Spring in NY

 

A few of my close friends and I went to NYC last weekend.

Did we have an agenda? Oh yes. Explore, eat, shop. The top three.

We could not have picked a better time to go. The weather was the best it has ever been

during a visit (for me) and I saw more new things. The more I visit this city, the more I love it.

It's so easy to get around and there are always new places to go along with favorites.

Here are some of the things we did.

 

We walked all over the city (naturally) and one of our routes was the new High Line park.

If you have not heard of it, it is very cool and worth checking out. Read about it here.

To sum up, a young architect turned a long span of abandoned, elevated freight rail line into

a walking path and it's beautifully done. I loved the way the landscaping blends with the modern benches and walkways. He even left the old ties within the plants. So cool.

 

Ahhh. The food! You don't have to read all the following, but I don't want to forget where we went so I am going to type what I want to remember. Tartine (always yummy), Hampton Chutney was a new discovery and so good (my first Dosa!), Mary's Fish Camp for the worth-every-$32 dollar-bite lobster roll... My favorite meal of the entire trip hands down. It was THAT good. 

LeVain bakery for the best, thick, 'brick' cookies, Cafe Cluny, Magnolia bakery for their non-cupcake items. I think we sampled the entire store with our purchases. Winners were fresh Banana Pudding and their key lime cheesecake.

 

The shopping is always fun and I always enjoy how much the stores decorate.

The Jcrew had the coolest modern decor. Mom! Check out the HEEUUUGGE Macrame owl!

We ran (well, ran and walked... ha!) through Central Park one morning. Gorgeous.

One of our friends moved to the NYC area almost two years ago and was able to meet up with us for half of the trip. It was so great to see her again. She had a friend who works for the Met, so he got us in first thing on Saturday morning. Wow. That place is incredible. It was my first time and the works there are astounding. Way too much to see in a single trip. We blasted through and saw some amazing things. Here are just a few images to give you an idea.  We hurried up to the modern levels and didn't see any others for around a half hour. The place to ourselves. Amazing!

 Amid the Soho shopping, we fit in my trip to Tinsel Trading Co and MJ Trim. Wow. To have those resources at your fingertips would be like a meth addiction. We also went to a little swap meet just to balance out the new purchases with some old. :) All of us left here with some cool treasures. I discovered a bunch of David Passalaqua sketches and came home with a cool fashion Illustration of his. Bonus!

It was an incredible trip with great friends. All that shopping and eating isn't always as feasible during a family trip, right?

Easters and Eighters

 

I can't believe the twins have finally turned eight! We got home from CA and celebrated their birthdays that very weekend. Since Mimi shares the same birthday, we always try to celebrate together. We tied everything in together - Easter egg hunt, Easter dinner, Bday cake and gifts

in one night. Bang. It was a fun evening.

Plus, hiding the eggs gets more fun every year.

 The biggest awakening was not only have them hit this milestone, but that Luke now goes to Cub Scouts and Sadie goes to Activity Days. Oy! My kids are growing up. Sad face. I love them so.
Luke's first activity was a long Saturday Scout Day activity and he came home looking like this. As he was sitting there on the steps telling me about it, I couldn't help but take some pics of him in his adorable scout shirt that is too big and that toothless smile.

 Even though they are now eight, they do, at most times, still act the same. The same as in playing-naked-with-toys-after-our-morning-shower-instead-of-getting-ready-for-school.

Spring Break

These moos-taches were a last minute accessory for reading week. The kids wear book themed clothes all week and we were short on the Lorax orange/yellow day so I made them these instead.I thought they would stand out and be hilarious but turns out tons of kids' parents did the same thing.Ah. Speak for the trees!

Shortly after, my parents came and joined us for a few days in Newport.

The weather was awesome and we had a great time relaxing. We hit Dland one day and Elliet rode California Screamin' for the first time. We also consumed a huge amount of Sprinkles and Gelato Paradiso (goodnessmesoyummy).
It was really fun to play with my parents. Wish they could have stayed longer. Next time!
All week long we kept trying to get Luke to pull out his other front tooth, which was totally loose and diagonal. It wiggled when he talked and had worked it's way to the midline of his mouth.
We called him "Lucas McPhee" until it came out right when we got home. Ha!

I've also been on a popcorn kick lately. Want to hear a funny story? Well, you're going to hear it anyway.
There I was at Sur La Table getting sucked into all the kitchen goodness when I come across the gourmet popcorn brands. One of them was full of blue corn. And I think to myself, "Blue popcorn?? That is awesome! How cool would that be to have blue popcorn. How have I never seen this before? I have to try this. It will be a hit at the upcoming book club!" So I buy it.
I go home and have to pop it in my big lidded pan (because we don't have a popper) and guess what? No blue popcorn. White popcorn. Whaa? Then it hits me what a doofus I am. Blue corn does not mean it will actually pop blue. I'm an idiot.
Gullible tastes good, though. My favorite rendition of homemade popped corn as of late is to melt a couple of tablespoons of Trader Joe's salted caramel sauce and drizzle it over freshly popped corn, then adding more fleur de sel. Yes. yes. yes. Try it.
 

 

My tasty pan salted of un-blue corn.  Yemmers.

Oh Lucas...

Couldn't help but share some of Luke's journal entries that have come home over the past couple of months...
Looks like the question is the printed paper glued in and they answer it to get their minds going.
Since some of these are tiny print, I'll retype the question above each image to make it easier (and faster) to read through. Enjoy!

Why do you think crows are afraid of scarecrows?

Do you think football or baseball is the better game?

Do you think it is better to be honest or brave? Why?

(Oh wow. He means it.)

We just finished reading the entire B of M as a family last month! Woot! Now we have started over. Thought it was cute he wrote this one day.


Awwwww.




I want those mad skillz myself.