Labor Day Wedding In Needham Massachusetts

The first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions "The Sheraton" is luxury and elegance. A hotel chain of such distinction that is currently has over four hundred hotels in thirty different countries. Whether you are staying in Amsterdam or Los Angeles the Sheraton is always there for your business and leisure traveling needs.

Sounds great right? More like a loaded sales pitch for this trip. The Sheraton might say things that sound inviting and comforting, but for this location this was NOT the case.

My wife’s best friend of twenty-six years was getting married and they bought into the glamour that the Sheraton offered. Don’t get me wrong--the wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun, but the hotel accommodations were less than desirable.

From the beginning even booking our room was difficult. Reservations told me that the wedding party was receiving a special rate and that they were specific rooms for the guests of the wedding party overlooking to courtyard. The downside to this was that I would have to share a king size bed with my wife and 3-year-old son, because there were no other double rooms available at the rate quoted. We needed a room, so we booked what they said they had available.

Upon our arrival I was notified of an $8 parking charge per room per night that we were not previously made aware of. Now I have stayed in several resorts all around the globe, and I have never seen a parking charge unless the location was within a large metropolitan area such as Manhattan. Even then, most hotels will validate parking during your stay especially when charging $179 a night.

After arriving to room 358, I was shocked to see that the garden view was actually a small area of weeds in front of the pool building. The room was small and full of additional hidden charges. A charge for music, a charge for video games, a charge for movies and a $4 charge for a one liter bottle of water that you can purchase at the CVS up the street for $1.49. There was a piece of bed frame that was sticking out from the bottom of the bed about six inches that my wife and I both cut our legs on. The one time we asked the front desk to provide us with assistance, they said that they were simply too busy to help us.

Upon check-out, my wife was asked how the stay was, and when she showed a slight sign of disappointment, she was asked to speak further about our stay. The resolution offered for our disappointment was an additional 1,500 Starpoints and an apology. A mere 1,500 points is not even 22% of what is required for a night's stay, and an apology is not going to change my opinion of this facility. I have received better service from a Holiday Inn Express.

From the outside, the restaurant did not stand out from the ordinary, but once inside, the contemporary setting gave you a more relaxed feeling that told you this would be a comfortable dining experience. The walls were covered with "Awards of Excellence" from Wine Spectator, which told a small-time wine snob like myself that there was sure to be a good bottle in there somewhere. The wait staff was in the traditional black trousers with white shirts and blouses. I happen to have a background in Culinary Arts, and this is Dining Service 101. I thought that a good meal, accompanied by a nice bottle of wine and superior service, would be a pleasant change.

Unfortunately, I think I set my expectations too high for small, privately owned restaurant chain. Don’t get me wrong, the food was excellent and the portions were plentiful. Each meal was plated with a touch of artistic flair that made you not want to eat them, but it all boils down to the quality of service you receive. You can spend millions of dollars on the best location and décor, then staff your kitchen with world renowned chefs, but if your wait staff doesn’t pull their weight, you are sure to fail.

Maybe this was an unfortunate incident, as I have never been there before and have no other experiences to compare it to. However, I do think that when you are operating a restaurant that poses such ambience, there is a level of service that is expected. I knew that the wait staff wasn’t up to par when they had trouble fitting an additional three seats to a party, even though we asked for a separate check and didn’t mind sitting at a separate table in the same area of the dining room. After looking at the wine list, I didn’t understand all the awards, but selected a bottle of Washington’s Chateau St. Michelle, Riesling. When the steward brought the bottle over, she never showed me the label and kept the cork for herself. She did allow me to taste the bottle before pouring, but when I said that I thought it was a bit effervescent, she poured the glasses, said it was suppose to have bubbles, and then walked away. I know I am not the Cork Master, but I am not an idiot either: Riesling is not supposed to have bubbles. After dinner was served, there was no follow up to ensure our satisfaction and she never poured another glass of wine. Her math skills were nothing like her service, because she had no problem adding an extra 18% gratuity to our check. Because we were part of a larger party.

Overall, I think that Skipjack’s has a lot of potential to be a really great restaurant, and I would most likely return if ever in the area again. I will, however, keep the old saying in mind, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me."

Angelica of the Angels is a small spiritual shop in Salem, Massachusetts. It is owned an operated by Rev. Barbara E. Szafranski, a medium and spiritual healer. The shop offers everything, from books, music, crystals, aromatherapy, jewelry, candles, oils, incense, and gifts of the spirit to aura photography and physic readings. They are open 7 days a week from 11am to 6pm. I recommend that if you are going to Salem and want to have a reading, you call in advance and make a reservation. We went on a Saturday and called a week in advance, and to our surprise, there were only two time slots open.

This was our second trip to Salem, and we drove here today specifically to see George Fraggos, a medium who works at Angelica of the Angels who we have seen in the past. When we last came to Salem 5 years ago, we stopped into Angelica of the Angels and simply inquired about a physic reading. At that time, John Edward and the "Crossing Over" television show was very popular and we found it interesting that he could communicate with the departed. We were very pleased to find that Angelica of the Angels offered the same services and were very excited to see who would come through during our sessions.

Some people are skeptical when it comes to the afterlife, but my wife and I believe that there is definitely a spirit world. Each of us has lived in what we believed to be haunted houses and have had interesting adventures taking ghost photos, so this was something right up our alley.

Having had such great success during our last visit, we could not miss the opportunity to do it again. Unfortunately, the only sessions available were later in the day and only 20 minutes in length. We were both very anxious to have these readings due to the recent loss of my brother, grandmother, and mother, as well as my wife’s father in the past 3 years. Each of these losses was sudden and left us feeling as though we needed some kind of closure. I feel as though my wife’s reading was a bit more successful than mine, but nonetheless it was a very emotional experience for me.

The 20-minute session was $34 each and, in my opinion, well worth every penny. For an extra $2 each, we had our session audio recorded. The recording is not of the best quality, but it is a nice souvenir of our spiritual trip to Salem and Angelica of the Angels.

To read about our psychic readings, please review our journals:

• Chris’ Psychic Reading

I’d like to precede this experience by saying that I in no way gave any information to the medium conducting my reading that would cause him to come to the conclusions that he did. Whenever I watch television shows where such events take place, I find that I have to remind myself that this is television and what I am watching is not necessarily the truth. For those of you who feel the same way, I recommend going to a medium and see what happens. If you can answer their questions with yes and no answers and don’t reveal any information, you will know what is fluff and what is for real. For instance, when I first visited Angelica of the Angels 5 years ago, I sat in front of George and answered his questions as though I was on the witness stand. I was also wearing a T-shirt covered by a long-sleeve flannel shirt. So when George described the Marine Corps tattoo on my upper right arm without having seen it, I knew he was for real.

Since we each requested our reading to be conducted by George, someone had to go first. For some reason I felt very strongly that I did not want to start things off, so Carol went first and I waited outside until she was done.

While I was waiting, I tried concentrating on my younger brother, who was killed in a motorcycle accident, and my mother, who passed away last January due to a medical complication. I knew that there is no guarantee that the exact person you want to come through actually will, but I thought that maybe if I concentrated enough and invited them to accompany me, it just might work. The 20 minutes seemed to take forever as Carol had her reading, and I grew more anxious with every passing minute.

As soon as George and I sat in the room, he said that there were many people trying to come through at the same time and it was a little confusing but he would do his best. After preparing himself to receive the messages, he began talking about someone with "AN" in their name, and no matter how he tried to explain the message, I didn’t understand the meaning. He then paused for a minute and I felt a slight chill as goose bumps overtook my entire body. I filled with emotion and thoughts of my younger brother filled my head. George apologized and said that there was a younger male figure standing behind me flicking my ear. I tried to contain my emotions, but my eyes filled with tears of joy when I knew my brother was with me.

There were a lot of pauses and George seemed to either be stumped or confused, so it was at this point that he explained my Life Number . This is an astrological procedure that uses numerology and your birth date to determine who you are at birth and the native traits that you will carry with you through life. It described me to the tee and lead George to his next message.

George said that the spirits who were trying to come through with a message were very adamant that he show me how to relax and get rid of the stress in my life. He commented that this was important to them and asked if I wanted to learn how to do so. I understood what this message meant right away and I didn’t explain its meaning to George until after our session. A few weeks ago, I had a minor heart attack that my doctor said was brought on by stress. I guess whoever delivered that message was concerned for my well-being.

Towards the end of my session, George went back to the "AN" name and began speaking of a round table. He also mentioned tea and honey. He repeatedly asked me if this meant anything to me and I had trouble matching this with either people that I know who have passed or people who I am connected with now. Then it hit me. When I last visited George, my ex-girlfriend’s father, it came through very strongly. His widow’s name is Ann, and she had a round kitchen table. I also think she enjoyed her tea with honey. The only conclusion that George and I could come to was that either Ann had passed or that her husband is still with me and he was saying hello.

Our time went a little over 20 minutes as George stressed the point that the spirits wanted me to relax more. He reviewed the technique he showed me earlier and suggested yoga. It was at this point that I told him about the heart attack, and he seemed surprised I had not revealed this to him earlier when the message was coming through. George walked me to the door after we completed our session and wished me well being as we parted.

I then found my wife and we shared our session experience during our ride back to the Sheraton Needham Hotel . It was at this time that I found out how successful her reading was when she told me that she too had many spirit people attempting to come though, including my mother, my brother, and her father and younger brother. In all, I would say that the piece of mind that comes from knowing your loved ones are alright and still with you is well worth $34 and 20 minutes of your time.

My reading was first and had more meaningful content than did Chris’ reading. Prior to the appointments, I had stated to Chris that he could go first and that I wanted to leave my reading for last; being that I had many "visitors" that he wished to hear from, he should have taken me up on it!

The first thing that George said to me was that he saw a woman, like a mother figure, with a white afghan. She was putting the white afghan on top of someone’s shoulders. Chris’ mother was this woman. She passed a couple years ago, and when she did, she was in the process of knitting a white blanket for our son. When we found the blanket, we knotted it off and gave it to our son, who walks around with it draped around his shoulders like a cape. I never called it an "afghan," but when telling Chris the story, his first statement to me was, "When we were growing up, if it was knitted, it was an afghan, never a blanket."

I then had a brief "visit" from Chris’ brother, Michael, who passed in a motorcycle accident. George told me that he felt the presence of a young man who died of a serious head trauma during a motor-vehicle accident.

The person whom I wanted to contact the most was my father, who died a little more than 2 years ago. I did not tell this to George, but merely said that there was someone specific that I would like to hear from. George said that he felt the presence of an older man and asked me about baseball, if the person I was seeking out played baseball, which he did. The reason George asked me this, he said, was because he saw it in a photograph. One of my favorite pictures of my father is of him in his baseball uniform, and for his birthday before he died I made up an 8’x10’ portrait with a caption that said "Coach Dave" on it. Additionally, George said he saw another photo of me and "the subject" (he still didn’t know it was my father) and we were hugging. I thought for a moment, and George picked up a picture that he had on his table of himself and the owner of the establishment, in which they had their arms around each other. He pointed to it and said, "Just like this one, arms around each other, but the picture is bigger than this one." After thinking for a moment, I remembered: shortly after my father died, my mother had an enlargement made from a photo of me and my dad on the first day of junior high school, arms around each other, and it sits next to my TV at home in a frame.

The reading closed shortly thereafter. He reviewed my life number with me, like he also did with Chris, but I was more impressed by the messages he passed on to me from my "special visitors." I would return to see George in a heartbeat – the information that he accessed about me was very valid and he would not have otherwise been privy to the things he said.

During our weekend stay in Massachusetts, the bride-to-be wanted to gather up the bridesmaids for an evening out. We opted for dessert at The Cheesecake Factory.

Started by Oscar and Evelyn Overton in the late 1940s, The Cheesecake Factory began in Detroit as a small cheesecake shop. Due to financial reasons, the Overtons moved their business into their home basement, where Evelyn baked cakes for local restaurants in the Detroit area. Once their children were grown, the Overton’s tried their hand again at opening up the business and moved to Los Angeles to open the first Cheesecake Factory. Over time, Evelyn created over 20 varieties of cheesecake, and the chain expanded with a full menu to also service lunch and dinner guests.

The bride, myself, and two of the other three bridesmaids went to The Cheesecake Factory the night before the wedding. We visited the location in Boston at The Shops at Prudential Center in downtown Boston. This was my first visit to any Cheesecake Factory location, but the bride had been several times and spoke very highly of it.

Upon arriving, it was more than apparent that a seat at Cheesecake Factory was in high demand. The tables were packed and many more were waiting to be seated. The wait time was only 20 minutes, and they gave us a buzzer for when our table was ready. In the meantime, we browsed the glass case that contained a sample piece of each type of cheesecake available – this ranged from simple pieces like "Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake" to "Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake." We were deciding which pieces we should bring back to the hotel afterwards for the guys who were left there waiting for us to return.

We were seated well within the 20-minute allotment seated outside on the terrace. (We were asked upon leaving our names if we preferred inside, outside, or first available, and we chose outside, which makes the wait time even more impressive in my opinion.) The table for four was near the outside wait station, and we were given a basket with an assortment of breads and butter and water. After a very lengthy amount of time to review the menu, we decided that the four of us would share three pieces of cheesecake due to the EXTREMELY HUGE portions. The average price per slice of cheesecake was, I believe, around $7, but appropriate for the portion size. Our three well-thought-out choices were White Chocolate Chunk Macadamia Nut, Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake (appropriate with the wedding theme, no?), and Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake, along with a couple drinks from the bar. We also purchased a couple to-go slices, Toblerone Swiss Almond Cheesecake and Snickers Bar Chunks and Cheesecake.

After approximately half an hour, the cheesecakes arrived. The restaurant was EXTREMELY busy, as I hear it usually is, and it seems that hurried service with a lengthy wait is the norm. However, it was not unbearable and due to the business it was understandable. The four us did all we could to consume the delicious slices before us, asked for our check, and departed, absolutely STUFFED.

Overall, The Cheesecake Factory seems like it would be a great place to visit again, providing you are not in an extreme rush. It is a great place to visit with friends, or with the family, as long as you are able to enjoy your time leisurely. While I have only visited once for dessert, I would definitely be interested in eating a meal there due to their pretty extensive menu.