An Abundant Life - Excellence With A Purpose

I received an invitation to an event in Brooklyn at a venue that had been transformed into The House of the Macallan. For a short time a number of years ago I had lived in the area where the event was being held, and I was interested to travel back there and have a sort of memory lane experience. The venue itself was interesting, the former Williamsburg Bank Building, and Macallan is a brand that I've always enjoyed so it seemed like something that would be fun and interesting to attend.

From the moment I walked up to the building, the experience promised itself to be a very special one and it was more than I had imagined. Outside the building, very pleasant and professional, elegant representatives wearing stylish black showed the way into the building, and once inside another lovely representative offered to take photographs of the guests in front of the Macallan backdrop at the entryway. From there we were shown the way through a beautiful garden that had been planted on the first floor, with beautiful views and aromas that led up to the area where the first cocktail was being served and explained. The presentation was very special and the beauty of it encouraged us to sip and enjoy it while we wandered through the garden meadow and relaxed.

From that first lovely area we were directed up to the second level where what was described as the full experience had been installed. Inside the main hall there were excellent hors d'oeuvres and a large bar area that made the space feel welcoming and enjoyable. There was another area just to the side of that for a tasting room, and within all of the spaces there was information about not only the beverage we were tasting, but about the history of the company including their focus on sustainability and community education and service.

What I had thought would be a pleasant trip was more than I had expected, and as I made my way home I kept thinking about how much I had enjoyed myself and what a lovely evening it had been. It was such a special experience and I have even more respect for the company than I did before. I'm looking forward to finding out more and connecting with them in the work that I do in the community in the areas of sustainability and education that mean so much to me.

   

At The House Of The Macallan

Brooklyn, New York

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - A Neighborhood Treasure

Last summer when I was walking one evening on Ogden Avenue in Jersey City Heights, I saw two people standing outside of one of the houses that always has wonderful displays for every holiday. When I say wonderful, I don't use that term lightly, because these displays are full of wonder and joy and light and life. The front yard area is not very large, but it is so overflowing with good cheer that it feels like a world of its own. There are installations that are within the installation too, like a holiday village around Christmas time or little areas full of their own special decorations within the larger beautiful display of holiday messages, and often there is music that goes with the holiday theme.

As I walked along and saw the two people, at first I thought they were the owners of the house who were looking over their display and perhaps adding some touches to it, but then when I got closer I saw that it was two people who were admiring the decorations and were so overjoyed by what they were seeing that they were almost dancing with delight. I stopped and said hello and something along the lines of isn't it great, and then somehow or other it became clear that these two people had not seen this house or this display before. We began to talk a bit and I found out that one of them lived in the area, but hadn't lived in the neighborhood for very long, and the other was visiting from another country and had just arrived not long before our meeting. I told them about the house and that though I didn't know the owners, I always walked by when I could to see what new wonderful decorations they had installed for the holiday.

I became friendly with the two people I met, and discovered that they are both Artists. Because of our meeting that night, one of them, Marcio Donasci, did live painting at YES Gallery for the second show that opened during the Hoboken Art Walk and Studio Tour weekend last fall, and his paintings are now at the gallery. After he left to go travel a while to be with his family, I sent him photographs and a video of the house when it was decorated for Christmas. His response to me was that this is performance art, and I agree that it is and that it is of the best kind their is because it makes everyone who sees it stop and smile at least for a moment if not for very much longer.

On Friday evening as I walked past, I saw one of the owners of the house finishing up decorations for Memorial Day, and I was able to stop and thank him and tell him about the story of meeting Marcio and how much he had enjoyed the installation. It was so nice to be able to let the owner know how much light and life his decorations bring and that there are so many of us who are able to smile as we walk by because of the wonderful vision he has to decorate so lavishly and celebrate the holidays with joy.

Christmas Time Decorations

On Ogden Avenue

Jersey City Heights, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Sensory And Sensational

I've written about the gorgeous Haut Parfum Designer Shalini in these pages before, and also have written about the marvelous Chef Ashfer Biju and the Marvelous Pierre Hotel and Restaurant Perrine where he has been the Executive Chef for many years filled with excellence. On several occasions I've had the wonderful opportunity to visit The Pierre and Perrine, and to experience the wonderful food Chef Ashfer Biju creates there, and I've also had the beautiful experience of meeting Shalini and experiencing her Haut Parfum line at events at The Pierre. A few weeks ago when I heard from Shalini that there would be a very special Chefs Social Club Dinner at The Pierre with Chef Ashfer Biju's food paired with and inspired by scents from a variety of Shalini's Haut Parfums, I knew it would be an experience that I would not want to miss.

The evening was held in the Rotunda, which is such a lovely room in itself that anything that happens there seems like a dream. Everything from the flowers to the arrangements as usual were so beautiful and artfully arranged that every moment was filled with a sense of the most lovely and arresting moments that life has to offer. The food was marvelous as always, with each of the five courses paired with wonderful wines and a scent of one of Shalini's pur parfums. We were seated on a long and luxurious banquet table and truly it felt as if we were in some very special and magical land.

Each course as it was served looked so beautiful, and everything was prepared with such care and time to insure the most enjoyable evening possible. The entire experience was such a special and memorable one that it will live on in my memories as a culinary and sensory highlight.

Chefs Social Club

At The Pierre Hotel

With A Menu By

Executive Chef Ashfer Biju

Paired With And Inspired By

Scents From The Full Line Of

Shalini Haut Parfum

shaliniparfum.com

instagram.com/shaliniparfum

Champagne Taittinger

To Begin The Evening

Hudson Valley Steelhead Trout Crude

Paired With Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2021 

And Shalini Haut Parfum Fleur Japonais

Spice Roasted Magret Of

Long Island Duck

Paired With Bethel Heights Estate Eola-Amity Hills 2021 

And Shalini Haut Parfum Jardin Nocturne

Cleanse Course Of Sakura Sorbet

Paired With Duval Leroy Brut Rosé

Angus Beef - Bordelaise Short Ribs And Filet

Paired With Chianti Classico Tenota di Nozzole Riserva 2019

And Shalini Haut Parfum Amorem Rose

Apricot Olive Oil Cake

Paired With Heymann-Lowenstein Riesling Schiefferterrassen Mosel

And Shalini Haut Parfum Vanille Rêve

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

     

An Abundant Life - A Walk Around Town

Just as I was getting ready to begin preparations for installing the new show at YES Gallery a few weeks ago, I was introduced to one of the lovely women who founded the organization Main Street Pops. I had met two of the women a few years ago when they had organized a Christmas Market near the PATH Station in Hoboken that a friend had invited me to, and at the time we had spoken about the work that I do with Artists and the shows I had been curating in the same building where the market was. But that was in 2019, and of course in a few months the world as we know it was turned completely into something else, and though I occasionally had seen or heard that they were beginning to do some events and pop ups again, I hadn't had the chance to speak with them since that time when we first met.

Last November, during the Hoboken Art Walk and Studio Tour weekend when I opened the second show at YES Gallery, the two women I had met before walked in the door of the gallery on one of the days and began speaking with me about some of the events they were planning for the future. There was an event that they told me was named Through The Windows which was a citywide Art Walk and celebration, and I remembered seeing some of the signage the year before. Now that I have a gallery full of art and large windows and a door with a window that opens onto the street, they suggested the idea of the gallery participating in Through The Windows and I agreed that it sounded wonderful. After speaking a bit more about some of the other projects they were working on, they took my business card and were planning on following up with me for a longer visit, but somehow time went by and I didn't hear from them and with everything else that has been filling up my schedule and taking my attention I thought that perhaps it had already happened and I'd somehow missed it. But then I attended the event in support of Commissioner Anthony L. Romano, and one of the members of his staff introduced me to the one founder of the organization Main Street Pops who I hadn't met yet, and so the dots were connected and I was able to participate in this wonderful event that began on May 1.

For six weeks, businesses throughout Hoboken will have artwork from local Artists in their windows, and there was an opening celebration citywide with parties at several of the venues on May 3. There will also be tours and other events throughout the weeks from May 1 - June 15, and each business that is showing artwork was given a sign to put on the sidewalk out front to identify that there is artwork in the windows. As a gallery, this is such a wonderful experience, because nearly every piece of art can be seen through the front windows and door, and when people arrive they are always so excited because there is so much art to be seen. I had a party on the evening of the citywide opening celebration, and one of the wonderful musicians from Ocean Channel, the wonderful band that performed at the opening of the current show, put together two acoustic sets to play and sing solo for the event. His name is Jack, but his solo performance name is Visionary Module, and it was such a beautiful blessing to have him at the gallery to play live music for the celebration.

Right before the end of April I had found a street sign from another business that had been left on the sidewalk as a giveaway when they closed, and I took it to YES Gallery and gave it a good washing and drew my own sign and added a quote from my Mother. It was something that she'd said when I was very young that she and I often repeated, "Art can inspire you to do the impossible," and it just seemed right to add it to the sign. I had been planning to paint the name of the gallery and the quote, but I have some chalk that was given to me when I first opened the gallery by the woman who has had the vintage store for many years where the gallery is, and I used the chalk to make the sign. As with everything that happens in that space, somehow it looks just right, and it feels as if it has always been there and was meant to be the sign for YES Gallery.

The opening event for the Through The Windows Art Walk was another wonderful evening. In addition to the wonderful live performance, there is some new art at the gallery that was brought in by the Artist Jeremy Roche who I met through the group Ocean Channel and the musician who has performed at the gallery in the past, Rose Image. For food I chose sweet and savory pastries from a wonderful place where I've gone in the past, The Old German Bakery, and fresh and smoked mozzarella with a variety of antipasti from Fiore's, and there are some lovely flowers that were shared with me after a very special event I attended at The Pierre Hotel that grace the counter top, adding their beauty  to my already existing floral arrangement bouquet that has been an ongoing joy at the gallery. The festival is sponsored by the Hoboken Business Alliance which is also such a wonderful organization and it was so wonderful to have a chance to meet the Executive Director when she stopped by the gallery on the night of the opening celebration. There's so much good that can happen in communities when there are great minds and hearts thinking and working together to make a difference and planning for ways to make life for everyone a better and more beautiful place.

A Look

Through The Windows

At YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Opening Celebration At YES Gallery

With Solo Acoustic Performance

By Visionary Module

A New Sign

At YES Gallery

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Here In This House That Turns Darkness To Light

Last week I wrote about the new show that was opening at YES Gallery, and the opening celebration was so wonderful that I wanted to share a bit about it here now. There have been wonderful shows and openings and events since the beginning of the gallery opening its doors last August, and somehow every show and opening and event just keeps getting better and better. The band Ocean Channel performed at the opening, and they were wonderful that during the sound check I was already so excited by what I was hearing. When they began to play at the celebration it was truly inspiring and so beautiful that everyone kept asking me where I found them and I'd share how they walked in the door one day and asked if I ever had music at the gallery. Their music and their energy and the friends they brought with them added so much to the evening and I am so grateful that they decided to walk into the gallery and that they liked what they saw and wanted to be a part of it.

This time around, as I wrote last week, I found myself in a very new and unexpected position of having to do most of the hanging myself. I hadn't thought it would be possible, but because of the unexpectedness of something that happened, I had no choice but to say a lot of prayers and get up on the ladder and start hanging. Everyone who sees the show keeps telling me its the best one to date, and all I can do is thank God and be grateful that though it seemed impossible, it was made possible for me to do this monumental task by myself and to do it so well that visitors keep telling me how beautiful it is. It really would have been impossible on my own, but with God all things are possible, and it's with so much gratitude that I share some images and videos here of the new show at YES Gallery.

Here In This House That Turns Darkness To Light

YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Ocean Channel Performing

At The Opening Celebration

A Leisurely Walk Through YES Gallery

With "Jackie Gleason Presents Music For Lovers Only"

Playing On My Vintage Stereo

On An Evening After The Opening Celebration

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Finding New Wings

As I have been preparing for each new opening at YES Gallery, more and more I've been curating sections of the space on my own before the Artist who has helped me in the past arrives to begin hanging art with me. I don't like ladders, and so from the very beginning someone I know had been helping me with hanging the work, and I also wanted to make sure that everything was done correctly in order to protect and show the art at its best. But there were some areas that the person who had been helping me wasn't understanding how to work in, and so I had started to do those on my own, and little by little I had done more and more until this time around there wasn't very much left to do except for two big walls and a few other places where I knew pretty much what I wanted, except I didn't want to climb the highest ladder myself to do it.

But in the way that sometimes happens, there was an unexpected shift and the person who has been helping me left much earlier than expected on the first day and on the second day even earlier than that. In the past I would have been completely at a loss, but this time around, though I was surprised by the unexpected change of plans and the absence of the help I thought that I would be having, I decided to just say a lot of prayers and keep on going. It was a very strange experience because the schedule change was such a surprise on both days that it could have completely left me at a loss, but what ended up happening was that I discovered that the ladder was a very stable and excellent one and that I could climb it and do the work I needed to do all by myself. I also had to move around some very heavy and bulky objects and a lot of other smaller objects too because of the decorative aspects of YES Gallery, but even those things were made possible when I just sent prayers up and said in those prayers that this needs to be done so please help me do it.

There was no other way because on the first day the person who had said they'd be helping me left earlier than planned, saying that because we'd be working late the next day it was better to stop earlier which I agreed to though that's not the way we had done it in the past or planned it this time around, and then when the next day came this person left even earlier and completely unexpectedly, when we were in the middle of beginning to work on one major wall where we had taken everything away from so everything was literally in a shambles. So I prayed and climbed the ladder and hauled and lifted and moved and hung and pounded nails and moved the ladder and pounded more nails, shifted things around and moved more things and hauled and put everything back together again. Someone I know was nearby the gallery just as I was getting ready to go and was walking out the door, and when I told her the story and that this the majority of the curating and hanging had been completely done by me, she came into the space and took a look at the walls and said she thought it was the best ever. When she looked at the wall that I had done completely on my own she said, "I love that wall!" It was truly an astonishing experience because I knew that though in the past I wouldn't have thought it was possible, I had hung the artwork in most of the space myself and the places where the person who had been helping me had done some hanging, I had been the one curating and adjusting and making sure things looked the way they needed to look.

Over the next few days more and more people came in to say how much they thought everything was so beautiful, with one very young visitor arriving who said in the way of kids these days that "this is dope!" I have received lots of very positive responses to the gallery at other times before, and many people have told me how beautiful it was, but this time just knowing that it was so much of my own vision and work that people were responding to gave me a feeling of great gratitude to God and joy in being able to do the things that had to be done to create this installation. As I completed the preparations for the opening of the new show, I found that I had to keep adjusting things the other person had done. It was such an odd experience because though I had to do that in some cases before, this time it was almost as if I was seeing everything in a different light. Someone I know had visited the gallery a few weeks ago and said that she knew that I "curated every inch of the place," and she was right. I had thought that the person who was helping me cared as much about the space as I do, but that's impossible because it's my gallery and only I can love it and care for it as much as it needs to be loved and cared for. Someone else could just look at it as a job and that was what was happening with this other person. I'm grateful for the help I had in the past, and I'm grateful for the unexpected change of plans that led me to discover that I could do all these things that I didn't thing were possible. Sometimes other people can help you do the things you want to do, but sometimes they can't because they don't understand your vision. Now that I've found the ways to do the things I was thinking I couldn't, I've found new wings that can help me fly.

A Few Of The Scenes

From The New Show

At YES Gallery

408 6th Street

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Real And True

Two weeks ago I had the honor to attend an event in support of Hudson County Commissioner Anthony L. Romano. As anyone who knows me knows, I am very particular about the people and places I post about and who I give my support to. I am an encourager, and I enjoy being kind and supportive of people and their businesses or professions, but I also know that my word is only as good as my own integrity is, and so when it comes to writing blog posts or posting on Instagram, working with people, inviting Artists to show their work in YES Gallery, showing support and speaking highly of people, I have to really feel and know that the person who I am giving my support to is genuinely someone of excellence.

There are times when I meet someone and I am impressed and over time as I get to know them the more I see and discover and experience, the more impressed I am. Commissioner Romano is one of those people, and not only have I had the experience of seeing for myself that he is someone who can be relied on to really care about people and communities and who wants to do his best to help make the world a better place, but I have heard wonderful things about him from other people who I know are really and honestly great people themselves.

It was such a pleasure to attend the event and see and hear all the wonderful things that were being said about Commissioner Romano from people there who are from so many different areas of the communities in Hudson County. It's such an enjoyable experience to be in a room full of such good people and to be able to celebrate and show support for someone who is so real and true.

An Evening In Support Of

Hudson County Commissioner

Anthony L. Romano

At The Antique Loft

Hoboken, New Jersey

Blessings,

Jannie Susan