'Tis the season.

Jonesie celebrated his third birthday.

"Papa, will you blow this out for me?"

Thanksgiving dinner was consumed.

My brother's packed plate.

My neat plate.

And NYC was "conquered." 
And by conquered, I mean... well, it always feels like the city conquers us, more than vice versa. But the exhaustion is worth it.

My mom and I went on our annual NYC Christmas trip on December 1st through 2nd. On Saturday we saw Once on Broadway. Loved it, through and through (loved the movie, too, which I saw years ago when I randomly added it to my Netflix queue). No trip is complete without a stop to Rockeller Center to see the tree, and of course a stop into J. Crew and Anthropologie, where I picked up this teeny bottle of Tocca's Cleopatra. From there we walked over to Fifth Avenue for the sights and Sak's.

We started our Sunday off by taking a long subway ride from the World Trade Center (stayed at the Downtown Marriott), all the way into Astoria, Queens, my old neighborhood, for breakfast at (ironically) Brooklyn Bagel. Went back downtown, where you can't pass up The Strand. My mom bought a new signature tote bag, and I bought my annual Moleskine Weekly Planner, and two awesome books: Maira Kalman's And The Pursuit of Happiness, and Blexbolex's People (for my students / classroom). And I had to resist buying the rest of the store.

After years of trying a variety of Moleskine's planners, this one suits me the best.

Is it strange that I like to leave the price sticker on when I buy books from The Strand? I leave it there as a happy reminder of visits to New York and one of my favorite book stores (otherwise I can't stand to leave these stickers on!).

Frida!

I just love these silly, thought-provoking, archetypal juxtapositions!

At some point we wandered by Kleinfeld's, but I was too intimidated to go in (especially with no real purpose in mind). And of course we went to Fishs Eddy. Tried to take a picture of the bag with their logo, but when I went to get my camera, this is what I came back to:

The only souvenir Jonesie needs is this plastic bag.

Purchased their kitty tea towel (which matches Jonesie's food and water bowl, purchased last year), three polka dot nut bowls, and a clever spoon rest. Was definitely eyeing their cake stands... that purchase can wait til next year, when the wedding is a tad closer :)

Perhaps the most exciting purchase of all, my early Christmas gifts from my parents:

A new iPhone, in a polka-dotted (surprised?) case from Kate Spade. It was funny because my mom also got a new phone at the same time, so we wandered out of the store, onto the Manhattan streets, having no experience with how to operate our new cellular devices. But guess what? We survived! Obviously, you don't need that technology... but it's such a security blanket. Our insecurity was definitely palpable as we continued the rest of our trip, haha.

This is my first smart phone! I can finally catch up to my twenty-something counterparts! You better believe that my first downloaded app was Instagram :) Expect more pictures as I get more comfortable with documenting life on the fly!