Long Island Ikea - Barely a Swedish Staycation

Perspective. Savannah explored the Ikea warehouse.

It's been my mission to buy Savvy a table for arts & crafts, puzzle play, and dining in miniature so I've been scouring Pinterest and blogs for weeks. There are a million options but my extreme cheapness kept me from biting the bullet on a cute table from Land of Nod when I knew there were tables at Ikea near our family on Long Island. Since Ikea doesn't offer online shopping, we waited until a trip to visit family before checking out kid stuff at the Hicksville store.

Land of Nod Activity Table - LOVE it but it's $449 and big. Maybe our next apartment.

During the visit, my father-in-law, who works in the furniture business, offered to buy Savannah a custom designed table from a school supplier that he knows of, but I was too impatient to wait even longer, and since we were just a few minutes away from the Hicksville Ikea, we bought an interim option that we can eventually repurpose when we get a better table.

We compared dimensions and decided to get one of their ridiculously cheap coffee/side tables in red along with white kid-size chairs.

This Lack table cost only $12.99

And so we could check Sweden off our Staycation list, we made sure to load up on Swedish treats at the Ikea cafe after picking up some toys for Savannah. We shared a plate of meatballs and sampled the "Ikea Food" juices.

Elderflower drink. YUM.

Lingonberry drink. I sip skeptically. Tastes like cranberry juice.

The best tasting meatballs are the hardest to reach.

Rainy Days and Mondays Never Get Me Down

Today is one of those days I used to dread. Rainy and chilly. The perfect recipe for an annoying commute to work complete with inevitable lunch at my desk and a gray mood to match the gray skies.

Since changing careers (har har) to being a mom, these rainy days can be magical. This is the first drizzly day I can recall in many weeks. In anticipation of wet springtime days, I bought Savannah adorable red rain boots on clearance at Target for $6.99 and an iPlay rain coat with pictures of umbrellas on it. She squeals with delight every time she sees an umbrella (who knows why), so I thought that was the best print for her until she has an umbrella of her own to hold.

When we woke to a rainy day, I was so excited for Savvy to walk through puddles wearing her first pair of rain boots. I hurried her through breakfast and kept her in her fleece pajamas in fear that the rain would stop.

Once dressed, we headed to Carl Schurz Park. Poor kiddo thought we were going to the swings ("WEEEEng") but I told her the playground was too wet - we were just going walking instead.  We had the whole place to ourselves. Even the dogs stayed away.

It was a magical stroll with my best friend, even though (as you can see from the photos below) she basically tried to get as far away from me as possible.

Cold nose. Time to go.

Pause to look at beautiful berries adorned with a drop of water each.

Hurried morning breakfast = hearty brunch at 10:45a. Savvy and I enjoyed a lingering mommy/daughter meal at the Mansion diner where Savvy dazzled the staff with her manners and friendliness and received a lesson in Spanish.

Tomorrow my companion, my joy, my motivation, my love turns a year and a half old. This beautiful time is so fleeting. Must soak it all in and never wring it out.

Unabashedly American at Eataly

Eataly is the world's largest artisinal Italian food and wine marketplace, located in Manhattan's Flatiron District. It was an afternoon snack spot for Savannah, our friend Alexis and I thanks to its proximity to the Barney's Warehouse Sale and the playground at Madison Square Park.

Because we had Savannah with us, we didn't leisurely explore the entire 50,000 square foot space -- which is part market, part food hall, part cafe/restaurant -- reading all the menus, perusing the cheeses and salumi, lingering over a few glasses of vino. No. Our mission was, secure a table with chairs (most tables are at standing height which wouldn't comfortably accommodate our toddler dining companion) and get food. We were hungry.

I realize now that our time there is probably the perfect antithesis of how our European counterparts would have handled the situation. And that's totally fine. We had a blast!

Here's how to be unabashedly American at Eataly with tot in tow. And by "American", I mean just a touch gauche:

1. Secure a Table FIRST

Upon entering, the first thing we noticed was the lack of seating. All the tables at the front were taken and further exploration showed that the rest were standing only. Bubble chairs caught our eye and there was a small grouping of three tables near the fish counter in no man's land that were available. We couldn't risk losing this prime real estate, so like teenagers snagging a table at a mall food court, we staked our claim before getting any food or bev.

I bet every real Italian or foodie that visits this place would make a beeline for the espresso bar then slowly meander through each food stand, grabbing bits to make a full meal, leaving it to chance whether they get a seat or not.

2. Shop Quickly, Stick With What You Know

Alexis and Savannah hung out at the table while I went in search of food. The original plan was for me to pick up some stuff while Alexis watched Savvy (and the table), and then we'd swap. There was so much to choose from that in my first minute away from them, I got overwhelmed by selection and also wanted to get back fast in case Savvy started getting annoyed--she was def hungry! I saw a case of pre-sliced salami, bresaola and soppressata and thought that would be an easy choice along with a chunk of cheese. We could share with Alexis and enjoy our food right away. I went for my old standby -- sweet soppressata -- and picked up a creamy cow's milk cheese without even reading the description. I hastily threw away the wrapper before even reading the name of the cheese, which I regret since it was soooooo good. I also grabbed procuitto on a baguette. I briefly looked at olives, but didn't spot pitted ones right away (always thinking of Savannah) so in my "I'm not being fast enough" frenzy, I settled on the 3 major food groups -- cured meat, cheese, bread.

4. Play With Your Food and Surroundings

This would probably NOT fly with prim and proper European parents. Whatevs.

Savvy loves it when I roll up salami into cigars for her. "Roll it, roll it, roll it," I announce as I demonstrate this fine art for her. So while she alternated between shoving entire pieces in her mouth, she also made several failed attempts to roll it up herself while Alexis procured us some juices to share.

Too much soppressata, mama, help!

Upon returning with two bottles of juice blends, 3 cups and 3 straws, we began a fun juice drinking game of passing around cups to let Savvy sample the different flavors, eventually giggling at her as she licked some errant orange pulp out of one of the lids like a lollipop. Times like this, I absolutely love being a fun American mom who is willing to let my child enjoy being a kid without forcing her to adhere to strict table manners at every meal.

Savvy's favorite part of the whole experience was definitely her bubble chair, which we spun her around in to keep her smile beaming from ear to ear, while we chatted Lex and I about shoes and wedding planning.

5. Blend Fancy & Trashy

Neither Alexis nor I could locate any disposable napkins or silverware, so Alexis did what any unabashed New Yorker would do - swiped two real sets from the nearby cafe tables so we could add a touch of fine dining utility to our snack time. We may have used the plastic salami package as a catch-all plate for our meal AND fallen crumbs and garbage, but, damn it, we will use white linen napkins and a real knife to cut our cheese and baguette!

Next time...Next time I will indulge in the full Eataly experience and make an afternoon out of sampling the handcarved sandwiches, coal fired pizzas, authentic gelato, and slowly sip a cappuccino or glass of Montepulciano. I'll peruse the market for unique pasta shapes and other Italian goodies to stock up my pantry with some Euro decadence. I suppose that means I'll need to leave my one year old at home...

Signs of Spring in Carl Schurz Park

Savvy running around "our tree"

Daffodil leaves pushed through the soil throughout the city weeks ago thanks to such a mild winter, but today is the first time we've noticed true signs of early spring. The flowering trees in our "secret spot" in Carl Schurz Park have their buds ready to blossom. I wonder how long it will be now until all the magnolias and cherry blossoms show their colors. I can't wait!

Couldn't get my iPhone camera to focus on these tiny buds for the life of me.

Our tree is sporting hundreds of buds. Wheee!

We even spotted roses blooming and dozens of rose buds soaking up the sun, getting ready to make their appearance.

I just looked through old photos from last year, an especially long, cold winter. The first time we came across flowering magnolias was March 25th. I bet we'll find some a month earlier this year. We'll be on the hunt over the next 4 days for the first buds to open up.

Denmark in Central Park

We've been fairly lazy on the "international staycation adventure seeking" front this winter, but I did have an experiential inspiration from a friend's Christmas gift to Savvy.

My wanderlusty girlfriend Melinda went to Scandinavia during the summer of 2011 and gifted Savannah an amazing collection of Has Christian Andersen fairy tales purchased at his home in Denmark. Savvy is still too young to pay attention to his lengthy stories, but we've looked through the pictures numerous times and I've thought a lot about which were my favorite stories as a child.

"The Red Shoes", a film based on Andersen's fairy tale, was one of my favorite movies to watch as a young child. I used to borrow the VHS from the library all the time just so I could watch the ballerina dance in her red slippers. I was so young at the time, I don't think I cared much for the plot (I recall it being a frightening story and would only look at the screen during the ballerina dancing scenes) but my love of red shoes was born and lingers to this day. I always have a pair in rotation and passed along my style belief that red shoes go with everything to Savannah. She loves her red Mooshu Trainers and picks them out of her shoe pile often.

Sorry for the annoying gif from the film. This is an homage to my husband who is gif-crazy these days. Image via.

Earlier this month on a rare 55 degree day, Savvy and I took a long stroll through Central Park to visit the Hans Christian Andersen statue. She wore her red shoes and looked adorable so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take a photo with this blog post in mind to fulfill our arbitrary Denmark requirement.

After waiting for a few other children to pose for their pictures, it was Savvy's turn. She was not at all interested in standing near the gigantic statue by herself. This is about as close as she was willing to get on her own:

I didn't want to torture her, but I did want a shot so I snapped one pic:

I guess the statue is a wee bit scary. We'll have to visit again this summer for story time. The Hans Christian Andersen Story Telling Center hosts stories at the statue each Saturday at 11am from June-September, which will certainly make the visit a lot more fun.

Here are some more photos from our springlike winter walk through the park:

No ice this year!

Savvy quacked at the ducks. Click here for video of her remarkable quacking abilities ;)

The sun was low in the sky. Savvy chased and yelled at her shadow, getting lots of laughs from tourists.

Lucky for me, she took a break from talking to strangers to give her mama a smile:

Visiting the Alice in Wonderland statue, however, was a more tolerable experience :)

I'd choose Wonderland over Denmark too, kiddo.