i heart fridays: buggys

while we have been here in NYC i have become aware that my stroller saves my life daily. here the stroller is like my car. there are a number of really sweet buggys strolling the streets of the big apple. here are a few that i heart!

i have a maclaren triumph and it is amazing for a number of reasons! here are a few of them:

1) it is small and it folds small. i am able to take it through the subway gates on.

2) it is lightweight, so i am able to carry my 1 year-old, the stroller and shopping bags around in the subway and up and down the many stairs i encounter.

3) it is incredibly well made. it is sturdy, easy to steer and comfy for the wee one.

4) it is very reasonably priced.

we love it.

the quinny buzz was the stroller that bryan and i really wanted for penny. But the price wasn't right...around $600, i have seen them on sale for around $300. the quinny is just really well designed--it is beautiful to behold. it can also fold really small, so it is practical for big city travel.

phil and ted, not to be confused with bill and ted, have conquered the double stroller! i have always had this thing against big bulky strollers, so, of course, i haven't really liked double strollers. the ones that i have seen in the past are HUGE, boat-like things. i don't love the idea of trying to navigate through crowds with that kind of bulk. maclaren makes a double, but it is not nearly as cool as this one! check out the stacking action. if i were to ever need a double stroller (AND i am NOT saying that will be anytime soon) i would definitely shell out the bucks for this one.

markets and guggenheim

yesterday bryan, penelope and i decided to go check out a few markets in soho. it was a hot day, but we went anyway! i didn't get a lot of good pics, but the NYC market was SUPER cool. they had some great handmade and NYC designed jewelry. i wanted everything, so i got nothing. i think that is how it goes some of the time. we hit up a market on bleeker and walked a long canal street for as long as we could...but the crowds were pretty intense. it was a good afternoon.

we went home and rested up and then we headed to the guggenheim! i heart frank lloyd wright. the museum was so pretty and i really like the format, because you can't get lost...getting lost is a problem for me. in addition to FLW we saw van gogh and kandinsky and a lot of great art!

carl shurtz

i discovered the park carl shurtz on friday. it is on the east river and it is so pretty and quite a bit less crowded than central park. jess came with us and we had a great time. we saw the gracie mansion, the one time the home of the mayor of ny and a museum of the city of NY. the home is so pretty and it is in the park. we didn't go inside, but i may want to another day. there was a guy playing kids songs, which was very entertaining.

joneses came to visit!

my aunt maurine, uncle steve and their 3 girls (jordan, katie, & rachel) came to town last week. steve had to work during the days, so i had fun with the girls.

on tueday chris and myleka came and played with us. it rained all day! we went to china town, battery park, wall street, times square and RUSHED to the doughnut plant (mmmmm.) wendesday we hung out at central park and on the UES. we had planned on going to the met, but we were too slow. on thursday the jones girls made it to the met-yay! we all went to the sala thai for dinner and it was delicious (thanks maurine & steve!)

i heart fridays: lmnop

lmnop is another really hip magazine for little ones and hails from austrailia.

lmnop=laugh, make, nurture, organise, and play! they have the low down on kids toys and fun games to play, they also have a really great fashion section. i am always looking for fun ideas of things to make for penelope or to give others as a gift and this little free bee is a lot of help!

little mermaid & times square

this saturday we all headed down to time square to get discount tickets for a broadway show! it was a tough decision, but we decided to see the little mermaid. while we were at time square we got to do a little exploring and saw the m&m store, ripley's believe it or not, the hershey's store and many flashing lights.

jess watched penelope for us while we went to the show. it was a really fun show. the set and the costumes were all really well done. it was bryan's first broadway experience and he gave it a thumbs up!

in time square they have broadway shut down to traffic and have a bunch of folding chairs for people to relax in. the permanent furniture will be installed in august!

here's a picture of penelope playing. she really likes to try to dress herself and i think her sense of fashion is just great! she has her swim suit on over her shorts and tank top and has 1 shoe. so cute!

last week we had character drawings done of the family in battery park. bryan's and penelope's look great...i am not the biggest fan of mine..ha ha. we thought it was fun and they weren't meant to look just like us.

i heart fridays: coeur de pirate

i stumbled upon coeur de pirate online last year and this girl ROCKS! i got this cd for christmas from bryan and i haven't been able to stop listening to it. she is french canadian...and so i can't understand any of the lyrics, but i still find them, coupled with her piano playing, charming. check out this music video. and if you want the cd you can buy it on itunes or check it here!

NAME AND GIVEAWAY

NAME NEWS: it looks like the name of my designs will stay emily sparks! thank you for the input and help in finalizing this decision.

GIVEAWAY NEWS: thank you for all the contestants in my very first givaway! and the winners are:

CONGRATS!!!

who does bryan look like?

bryan has had quite a few people tell him that he resembles various well known people, some flattering....some not. i am giving you the chance to vote for who you think he looks like (poll at left.) all of the options are people that 1 or more person(s) told bryan he looks like.

a) cat stevens

b) charles manson

c) bob ross

d) eric bana

e) bret mckensie

UPDATE******

it has been decided that bryan looks most like bret mckensie, with cat stevens a close second!

sunday in central park

we went to central park after church yesterday. it was a beautiful day. i couldn't believ how many people were at the park. we decided to go up to the belvedere castle. the castle is where the central park center of the national weather bureau is, but it was originally built as a lookout point for nyc. the castle sits on the turtle pond and is right next to where shakespeare in the park is performed. after we checked out the views we found a quite shady spot for penny to throw her ball and for us to relax. it was wonderful.

view from castle (central park and the UES.)

us at the top

the castle

entertainment

lady liberty and the doughnut plant

on saturday we embarked for the statue of liberty. we decided to first check out the best donut in nyc ... the doughnut plant. we got a fresh blueberry, cocoanut cream filled, blackberry jam filled, and a blackout. these donuts lived up to their reputation. they were delicious. they tasted really fresh and not too heavy. mmmm. i am dreaming of them right now. too bad they are way down by china town (literally.) we then took a bus to wall street and walked to battery park from there.

penelope got to sit in her own seat on the bus and she thought it was pretty cool

NY stock exchange

trump building

on the right is a sculpture that was in the plaza of the world trade center before 9-11 and is now on display at battery park, as a memorial, temporarily. you can tell that it has been really mangled. on the left is the bull that EVERYONE needs to get a picture with. we didn't even try. we got our tickets to the statue & ellis island and boarded the ferry.

here are a few pictures of us on the ferry on our way to the statue of liberty.

penelope really wanted to push her stroller around a bit when we got off the ferry.

it was a really cloudy and windy day.

here is a panoramic shot from lady liberty that bryan but together (it looks way better bigger.)

we ended up missing the last boat leaving to ellis island, so we didn't get to go there. we were both a little disappointed, but i think we may go back. it was a really nice trip.