The weather in NYC today was just miserable. A nor’easter blew through and dumped some snow, sleet, and lots of rain on us. It was the kind of day where you didn’t want to get out of bed, but just stay cozy under the comforter. We almost did! We overslept and were awakened at 9:15 am by the phone.
Good thing! As today was finally the day to go see Wintuk. Yay! The circus, Cirque du Soleil to be specific, is in town! This was Lily’s first performance of this magnitude and we hoped she would like it, not be scared, and enjoy it as much as we always do.
We weren’t disappointed. Once she was situated on my lap, so she could clearly see the action, she couldn’t take her eyes off of the stage. There were skateboarders, bicycle stunts, gymnastics, ballet, amazing feats of balancing, and acrobatics on the ground and in the air. The costumes were really great. The giant marionette dogs fabulous, Lily’s favorite part (of course we had to buy a stuffed animal one for her to take home). And the sets were simply amazing with the animated lampposts being my favorite part.
Afterwards we had a late lunch at one of our longtime favorites, Bubby’s. With our bellies full of omelets, home fries, and chocolate cupcakes, we dashed back to the subway and home to yet again cuddle up under the comforter. Nor’easter or not, it was well worth braving the foul weather.
Yesterday was BUST magazine’s annual Craftacular and it really was spectacular! For those not familiar with the event, BUST Magazine hand picked over 200 of the most unique and talented crafters from across the country to sell the best in handmade gifts and wares.
This year’s event was moved to a much larger venue in Manhattan (at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea) and gave shoppers a little more elbow room. Amy Sedaris was there signing her tongue in cheek cookbook, a dj was spinning some good tunes, and there was tasty food and refreshments as well.
This was my 2nd time attending and like last year, it really made me want to apply so liliputians NYC could be part of the event. I just don’t know it’s a realistic endeavor for December though with the holiday rush. We’ll see . . .
I did buy some really fun things though. Here’s what I brought home with me - the Veggies shirt from Squidfire (for my hubby), the Henry and Gertrude Criminal Lovers shirt from Jezebel (for me), a gnome doll from Sarah Apple (for one of my friends), a snowflake cookie from The Lower Eastside Girls Club Bake Shop (because it just looked so yummy and what a great cause!), and hopefully a pink kitten hat from DoingItHerself for Lily (she was sold out 
).
We’ve had some really fun outings the past few weekends and I thought I’d share. They are a little off the beaten path and definitely worth checking out by fellow New Yorkers (or if you’re visiting NYC) with kids in tote. Lily, our 3-year old critic, gave both a thumbs up and we liked the fact that neither broke the bank!
The Manhattan Children’s Theatre is currently presenting an adaptation of the classic children’s story, Goodnight Moon. We saw it Thanksgiving weekend along with a packed house. There was singing, dancing, and lots of laughs in the great green room! It’s the third production we’ve seen at this small Tribeca theatre and we weren’t disappointed! They have a great line up for the rest of the season, with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie being our most anticipated.
Last weekend we went to see Pippi Longstocking (one of my favorite childhood series of stories by Astrid Lindgren ) at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park. It was our first time at this charming and quaint venue. The theatre is a model schoolhouse built as Sweden’s exhibit for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and moved to Central Park in 1877. It became the headquarters of Parks’ Traveling Marionette Theatre in 1947 and has been enchanting audiences with its fairy tale based marionette shows ever since. It mesmerized Lily, who literally couldn’t take her eyes off of boisterous Pippi, her monkey friend Mr. Nilsson, and her pet horse.
We had a great Halloween, us mermaid princesses and pirates, and hope you did too!
The American Museum of Natural History’s big Halloween bash was even more fun than last years. But I think that has to do more with my little trick-or-treater being older and more fully appreciating the spectacle that Halloween is. Costumes? Nah, it’s all about the candy!
Liliputians model Lily wishes everyone a Happy Halloween! My little cherry tomato graced the October issue of PARENTING magazine with some other deliciously cute veggies.
Although the cherry tomato was a great costume idea, she has requested to be a Mermaid Princess for Halloween (I’ll be the accompanying pirate - aargh!). So I designed and made her a great costume fit for, well, a princess. The costume was so much fun to make (photos to soon follow) that liliputians will be offering a few costumes next Halloween (in addition to our Halloween shirts & outfits) and will also welcome orders for custom costumes.
Liliputians is a labor of love, but when you work hard you should play hard too. Yesterday was the perfect day for doing so. It was an absolutely beautiful Sunday. The weather was in the high 70s. The sky was clear. It was sunny and there was just a slight breeze. It was the perfect day for a bike ride.
It was my first time riding the Twin Lights Ride, a gorgeous bike ride along the Jersey shore and back roads on Monmouth county. I opted for the 30-mile route, since I had my 3-year daughter along for the ride and the 3-hour ride is about all she (or I) can handle.
Afterwards, we had a fabulous seafood meal at Bahr’s (one of America’s oldest family-run restaurants) and enjoyed the scenery of the historic Twin Lights and boats in the harbor. It’s back to work today, but I’m revitalized from such a great day yesterday and love what I’m doing anyway. 
We celebrated Lily’s 3rd birthday this Saturday. It was the perfect weekend and the perfect day.
She awoke stating “it’s party time” and it really was. She got dressed in her special birthday outfit. Of all the liliputians birthday designs, she chose the colorful Retro Birthday Balloons and Polka Dots skirt set.
Then presents were prompty opened with the biggest surprise in the back yard - her new clubhouse (which is actually kind of cute for it being a plastic –yuck!– house). It was a gorgeous day spent outside watching Lily have fun on her special day and having our first bbq of the summer. What a great day. . . Oh, to be “3″ again!
The liliputians blog generally highlights new clothing designs in the liliputians boutique, news regarding liliputians retailers, great photos from our happy customers, and press that we’ve recently received. Occasionally it will focus on unrelated news. This is one of those occasions.
Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the 5 Boro Bike Ride and I was a first-time participant. It was amazing! Even though I felt like I stood with my bike (an hour wait at the starting line, a 20 minute wait right before Central Park, random waits at intersections, and even a 20 minute wait to leave the festival at the end) as much as I rode, I was so glad I was able to participate. Riding through NYC, seeing all the neighborhoods up close, crossing bridges and riding on the BQE without traffic on my bicycle was just an incredibly awesome experience.
The 42-mile ride started in downtown (with more than 30,000 cyclists) Manhattan, went north through the heart of Manhattan to Central Park, through Harlem and the Bronx, returned south along the East River on the FDR Drive, into Queens and then Brooklyn and finished with a ride across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Staten Island.
I did the ride this year by myself (and was in awe of the mother that crossed the Verrazano bridge at the same pace as me pulling a trailer with a little one behind her bike - supermom!), but look forward to riding with my husband and daughter next year when she’ll be big enough to use a trail-a-bike, turning my bike into a tandem. Until then, I’ve already scoped out our next rides, the Harlem Valley Rail Ride in July and the Twin Lights Ride along the Jersey shore in September.
Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween.
Hope all your little ghouls and goblins had a fun time trick or treating. We had a blast buzzing and fluttering around getting lots of goodies!
After a week of rain, the weather finally took pity on us today and NYC got some sunshine for the holiday weekend.
To celebrate, we took our stir-crazy selves to the near deserted beach for a nice walk. Lily frolicked in the surf and ended up a sand-coated mess. I don’t know who made more fun, her, or us watching her.
Lily in her TAURUS ZODIAC TEE.
