When you subscribe to NJ My Way, you rate. We have exclusive relationships with retailers and our sponsors that give you access and bargains no one else gets.

Take this weekend’s furniture sale at Bograd’s (www.bograds.com). The family-owned retailer of classic home furniture is throwing a major sale, all weekend long at the main store, (81 Hamburg Turnpike, Riverdale) and at their warehouse, Bograd’s Second Home (100 Riverdale Rd, Riverdale).

Print this column and bring it in…you’ll get an additional ten percent off the sale prices.
Note: You won’t be able to combine this offer with any others.

More for your home. Bring this column with you to the trendy Red Ginger www.redgingerhome.com) in Red Bank, and you’ll get ten percent off any regularly priced item.

If you feel like hitting the road but staying on track, check out Velocity 17 (www.v-17.com), the red hot new performance go-kart track in Maywood. They’ll take ten percent off your day’s driving, if you bring this column along.

Want to plan your fall getaway on the back roads of New Jersey? Our friends at the Holly Thorn House B& B in Whitehouse Station (www.hollythornhouse.com ), a cozy former barn that serves country breakfast by the fire, want NJ My Way readers to sample their amazing hospitality. If you book a two-night stay, you’ll get one night free! Just mention us when you make your reservation. Call 908-534-1616 and reserve the weekend today!

Our friends at the newly renovated luxury Williams Cottage Inn (www.williamscottageinn.com/) on Long Beach Island, will give you a ten percent discount on the price of your stay, if you mention us—or bring them a copy of this NJ My Way column.

If you want to take your sweetie further south, to Victorian Cape May, stay at the Henry Sawyer Inn (www.henrysawyerinn.com) and mention NJ My Way…they’ll gift you a bottle of wine from the Cape May Winery.

You’ll sample a delicious California Roll or Spicy Tuna Roll, for free, at Rio 22 (www.rio22.net) if you mention us between now and September 21. The offer is good on Monday through Thursday nights only.

Forward this column to a few friends so they too can enjoy these special favors. Keep reading us for more great offers. We’re free, and full of surprises!

We’ve found the ideal gift for the guy in your life who is hooked on horsepower. Or just a cool way to make some jaws drop.

Rent a ‘Vette for a day. Or a Lamborghini for the weekend. Or a Porsche. Book a Rolls with a chauffer for your afternoon. And watch how your in-laws react when you pull up to their house for dinner on Sunday.

The company is Exotic Car Rentals of New Jersey (www.exoticcarrentalsnj.com), in Allentown. Larry Shuman and his wife Legia are owners and car aficionados.

It’s not just low-slung road-hugging machines or Rolls. You can barrel around in a giant Hummer, or slink about in a Cadillac Escalade. They’ll give you a primo parking spot in that Mercedes S550.

Larry, a retired corporate IT executive, and Legia, a kindergarten teacher, keep adding to their exotic fleet. Last week, they brought in a Smart Car (www.smartusa.com ) for rental, the ultimate gas efficient auto at 60 mpg. Exotic Car Rentals may be the only place in the country where you can currently rent the funny looking little car.

Who are the customers?

Larry says one family rented the Hummer for an 80-year-old grandmother who’d always wanted to drive one. A man kept renting the same sports car to fool his girlfriend into thinking he owned it, until he ran out of money—and the romance ran out of gas. Plenty of weddings, special occasions, and fantasy weekends.

Rent your dream car. If only for a day or a weekend, you’ll own the road.

Editor’s Note:

We’ll be taking a spin for a week or so… when we return we’ll have a brand new NJ My Way home page plus our daily e-column with plenty of exciting ideas and offers. Thanks to all of you, our readers, for making this such a great ride!

Guys, you may as well close this e-mail now. It’s about plates. Tableware. The stuff women can eyeball, handle, and assemble forever. Most men would rather sort screws.

New Jersey is home to all kinds of table-topping stores. Five outlets for Mikasa (http://www.outletbound.com/cgi-bin/stores_by_name.cgi?StoreName=Mikasa), at least four for Corningware and Corelle (www.corningwarestores.com)…we could go on and on.

Add one more to your list. It’s Utsuwa-No-Yakata (www.utsuwa.com) in Edgewater. That’s Japanese for House of Pottery. One of only two stores on the East Coast—of the U.S., that is.

There is a fusion for everything Asian, including dinnerware. Whatever foods you are serving, it’s fun to look at these colorful, creative settings and decorative plates and imagine how you might put them to use.

There is even a section for children and another one for pets. The store’s website is full of interesting suggestions.

There is plenty of Japanese Imari porcelain (www.blueandwhiteamerica.com) at affordable, and sometimes bargain prices. You can find some of this at discount stores, but you won’t find as extensive a collection, and you can’t beat the prices here.

The best part about the Edgewater store is its location next to the Mitsuwa Marketplace (www.mitsuwa.com), one of the largest Japanese food emporiums in the U.S. and the only one of its kind in the East. Leave time to shop and eat in one of the many indoor cafes ringing the mega-market.

One visit and you won’t have to worry about filling those new plates.

In fashion blogs and chatrooms throughout the land, they are still buzzing about Angela Jolie’s $26 dress.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19215552/. The mega star wore a crushed velvet dress from a vintage boutique in L.A. to the New York premiere of A Mighty Heart (www.amightyheartmovie.com).

Forget that she wore velvet in June. The simple act of picking shabby antique chic over any one of the world’s top designers gives vintage and recycled clothing a label all its own.

If Ms. Jolie had gone to New Leaf Consignment (www.newleafconsignment.com) in Madison, she might have paid a few dollars more but could have picked the newer flirty black Maria Bianca Nero (www.biancanero.com) selling for $150. The original $300 price tag was still in place. There are also a fair number of summer sun dresses (Betsey Johnson, Ann Taylor) for less than $50.

She’d be singing a different tune at Duet (www.dueteveryday.com) in Livingston. Truly the Cadillac of couture consignment where a few hundred bucks gets you a thousand dollars worth of dress. Not to mention the like new Hermes Birkin Bag (www.createursdeluxe.com) for a bargain $9000.

If she had opted to shop online, we suggest Ms. Jolie browse our favorite vintage website, www.dandelionvintage.com, run by Carol of Ocean View. Carol has been buying and hoarding vintage clothing for twenty years. We’ve noticed her black dresses with any kind of velvet are selling out fast!

Thanks to Ms. Jolie for making it fashionable to recycle. Whether new or vintage, Cadillac or Ford, sometimes second hand, is not second best.