Last night at Back to School Night, I sat in on my daughter’s 8th period class and turned to a mom sitting nearby, “This class seems so empty.”

“It’s because of Hillary,” she said.

I was not one of the lucky 1,000 people to score a ticket for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book signing here at our own Watchung booksellers. Apparently, they sold out in an [...]

One of the truly interesting aspects to Montclair is that there are no “neighborhood schools.” I mean, there are schools in various neighborhoods, but the student body of a school does not necessarily hail from the surrounding [...]

I discovered Make Music Day by accident, it somehow having slipped by me for the last few years. In fact, when I walked past the string duet in front of Montclair Local, it still didn’t occur to me that I’d stumbled upon a town-wide event. But then I walked over to watchung booksellers, saw the amps and microphones set up outside the shop, and became more curious.

Make Music Day has been going on in Montclair for the past three years, our own local event inspired by Fete de la Music – a “music holiday” that began in France in 1982 and has become a worldwide phenomenon. Celebrated on the Summer Solstice, Make Music Day is a day-(and night-)long offering of free musical performances all over town.

I got myself a schedule and was even more excited to learn that many of the free evening gigs were taking place on and around Church Street – in other words, all walkable to one another!

The other thing I loved was how many young people were participating.

If you’ve already made your home here, you’ll know that this event feels “so Montclair.” This is an artistic community with a wealth of residents committed to bringing the arts to the public as often and awesomely as possible.

If you’re considering Montclair as your future home, you’ll find that this is just one example of how festively we roll here: free music days, yoga in the street, food fests, jazz fests, art walks, and one of my personal favorites, the bus parade of high school graduates that wends its way through town after the commencement ceremony so that the rest of us can bang pots and scream out our congratulations – a spectacle that can feel like New Year’s Eve.

If you’d like to find out more about Montclair or our also-festive neighboring communities, please reach out. I love showing off my town.

When it comes to 19 Norwood Ave, I’m not sure whether to gush first about the house itself or the location.  

This house is the perfect size for a growing family. Four bedrooms on the second floor (two connected by a sleeping porch that can serve as a playroom!) and a fifth up on the top floor that can accommodate family or guests, 2.5 [...]

There are plenty of things I’m proud of about Montclair. We have a magnet school system that is held up as a national model of how to provide integrated education in a diverse town. We have a volunteer-run online message board that allows thousands of people to provide  recommendations for services or help find the owner of a lost dog. We have an adult school that makes lessons about everything from interview skills to Qigong available to everyone in the community. This is a town that strives to bring people together, and it's a place where people want to be together. One of my favorite examples of this is the Montclair Film Festival.

For 10 days in May, Montclair turns into Movie Heaven. There are screenings everywhere, practically all the time – films that have been at Sundance as well as home-grown gems. The number of people who turn out to volunteer – as ushers, ticket takers, etc. – is amazing. It makes going to the movies a bigger, funner event.

On opening night, I went with friends to see “Step,” a documentary about teen girls from Baltimore whose step dance classes transformed their lives. This is the type of movie that I love, a story that reminds us how strong we can be when we band together for a common goal. There were live steppers who performed before the film and then afterwards, two people from the movie took the stage and spoke. And even though we were at the Wellmont Theater, probably the largest venue at the festival, it felt very intimate. We were all touched.

Before the show, my friends and I had dinner at one of Montclair’s newest additions: The Crosby on Glenridge Avenue. The place was hopping and it was only a short walk to the theater – another thing I love about this town that I may have mentioned once or twice.

So many of my clients come from the city at a time in their lives when they want a bit more space of their own, or maybe to grab a little privacy. But they come here because they want to feel a part of something too. And I’m so proud that Montclair can provide all of that. I don’t think I’m being overzealous when I give us five stars.

The forecast is for snow this weekend, maybe the last of the season. It doesn’t seem like it's going to amount to much, but if it did, my (big) kids would be spending some time on one of Montclair’s sledding hills. You never seem to outgrow sledding.

I remember as a young mother, feeling so grateful to live in a town that had so many sledding options. Because when it’s cold out, the number of outdoor activities for kids really dwindles. In fact, it’s one of the things that worried me about raising kids here versus in the city, where there’s always something to do.

Over the years, things have changed. Now, if one of my clients with young children has the same concern, I could probably talk for an hour  straight about all the things available for kids here -- even in the cold. Sometimes it seems like Montclair was designed for kids.

There are two indoor skating rinks (plus a pond that sometimes freezes deeply enough to safely skate on), an indoor soccer facility and indoor swimming at the YMCA and Montclair State University. There are art classes galore -- at the Montclair Art Museum, Studio Kids Art, and Fern Bass Studio, to name a few. There are two martial arts dojos in town, and more close by. There are two YMCAs in town, one devoted specifically to children and families; two library branches, each with story times and kids programs; and two locations for the renowned Music Together programs as well as a School of Rock.

One of my favorite additions has been the indoor play spaces, such as Kidville and The Little Gym. Those weren’t around when my kids were small. You can take your kids beading, or make some pottery, or even go on a pizza tasting extravaganza – I like Mr. Dino’s, but that preference is often contested in my house.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to take advantage of all the kid-centric offerings here in town. I’ve barely scratched the surface in this post. Feel free to help me out and leave your favorite kid activity in the comments!

I’m not sure exactly when I became so interested in bees. But I do remember the day, a few years ago, at the local farmer’s market getting into a conversation with the honey vendor that kept me rapt for almost an hour.

We talked primarily about hive society and hive politics, but then he started explaining how eating local honey can be beneficial for seasonal allergies. Growing up in New York City, we did not have many local hives in the neighborhood, so it was a bit of a thrill for me to walk out the door the other day and stumble upon a sign for local honey right on my block.

I not only bought a jar, I also learned that many families around town host hives for local beekeepers – usually in exchange for honey. Hives need to be spaced a certain distance from other hives so the bees are not all trying to collect nectar and pollen from the same flowers.

My bee neighbor told me a funny story about how one day a whole swarm of bees came buzzing right down the length of our street, something I’ve never seen in the over 20 years I’ve lived here. He thought they might be coming from Van Vleck House – another beekeeping site – though frankly, I don’t know why they would ever want to leave there; it’s one of the most beautiful public gardens I’ve ever seen.

I love living in a town that is home to an art museum, an indie movie theater, an indoor soccer field, and strategically placed honey bee hives. And even more, I love being able to walk to all of them. If you want to find out more about the magic of living in a walkable suburb, give me a call!

Practically every time I open a magazine or click online these days, I am confronted with hygge. And my first thought is: Finally, someone is speaking my language!

Hygge is a Danish word that's started getting a lot more airplay lately, especially as winter comes upon us. Pronounced hue gah or hoog uh, it’s often translated as a kind of [...]

I just read a piece in the New York Times about how today’s buyers are more interested than ever in homes “close to town,” further supporting my theory that walkability is, in fact, the new black.

On December 16, Marcelle Sussman Fischler writes, “With an uptick in buyers wanting to live within walking distance of restaurants, shops, [...]

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went to see Jim Gaffigan at the Wellmont Theater. If you’re not a Gaffigan fan, all I can say is LOL. This guy is consistently hilarious without being crude and it was the perfect way to de-stress before the holiday.

And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. People young and old were in attendance, which is [...]