An Abundant Life - A Beautiful Surprise And Blessing

A few years ago I was introduced to one of the Founders of SoHo Muse, and he invited me to join. It was an honor at the time, and being a part of that wonderful group of Creative people continues to be an honor whenever I meet or hear about a member and the wonderful things they are doing.

One of the lovely things that SoHo Muse does is that the concierge will choose different Creatives to celebrate in the newsletter and online in social media, and I always enjoy seeing the really beautiful Art and Design and hearing about the incredibly talented people who are being highlighted.

This past week, when I opened up my newsletter, I saw a photograph of me. It was one of those moments that I can't really describe, when you feel like Cinderella who has been invited to the ball and then been given all of the beautiful things to wear that her heart has ever desired.

The photograph they chose was one that was taken by a photographer, Erika Kuciw, who was working on a project titled "Beautiful, Confident, Vulnerable Women" and she was part of a group I belonged to at the time that was started by a wonderful creative woman I know. She had sent out a description of her project and invited women to contact her, and I did, and one day she came to the apartment where I was living in Inwood and took a series of photographs that she shared with me.

The apartment where I was living at the time was fairly new to me, and if I remember rightly I had just moved in not long before. I had started attending a church, and it was a few months after I had gone through a dark night of the soul and been born again, a story that I've shared in these pages and in others before in different ways and at different times over the years. At the time the photograph was taken, I had been reading a book given to me by the Pastor of the church I had begun to attend, a book of testimonials he had compiled that he thought I'd enjoy after he and I met and I'd shared my story with him. In the photograph the book is in my hand, and it is such a beautiful thing to me that for this feature in SoHo Muse that they chose that photograph.

God has a way of reminding us of the love and grace that is poured out on us, of encouraging us in every way that we need, and in ways that mean so much to us personally. As I've been walking through this current time in my life, there have been some experiences that have been growing my faith in ways that I could have never imagined, and at times it has seemed as if I was on a path that I had no idea where it was leading. Seeing this photograph again and having this beautiful surprise and beautiful blessing of this feature and post brought to mind so many things that have happened over the years and how God has continued to guide and help and hold and bless me through it all. I may not know where the path is leading sometimes, or even what the step is after the next one I take, but if I hold on fast and keep my focus on God, I will find myself walking into something beautiful and blessed.

A Surprise and Blessing

Appearing As A Featured Artist

Selected By The Marvelous Concierge

In The Marvelous SoHo Muse

Photograph With So Much Gratitude

To The Gorgeous Erika Kuciw

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - A Boston View

I've been traveling back and forth to Massachusetts for meetings over this past almost year and a half or more, since October of 2023 and on occasion before that, and as I've written in these pages before, I decided on one of my visits in October 2023 that I"d stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel because I have a long history of loving that hotel and going there with my Mother for tea because of the wonderful book, "The Trumpet Of The Swan" by E.B. White and the swan in that book who stays at the Ritz and sleeps in the bathtub. 

The old Ritz-Carlton is now a different hotel, and the new one that I've been staying at is very different in many ways, but the feeling of care and well being that the staff provide in every moment are the same. As I've traveled back and forth over these now many months, I've come to look forward to certain things when I go there, and each time I go there is something new to enjoy and be delighted by.

On this most recent trip just this past week I was given a corner room, with a lovely view of the old John Hancock Building. The view was wonderful during the day, but at night it became even more special when I noticed that the blue light on the old John Hancock Building was blinking in a very beautiful way. I took a video of it, not knowing at the time that it has a very special meaning, and when I returned home and looked up the building to make sure I knew which one I'd been viewing, I found out that it is the old John Hancock building and that it is officially known as the Berkeley Building, and that what I'd been seeing is the weather beacon on top that changes colors and flashes according to the forecast. I also found this sweet rhyme:

"Steady Blue, Clear View. Flashing Blue, Clouds Due. Steady Red, Rain Ahead. Flashing Red, Snow Instead"

After all the years I'd lived in Massachusetts and all the history I have in Boston, I'd never known about this wonderful light and its story. It seems that the more I visit and stay at the Ritz-Carlton, my memories are becoming clearer as new ones are made. The view this past week was cloudy, and so the blue light was flashing and it caught my eye, giving me a new perspective and a new way to look at the skyline in a city I am learning to love even more as I return to it again.

The Old John Hancock Building

Shining Its Weather Beacon

Viewed From The Ritz-Carlton Hotel

10 Avery Street

Boston, Massachusetts

https://www.ritzcarlton.com/the-ritz-carlton-boston

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

 

An Abundant Life - New York Art

This past week the gorgeous Artist Alberte Bernier gave me the treat of a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. MoMA as it's known to those of us who have been going there or hearing about it for years is one of those New York places that is always a joy to experience. After our visit to this gorgeous museum, we had lunch at Gallagher's Steakhouse, another wonderful New York place that I've written about in these pages before and that I will again in a future post, but for now I want to focus on MoMA and the beautiful experience there that day.

As we began our visit, I told Alberte that on my way to meet her I had been remembering that my Mother had always loved MoMA. She loved New York, and had lived there for so many years before I was born, and we would take trips there as a family and sometimes just the two of us to do special things and see special friends, and when I moved there after college she often visited me and we'd make plans to do some of the things she loved to do that I loved also.

MoMA was one of the things that I grew up knowing about, and visiting there feels in many ways like being home. Although I grew up in a New England farmhouse built in 1720, the art and design that filled that house were an eclectic mix that included antiques as well as refurbished and reupholstered vintage pieces and inspiration from places like MoMA. When I spoke about this with Alberte while we were visiting there together, she said that was just like YES Gallery, and I laughed and said it was and it is, and that it was so much of what I learned from and experienced with my Mother that is reflected in the way I design and create installations in spaces today.

As I begin to move into the next chapter of developing a very wonderful and special project, visiting MoMA and being reminded of my Mother and our shared history together was so wonderfully right and special. Bringing the best of modern art and design and the feeling of both old New York and the Manhattan of present day into this new project will make it a very special one, capturing the experiences of my own history as well as the history of the places and spaces where my family and my deepest memories rest and can come to life as they are renewed.

A Visit To MoMA

With So Much Gratitude

To The Gorgeous Artist

Alberte Bernier

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Building Joy

I've written about New York Build, the expo in New York City for all things to do with building, and it's always such a blessing to be there and be a part of it. I've been attending for many years, ever since someone I met invited me when I was speaking with him about a project I was developing at the time, and for a number of years now I've been invited to be a Women In Construction Ambassador which is something that is really such a wonderful honor.

Every year when I go I meet so many interesting and exciting people, all doing great things in the industry, and all who inspire me either in current projects or for new ideas for the future. This year because of a current project I'm developing there were several people who I met whose products and businesses were exciting to hear about as the work that they are doing in so much in line with my own work and vision.

This current project of mine is the culmination of things I was thinking about when I first was invited to New York Build years ago, and as one woman I recently spoke with about it described it, it is my life's work. Having the opportunity to visit with so many wonderful and talented experts in their respective parts of the industry over the years has helped my ideas to take shape in ways that continue to grow and bless me, and as I plan and develop this current project with so many wonderful people to inspire me and who I can reach out to for excellent help and expertise in so many important aspects, the project will be a blessing that brings joy for many.

New York Build

At The Javits Center

New York City

Blessings,

Jannie Sussan

An Abundant Life - There's No Place Like Home

This past week I took a trip to Boston and Wilmington, Massachusetts, something that I've been doing quite a bit in the past year and a half, nearly every month or so I've been traveling for a quick turnaround overnight for some necessary meetings and other appointments that have to do with the home where I grew up. 

On other trips I've stayed in Boston and traveled by train to Wilmington or other towns nearby on the same route, but this time I decided to stay in Woburn, the town next door, and to spend more time at the house and property than I've been able to before.

A few weeks before I was planning this trip, someone I know reconnected me with a friend from my childhood, someone I've known my whole life. It was lovely to speak with her on the telephone, and we wanted to meet in person the next time I was in the area and had extra time at the house. This time was the right time, and when I told her about my trip and timing, she invited me for dinner and also said that her husband had offered to drive me to and from the station and my hotel and anywhere else I needed. It was an amazing gesture of generosity and kindness, and I accepted with gratitude, feeling so humbled that here I was after all these years receiving such goodness and blessing. The person who had reconnected me to that friend also offered to meet with me and drive me wherever I needed, and we planned a breakfast together on the morning after I had stayed overnight, and she treated me to a gorgeous feast at The Real McCoy, a place with a rich and deep local history and one of the best restaurants I have ever been to anywhere. I also reached out to another friend I hadn't seen in many years, and she also offered her help and to meet me on the afternoon of the second day I was there. Seeing her again brought back so many memories of beautiful times and beautiful days, and how beautiful life can be. It was truly a beautiful experience to have all of the beautiful people rallying around and bringing their sweet light and love and blessings to share with me as I found myself finally, after what seems like a very long time, being able to open the door of the house where I grew up and to begin again to feel I was home.

I have lived in New York City for a long time, and also in Jersey City, and have spent so many years in places other than Boston or Wilmington that I had begun to feel like these other places had become home. In a way they have, but home is where the heart is as the saying goes, and a part of my heart will always be in Massachusetts, rooted in the fields around the house where I grew up and in the house itself. Over these past years, before I was able to take this trip in the way that I did, every time I"d travel to Boston or take the train to the town of Wilmington or nearby I'd have this feeling that there were so many people who I remembered who I wanted to connect with and so much time I wanted to spend there, reconnecting with the land and home I've loved for so long. On this visit I had a chance to feel what it is like to really come home again, and I have to say that after all these years in other places I've loved, there is no place anywhere else like home.

A Gorgeous Breakfast

At The Real McCoy

110 Lowell Street

Wilmington, MA

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Art Inside

A few weeks ago I went to an event at the New York Federal Reserve titled "Investing In The Creative Workforce For A Strong Economy." It was a wonderful afternoon with so many wonderful speakers and panels, and a roomed filled with Artists and Art Administrators, Curators and Creative Art Small Business owners among many other people who make, support, and champion art of all kinds. 

As I was leaving I met a lovely young woman in the elevator who it turns out had a show currently at a ChaShaMa art space in Manhattan. As I've written in these pages before I've had many wonderful experiences with ChaShaMa over the years, as a performer and Artist myself as well as with other friends who are Artists, small business owners and founders of not for profits. The Artist I met in the elevator and I exchanged cards and I reached out to her, noticing as I did that her name was Kelly Olshan, a reminder of another woman withe the same last name who I worked with many years ago who had a boutique public relations company and who I learned so much from that I still remember and treasure in my life and work today.

Kelly Olshan's show is in one of the ChaShaMa spaces in the lobby of an office building, and she invited me to one of her private VIP viewing evenings. There was one that weekend coming up, and though my schedule has been really very busy and the weather forecast was not the best, I decided to make the time to go because my schedule may be getting even busier, and I wanted to take the time to see her work in a space where it could be seen at its best.

The show is a beautiful one, and the evening inspiring. I took a short video to share here as the work itself is so multifaceted and layered that it seemed best to allow the viewer to see it in the way that I saw it, walking through an open space on a February evening in a building that was brought to new life with the art that is being shown inside it.

Kelly Olshan

"Endless Ascent"

At A ChaShaMa Art Space

733 Third Avenue

New York City

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Living Love

I wrote last week about the decorations at YES Gallery and how the Christmas cheer theme lasted a bit longer than usual and Valentine's Day is keeping its glow through this cold month of February. As I take time to enjoy the beautiful views, I'm adding little touches here and there with things that enhance the decorative holiday scenes.

Last week on my way to the gallery I saw a box on the sidewalk in front of a beautiful neighbor's building that said, "Free", and was filled with all kinds of interesting children's toys, building blocks and tools and gadgets. People leave things often on the sidewalk in this way in the neighborhoods near where I live and where the gallery is,  and I usually take a peek and find something fun or beautiful or useful or all three. This box had a box in it with the name "weaving kit" on it, and when I looked a bit closer I saw that it was a potholder making kit which was something that I had when I was a very young child. I picked it up and brought it to YES Gallery, and when I opened it I saw that the metal base that is used for the weaving was intact and as red as I remembered from my childhood. The rest of the kit was gone, most likely used and finished up, but it didn't matter to me because just the memory began to bring back other memories, and now the kit is sitting under the Valentine's Day tree at the gallery where it can remind me of all of the love and joy from many years ago.

When I was very little my family was very poor. I never really thought of it that way then, but now that I am older I know that we were. I was always dressed in handmedowns, sometimes from my brothers and sometimes things that had been worn so many times by so many different people or given to us by other people that they didn't really fit right. Buying something new was a big expense that rarely happened unless I bought it myself. I started working in real jobs when I was nine to buy the things that I wanted and to have spending money when I went somewhere with friends. I never had an allowance, and the work I did around the house was expected and unpaid. Before I was nine I looked for every opportunity to try to make money, and when I was three and I had my little potholder kit, I made potholders and sold them door to door in the neighborhood for I think 25 cents or maybe two for 25 cents. It's hard to think of that now and to remember what prices were like then, but whatever it was that I sold them for, I always found people who were willing to buy them and I gathered my change together to save up for things I could buy for myself.

One day very near Easter, I was at a store that I think was Zayre's with my Mother and I saw that they had special racks with children's cotton Easter dresses on them. I fell in love with the green and white patterns with images of flowers, and told my mother to that the girls in the family needed Easter dresses. They weren't very expensive if I recall, maybe $1.99 or $3.99, but even at that price they were too expensive for my Mother to think of because they were an extra expense, so I told her that I would pay for them with my own money. It's a hazy memory, but when we got to the cash register somehow I either had enough or the woman behind the register gave them to me for whatever I had, or maybe my Mother decided to chip in after all. Whatever the math was, the dresses were bought because of the money I was making selling potholders door to door, and seeing that potholder maker reminded me of that.

God is always our provider, whether it's when we are small and selling potholders and want new Easter dress, or when we are older and there are other bigger and more pressing needs and wants. I always tell people that God provides for our wants, too, and for more than we need, and sometimes in ways we would never have thought of or thought were possible. As I go through my memories of the times and ways that God has provided, I realize that there was never a time that God didn't. Though sometimes I've worried and felt heartache, there really wasn't ever any need to. Just at the right moment, just when it can truly be seen as a miracle, God shows up and the blessing arrives. It's hard to wait sometimes when we don't understand or see where we're going, but when we can take a deep breath and take in the love that God is always pouring over us, we can find the peace to know that what we need and what we want will arrive on time and be even better than we'd hoped or planned.

A Beautiful Reminder

Of Childhood

And God's Provision And Love

A Potholder Weaving Kit

Arrives Right On Time

At YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan