4 going on 40!

This is what happens when grandpa sends packages to our house! As I'm told, Arielle's grandpa asked her what she wanted for....hmmm..I don't know just being Arie I guess..and she said she wanted a make-up set. I came home last night and found a box on the doorstep and this is what transpired afterwards...I don't even where makeup and my four year old has a full-on professional set of make-up and brushes...wonder what she'll be like when she is 14! We already have some crying in the morning over what to wear which in my opinion is anything that fits but in her opinion is either a dress that pass her spin test (it must float in the air when she spins...) or leggings with a tanktop..no shorts..not jeans..no blue..no brown! If its this complicate now...

Governors Island

We had a glorious day on Governors Island with the kids and grandpa. We started out a bit late ( as usual..) but made it to Pier 6 and jumped on the 1:00pm ferry. About 10 minutes later we were on the Island along with quite a lot of other people! I say this because although I live so close to "THE CITY", I have never been on Governors Island or really felt the need to see what it had to offer and these droves of other ( non touristy looking people seemed to be on it). Sure, there were some tourists but it felt almost like the city dwellers going to their back yards, with their picnics, bikes, wine, novels etc. 

The main reason I wanted to go was to see this Vintage French Carnival called Fete Paradiso which had opened up a few weekends earlier. It looked like fun and I have been trying to get the kids out doing something of substance every weekend before the snow sets in and we begin winter hibernation!

Anyway, we had the right idea because the day was lovely, we cued up for the ferry early enough and while we waited had ice cream and enjoyed the site of the city (Freedom tower beyond..). Evalie has become very friendly since she became a walker so she was walking ( running basically) up and down the pier greeting her fans the people on line. She chased some pigeons and then got startled when they chased back...

On the Island, there aren't any cars, so everyone walks or rides bikes ( which you can rent if you haven't your own). There is a large well manicured lawn which had some kid friendly art installations. The 3rd Annual New York City Poetry Festival was in full swing along Colonels row, there were really good smelling food carts ( or maybe I was just so hungry..)

We took the long way to get to the carnival and just when Arielle started to get inpatient ( if your have kids you know this happens rather quickly..), we saw the logos chalked into the road..so as we followed these little carousel horse we found Nolan park.

after some rides, we had lunch at Le Gamin...

and a few more rides..

Played in this recycled-cloud by another ambitious architecture student ( yawn..)

and we were done.

Tassel Garland DIY

As much as I loved this tassel garland as a decoration for my daughters 1st birthday party, but I just could not bring myself to spend that much money on it at the time because I had so much else to deal with so of course I set out to try to replicate it somewhat with a few things at home and I think it came out pretty well. I had wanted to make a really long one but this ended up being good enough for the table we had at the party.

All you need to make this is:

1. A few packs of good tissue paper in the colors of your choice.
2. Washi tape ( or clear tape..)
3. a roll of ribbon or string (I used a blush color)
4. x-acto blade with new blade ( had tons in the basement from architecture school!)
5. cutting mat  (had in the basement from architecture school!)
6. pair of scissors
7. metal ruler OR straight edge

And all you really have to do is put on some good music and have an hour or so to spare... and patience of course!

1. Take the sheet of tissue ( 20"x20") and fold in half, the start to cut into strips leaving an approximately 1.5" edge at the top ( at the fold) 

2. Try to keep the strips equal in size and straight.

3. Once you're done cutting, unfold and cut it into two halves

4. Take one of the halves and unfold it flat so you can see the seam in the middle ( approximately 3 inches)

5. Start folding in perpendicular to the cuts until you have a thin spine. ( also at this point you could twist instead to get it to really look like the one I referred to)

6. Foldover in the middle and drape over your ribbon ( I hung it up so I could easily hang the tassels as I made them)

7. At this point, you can use washi tape to close the neck, or clear tape and I've seen people use hot glue which is useful if you decide to twist the neck instead of fold (I try to stay away from hot glue guns unless its really the only option)

The only thing that bothers me about this is that you can see the folds from the prepacked tissues..I almost want to steam them out..OK not really..but you know what I mean.

I guess it didn't really look so bad in the end. Enjoy.