Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Disney, Hilton Family Vacations, Mini-Vacations, Orlando, Sea World, Traveling, Traveling pics, Traveling with kids, Wordless Wednesday on September 28, 2011| 4 Comments »
We are heading on a little mini family vacation to Orlando for a long weekend. We were offered an amazing rate through Hilton Family Vacations and decided to spend a little time away from the city together. We are all super excited to play at Sea World and of course we will have to make a stop at Magic Kingdom to see the princesses 😉
Here are a couple of pics of my little travelers who also happened to get mysteriously upgraded to first class!!! Life is rough 🙂 Enjoy the day!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Amazon, Apartment Living, Delivery, Disney, Dog Food, Doorman, Fresh Direct, Lazy, NYC, Zappos on November 19, 2010| 1 Comment »
Okay, I realized today that I may have a small obsession/addiction to having things delivered to my apartment. I came to this realization when the dog food delivery arrived at my door by FedEx. Now, in my defence, dog food really is one of those things that you cannot go out and buy in Manhattan. It is not exactly easy to schlep home two 35 pound bags of dog food through the mean streets of NYC. Maybe that is why most people have dogs that are small enough to carry around in purses… hmmm… guess it is a little late for that =) Anyhoo, back to the dog food delivery. I was very pleased with myself that it arrived and I would not have to carry it any further than to the closet. Although, when ordering I must have forgotten that I live in a small Manhattan apartment, because I ask you this, where the hell am I going to store this much dog food????
Apparently the Dogs will NOT be going hungry this winter!!
As I was unpacking the dog food I started thinking about the other things that I had delivered this week- workbooks for the girls from Amazon, new shoes from Zappos (these arrived within 24 hours), a gift from Disney and of course, my groceries from Fresh Direct. It was all incredibly easy. My addiction continues… And it is not even frowned upon. EVERYONE in NYC is doing it. I have to say that it is one of the perks that I am loving about living in New York. And, since we live in a doorman building you don’t even have to be home to receive your deliveries, they magically appear at the apartment door. With the Holidays fast approaching and the thought of jam packed stores and the Christmas rush I can only see this addiction continuing. I can avoid the crowds, sip on a cup of tea, click away on the computer and voila! the parcels will appear at my door. Yikes, someone better hide my credit card!!!
Oh, and it is Friday, my AVOID making dinner day, so soon I will be perusing through the delivery menus to figure out what we will be having for dinner. It is is a good thing I have to walk everywhere to do everything else, because this kind of lifestyle could make one start being very lazy 😉 Now, if only Starbucks would start delivering…
The Delivery Menus
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Avalon High, Carmine's, Disney, Disney Store Times Square, Family, Gregg Sulkin, NYC, Tangled, Times Square, Wizards of Waverly Place on November 12, 2010| 4 Comments »
On Monday I was very fortunate to be invited to a Pre- Grand Opening Tour of the brand new Disney Store in Times Square. On that note, a big THANK YOU to Shawn Turner, Disney Stores North America, Laura Spencer, Disney Parks and Maria Bailey, BSM Media for the invite!! I took A & R out of school a bit early and the three of us jumped on the subway and headed on down to Times Square. The girls LOVE Times Square and are always excited to walk down Broadway where there is an endless array of things to see.
R & A Getting Ready To Rock Times Square And Disney!
The girls were practically bouncing with anticipation as they raced down Broadway heading to the Disney Store. They could barely contain their energy. I was trying to keep up with them as we dodged in and out of the crowds of tourists. I wasn’t sure what side of the road it was on, but A and her eagle eyes quickly found the bright lights that we were looking for!
The Disney Billboard Above the Storefront
Before we even entered the store, the girls and I stood out front and watched the giant Disney screen as it played through advertisements for various Disney shows, products and movies such as the upcoming movie Tangled. (A movie that our whole family can’t wait to see!) We crossed the road and entered the store where we were warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic Disney employee who pointed us in the right direction to find our tour group leader. We were given head sets for the tour and the girls and I looked around at the first floor while we waited for the tour to start. The girls were totally overwhelmed with the possibilities. They did not know what to look at first. As I tried to keep one eye on them and one eye out for the start of the tour I was struck by how busy the store already was, as happy children (and adults) moved from section to section checking out the merchandise.
Our tour started and we made our way up the escalator to the second floor. We followed the pixie dust trail and explored the many different areas of the store. Our first stop was the Disney Store Theatre. I think A could have stayed in this area forever. She loves her Disney shows and in the theatre you have the opportunity to choose your own movie and t.v. clips as well as songs. There was an extra special guest waiting in the theatre on Monday. Both girls were totally starstruck that they got to meet and receive an autograph from Gregg Sulkin star of Wizards of Waverly Place and the new movie, Avalon High. I have to admit, he IS a cutie =)
Gregg Sulkin
We continued on our tour passing the CARS section where you can custom build your own car. I had to bribe the girls that we would come back and do it at a later date so that we could continue on with the tour. The tour continued and we soon entered the Princess Castle, R’s favourite part of the new Disney store. The Princess Castle has every princess outfit, accessory, toy, movie, book and most importantly doll that you could ever want. There are even TWO magic mirrors in the castle that are triggered by chips in the merchandise, for example, if you wave a magical wand over the mirror it will come alive with a story from whatever princess wand you are holding. R was totally in awe and could not get enough of this.
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...
I have to admit it was a bit hard to follow the tour at times while trying to reign in the girls. I mean, who can blame them? I wanted to stop and look at everything too. I found that I learned more about the new store when the tour was finished and I had the time to look around as the girls happily entertained themselves by discovering all of the wonderful products the store had to offer. The lucite trees are beautiful as well as the ceiling that includes many of Manhattan’s iconic buildings in the skyline. However, what really impressed me was the Disney staff. It was just like being at a theme park. The “cast members” were knowledgeable, helpful, courteous and most importantly were patient with and genuinely seemed to like hanging out with the children. After all, even though many of us can become jaded by the thought that this is just a mega store selling toys, my girls were definitely caught up in the magic. Isn’t that really what it is all about? A place where kids can go and just have fun being kids. With all of the fun at the Disney Store the kids had definitely worked up an appetite. We headed over to Carmine’s where we were fed a feast fit for Kings (and princesses). Thank you for such an amazing dinner! While tucking in my girls that night I asked them what their favourite part of the store was and both A & R responded “the princess section and the CARS section, oh, and the Tangled section oh, and the theatre oh, and dessert at Carmine’s- does that count?” and on and on… I am guessing it was a magical night indeed 😉
The Beautiful Trees throughout the store
The Princess Castle
R & Bolt
Oh, and by the way, I LOVE the store rules. Here they are:
1. Watch our for flying fairies.
2. Singing and/or whistling encouraged.
3. Make way for princesses.
4. Giggles are welcome.
5. No scowling allowed.
6. Pirates must stow their swords.
7. Follow your imagination.
It's Always An Adventure 