An Abundant Life - A Life Lived Beautifully

When I met him the first time, he told me his name was Shaq. Later, much later, after he had become someone who  among other generous and kind things had supported two art events by donating five cases of award winning wine each time, when I was unpacking the boxes for the second event I found a shipping label with his name on it. I had asked him each time when he had donated wine for his full name so I could put it on the invitation with a special thank you, and each time he had said, "Just Shaq is fine." His name is actually spelled differently, and when I told him that I'd found the shipping label and asked him if it was pronounced differently, he said that Shaq was close enough. To keep his privacy I'll keep his name as Shaq here too, because part of what makes him so special is that he does the kind and generous things he does without expecting anything in return. Some people want public praise for the littlest thing, but Shaq just does wonderful things and doesn't want to be in the spotlight at all.

I'd been speaking with him about writing a blog post about him for a while, but because he is so humble and modest, he had never followed up with me about it, so when I started thinking about who to write about this week, God put it on my heart to write about Shaq. Over the years since I've known him, I've gotten to find out a few things. One is that all of his friends I've met are very nice and good people. I always feel safe with them and when we go out anywhere we always have the most lovely time and Shaq always makes sure I get home safely. That's not always the case with some people, but with Shaq it's guaranteed.

He came to New York from the Ivory Coast a number of years ago, and he worked several different jobs until he met someone who told him about the cable business. He worked hard and built his own business, and now he is very well respected and trusted in the industry and has teams of people working for him, and every time I am out with him and we talk about an area of the Eastern Seaboard or a specific part of a city or section of a state, he will say that he did the cabling there. He knows every major building from the inside and underground and overhead, and whenever there is major construction or a large project, chances are Shaq is a part of it.

His family is an important part of his life, and sometimes when I check in with him I find out that he is helping them with something or taking the time to support a milestone, such as his daughter going to college. He is always working or traveling for work, but he takes time to spend time with friends and family that is quality time. I never feel rushed when I'm with Shaq, even though I know he has so much to do always and his time is limited because of his work and schedule. Somehow he has managed to discover a key of life that so many of us wish that we had, how to live in a way that is beautiful and to celebrate the good things while we can.

With Shaq

In Ft. Lauderdale

Blessings,

Jannie Susan 

An Abundant Life - A Picnic In New York

Years ago a friend of mine and I went to Central Park for a picnic. We brought a vintage picnic basket that had all of the careful fittings I've collected to make an afternoon eating outdoors feel comfortable and elegant. I've always loved picnics, ever since I was a little girl, and I learned from my mother that on a warm summer day or evening, sometimes a picnic can make an ordinary day feel special. When I was visiting with a beautiful Artist friend the other day, we went to a restaurant in his neighborhood, and because we wanted to sit outside he asked if we could sit at one of their picnic tables in their covered outdoor seating area. The restaurant was a lovely one and the early evening turned to dusk and twilight and night while we sat and enjoyed the delicious and inventive food and cocktails and wine. I think I would have enjoyed myself wherever we sat because the restaurant really is an excellent one, but somehow the picnic table was the perfect place to turn a wonderful afternoon into an extra special one.

Lilly's Craft and Kitchen has the kind of menu that makes me happy when I see it. There are so many things to choose from that all sound like what I could eat any day and feel like I was having a treat that was exactly what I wanted. They also have craft cocktails and a long and carefully curated list of of craft beers along with excellent wine selections. My friend and I decided to share a few small plates, a salad and an entree, and though I wanted to order so  many things on the menu, I listened to his wise suggestion  of what would be plenty and it was more than enough. Everything was so good! And the service was excellent. We sat for a while savoring our meal and talking, and we never felt rushed or as if we had to wait to see a server. During these times we're living in I've been feeling that it must be so difficult for wait staff to be inside and outside and running here and there and all over the place, and my hat is off to our servers because our whole experience was so enjoyable. The food looked lovely when it arrived, too, with all the colors of vegetables and rainbows and added unexpected flavors like the poutine with short rib gravy. 

I'll definitely be wanting to visit Lilly's again, and when I do I hope there's a picnic table waiting for me. Somehow in that space we were transported back in time to some kind of childhood where the food is even better than you remembered it and you're made to feel right at home.

Lilly's Craft and Kitchen

675 9th Avenue

New York, New York

https://lillyscraftandkitchennyc.com

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Jersey Art Matters!

Andre Russell has a new project he's working on, and though I always think his projects are wonderful, this one for some reason really strikes a chord in me. I first saw a post about the project on Instagram which is mostly where I find out about what Andre is doing unless I happen to see him at Mana Contemporary which has been much rarer these days and hasn't been for a long while because of the way all of our lives have changed since the world changed so drastically in March of 2020. But through all of the changes and challenges of this past year and a half, Andre kept working away, helping Gary Lichtenstein Editions to set up an off site screen printing machine in their pop up shop in DUMBO and continuing to work on his own screen printing design projects and those of others.

When I first met Andre, he was printing images on t-shirts and clothing for Only The Arts, his own company that he started to celebrate the arts in the area. He has also designed logos and images and postcards and announcements and programs for ESKFF and other arts organizations and Artists. This new project is celebrating New Jersey as a whole through a series of portraits Andre is taking with people wearing hats he designed with the simple yet powerful logo he created that says "Jersey" with the lettering and word written in a way that is a statement of fact and one that has presence. His skills as a photographer and videographer are excellent, and so his videos and photographs that go along with the project are works of art in themselves. When I first saw the posts about the project and that he was having a pop up art show and shop, I wanted to go see because I knew he was up to something special as he always is.

I hadn't seen him in a while, and when I stopped by the pop up shop and saw how he had arranged the space and his work within it, I felt as if I was walking into another world and one that I wanted to stay in and visit often. He has art prints and limited editions and also the originals for sale of his "Pieces of Paradise" series along with the "Jersey" hats and t-shirts, and there are two large, striking "Jersey" diptychs. Everything in the space was meticulously designed and crafted, and when he walked me through sheer vinyl curtains printed with his "Pieces of Paradise" to the second room I felt like I was on a beautiful adventure. And I was. On the wall of that inner room were a series of prints on black foam board of the portraits he has been taking for the Jersey Matters project. His goal is to find a way to have them printed on the durable all weather vinyl cloth that he was using for curtains in the show and shown prominently in an area such as the Powerhouse Arts District in Jersey City on a chain link fence. He has taken photographic portraits of many local area people, Artists such as Mustart and local business owners. That day he took my portrait wearing a Jersey hat and it is a treasure and a favorite of mine of all of the portraits that have been done of me over the years.

There's something about this project that strikes to the heart of what we all need to hear because underneath the hats and t-shirts, it says that we matter. It's not just about Jersey, it's about the people. Andre is hoping that with publicity the idea can move throughout the country and the world, to help us all see that it's the people who make place and that those people and those places, wherever and whoever they are, matter. As we talked that day and over the days after, he started to develop the idea even further. In a reflection of his original identifying company name is Only The Arts, he began to add the word Art to Jersey Matters and to share the message that Jersey Art Matters. It's the people, it's the place, it's the Art, it's Jersey, it's Miami, it's Boston, it's Portland. It's you, it's me, it's what we do and who we are. Wherever we are and whatever we do, our business, our art and our own self expression matters and helps make the world a place where we all can thrive.

Jersey Matters

Pop Up Shop and Art Show

Created By Andre Russell

https://www.instagram.com/onlythearts_

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Princess Dreams

The first time I went to Angelina Patisserie was when I was in Paris for Fashion Week almost 20 years ago. I was visiting with the Belgian Couture Designer Jean Paul Knott and staying in his Atelier, and one of the young women who was working there as an Assistant for the Fashion Week show asked me one day if I had ever been to Angelina's. I never had, and she said that the next time she could take some time away she'd take me there. Paris Fashion Week is busy and exhausting, and there isn't often a moment that we can find to relax, but one afternoon the Assistant who had told me about Angelina's found me and said if we were quick we could just make it there and back again before she would be needed again. We ran outside giggling like school girls skipping class, and made our way to Angelina's. I didn't know what to expect but I knew when I saw it that it would be lovely, and it was so more than that.

The hot chocolate at Angelina Paris is to my taste the finest and best anywhere. That afternoon we had it at a table, served in a hot chocolate pot with fresh whipped cream to add as much of as we wanted to. It was so delicious that I made a point of going back again, and of buying bags of it to bring home. In those days flying was so much easier, and a sealed bag of chocolate was not a problem to bring with you at all. Soon after that flying became more difficult, and carrying anything with you other than small personal items and clothing was no longer allowed. In recent years I checked online a few times to see if it was possible to order the bags of chocolate to be sent, but the shipping was so high that it seemed too much of an extravagance. And then one day I read in one of the newsletters I get that Angelina Paris was opening in New York City. If I remember rightly it was originally slated to open in the fall of 2019, but the date was pushed forward, and then of course the world as we know it changed and things were closing rather than opening, but I kept checking and I did see that there was still a plan for it to open. I walked by the location where it was listed that it would be opening a few times, and on one visit I saw a sign that said the name I remembered. Then at some point a little while after that, when I checked again online I saw they had opened. It was during a time when I still wasn't traveling much into Manhattan, but I was planning to go as soon as I could find the time. One afternoon when things had begun to open up a bit more and I was feeling much freer, I stopped by after another appointment and when I walked in I was so happy to see tins of the chocolate lining the shelves and desserts in the glass case with the signature writing on the labels that I remembered so well and had missed for so long. That day was a very hot one, and I didn't have enough time to go back to the salon and sit, so I bought a tin of chocolate to take home and when the very pleasant man who was serving behind the counter suggested that I could try iced hot chocolate I did and found a new favorite thing for hot summer months.

I returned a few weeks later to have lunch one afternoon, and to try their ice cream which I've not had before. When I looked at the menu there were so many wonderful things that I could have ordered anything and been delighted, and I chose a lobster roll which came unexpectedly with a small cup of Lobster Bisque, something I love and that reminded me instantly of visiting Rumpelmeyers on 57th Street years before with my Mother. I hadn't realized that there was a relationship between Angelina's and Rumpelmeyers until I started doing my research when I wanted to find a way to get that wonderful hot chocolate in New York, and Rumpelmeyers was closed at that point. To find myself at this new Angelina Paris in New York with a Lobster Bisque as lovely as my sweetest memories was a blessing I hadn't dreamed of. When the sundae came it was so special and the ice cream so fresh and creamy and flavorful that I posted a photograph describing it and saying it made me feel like a princess. Served with a small pitcher of hot chocolate to pour over it, this was delicious ice cream brought to another level, with rich flavors and textures and a hint of warmth bring out the softer side of the ice cream and making a moment of flavorfilled memory that was as special as the times with my mother all those years ago.

Angelia Paris is a special and delightful place to visit, and now that there is one in New York City I plan to visit as often as I can. Whether for lunch, dinner, brunch, or an afternoon hot or iced hot chocolate with a pastry, any time I can find myself at Angelina will be a lovely one.

Angelina Paris USA

1050 6th Avenue

New York City

  https://www.angelinaparisusa.com

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Beautiful Soul

Pamela Lubell is an Artist of so many different types of art that it is hard to think of how to write about her. I could talk about her film making, her producing, her videos, her photographs, or her mixed media pieces and sculptures, her paintings, found object creations and work with sustainability. There's also the evenings she puts together with music and friends and musicians, singing and playing and food and art, events she calls PamJams that bring together so much joy that it's nearly impossible to leave even when you know it's getting later and later and you have a long way home.

I met Pamela in 2019 at a gallery opening a friend invited me to that he was a part of. He had introduced me to the owners of the gallery and as I was speaking with them Pamela and her boyfriend James arrived with another friend and we were introduced. As I took photographs later on and I asked if I could photograph them, we started talking a bit, and when Pamela asked me what I did and I began to tell her about my many hats, she said, "And you're a nice person." I think perhaps that was the moment the friendship began, because I could tell she was a nice person and it's such a good feeling to have someone who is nice think that you're nice too.

It's a strange thing to say, but it sometimes feels like it's rare to meet people who are genuinely interested in other people. It's not that people are not nice, but after the initial getting to know each other, something often happens that begins to open up the flow of how the relationship will go, and we might find ourselves feeling a bit swamped by the other person or pushed a bit to the side by their agenda. There's none of that with Pamela, just good intentions and good times, a positive outlook and a creative spirit that is open to sharing ideas and inspiration and making a place at the table for everyone.

Recently I went to an opening of a group show she was a part of, and as I walked across Broome Street which had been my familiar neighborhood for so long that it still feels like home I began to think of all of the people and parties and events I've been to in that area over the years. When I arrived at the space, there were people all around and a DJ playing music that flowed with the people out into the street. It was a beautiful event and a beautiful evening, and Pamela's artwork was the first work I saw as I walked in the door. It made the entrance and caught the eye as Pamela herself does wherever she goes, and brought inspiration and a creative integrity mixed with layers of visual and tactile surprises to the party. Pamela herself is a surprise like that, a beautiful Artist with a beautiful soul to match.

Pamela Lubell

At The Opening Of A Group Show

With Strada

At 329 Broome Street

New York City

https://www.strada.world

With James Hammond

Blessings,

Jannie Susan