Baristanet | Lifestyle

Cheers, Downton Abbey Season 2 = Party At My House

BY Holly Korus | Friday, Feb 17, 2012 4:00pm | COMMENTS (19)

Gone are the parties I use to throw where people came dressed in funky outfits with former Studio 54 personalities getting all sorts of jiggy to loud music until the wee hours of the night (that was so last October). This Sunday, I will be hosting a different kind of Barista party. One with tea, gin, Pimm’s, sausage rolls, Cornish pasties and hand-frosted cookies in the shapes of teapots and maid’s uniforms (not the naughty kind). Now if we can only keep Debbie’s top on at this party.

Calling All Artists: MAM Wants You

BY Carolyn Maynard-Parisi | Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 12:22pm | COMMENTS (0)

The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is currently accepting applications from artists for Collecting Art: An Affordable Art Fair. Selected artists will be able to offer their works for prices under $500 to promote the affordable collecting of contemporary art for visitors to the Museum.

The fair will be held on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. MAM will be offering free admission to the Museum galleries on Saturday and admission to Collecting Art is also free. This will mark the third time the museum hosts this popular event.

To download the formal application, click here. Artist applications will be accepted until April 2, 2012.

Come Va la Vita Sentimentale?

BY Holly Korus | Friday, Feb 10, 2012 3:07pm | COMMENTS (25)

As the Cole porter song says. “When Italians meet a friend who’s been away,
Instead of sayin’ “How’s your health?”
They say–How’s your romance?”

Romance is without a doubt a very subjective topic. If you believe the goods they are peddling on the tube these days everyone should run to the mall and buy their special someone a trinket designed by Dr. Quinn (aka Jane Seymour). This year, her special design is in the shape of a….wait for it….. HEART.

What says romantic and heart-felt more than bobbles cranked out for the masses that you saw on the telly? (No thanks, I’ll pass.) The peddlers will even tell you what letter symbolizes love and how it begins. Thank you, TV, for always keeping me enlightened. Continue Reading

Raisa Nosova’s Unique Art

BY Christina Gillham | Friday, Feb 10, 2012 1:34pm | COMMENTS (0)

Watch the video of Raisa Nosova’s iPad animation below and tell me you are not mesmerized.

Nosova, a classically trained painter who grew up in Russia, has been showing her work in her first solo exhibition (recently extended to March 4) at Gallery 51. Most of her work is traditional painting, but recently she began experimenting with iPad Brushes software and came up with these unique computer-generated paintings.

Chocolate Covered and Sexy in Montclair

BY Holly Korus | Wednesday, Feb 08, 2012 1:00pm | COMMENTS (43)

You just read the headline and thought this article was about chocolate covered sex or people who have sex in chocolate didn’t you? Nice. The day of hearts, flowers, chocolate and odd fat babies with adult looking faces holding a bow and a heart-tipped arrow is fast approaching next week, and you have no clue what to buy for those special people in your life. Here are four stores that embody everything wonderful about retail. Every one of these store owners has PASSION about their store and what they carry, and they make shopping locally a pleasure. Continue Reading

Valentines Contest: How Did You Meet Your Sweetie?

BY Debbie Galant | Tuesday, Feb 07, 2012 11:41am | COMMENTS (38)

My original job-hunting letter, framed and presented by my honey on our 25th wedding anniversary.

UPDATE: An extra prize!

Here’s my story: 1983. I had finished graduate school in North Carolina and was looking for jobs in New York, collecting names of everybody and anybody in the journalism business. Someone gave me the name of AP Radio’s correspondent in New York, who had worked at WCHL in Chapel Hill a few years before I got there. My very first Monday in New York I called him. Twice. When we met for lunch that Thursday, I asked if he knew anyone who used freelancers. He did. I started working for him, doing five-minute radio features for $25 a pop, and was charmed by the news poems he recited from memory in his radio studio. The rest, as they say, is history.

FUZE Fitness Studio Opens in Montclair

BY Christina Gillham | Friday, Jan 20, 2012 9:00am | COMMENTS (0)

There’s a new fitness studio in town. Self-described “fitness fanatic” Maria Kyriakakis and her husband, Pedro Goncalves, opened FUZE Fitness Studio in September, offering classes in Zumba, women’s self defense, and Eagle Claw Kung Fu.

We’re all familiar with the hot new workout craze Zumba by now, and women’s self defense needs no explanation. But what exactly is Eagle Claw Kung Fu? According to Wikipedia, it’s an ancient “style of Chinese martial arts known for its gripping techniques, system of joint locks, takedowns, and pressure point strikes.” (Yikes.)

The Best Kept Secret on Bloomfield Ave.

BY Holly Korus | Tuesday, Jan 17, 2012 1:53pm | COMMENTS (12)

Recently, I became addicted to the PBS series Downton Abbey. More than the scandal and intrigue, for me, it is all about the clothes. It seems attention to detail, fabric and line has become a lost art form in haute couture for the masses. Why any tee shirt should cost more than $30 is beyond me.

Thankfully we have a rare jewel right here in Baristaville that carries just this type of detailed clothing and accessories. Speakeasy Vintage is one of the most fantastic stores I have ever discovered and recently I met Baristanet fan and reader Jersey Girl at the store. I believe the first words out of her mouth were,” I want half of this store. Seriously I am not kidding!” Continue Reading

Teaching Yoga the Right Way

BY Christina Gillham | Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 9:00am | COMMENTS (8)

Two recent articles in the New York Times Magazine and New York magazine have posited an unlikely theory: Yoga may be bad for you. The Times article clearly hit a nerve—days after it was published online last week, it still hovers in the top ten “most viewed” and “most emailed” categories.

According to the Times article, many yoga practitioners—and even their teachers—are injuring themselves “in droves because most have underlying physical weaknesses or problems that make serious injury all but inevitable.”

To Rebecca Bergstrom of Yoga Desha, the fact that yoga may do more harm than good was not breaking news. “A lot of people are getting hurt doing yoga,” she tells Baristanet. “It’s a big secret.”

Cheer Up Your House With Winter Blooms

BY Holly Korus | Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012 12:00pm | COMMENTS (0)

Dear Holly,
I am writing you because I am a plant and I can’t talk. I see you looking at me disdainfully out of the corner of your eye. Just one month ago I was gorgeous, with my flaming red leaves (please just give me a tiny bit of respect and stop calling my bracts ‘petals’) and a full set of thriving green leaves. Now here I am half naked and with my straggly stems showing. Please don’t gaze upon me with such pity. I can’t take it. So take me to the compost bin, and toss me aside like you did to the CHRISTMAS tree. Just please make it quick and painless.

Respectfully,
Your poinsettia,
Euphorbia Pulcherrima Continue Reading