Come next year, three dozen of Essex County’s youngest and best musicians are heading to the land where it all began.
Representatives from The Youth Orchestra of Essex County (www.yoec.org) will attend the AmericanCelebration of Music (www.musiccelebrations.com/international/europe.html in Austria, birthplace of some of the world’s greatest classical music. The youngsters, from second graders to high school seniors, will perform as well as tour the countryside.
Organizers of the event have even invited the group to participate in the prestigious concerts marking the 200th anniversary of the death of composer Franz Josef Haydn (www.internationalhaydnfestival2009.org).
The Youth Orchestra attracts kids from all over the county, and includes chamber music ensembles, overture strings, a junior symphony and a senior orchestra. They are often on the calendar at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (www.sopacnow.org). You might even catch them at the train stations in the area—the kids are raising money for their trip by performing solo for commuters.
Orchestra spokesperson Anne Murray says the trip provides “the excitement of living through the history.” The performances will take place in historic cathedrals, palaces and concert halls throughout Austria.
There’s an additional benefit; Murray says the European trip will bring together a diverse group of kids –many of them who have never left this country—and “create a memory together that will keep them connected for a lifetime.”
If nothing else this weekend, go see the pride of Summit!
The Fortnightly Group of Summit and the Summit Junior Fortnightly Club created a designer inspired green facelift for their historic Twin Maples house. Each room is amazing. You’ll also get a lesson in how to heat a home with a new geo-thermal system. Here’s the website: www.historictwinmaples.org. Ticket purchases benefit the Overlook Hospital Cancer Center and the Twin Maples Historic Preservation Fund. Don’t miss the carriage house in the back—for a true green experience.
It’s a Garden Party on Sunday for another worthwhile cause in Asbury Park. An auction of works by local artist/philanthropist Laura Brunetti (www.lestrellastudio.atomicshops.com) to benefit the Center House (www.thecenterinap.com).
Our friends in New Brunswick are hosting a pub/wine crawl through downtown.Check the city website (www.newbrunswick.com) for registration details. You’ll find some great tastings and be eligible to win door prizes.
Looking to get in the Halloween spirit? There’s the much revered East Windsor HauntedHouse (www.hauntedhouse.squad142.com) sponsored by the town Rescue Squad.
Up north, go by this one: www.madnessonmeadowlane.com in Paramus, which promises to be the ultimate Halloween experience.
Down the street, for the little ones, a tamer Spooktacular at the New Jersey Children’s Museum. (www.njcm.com/spooktacular.html).
Got a great and scary haunted house in your neighborhood? Click on Write the Editor below and let us know. Attach a photo if you like. We’ll try and publish the most ghoulish picks next week.
A Bergen County chocolate maker is offering you a chance to sweeten your next party, by bonding with friends over a vat of mouth-watering chocolate.
Matisse Chocolatier, in Englewood (www.getfreshchocolate.com) makes some of the best chocolate around. Proprietor Lucille Skroce was plenty busy around holidays, but saw the chocolate parties as a way of growing her business during traditionally slower months.
The Skroces—Lucille’s husband and two teenage children are part of the crew—figured out that making a chocolate pizza would fascinate even the most distracted child. And making a chocolate bowl out of a balloon would make a great conversation starter for older partiers.
They added a party room adjacent to their store, but the main action—stirring and spreading the chocolate, still takes place in the shop’s kitchen area. The guests also get to watch a film about the making of chocolate.
“Everyone enjoys the process. It doesn’t matter how old you are,” says Lucille.
So if you are looking for something really different for your next gathering, this might be just the place. Or, if your guest of honor loves chocolate, this would be a great spot to stage a surprise party!
The Skroces will help you create your own masterpiece, but you won’t need any assistance making it disappear!
Our favorite recycling company is at it again. This time, they’re taking in your corks and turning them into office supplies. And most importantly, it’s one more piece of refuse that stays out of our landfills.
Last March, we told you about TerraCycle, the Trenton plant which was recycling thousands of juice bags, and also creating a super fertilizer out of worm poop. Here’s the link: www.njmyway.com/content/view/386/102/.
Now, TerraCycle has set up a Cork Brigade. You can sign up on the website (www.terracycle.net). High volume producers (more than 100 corks per week) will qualify for free shipping; they’ll send you pre-addressed, pre-postage paid bags.
Hundreds of restaurants have already responded to the call. A vat of corks is filling up at the company’s facility, ready to be turned to cork boards, coasters, and floor mats. Within a few weeks, they’ll begin shipping to office supply stores.
As the business grows, a company spokesperson says, cork collectors will be paid for their donations. TerraCycle is currently paying for yogurt cups, juice bags, and energy bar wrappers. The cups are turned into planters, the bags and wrappers converted into colorful totes. If you have a school or scout troop looking for a green project you’ve come to the right place!
So enjoy that bottle of wine but make sure you save the cork for recycling. You’ll be helping the environment, and contributing to a business that benefits everyone. We’ll drink to that!
We have the urge to splurge, but not much time, and face it-- we’re not exactly flush with cash these days.
But a few choice retailers—one is new, the other improved, and one to watch—are worth the investment.
The boutique Jolie Couture-- so new the website isn’t ready-- held its grand opening this weekend in West Orange (459 Pleasant Valley Way, 973-325-0015). Clothier Tom Romano has a nice selection of career, sportswear, and elegant evening wear.
It’s great for moms of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, weddings and just in time for the fall cocktail circuit. There are also custom clothing services available—at reasonable rates. Mention NJ My Way and you’ll get 10% off.
Our friends at Entiise Lingerie (www.entiiselingerie.com) in Millburn have a new home right by the movie theatre.
They’re sharing the space with DeVenir Beauty (www.devenirbeauty.com ) so you splurge on elegant, flirty lingerie and beauty products all at once. Mention us and you’ll get 30% off on lingerie, and 10% on any of the cosmetics in the store.
Also worth the visit is Robin’s Closet (www.robinscloset.com) in Boonton, where Robin (full disclosure, she’s our neighbor) has the area’s best selection of designer jeans and tops. It’s one of those cozy boutiques where fashionable moms and their teenage daughters can find great clothes under one roof.
Robin is giving 10% off to our readers as well.
Send us your suggestions for shops you love that are new, or improved, and worth visiting—click on the Write The Editor link below.
Sharon Levy of Lawrenceville brings people of all ages together, over tea.
Sharon likes to work the room. Even when she was an IT project manager for IBM, she knew eventually she’d be using her creative skills to start a good time flowing.
Sharon’s business, offering completely produced tea parties (www.takingtea-instyle.com) for private parties, corporations, fundraisers, perfectly matches her passion.
She brings the tea, cups, biscuits, clotted cream, cloth tablecloths and napkins, and sets the fancy scene anywhere you’d like. For adults, there’s even a presentation about the history of tea. For kids, some as young as three, Sharon teaches table manners as well.
“I just think a lot of kids today don’t have manners,” Sharon told us. From her perspective, learning table etiquette is “all about respect… this is just a stepping stone to other social etiquettes.”
Recently, Sharon’s company presented Tea Time For Tots at the lovely Grounds For Sculpture (www.groundsforsculpture.org) in Hamilton, teaching tea brewing and table manners to five and six year olds. This weekend, she’s doing a tea party as a private 80th birthday party surprise. On Friday the 17th, it’s high tea at the Trenton Club (www.trentonclub.org).
Sharon helps you find a little bit of civility and sanity in a porcelain cup. There’s nothing like a spot of tea, poured, held and sipped correctly, to make you believe in Sharon’s Wonderland.
