Happy February! How did that happen so quickly?
I'm still going to look through those hotel photos from Italy and post a few along with a report on the Space (Prada) Outlet and some Italian shopping... toward the end of February I should have a little more time.
There's been a little bit of cooking going on around here lately, so I'll have some things to add to my recipe section over on the sidebar soon too... one thing that turned out especially good was an almond flour cake made with boiled clementines (thank you Juliet). It was fun, too, to see tweets from Faux Fuchsia over in Australia just hours later, saying she had been making a similar cake from boiled lemons right about the same time.
Recently I finished Below Stairs by Margaret Powell, the memoirs of a kitchen maid/cook in England originally published in 1968. If you are a Downton Abbey fan, I'm sure you'll find it interesting. Julian Fellowes had this to say about it: "...Her memories... haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera..." So there you have it.
I've been wearing bright colors lately. I think that helps so much in dreary weather:
Loft sweater in orange, ON tank and Jeans, Hunters, citrine necklace
knit top in fuschia from Anthropologie (don't know the brand but there are three butterflies on the tag), Loft cardigan (last year)
I also recently made some time for a hair cut and color. I conveniently had a couple issues of Hello Magazine on my ipad when I went in for the foils, so scrolled through some Duchess Catherine pics. My highlights are just slightly different and I really like how it worked out. I also had my hair styled differently than my usual so now I'm on the look-out for a big curling iron so I can try to replicate some loose curls like this myself:
I haven't been at all in a shopping mood for awhile now. Don't know what that's about either. We will be going to Vancouver for a little getaway later this month though, so I bet I'll have something to report from Zara.
We're also starting to make plans for the summer. So far we've got five one-way tickets booked to NYC and I'm researching fun things to do with the kids (ordering Wicked tickets today!). We plan to take a train down to DC and spend several days there before heading further south to Atlanta to stay with family. Any NYC or DC tips (especially restaurants and kid-friendly excursions) are very welcome! We've been, but not with the kids, and it's been quite awhile.
xoxo
I've been wearing lots of bright colors lately too...I think you're right, it brightens the mood on these cold, dreary days.
ReplyDeleteBTW...great hair!! :o)
We are going to NYC in May with our two daughters... we did buy tickets for Wicked and they set us back a pretty penny! We'd like to see one other show but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteMy first time in NYC so I have no advice! I am drawn to the idea of hanging out in Central Park, and besides that it's going to be a matter of fitting in all of the wonderful museums.
We're staying at the Waldorf Astoria, I had trouble booking a hotel room for the 4 of us, my eldest is 16. They have some big, kid-friendly double rooms there, but of course it was expensive (though at booking I had a 20% code on Expedia). Looking forward to reading more about your trips, we both like to travel with our kids, not everybody does it seems!
My4Boys - thank you!
ReplyDeleteDaniBP - oh good! You will be there a couple months before us so I will be able to pore over your posts :) I know the troubles booking rooms with kids... the Waldorf sounds fabulous! We're staying at the Harvard Club on 44th near 5th Ave (not too far from the Waldorf) which I am hoping will be a great location for a lot of walking. I look forward to seeing where you eat! :)
My sister (10) loves eating at the new Serendipity 3 in Georgetown.
ReplyDeleteHer favorite museums are the Spy Museum and the Natural History Muesum
She also loves the Zoo!
National Harbor is also a lot of fun to walk around with kids, even though it is about 10 mins outside of the city! In the summer the Gaylord Convention center at the National Harbor has some really fun sand sculptures in the atrium!
One day when I was home over my winter break, my Sister and I went to Georgetown to test out a few cupcake shops and decide which one we liked the best! We tested out- Georgetown Cupcakes, Sprinkles, and Baked and Wired. If you follow Sprinkles or Georgetown Cupcakes on Twitter, they usually send out a tweet mid day with a "key word" that can get you a free cupcake!
enjoy DC!
I loved the Air and Soace museum. I don't know if they still have retired astronauts guiding as volonteers, I loved that! They were cute, with their grey hair and elegante posture, telling kids about space.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I loved the sunsets at the Potomac river. The orange-coral-red-sky, so different from our sky.
the last photo: Well hellloooo Duchess!
NOVAGIRL - Thanks so much!! Just the sort of info I was hoping to get :)
ReplyDeletePaula - Thanks! We have a wonderful Museum of Flight here... the volunteers sound similar - you can tell how much they love flying and teaching the kids a little about it. Your last sentence made me laugh :D What a nice thing to say!
Check out old town Alexandria and take a boat tour that will drop you off in Georgetown. It's fun to do on Sunday because you can take it in the morning and grab brunch/shop and then it will take you back late afternoon!
ReplyDeleteI also LOVE Oya which is downtown-- it's kind of Asian inspired and the atmosphere is very trendy! I also love The Tombs right off of Georgetown's campus for a casual lunch or dinner-- definitely serves kid friendly food as well!
For kid friendly, I would definitely check ou the air and space museum-- the other ones can be a bit dry and won't hold children's attention for very long. The Newseum and Spy Museum are two others that are great for children!
If you feel like meeting a couple of bloggies, give CC and me a shout when you do come to Vancouver! :)
ReplyDeleteWe took our girls every year to NYC for weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas for years and stayed at the Penn Club in the Founder's Suite, across the street from the Harvard Club, NY Yacht Club and this is a wonderful street, convenient to everything. I think the Sofitel Hotel is there too and good for lunch with children. We found that eating early with them we could book almost anywhere at 5:30-6PM ( after a matinee). They had wonderful experiences in every restaurant, being very well-behaved children, and still recall the free plate of chocolate desserts from the kitchen of Cafe Botanica for being s charming.( No longer there). As you seem to have a Scand connection, you should visit the American Scandinavian Foundation on Park near 35th( I think); this is a fun organization to belong to with an excellent quarterly journal. As for current restaurants, a local would give best advice; we liked going to Balthazar in Soho for people watching. Have fun exploring!
ReplyDeleteSummer Wind - Thank you!! Sounds like the Spy Museum and Air & Space would be great for us. The boat trip sounds great and thanks for the restaurant recs - I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteRose - That would be really fun! This is a short visit - still thinking about adding a night in Whistler - but we do try to make it up there once or twice a year and that would be neat :)
Lane - Thank you so much for taking the time to comment - that is all so very helpful! I'm glad to hear that will be a convenient location and I'm going to start looking for restaurants :) I just checked out the ASF on your recommendation and it definitely looks like something we'd be interested in - yes, my husband is from DK & my background is Scandinavian too :) Thanks again!