Unexpected Stationery

Yes, it would be great if everytime I needed to send out a thank you note or write a quick hello to someone I could stop at The Papery and browse for an hour among the beautiful, beautiful papergoods. But that just isn't likely to happen.

Errands with kids aren't as fun as they should be. Especially errands to stores with small spaces and delicate inventory. So I always have my eyes open for pretty things at stores that I don't have a choice but to frequent — grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.

Well, you can imagine my delight when I spotted good-looking stationery at Party City of all places. (I was picking up pink party supplies.) Thank you, Party City for making my life easier by letting me multi-task more gracefully.

Winner, Hands Down

My all-time favorite picture book is Ox-Cart Man. Lovely at anytime of day, anytime of year, it's especially wonderful at bedtime because reading it seems to slow your heart rate. It marks the seasons with such a sense of purpose that you'll wonder why you haven't abandoned your urban/suburban life already and bought a farm.

I highly recommend it and I'm not the only one — it's a Caldecott winner.

Ideal Mom Jewelry

I love this set of freshwater pearl bracelets. Besides being beautiful and neutral enough to work with many outfits, I love that they're relatively inexpensive as far as jewelry goes ($38 for set of 6). I also love that they're elastic, so it's easy off/easy on when you only have 1 hand available.

Cheap and elastic is also a great combo when you need emergency entertainment for your baby/toddler — and is there any chance that you won't have to use your jewelry as entertainment at some point?

From the museum shop of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Folder Hunt Continued

I had better luck finding two-pocket folders on my second foray. I went to a different Staples location and it was like a whole new world. Notebound makes some very cute designs that are perfect for kids. Staples only carries part of the full line, but you can see the whole thing on the Notebound site. I think some of their composition notebooks are adorable — a nice variation on the traditional marbled.

Maude will be using the polka dot folders this year.

Have you already discovered. . .

Crewcuts is here. J Crew for kids. Very nice.

The Westchester Mall has a store, but I haven't checked it out in person yet. Back to school is the perfect excuse.

What to Wear to 3rd Grade

The ideal first day of school outfit for Ralph who enters 3rd grade. Ralph calls this kind of outfit "jumpy" because it makes him feel like doing cool jumps (think extreme sports).

Pants by Gap.
T-shirt by Children's Place.
Button down (worn unbuttoned over tee) by Children's Place.
Socks by Hanes.
Shoes by Converse.

School Supplies

I was at Staples this morning with my 3 school lists. I managed to find everything easily — except 2-pocket folders. Ralph needs 7, Maude needs 3 and I all could find was basic black and navy in flimsy paper. Not good enough. I want good looking, and I want vinyl/poly or at least laminated paper.

The hunt is on.

Wonders of the World

Found this list of the top 100 travel wonders of the world.

I like lists like these. They make for good conversations. For example, pictured is Santorini and just seeing it on the list (at spot #81) reminds me of stories I should share with my kids. This list also reminds me of my friend Mark who has a goal to visit all 50 states by the time he's 50. Although I don't have any goals like that myself, I get a kick out of the thought that other people do.

FYI: I've only seen 12 on the list, and all 12 were worth the visit.

Gigantic Bubbles

For our Monday night family activity, we busted out the gigantic bubble kit Ralph received for his birthday from Aunt Liz and Uncle Jared. This was good-fun for all the kids — Mom and Dad too. The older 3 could work the bubble wand. Oscar chased the bubbles, and Betty was content to watch as usual.

One of the cool things about these giant bubbles is that they work best when it's really hot and humid or about to rain. Which means now I have a reason to look forward to those really awful dog days of August.

Get your own kit here. The book is funny and recommends a very specific recipe for successful "bubble sauce."

Adrift

Knowing that I heart mobiles, Liz sent me a heads up about these uber-elegant Adrift Mobiles.

Tarzan on Broadway

Ralph turned 9 on Saturday and to celebrate he chose to see Tarzan on Broadway. The first 20 minutes were amazing and overall it was just right for a 9 year old boy. My favorite part was the visual display the audience watched while waiting for the show to start. So incredible. I've been thinking about it all weekend. The other bonus was some one-on-one time with Ralph on the train into the city. Ralph is one awesome kid.

Note: my kids get "friend" parties only on certain birthdays: ages 3, 5, 8, 12 & 16. Ralph had a really cool Rainforest party last year. On non-friend party years, my kids get breakfast in bed, cake, ice cream and presents with the family and the kids get to pick something fun to do.

What to Wear to Kindergarten

School start September 6th. Today I will go through my kids fall/winter clothes and make an evaluation — what have they outgrown, what looks too worn — before I start shopping for school clothes. If my memory serves, their wardrobes are in pretty good shape and I won't need to add many items, mostly just fill in a few gaps and get some new sneakers. But even though their existing clothes are workable, I like to have a brand new outfit for them to wear the first day of school. It just makes the day feel more special.

So this post is "What to Wear to the First Day of School : Kingergarten Edition." Pictured, is the outfit I've picked out for Olive's first day. Just imagine this outfit with little, beribboned pigtails and her clear blue eyes. She will be absolutely irresistible to any Kindergarten teacher. And in my experience, if the teacher loves my kid, I will love the teacher — which makes for a happy school year.

Note: I'm stealing the What-to-Wear idea from the wonderful EmilyStyle.

Dress by Old Navy. (I picked this out earlier.)
Socks by Old Navy.
Shoes by Garvalin Kids.
Sweater (if it's chilly) from Boden.
Ribbon (to tie around pigtails) from the Ribbon Factory.

Surprise for Me

I thought I was done blogging for the day, but Bells just dropped by with an unexpected gift and I couldn't be more delighted — I must blog about it. The gift is the dinner plate and the bowl pictured above, nested and tied together with a delicate, red, grosgrain ribbon. The bowl is filled with red cinnamon candies and there is a small, square card attached — also red.

The grey/brown of the stoneware contrasted with the red makes for a really stunning display. And all of this effort for no particular reason — it's not even my birthday.

It's gorgeous. I love it. And it absolutely made my week. Thank you, Allysha.

Pink Party Final Step

Olive's party was today and was just right. Olive was delighted with how everything turned out and so was I.

For party favors, I had grand visions of making really beautiful bubble wands like I blogged about here. But then decided that experimenting the night before the party was not the best idea, so I went to Target instead. (What did people do before Target?)

I ended up getting pink gift bags and filled them with an assortment of pink objects and was very happy with the result:
- Mr. Bubble bubble bath in a big pink bottle
- pink nightlight painted with polkadots
- sticky notes in pretty pink patterns
- water bottle in sheer pink

And the bag tied with a pink ribbon, of course!

Lovely Shoulder Bag

Always on the lookout for good-looking, just-the-right-size bags. Nice work Gap.

Trader Joes

Traders Joes is wonderful. I can pack my cart to the brim and not even spend $70. Plus, though they're not really a health food store, they make it easy to find products without partially hydrogenated anything or msg or whatever the health buzz word of the day is.

This summer, I'm especially loving their bottled sodas — the sparkling sanguine (or blood orange) in particular.

It's hard for me to think of Trader Joes and not think of Rebecca Rather. Rebecca might be TJs biggest fan and she turned me on to lots of their best products. In fact, if I understand correctly, she packed up and put on the moving truck several grocery carts worth of TJs products. (Sadly, Wichita isn't home to a TJs.)

The Rathers are sorely missed.

EDIT 08/28: I just noticed that my friend Lindsay had posted about Trader Joes as well. What's with Trader Joes on the brain? Her list is excellent. Thanks, Lindsay.

Paper Clip Charms

If you can't tell what's in the photo, you're looking at little paperclips/bookmarks in custom shapes. I l-o-v-e making these. It's like making tiny wire sculptures. My mom introduced this activity to me (I think she saw it in Martha) and the idea really sparked my imagination. Oh the possibilities!

I starting making sets of clips — 6 variations in a cute little box — to give as gifts. On the simplest shapes I would add a few tiny glass beads for color interest and variation.

Note: this is not a super kid activity. It actually requires patience because the wire can be tricky to shape. Better for the preteen/teen set and interesting for adults as well. It's lovely to see one of these peeking up from the pages of a pretty book.

Find instructions here.

Pink Party Step 4

Party Games/Activities:
(Remember, these are 4 and 5 year olds)

A) Button, Button, Whose Got the Button? — With a pink button of course.
B) Colored Corners (introduced to me by the Maravillas) — pink, hot pink, light pink, and glittering pink
C) Making beads, then making bracelets from the beads. I bought some lovely pastel shades of pink Sculpey and some readymade jewel-like beads for accents.

The only thing left to prepare is the party favors.

Pink Party Step 3

Set the stage:
A) Tulle, ribbon and balloons to create an entryway.
B) Papergoods in various shades of pink for the table, including very cute (scalloped edge!) napkins. The cake will be the table centerpiece.

Everything pictured came from either Party City or Michaels.

Geography Lesson

There is a large picture window in our dining area that I generally keep uncovered so I can see the kids playing in the backyard. In fact, if I want privacy, there is no window-covering — instead, there is a pull-down classroom map of the world that functions like a pull-down window shade.

It's actually a combination double-map; one map is the world and one is the United States and you can pull down one or the other. I bought it new from ebay (they are widely available, try this site) and I highly recommend one for any home with children. Mine used to hang above the couch which was good, but having it by the table is even better. It is amazing how often geography comes up in mealtime conversation. We keep a "pointer" hanging in the corner so the kids can "touch" any country in question.

The house of my childhood had a huge map of the world wall-papered in the family room and for me, home just isn't home without a map.

Pink Party Step 2

Picked up Olive's cake today at Riviera Bakehouse in Ardsley. It's just like the ones in the top picture but with pink as the main color. I chose some tall pink candles to replace the frosting ones pictured. I'll serve it with pink ice cream and pink milk.

Riviera Bakehouse is wonderful. Their cakes are beautiful and often whimsical. The one I picked up has an intentionally slanted top. You can see some of their tiered cakes here.

Can't get to Riviera Bakehouse? Try this book.

Around Town Bedding

I would love to see my bed made up with this for fall.

Sculpey Beads

Playdate at our house this afternoon. Too hot to be outside so we designed beads using Sculpey, baked them and made bracelets. Great activity — the kids could really make the beads themselves, instead of just watch.

I get my bead-making-directions from this book.

I think I'll get some pastel Sculpey and we'll do this for an activity at the pink party.

Face Off

Found this using Stumble Upon. Hours of entertainment for the whole family. Very cool.

Fairy Tales

This is a really amazing collection of 12 fairy tales perfect for school-age children or preteens. The stories, written by Berlie Doherty, are the traditional ones, but with some unusual variations. The illustrations by Jane Rae are just stunning: detailed silhouettes, textile-pattern-like backgrounds and intricate compositions. Plus, the printing is excellent — most pages have metallic ink which makes the whole book feel shimmery and fantasy-like while you read it. The heros and heroines look exotic, almost other-worldly and very un-Disney like. A beautiful, beautiful collection.

Widely available or find it here.

Domino Bazaar

Jenni gave me a heads up about the Domino Bazaar. Can't wait.

The Ditty Bops

Heard about the Ditty Bops on NPR. My kids and I are loving their music, listen to it here. When I found their very cool-looking website I liked them even more. Their bike/music tour makes a stop this month here in New York. I'm hoping to take my family.

Pink Party Step 1

The invitations have been designed and delivered. The card folds at the top and the pink rectangle lifts to show the text inside.

Rediscovering Old Navy

On my impossible quest to find new swimsuits for my children in August, I stopped into Old Navy. There were zero swimsuits, but I fell in love with this series of dresses for toddler girls. They're even better in person.

Impressive, Old Navy.

Pink Party

Olive is turning 5, so she gets to invite 5 friends to a party. After coming up with a new theme everyday for the last year, she has decided on a Pink Party and I'm making her stick to her guns, because I've got to get invitations out.

My 7 year old used to love pink but now swears allegiance to blue. What if Olive follows suite? This may be the last pink party I get to throw — might as well go all out.

I'm researching pink parties to get inspiration. I like the photo above from kids.

Bucket Storage

Buckets in a kids room is a perfect fit. Several, grouped on a shelf can only look good.

This company makes really good-looking fabric covered buckets in different sizes. I like small ones for dress-up jewelry and larger ones for my son's ever-growing collection of Legos.

Gift Show #7

Wooden Tile had a beautiful and striking booth in the Handmade section. What is a wooden tile? Read about them here.

I know, I know. You're sick of the gift show already.

Recycled Crayons

Love this idea from Martha Kids for recycling smaller bits of crayon into custom-shaped oversize crayons. A glass jar of these custom crayons would be so pretty on a shelf in the art room.

EDIT: Looking for heart shaped bake ware? Try these silicone ones from Target. Or this one from Wilton (it's deep, so I would only partially fill it for this project.) Has anyone seen a heart baking tin like the one pictured above? My came with Maude's Easy Bake Oven.

Isabella Oliver

Through my most recent pregnancy, I kept wanting clothes from British designer Isabella Oliver. Everything she sells seems so luxurious, understated and so comfortable. The clothes aren't cheap, but they're beautiful.

I continue to be amazed at the maternity clothing choices available now compared to my first pregnancy 9 years ago. It is wonderful.

Ziplock Upgrade

I'm thinking back to school. I'll be making 3 lunches every morning. Wouldn't pb&j taste so much better if you pulled it out of sandwich bag like these? Created by Mobi. Buy them here.

Gift Show #6

Only a few more gift show posts.

These picture charms are indeed charming. The catalog of picture choices was impressive. Pick Up Sticks Jewelry is the source.