Central Park was delightful this weekend – sunny weather in the 60s and 70s.  The park was teeming with people celebrating the beginning of spring.  Josh and my husband played baseball for hours. Maya and I visited the Central Park Zoo and then walked home, watching the Park’s resident  jugglers and musicians perform along the way. Central Park is truly an oasis of calm in this big city.

One of the things Maya kept noticing was that some of the flowers and trees that have begun to bloom. Cherry blosssoms and also some beautiful white and purple flowers that we couldn’t name. The tulips aren’t quite up yet, although the green stems are up so flowers will surely follow in a couple of weeks.

Since we live here in NYC we don’t have our own garden, but this is the time of the year when many people are starting to work on theirs.  At GIFT HERO, we sell this wonderful Kids Watering Can Kit, which makes an ideal spring birthday gift for a boy or girl age 4 and up. We also sell the Kids Garden Tote, which has the same tools in a canvas bag minus the watering can.

Welcome spring!

It’s amazing to me how many “national holidays” there are.  Forget about Memorial Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day…there’s a day commemorating everything from board games to secretaries to popcorn. Today, December 15th, is National Cupcake Day!

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? For some reason they taste better than a slice of cake. They are a classroom classic for birthday parties at school. Benjamin and I are a little obsessed with the Big Top Cupcake pan – we see the commercial for it all the time on Discovery Kids. I promised him we would get one when we move into our new apartment and actually have a functioning kitchen.

For a mess-free cupcake experience, check out the new Bake and Decorate Cupcake Set from Melissa & Doug.  With this adorable set, kids can create their own pretend cupcakes and decorate them over and over again with dry erase markers that look like frosting tubes. This kids’ gift is a must-have for any play kitchen.  It is guaranteed to deliver hours of fun for kids 3 and up.

It is no surprise to me that my former colleague Alicia Rockmore co-founded a company that helps women get organized. Many, many years ago, when I was literally fresh out of college, I had the privilege to work with Alicia, who was a little older, but a lot better organized! I remember marveling at the neatness of her office, and how she always seemed to know where everything was – she actually had a “system”. By contrast, my office had files and papers stacked one on top of the other, with no apparent rhyme or reason. I would often have a “general idea” of where a document or file would be. I hate to admit it, but I am still organizationally challenged.

A few months ago, I reconnected with Alicia and signed up to receive Buttoned Up’s weekly newsletter. In just a short time, it has proven to be invaluable. For example, when Buttoned Up did a piece on organizing and throwing out old makeup, it suddenly occurred to me that the breakouts on my face were probably due to the fact that I had been using the same blush and powder for far too long. I threw them out, and presto – problem solved.

So do yourself a favor and sign up for the Buttoned Up free weekly newsletter. It’s well worth it – I promise! They also have a Facebook page and post a Tip of the Day – so you can get your daily organizing fix!

How cute are these new kids’ birthday party invitations designed by Alphamom and available on Pingg?  I have stopped using paper invitations, mostly because it is better for the environment. Alphamom and Pingg have partnered together to offer these hip and edgy new designs. I think I will have to use the Princess one pictured here for Maya’s party.

What’s more, you can use these designs for free. Here’s the link to check them out for yourself

I am a big fan of the New Victory Theater.  My family has attended numerous shows over the years.  In fact, we are seeing The Man Who Planted Trees tomorrow afternoon.  This theater has incredible programming for children and their families.  The thought and care that goes into selecting and planning each show and associated educational programs is astounding.  (Ok…full disclosure, I do some volunteer work to support the theater).

The New Victory Theater is celebrating its 14th season in 2009-2010.  In conjunction with this “anniversary,” they are running a very simple fundraising campaign called 14 Season 14 Reasons.  Basically, they are asking every theatergoer to donate $14 to help them reach their goal of $42,000 in new and increased donations by June 30, 2010.  I’m certainly donating to help this wonderful and necessary organization…click here to join me and make your own, small but very meaningful, contribution.

There’s nothing like Central Park in October. I can’t wait to get out there this weekend and play in the leaves with the kids. I hope it is chilly enough for our fall jackets and some hot cider too.

This photo here is from a series of amazing note cards with gorgeous, original fall images.  They are available on etsy.com at the brand new BrownEyeBlue store. They are sold individually or in packs of three. Perfect for birthday cards or thank you notes, or whatever!

I can’t believe I am planning Maya’s 6th Birthday. My little girl is really  growing up!

This year, Maya decided that she would like to have a tea party birthday at our house and invite a handful of friends. My mother is loaning us her “real” tea china for this party, which has Maya very excited!

But we still need paper goods  - so just today Maya and I ordered these personalized cupcake napkins from Plum Party. They are going to say “Maya’s Sweet 6″.  They had lots of cool designs for both adults and children to choose from on the site and Maya selected this one.

I’ll be blogging a lot more about Maya’s birthday so stay tuned!

I am not playground Mom.  I never enjoyed taking Benjamin to the playground and chasing him around making sure he was safe.  I found it very boring.  Thankfully, for years, we had a wonderful nanny who loved to run and play and swing and slide and (yuckiest of all) play in the sandbox.

That said, I just read an article called 10 Unusual Playgrounds From Around the World and want to get out there and play!  These playgrounds are incredible.  One is actually for adults only – it’s in Berlin and you must be 16 or older, preferably a senior citizen, to play there.  Three of the playgrounds are in the US — Clemyjontri Park in Fairfax County, Virginia, Yerba Gardens in San Francisco, CA and Teardrop Park, in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan (pictured). 

I know people who plan to visit all the Major League Ballparks in the US or all the big amusement parks around the world.  I aspire to visit these 10 playgrounds…I’ll have to also visit Japan, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Dubai and Spain along the way!!!

Today is a tough day for many of us.  I worked in lower Manhattan for years.  On 9/11/2001, I was fortunate to have been at our advertising agency in midtown when the planes hit the World Trade Center.  Many of my colleagues were in the office on the 47th floor of the World Financial Center and watched the whole tragedy unfold.  Thankfully, everyone in our group survived (although our company lost a few employees who did work in a travel office in the WTC).

I’ve struggled whether to tell Benjamin about the events of 9/11.  He’s not quite six (actually, 5 and 3/4 today) and I don’t think he’s ready to learn that the world can be an evil place.  I have told him about the Twin Towers.  One of our favorite books is called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.  It is the true story of Phillipe Petit, a young French aerialist and street performer who dared to walk a tightrope between the towers (which stood one thousand three hundred and forty feet high) on August 7, 1974.  It’s a beautiful book and story, written and illustrated for children by Mordicai Gerstein (it was a 2004 Caldecott Winner). 

At the end of the book, it says “Now the towers are gone.  But in memory, as if imprinted on the sky, the towers are still there.  And part of that memory is the joyful morning, August 7, 1974, when Phillipe Petit walked between them in the air.”

This summer, we spent our vacation in Great Barrington, MA and pretty much visited this micro-creamery every day. It is really the best ice cream I have ever tasted, and whenever Maya saw the store sign, she would dart down the street screaming “SOCO!” at the top of her lungs and run right through the door.  We even met the guy who makes the stuff and comes up with new flavors – he even let us try the honey lavender flavor before it was perfected to get our opinion – yum! The secret ingredient is 16% butterfat cream – which gives it an amazingly rich flavor.

Alas, when vacation was over I lamented the fact that we would have to wait until next summer to have SoCo again, until my friend told me she saw it at Fairway right here in NYC. Turns out that SoCo is going to sell to restaurants and select food stores within a 200 mile radius of its micro-creamery. Thank heaven for SoCo!