Archive of ‘Jersey City Families’ category

Central Avenue Auto & Music Show [Saturday, May 20th]

The Central Avenue Auto & Music Show returns for its 3rd year this Saturday, May 20 from 11am-5pm in Central Avenue’s municipal parking lot (b/t Lincoln and Bowers).

Display cars will be provided by Latino Automative Business Services, who is hosting the event in partnership with CASID, but anyone is allowed to enter their own classic and exotic cars for a chance to win a prize.

Local performers will be providing musical entertainment, while vendors will be selling goods and services

The event is free and open to all ages – kids’ activities include face paintings, balloons and giveaways.

Vroom vroom,
JCG

 

Rainy Day Ideas: Jersey City

rainy_day

ART GALLERIES! Almost every hot spot on the block in Jersey City is featuring works of local artists on their walls. Or on their buildings, or had a wall made in their shop, or hosted shows in historic buildings. But there is more in art homes: Mana Contemporary, Art House Productions, Panepinto Galleries, Jersey City Art School, Hewes Art Center, etc. Add yours in the comments section.

PAGE-TURNER READS! Finish a book in a day!  Kill me Janet Evanovich or—the owner of my childhood homeHarlan Coben. And Lawrence Sanders. All my summer reads. Even sitting at…

COFFEE & TEA LOCALES! Is it just me or is people-watching at Vogue CafeDames Coffee Espresso Bar, Dulce de LecheMod Cup Coffee, Sam a.m., Beechwood CafeTea NJBWE, Lackawanna, The CliffShort GrainChoc-O-Pain (who is opening yet another location on Palisade Ave.), Congress Station, Ground Connectionand a plethora of other places in this city just so fun? I mentally write a story about each person that passes by.

MAKE OUT IN THE RAIN! I am guilty guilty guilty of this. No lover? Just being caught in thunderstorms with friends can brew creativity. Staying dry tactics, protecting clothes or electronics, what now? It’s an opportunity to learn. Dance in the rain, run in the rain (if it’s not a thunderstorm; safety first), puddle hop. Rain can be refreshing and freeing. Added bonus for allergies: it cleans the air.

PAINT IT OUT, OR COLOR! If Cork & Canvas is booked, you have adults and kids coloring books. (My faves for this occasion are Four Seasons by Aiko Fukawa & Barbie’s Spring Into Style). Just get the right pencils for the former and the gel metallic crayons for the latter. Materials make a difference! Or make a vision board out of magazine pictures. Or make something, anything! You have everything you need in your house to create. Look around and get creative.

HOME SPA: Scrubs, facemasks, manis, pedis and massages. My fave products:
Arbonne Awaken Sea Salt Scrub. This has changed my life (or really, that of my hands and feet)
Freeman’s Avocado & Oatmeal Face Mask
Rid Redness & Acne
Hair treatments
Homemade body scrub for skin

ORGANIZE: Cleaning out a drawer or a closet can be a relaxing ritual. Start with a small space so you don’t get overwhelmed, and then either be motivated to tackle bigger spaces or be inspired to do something else by something you find. If you have a creative mind, the act of it and the finding of something you forgot about will trigger some greats ideas. I promise!

MAD LIBS: Hey, you can play by yourself!

CARDS: Again, you can always play solitaire. If you need competition, I will beat you at spit any day. Try me.

SPEAKING OF CARDS: Buy some nice stationery and bring the handwritten note back! Who doesn’t love mail? Put some real effort and thought into those you love. Or get real with Hold Fast Industries (read my article in the Jersey City Independent this summer).

LISTEN TO MUSIC: Create a new playlist if you like anything for your next outdoor workout in sunnier skies. I’m all about Beyonce’s Lemonade right now, as if I wasn’t about everything Bey anyway for all of time. But now that Google Music has bought Songza, you have no excuse to hear an extreme variety of unsolicited music around the world and in your own backyard. They just #catertoyou.

HELLO! SPORTS: Put that new playlist to use while lifting weights at BLINK or stairclimbing at BASE. Then there’s indoor swimming at Pershing Field, the Local Barre and HipFit classes with Laura in the Brunswick Center.

BUY LOCAL, BE UNIQUE: Vintage: How Very or Another Man’s Treasure. For boutique, Vivi Girl Shop and Tia’s, of course.

MOVIES & SHOPPING: I not a huge fan of either, but I’ve found in my most stressed-out times, escaping to the Newport Mall just to walk around, (and maybe buy pretty, frilly things & specialty items at Sephora, Vicky’s and Lush) or—more recently—going to its newly renovated Loews AMC has actually helped me rejuvenate.

MOVIES AGAIN! OnDemand, Netflix and Redbox.

 

YAAAAS, I did. Enjoy,
JCG

 

Harsimus Cove Stoop Sale [This Sunday]


On Sunday, May 7th, Harsimus Cove is hosting their first neighborhood-wide stoop sale. And it will be big – over 30 households are participating.

Even better, a portion of earnings are being donated to the Church World Service to help refugee families in Jersey City. So you can get a little something while giving a little something back to the community.

Check it out from 10am-4pm. More details here.

 

Shop [very] local for a great cause = win//win!
JCG

Jersey City Farmers Markets 2017

farmersmarket

Here are the schedules for this season’s farmers markets in Jersey City, kicking off today at the Grove Street PATH Plaza.

Create your dinner around local produce and specialty foods, while also checking out unique items like handcrafted soaps and kitchen tools. Some markets even offer cooking classes, children’s activities, live music and free yoga on certain dates.

Go for the fun and to find information about community programs and other initiatives happening in your micro community of Jersey City. Meet your local vendors, your neighbors (and their pets!), and be involved with the greater picture of the development of Jersey City in 2017.

Grove Street
Monday and Thursday 4-8pm
(May-December)
Grove PATH Plaza

Exchange Place
Tuesday 3-8pm
(May-December)
Harborside Plaza 5

Journal Square
Wednesday and Friday 11am-7pm
(June-November)
Journal Square PATH Plaza

Paulus Hook
Saturday 10am-4pm
(May-Thanksgiving)
Washington St.

The Heights
Sunday 10am-3pm
(May-Thanksgiving)
Riverview-Fisk Park (1 Bowers St.)

Hamilton Park
Wednesday 3-7pm
(May-December)
Hamilton Park (McWilliams @ 8th St.)

Arlington Park
Saturday 10am-2pm
(June-Oct.)
Arlington and Ocean Aves

New Jersey City University
Thursday 4-7pm
(June-November)
110 Culver Ave. (in front of gym)

Lincoln Park
Sunday 10am-3pm
(mid June-November)
Lincoln Park (at the Gazebo)

Van Vorst Park
Saturday 8am-3pm
(May-December)
Van Vorst Park (281 Montgomery St.)

Get your LOCAL on!
JCG

Con Vivo Celebrates Earth Day [This Sunday!]

Con Vivo Music will celebrate Earth Day weekend with a unique performance of “Not Less Than the Good,” a 60-minute musical sunrise and celebration of morning as embraced by Henry David Thoreau in “Walden” at the Barrow Mansion (83 Wayne St.), this Sunday at 6pm. The concert is free; all ages welcome.

“Not Less Than the Good” simulates a sunrise by combining the meditative playing of the saxophone quartet with ambient synthesizers. The music grows from a single quiet note, adding notes and timbres, growing in fullness and depth, much like the literature does with words (Ed. note: I’m only making that comparison because I wrote a term paper on “Walden” while at NYU).

Underneath this are real, pre-recorded sounds during the pre-dawn and early morning hours at Walden Pond: a chorus of insects, the lone song of dawn’s first bird which is joined by others in a raucous counterpoint, and the splashing of morning swimmers.

And keeping even further in trend with Beyonce, the hour-long performance is punctuated by readings of excerpts from “Walden”, considered a secular prayer of hope for enlightenment, that are narrated by poet J. D. McClatchy.

More info here.

 

May your ears be delighted,
JCG

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