Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

In 1987 I had an internship with the Circle Repertory Company, one of the greatest all time theater companies from the mid century days of New York theater. Their offices were on Spring Street and Sixth Avenue, and the theater was in an old garage space on Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue South that had been gutted and turned into a black box Off Broadway space. There is still great theater in New York City and great spaces for people to work out their creativity in, but that space to me was a magical one, and to this day it's hard to walk by the old theater that is now a restaurant without missing those great and glorious old days. For many years I lived downtown, in the West Village and SoHo, in areas where no one but artists wanted to live. I found inexpensive funky apartments that weren't renovated, and enjoyed the bohemian artist life to the fullest. I was explaining to someone recently in the interior design world that the "new" trend of blasting the dry wall off of walls and partially exposing brick came from those amazing spaces and places where we enjoyed the beauty of the rough spaces and did the best we could to make those spaces homey. As I described the timeline of that design history that led to exposed brick, shellacking brick and now to this current trend, the person I shared the information with said, "Wow, you certainly know your stuff!" I don't really, it's just that I have this wonderful blessing of history and years spent in one of the greatest cities in the world with some of the most innovative and creative and exciting artists in the spaces where they live and work.

The work that I do takes me to many of the areas where I used to spend my creative life, areas that now are filled with higher priced designer boutiques and luxury apartments. On a quiet block of West 10th Street, I noticed a while ago that a beautiful jewelry store had opened up, and though I assumed it was one of the many high priced designer stores that have taken over the spaces where the old independent boutiques used to be, there was something about this store that kept me looking in the windows every time I went by. A few weeks ago when I was on my way somewhere else, I stopped in and was so pleasantly surprised by what I heard and saw that I asked if I could come back again to meet with the owner and add the store into this blog. InnaSense is one of the old style of boutiques. While the walls aren't rough the way some of our old spaces were, the jewelry is hand made and the owner I met with is a truly lovely and creative spirit as are the other people who work there. The space is refined and glamorous while still warm and inviting, with a glamor comes from the beauty of the simple and lovely design of the space, the creative and lovely spirit of the owners, and the quality of gems and intricately crafted gorgeous jewelry they design. The owners travel the world to select the most lovely of all natural gemstones, and design and make their pieces on site and locally. If I could have I would have bought everything in their store - there is not one piece that is not an exquisite work of art. I'm so thankful to find that a place like this still exists in one of my favorite of all neighborhoods - it's a treasure to behold and enjoy.

InnaSense - Inaya Jewelry

Inna And Anyuta Zelikson, Owners

215 West 10th Street

Off Bleecker

New York, NY 10014

(212) 675-5010

Also At Grand Central Terminal

33 Grand Central Terminal
Lexington Passage

(212) 883-7660

www.inayajewelry.com

Providing Hope, Confidence And Love

Tiffany Pinero is one of the most glamorous and lovely of people I know. I'll be writing more about her and her wonderful work here in the future, but today I wanted to share something about one of the wonderful organizations I heard about because she was speaking at their event last week. An outreach of Harvest Of Hope Ministries, Handbags of Hope provides support to women during all stages of their lives, with a mission to "restore hope and build confidence to women who have lost it due to domestic violence, drug abuse, rape and/or have become homeless." When I heard that Tiffany Pinero was speaking at the 1st Annual Beauty Showcase, I knew I had to try to be there because whatever Tiffany is doing is sure to be wonderful and worthwhile. The event was filled with wonderful people, and the very air in the room was so positive that everyone and everything was glowing. I met some of the most amazing people who are providing services in so many lovely areas, and will be highlighting some of them in the coming weeks, but for now let me let the pictures do the talking about some of the wonderful people there.

Handbags Of Hope Exchange

At Roe 7 Studios

Monroe Art Center

720 Monroe Street, Suite C211

Hoboken, NJ

The Awesome Tiffany Pinero Style Lends Her Glamor And Beauty
tiffanypinerostyle.com
With The Radiant Beauties Of Venice Luxury Hair Care
veniceextensionsnyc.com

Beautifully Organized By EH Social Events

Loveliness From Shimmer MedSpa

Glamorous Photographic Services From TL Green Photography

Stunning Jewelry Styles From Jennifer Sutton Of Stella And Dot
jennifersuttonphoto@mac.com
www.stelladot.com/jennifersutton

Chastity Palmer Davis
And The Gorgeous Designs Of Glitter Buzz Style

The Gorgeous Sounds Of DJ Ted Smooth

Beautiful Cocktails From The Stunning Cocktail Vixens
Twitter @CocktailVixen

Beautiful Inspiring And Encouraging Words
For A Tree Of Life

Lovely Handbags To Exchange

A Beautiful Space On A Beautiful Day

A Flowering Power In The Community

Karen Nason is another amazingly beautiful and glamorous woman who I am blessed know. On the day that she was receiving an award for the Hudson County Business Woman Of The Year, I had a chance to sit down and talk with her about some exciting new projects she is working on. More about those in the coming weeks, but for now here's a peek into the Hoboken Hot House where you can always find the best coffee, pizza, snacks, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and now that the weather is getting warmer find a place to sit outside in the back yard garden or on a pleasant street filled with greenery during these lovely spring, summer and fall weather days. The backyard garden is a creative space too, so keep your ears tuned to outdoor music and movie nights as the days and nights grow longer.

Hoboken Hot House

Karen Nason, Owner

200 Monroe Street

Hoboken, NJ 07030

(201) 222-0565