The Blog

Cha-Ching!

It’s good to be back home, sisters. New York City was, of course, a blast, and my children loved it more than I thought they would.

When plans for the trip first came up a year ago, I thought, “Take my kids to Manhattan? And do what? Be terrified the whole time that one of them will get lost or stolen? No thanks.” I used to think of the Big Apple as an adults only kind of place. But I’ve been proven wrong.

Enter stage left, my favorite story about our trip.

I was disappointed that my four year-old daughter was completely uninspired by Eloise at The Plaza. I had expected a memorable mother-daughter day with lots of pink and tea, but when we arrived, she was like, “Yawn. Can we go?” Bummer.

So instead, we hung around Pulitzer Fountain, across the street from The Plaza. This is where we spent most of the morning, and I wasn’t complaining. The weather was gorgeous, the crowd was good, and I had HUGE blisters on my heels from my yellow JCrew flats. No Band-Aids in the purse—big mistake. Needless to say, I rested my feet while my daughter chased pigeons and threw pennies into the splashing water of the fountain.

I told her that when she was ready, we could go to FAO Shwartz (the most ridiculously expensive toy store in the world), but I had grown concerned. With my raw heels becoming more so with every step, I didn’t know how I would be able to manage walking much further in those shoes.

Enter stage right, Bergdorf Goodman.

“Hey, let’s go to Bergdorf real quick so Mommy can get some sandals that won’t rub blisters.”

“But I thought we were going to the toy store.”

“We are, darling. But first we’re going to Mommy’s toy store. When we’re done, we’ll go to yours.”

We walked through the revolving doors and looked around, surrounded by lustrous marble and brass, designer handbags, fabulous accessories and snooty sales people. I glanced down at my daughter to find a look of wonder of her face—similar to Annie when she first entered Daddy Warbucks’ mansion.

She took in a long breath and then let it out as she exclaimed, “Mommy! Your toy store is AMAZING!”

My eyes welled up with proud tears and then quickly vanished when I realized my four year-old was more impressed with Bergdorf Goodman than she was Eloise at The Plaza.

Get out your wallet, Mama. You’re in for some trouble.

Michelle