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Washington Street.
Join New Jersey’s intrepid Sailing Club (www.thesailingclub.org) for cool cruises in places you’ve never been. The group gets going this weekend with a training session in Havre De Grace, Maryland. Hey, it’s a great place to wear that nautical look!
