All About You
All About You
How many times have you wished you had a butler, or someone to organize your messy office, or anyone to cook for your family instead of you? Your wish is granted!
Personal Concierges
Need a personal assistant to keep your life on track? These experts make it easy.
The Definitive Concierge
241-7841, definitiveconcierge.com
definitiveconcierge@tmail.com
Jeffrey Malamud will do everything from running errands to cooking, maid service, snow plowing, and travel and entertainment arrangements. His basic errand service runs $35 per hour (with unlimited number of errands); other rates vary and include personal assistant services, grocery and gift shopping, car service to T.F. Green and Logan, and personal chef service. The company offers discounts if you buy a membership, with fees based on level of service. Visit Malamud’s website (it’s a gas!) for more detailed information.
GoFor U Errand Services
323-4471, 726-1038, goforu.net
GoFor U advertises itself as “errand services for people, pets and businesses.” An understatement, perhaps, as owner Ann Agostini does everything for you from grocery shopping, errands and dog walking to small business services to meeting the cable guy. Rates start at $17 per hour for pet care and range upward for a dizzying assortment of other services, including party planning and house-sitting. Agostini frequently assembles and delivers care packages for Brown students at the behest of their overanxious parents, and once pulled together three days’ worth of meals for a houseful of guests for Howard Stern. A complete list of services can be found on her website.
Personal Organizers
Has your personal space taken on pack rat status? A pro will restore order out of chaos.
Creative Spaces
398-2586, creativespaces.com
It’s probably way past time to make sense out of that wreck you call your office. Scott Jacobsen can help. For $40-$1,000 (after a free consultation) per linear foot and up, he’ll build you a custom closet that will finally organize your pantry, garage, mudroom, laundry room or home office into submission. He’ll travel anywhere in Rhode Island, as well as southern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut.
Deana Magill
255-9361, Dee47741@cox.net
“You’d be amazed at what people keep!” says Deana Magill, a busy member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Magill will take on any organizational task, from a closet, a kitchen, or a home office to an entire business. Pack rats are welcome. One customer had so many piles of paper in her home office, Magill says, “she was actually looking to buy more tables, so that she had a place to pile more stuff! She still had the title to a car she owned in 1987!” Magill can fix your rat’s nest for a $50 initial consultation fee, and then work out fees ranging from $50 (say, for a closet) to $500 and up for spaces like large offices or kitchens. She’s willing to work for either an hourly rate or a project fee, depending on your comfort level. Supplies are extra (don’t worry, she’ll do the shopping), but cleaning the heck out of your space is included in the job price. Nice!
Personal Shoppers
Love to shop but don’t have the time? Hate to shop and wish someone would do it for you? Here’s free help.
Mel and Me
Garden City Center, Cranston
943-4646
This place has really great women’s clothing, period. Professional outfits, special-occasion clothing; if they don’t have something you like, you must be dead. Don’t let that happen to you! Call Michele (or anyone else on staff) to make an appointment for your personal shopping experience. The clothes will cost you plenty (and they’re worth it), but the service is free.
Nordstrom Personal Touch
Providence Place, Providence
621-3111, nordstrom.com
Susan Zwirblis, manager of Nordstrom’s Personal Touch shopping service, is like your best friend when it comes to navigating the ocean of stuff there. She’s also a great secret weapon for people who don’t have time to shop, or don’t like to. Are you a guerilla shopper? Zwirblis will fill a dressing room with exactly what you need (business, evening or sports attire, or whatever) and have it waiting for you to blast in and try on. She’s a quick study with a knack for finding styles you’ll like. There’s no fee, either. She makes shopping for the shopping-challenged…well, fun! The hardest part is making up your mind.
Sun-Up Gallery
95 Watch Hill Road, Westerly
596-0800, sunupgallery.com
For high-end craftsy art, home accessories, clothes and jewelry, Sun-Up rocks. They even have a pet boutique called Good Dogma. Your personal shopper, Joanna Papineau, will source anything for you there. No fee. Free gift wrapping, too. Check out Sun-Up’s website for ideas, then call or email Papineau at orders@sunupgallery.com.
Feel-Good Magicians
These experts at primping will make you look gorgeous, chez vous.
Artistic Allure
714-7825
artisticallure@gmail.com
A highly trained alum of Christian Dior and M.A.C. enterprises, Connie Perez is also a licensed esthetician who will come to you and make you look awesome. She prefers to use M.A.C. products. Perez oversees makeup parties of every type, but specializes in brides, offering a pre-consultation and wedding day package: $30 for a trial run at Perez’s home, then $60 for makeup on your wedding day. For a wedding party of three or more (besides the bride), she gives a discount of $10 per person. Perez travels anywhere in Rhode Island, and to Massachusetts for an additional small fee.
The Cutoff
12 Stilson Road, Wyoming
539-7004
Let’s say you’re stuck in the house with a broken leg. Or your wedding party is caucusing at your place to spiff up for your wedding. What you really could use right about now is someone to glam you up, right? Good news: the Cutoff makes house calls. Rates start at $30 for a haircut to several hundred for an entire wedding group. They offer makeup sessions, too.
Janet Angel Cann
932-4199
A graduate of Bancroft School of Massage Therapy in Worcester, Masschusetts, Janet Cann is a licensed Swedish massage therapist and certified Reiki and sacred stone therapy pro. She’ll bring her talents to you. “A woman celebrated her fiftieth birthday by inviting ten friends for a party,” says Cann. “She hired me to give them each a massage. They were a blast!” Cann offers a creative menu of services, including “Massage and Dinner for Two” and “Decadent Chocolate Massage.”A basic Swedish massage is $75 an hour.
John DeRosa
261-9715, shantiohm@gmail.com
Another Bancroft School of Massage alum, John DeRosa specializes in five types of massage: deep tissue, sports, Swedish, acupressure and shiatsu. DeRosa charges $65 for one hour and $90 for ninety minutes, plus outcall charges. He’ll travel all over Rhode Island.
Emergency geek service
The next time your laptop acts up, don’t sit on hold for an hour waiting for some guy in India to help you. Call these pros instead.
Geek Housecalls
877-472-4335, geekhousecalls.com
If your home or small business computer crashes, Andy Trask and his geek squad will come to do troubleshooting, networking and tutoring, usually within twenty-four hours. Windows, Mac, Linux; they know it all. There’s a basic $50 fee, then hourly service charges ranging from $96 per hour for home or home-based business computers to $120 per hour for businesses.
Ike Norton
Providence
508-981-7605, ivers101@gmail.com
If you have Windows or Linux issues, or need programming, Web design, or a home network set up, Ike Norton will come to your home or office anywhere in Rhode Island and do it all. Norton’s an alum of Digital Equipment Corporation and charges $25 an hour plus travel.
Mark Gereau
258-0555, markgereau@hotmail.com
Are you beset by viruses or spyware? Is your computer just flat busted? Mark Gereau will come to your home or business to diagnose your PC or Mac. For a $20 fee he’ll give you an estimate, and for a little more he’ll do the work on the spot if possible. Gereau, who includes CVS, Citizens Bank and the USPS among his clients, charges $60 for spyware or adware removal, $60 to refresh a hard drive. A complete network setup with two computers costs $100.
Party and Dinner Planners
Hire a pro to handle the party planning stress. Your only job is to have fun.
Carmine’s Culinary Capers
596-7899, Chefcarminec@msn.com
Chef Carmine Chris will shop for, prepare and package any number of meals you need based on your likes, dislikes, allergies and other special dietary needs. “For a family of four,” he says, “five days’ (i.e., twenty) meals runs $300. All they have to do is reheat them.” Among Chef Carmine’s popular dinners are Italian, stuffed meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted corn, and chicken piccata with lemon caper sauce. Prices vary depending on client needs and travel. Service is available in Westerly, Charlestown, Wakefield, Warwick, Cranston, Hope Valley, and North and South Kingstown.
The Event Diva
615-5736, theeventdiva.com
Relax and let the Event Diva plan your rehearsal dinner, showers, ceremony and honeymoon. Owner Magdalena Andreozzi offers several levels of service, including “Diva by the Hour” (a lower-price consultation service) and “Diva to the Rescue” (just-in-time solutions for procrastinators). Andreozzi says she can save brides 10 to 20 percent off the cost of their weddings, and plan a fabulous one on any budget. Rates vary depending on scope of work.
Fire and Ice Catering
Woonsocket, 767-2578
Owner Ken Pine says he’ll plan any kind of party in your home or elsewhere, as long as it’s in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York or Connecticut. Thinking about staging a cookout? Hors d’oeuvre party? Buffet? Holiday shindig? Wedding reception? It’s all good. Prices run $6 to $20 per person.
