Each year there are two important kids trade shows, called
Playtime NYC, we never miss them (Fall/Winter in March and Spring/Summer in July)! But each year the trade show that goes on in the Spring (now) for the coming Fall season happens at the same time as the Art shows in NYC - it seems to be planned that way because for the last four years we have had to navigate this with our family. My husband does the Art shows while I do the kids trade show - so we hit NYC with a vengeance, this time our son went skiing with some friends (first time away from us for more than a sleepover...
yikes that was tough - HE did great, it was us that missed him like crazy!).
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| lobby at guild hall on Gold Alley in lower manhattan |
This Playtime show turned into a Girls Weekend, with my daughter and I - we got a fancy hotel room at
Guild Hall (just down the street from our trade show), had fancy breakfasts (Balthazar and Lobby of hotel), fancy dinners (Guild Hall and
Quality Meats) - outside of that we worked our butts off... fashion shows, showroom appointments, and Playtime (that takes most of a day in itself!). I have to tell you if next Fall looks amazing in the store it's all because of Franny! (she WAS a bit of a hit at the show... everyone already knows her from the website so it was a bit like hanging out with Madonna! but without the attitude).
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| some of the biggest rooms I have stayed in - considering it's NYC |
Guild Hall is a great place to stay if you are going to visit Manhattan, It's located downtown, near Wall Street. We like to spend our time in NYC and Brooklyn so this hotel puts us in a good place. If you are staying on the weekend the Wall Street area is deserted so it's a very convenient place to stay, easy walking to the Brooklyn Bridge and if you drive there is even off street parking readily available. The rooms are large, by NYC standards and perfectly gorgeous, with very sweet staff.
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| my favorite sculpture in Manhattan - this Dubuffet |
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| buying Lucky Fish! |
Makie gave her this hat and she never took it off... Alayne gave her some Indian bracelets, so you could hear her coming a mile away *cha-ching* and she took to making movies and interviews with all the designers it was pretty fun, but we did manage to get a lot of work in at the same time.
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| vintage fur from a consignment shop in RI! |
We were lucky, the weather was mild, sunny but cold - so we could look chic in our trying-to-look-like-Spring-but-its-not clothing... you know at this time of year when you would rather BURN your winter coat than put it on one more time. I was lucky enough to step into one of our fantastic Wakefield, RI consignment shops before we left and pick up this amazing fur coat -- I wish I could say it was fake but it's not, since it's from the 1950's I feel like I'm just recycling. Anyway, look chic - DO chic... I always say! Otherwise, it's all about comfortable shoes, because at these shows you never sit down - I choose sneakers every time!
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| the Lucky Fish booth (we made it a mess!) |
This may just sound like a bunch of fun but really it was a lot of work, we never stopped, not even for lunch - work work work! Now you will have to wait and see what we selected for Nonchalantmom next Fall season. We finished the show at 5pm and ran off to see the Art show in the last minute - fantastic! It's so inspiring to see what's going on at these
Art shows, I always find a way for it to inspire my day to day life. By then we were STARVING and I remembered going to
Quality Meats in the same neighborhood (58th and 7th) so we pulled up out front, there was a parking, and ran in for a gorgeous meal and then off for the three hour drive home! It's tiring just reading this... imagine DOING it! But with my trusty adviser (Franny) by my side we got it all done.
In the meantime... come see all our new arrivals for SPRING!
