Tomorrow is August...Our New Season is On the Way!

Dear Lovely People (and you know who you are...our customers!)

I'm tempted to say "Oh my gosh, it's already AUGUST!!! Time flies!! Where did the summer go???" But I'm not going to do that...

As many of you know, I am quite the optimist (even when it comes to government and the stock market and other not-so-easy-to-be-a-card-carrying-optimist institutions).

I don't mind getting older one bit and I'm quite proud of my age (I was born when Harry S. Truman was President; luckily, he's one of my favorite Presidents...Lincoln is another...glad I wasn't born when he was President)... Well, as I've thought (and undoubtedly said) many times, there is only one alternative to growing old...and we all know what that is...so while you're alive, live! Enjoy! Go out! Read good books! See good movies! Eat good food! Meet good people! Have fun! Come to ArtsEcho! (Had to get that in...)

And that includes living every hot and sweaty August day (like tomorrow)...and every slippery, frozen-fingered snowstorm and every drenching rain (although, come ON, enough is eNOUGH already)...

We are planning our wonderful new season. It includes our upcoming Fashion Show (which may be a contest with emerging designers and will definitely feature many of our wonderful customers who will model), our upcoming Spanish Conversation Hora (no, we won't be dancing the Hora, that's hour in Spanish for you anglos like me), the continuation of Knitty Gritty in Union City with the charming Toni Figaro, another photo contest(!) for the holiday season...and the amazing Danza Nova Quintet in December.

So it's very exciting here at ArtsEcho and I am so glad to be alive.

Warm regards,

Sandra and the ArtsEcho team: Lil, Judy, Crystal, Ben, Arianna, Allison, Jackie (still in El Salvador) and Liz.

The Roses Are Magnificent This Year...(but so is the poison ivy!)

Dear Friends:

Well, we had the loveliest evening here on Wednesday night for the "Roses of Hudson County" Photo Contest Award Ceremony. We had roses galore and people galore and food galore, great magic, great songs in our rose singalong, and great fun! I had a wonderful time (and I hope everyone else did, too).

The First Prize winner was Mark Elliott, whose "Yellow Rose on Hudson Street" in Hoboken was exquisite. Second Prize went to Eileen Gaughan of Jersey City, a former flower shop owner (she knows her roses...or maybe, she knowses her roses...I know, I know, sorry) and Third Prize to Mickey Parani of Union City. The amazing Margaret Steele, magician extraordinaire, did rose magic tricks (how cool is that?). Our own incredible Judy Bro took time out from her ArtsEcho grantwriting to play and sing rose songs in a singalong with the entire audience (and when Judy tells you to sing...you cannot help but sing...and love it!) Ronn Yedidia, our musical director played a wonderful medlley of well-known songs about...let's see now...oh yes, roses (there are thousands of songs with the word "rose" in them...almost like the songs in Spanish with the word "corazon" which seems to be in EVERY song I hear). I baked my famous secret-recipe cheesecake, this time with rose petal topping. In short...a good time was had by all!! We'll have all of the photos up on our website this week.

Have you noticed that the roses are still blooming everywhere? They usually finish blooming by the 3rd week in June. I have NEVER seen a thing like it in the middle of July...EVER! But, then again, I've never seen a June that thought it was a rainy April. And that's not all...July seems to think it's May! Or maybe even October...this week we had someone in the store in a coat! I kid you not...a coat in July...

So....those glorious roses in pink, red, yellow, lavendar, that LOVE lots of water and coolish weather, just keep on blooming! Yay!

But here's the iffy part...it's not only the roses that love these conditions. In my (very) early morning walks throughout Weehawken and Union City I have seen more POISON IVY than I have EVER seen before. Lush, green, shiny, thriving, THREE-LEAVED, itchy, nasty, awful Poison Ivy. When I was manning (well, womanning) the Master Gardener Hotline in Bergen County several years ago, many of our calls were from people with poison ivy in their gardens and rashes all over their bodies. It's no joke. Since we are in an urban environment many people have never seen PI and don't know how dangerous it can be...but it's all over and it's BAD!

So check out this link and prepare to smell the roses and not get anywhere near the the poison ivy!

http://www.plantsgalore.com/articles/images/weeds/poison-ivy.jpg

(Anyone itching??? I start itching just thinking about it...)

Warm (and somewhat scratchy) regards,

Sandra and the ArtsEcho team, Lil (off to Washington, DC tomorrow), Judy, Arianna, Jackie (who sends regards from El Salvadore), Liz (from Wisconsin) and Allison

Michael Kors, eat your heart out...

Dear Friends:

Thousands and thousands of pieces of wonderful clothing...made every day. Created by the finest designers in the world from the best FABRIC.

Sometimes the clothing is purchased and worn and loved and cherished...and sometimes...it just stays in a box in a storeroom until it is out of style...and after all, fashion is all about style.

That's where we at ArtsEcho Galleria come in. With our new label, ArtsEcho Design, we are gleaning the finest fabric (sometimes by the best designers, hence the title of this message) and we are starting to use their gorgeous fabric to make trendy, updated, upcycled fashion (often combining fabrics, lace, buttons, etc. from several designers as in Yves St. Laurent meet Betsey Johnson) while promoting the renewable-ness of Mother Earth at the same time.

That's the concept of "fashion upcycling"...using existing fabric to create a totally new, trendy, wonderful and desirable garment. Here at ArtsEcho, we are at the forefront!

With warm regards,

Sandra and the ArtsEcho team, Lil, Judy, Crystal, Jackie, Arianna, Allison & Liz

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Don't forget this Wednesday, July 22 at 7pm we are having the Award Ceremony for the "Roses of Hudson County" photo contest. Great food! Great prizes! Great photos! Great neighbors! Great gallery! Great food! (did I say that...it's all based on roses!)

So many of you have told me that you enjoy reading my humble (undoubtedly) weekly emails that I have started a BLOG!! You see what you did?

If you want to read more, please go to:

http://artsechogalleria.blogspot.com

and you will find me there writing about life, Albert Einstein, art, artists, fashion, gardening and other goodies!

And please comment!