Artful Day w/Friends

I can't think of a better way of adding some excitement to the middle of the week then a day out with friends for lunch and exploring. Last week my dearest friends Suze and Bonnie met up with mom and me for lunch in Montclair. If you aren't familiar with Montclair, its a great place to explore, fabulous architecture, boutiques, antique stores, artsy activities, eateries, cafes and more. Look at the following building, I feel like I found the secret entrance to Hogwarts or Diagon Alley, its this kind of architecture that gives the area its unique flare. For me Montclair has some great memories for me, I lived there for a short while as a little girl, then moved on to West Orange and eventually 20 plus years in Maplewood, a town similar to Montclair and one worth exploring as well. We met up at Starbucks now housed in the former Haynes Department Store building and headed up to eat at Famous Raymond's located on Church Street, which is the most fabulous vintage operating deli/diner/cafe serving all types of breakfast and lunch entrees, including fountain drinks, shakes and desserts. The decor is by far my favorite asset of the eatery, art deco class and glamor meets a 1950's essence, all wrapped up into one. The menus are just too fab with seer sucker stripes, the counter guy even had a bow tie on which I thought was too cool, the ceiling is original tin w/hanging bulb lamps, wall mounted art deco lighting, rich red leather booths, sophisticated tables and great food, but the company of Suze, Bonnie, Mom and Me was the best part. After lunch we explored a bit on Church Street and headed over to Madeline's Accessory shop which I love, love, love their trendy jewelry and accessories, plus their prices are really reasonable fitting every budget, even Johanna who can be found at Madeline's is extremely nice, helpful and artsy too. Following Madeline's no trip would be complete without a visit to my friend Nancy at her artsy boutique called Parcel, located on Bloomfield Avenue, just the cutest shop ever with fun and unique items sure to fill any artsy, crafty lovers essential list of fun items, Nancy is even doing more classes now, which is so exciting. Finally we all headed to our cars and started to plan our next adventure, but for Mom and Me, our adventure was not quite over, since we were in the area, we decided to head over to Applegate Farms for some ice cream, a real treat for many of us Jerseans, I've been going to Applegate for years, since I was real young, perhaps even as an infant, lol, such a nostalgic place and great atmosphere to spend some time and unwind before heading back home. I opted for a change and went with green tea ice cream and black raspberry, normally I'm a soft serve vanilla girl w/rainbow sprinkles on a cone, lol, but today I changed it up a bit. Thanks for recapping the day with me, have a wonderful coming week and remember adventure can be found through everyday experiences, a walk in the park, by your house, around your house, within your religion, children, family, friends, pets and art, simple things such as shoes, flowers, books and food. xoxo Lisa xoxo Lisa