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Posts Tagged ‘Magnolia Bakery’

Staycation- NYC Style!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2012| 4 Comments »

It is that time of year again- Winter Break. Although, I feel funny even saying that because I really don’t feel like we have even had winter here in NYC. The kids have worn their snow boots twice!! It has definitely been a crazy year for weather! Anyhoo, enough about that. This is the February school break week for the girls. Even though it really hasn’t been that long since the Holiday break, I really feel like everyone needed a little bit of change of pace and scenery. Case in point, on Sunday both girls stayed in their p.j.’s until mid afternoon and were totally content to hang in the apartment watching movies, reading and playing with their toys. They didn’t ask to go out once. They just needed some well deserved down time. I know how they feel.

Ron and the girls snuggling on the couch =)

There is something about February the shortest month, that seems to drag, wear on our patience and generally pull people into a funk. If the crap is going to hit the fan it usually happens in February 😉 So, on that note, it really is nice to have a bit of a breather right smack in the middle. While most New Yorker’s jet off to far away destinations or at least escape the Island, we have decided to enjoy a little staycation in one of the best cities in the world!! Ron is super busy at work right now and I have to admit, I am just enjoying NOT having a schedule to adhere to. I am sure by the end of the week I will be going a bit stir crazy, I am already missing my running group, but right now I am loving the flexibility. I also love exploring this incredible city and finding cool places to take the girls to.

NYC as our playground!!

Yesterday we decided to play tourist. The girls begged me to take them to the Times Square area because they really wanted to go to ToysRUs and American Girl Place. I was a little hesitant since it was a holiday and I did not want to get stuck in crowds and crowds of people. But, I gave in and we had a great day. We started off at the Empire 25 movie theatre on 42nd St. Over a healthy lunch of popcorn we watched the movie “The Secret World of Arrietty”. It was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it. An enchanting, magical and thoughtful story. Each of us gave it two thumbs up!! After the movie we headed to ToysRUs. The girls had a specific “Barbie” that they were looking for and moved through the crowds like pros. I swear you would think those two had lived here since birth. I am often in awe of their confidence and resilience.

Striking a pose in Times Square

From ToysRUs we headed over to American Girl Place where they were eager to finally spend their gift card that Chantal had given them at Christmas. Again, they manoeuvred through crowds with comfort and ease. Not really sure what I was worried about, maybe MY sanity 😉 We topped the day off with a Magnolia cupcake. Yep, totally touristy and we loved it. Especially the part where it was just a short walk home through Central Park to crash in our warm and cozy apartment.

Today, we enjoyed a leisurely morning, followed by a manicure for the girls (another gift certificate from Christmas) and then a shopping trip to Trader Joe’s. We are getting ready for a friend sleeping over tonight where we will be making chocolate chip pancakes for dinner in celebration of Fat Tuesday.

A little pampering 😉

The finished product

And what does the rest of the week have in store for us? Who knows? I have a few ideas in the back of my head. My good friend Rebecca of Beccarama told me about The Museum of The Moving Image for the Muppet Exhibit, I know the girls would LOVE that. And then when they get home they can review it on the incredible Kidzvuz site (if you have kids/tweens and they haven’t visited this site yet, what are you waiting for??!!) There is also The Bronx Zoo, The Brooklyn Museum and of course, there is a Carlos Cake Boss mug that I have to replace… Really, a NYC staycation has endless possibilities!! We are looking forward to our next adventure. Oh, and February isn’t ALL bad, there is Ron’s birthday and on Friday we will dine in style to celebrate his 40th. By then, I will definitely need a drink or two 😉

*Some other great resources for kids in NYC are: NYCity Mama, Mommy Poppins, Time Out NYC Kids

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Manhattan Overload

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2011| 1 Comment »

It sounds kind of crazy, but every once in awhile it is tough to actually figure out what to do in NYC. I know this sounds weird especially in the city that never sleeps and has a million and one activities going on at any one time. Just yesterday 15,000 people stood on line at the MET to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit!! But see, this is exactly the problem, there are soo many things to see and do that it can be a little bit daunting. I know, I know, you are probably thinking “nice problem to have, now shut up and stop whining!” and I get that, but hey, it’s my blog so I am going to whine if I want to 😉

On Saturday, I was reading the NYTimes and there were numerous ads and stories for exhibits, shows, events and performances taking place in the city. Soo many exciting and wonderful opportunities to take part in, right here. Too many in fact, I felt like I needed a piece of paper to write down all of the things I was interested in doing or seeing. As I sat there in my p.j’s drinking my cup of tea, I started having this irrational fear that we were missing out on the really cool and amazing things going on in the city. I feared that we were getting stuck in a bit of a NYC rut. Sure, we had been visiting a lot of the sites with recent visitors but I felt like we hadn’t been anywhere “new” as a family in quite some time. The past few weekends have started with the question “What do you want to do today?” and we always have fun but we usually end up staying in our neighborhood or not venturing off to see anything new. I vowed that this weekend would be different. Ron, used to my crazy rants and outbursts, readily agreed and we gathered up the children and hopped on the subway.

And did we throw caution to the wind? Did we stay up to all hours? Did we walk until our legs could walk no more? Did we try out new and fancy restaurants? See one of a kind exhibits? Wait on line to see limited engagement performances?

Not exactly. BUT, we did have an incredible time as a family hanging out in the most incredible city in the world and really that is all that matters 😉

On Saturday, we decided that we were going to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO. We had never fully walked over the bridge into Brooklyn and we had a fantastic time making our way through the crowds of people to the other side. There really is no better view of Manhattan. It is spectacular.

View of Downtown Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

Once in DUMBO, Brooklyn (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) we feasted on delicious pizza at Ignazio’s and then had ice cream on the pier. The kids had fun playing at the park and we explored this very cool and artsy neighborhood before the clouds moved in and we decided to make our way back home.

On Sunday we again hopped on the subway this time making our way to the West Village. The girls wanted to see where the original Magnolia Bakery was and I have to admit Ron and I caved and we all had cupcakes… they just smelled too darn yummy. From there we wandered up Bleecker Street to So Good where the girls spent time perusing all of the jewellery and Ron checked email.

Too many choices!!

After So Good, we continued down the street to two of my favorite places Murray’s Cheese and Amy’s Bread.

I LOVE cheese!!

From the Village we walked into Soho, had a great lunch at Dos Caminos (hello Margarita!) and then ventured down Prince St. with stops at various stores along the way. We came home tired and happy to chill out on the couch in the air conditioned apartment. I felt like we had definitely made progress crawling out of the rut or in NYC it could have just as easily been a pothole 😉

The girls watching a 3D movie with very cool 3D glasses at the Oakley store

A little down time and sisterly love in the Scholastic Store

Don’t get me wrong, I am still working on my MUST DO/SEE list for New York City. I consider it a bucket list of sorts and I plan on adding to it daily. This is an overwhelming city and it can be a bit daunting but I plan on tackling it one adventure at a time!! =)

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