During our latest trip to NYC, we were finally able to have a long-delayed dinner with Jane of the amazing children's clothing line Anaïs & I and her family.

I do some illustration for Anaïs & I, and Jane is a treasured friend.

 Q spent the beginning of the evening racing up and down the halls on scooters, in hot pursuit of Jane's youngest son.

 

They have a similar speed ethic, and were fast friends from the start. 

 

This is Anaïs, Jane's daughter and muse for the line (in an Anaïs & I dress). It was her birthday.

Q and Anaïs allaying their boredom during the dinner party ;)

 Anaïs had already had a birthday celebration, but there was some cake left over, and she was eager to re-enact the ceremonies with the new guests. Lucky us, since the cake was elegantly constructed from dozens of layers of crepes with a delicate filling between.

 At this stage of her existence, Q harbors a deep-seated and burning jealousy of watching others blow out their birthday candles.

 It eats her up inside, and on occasion I have actually seen her burst into tears at a restaurant when someone at a neighboring table has a birthday celebration at dessert.

 

So I was incredibly proud at the supreme self-control that she exercised in order to compose this exquisitely polite facade as Anaïs blew out her second birthday candle of the day. As a mother, I can see past the facade, and I know that she is burning up inside at this moment. So I give her a great deal of credit for the angelic facade she was able to compose for this occasion. 

 

After the cake ceremony, all was made well when Anaïs presented Q with a surprise gift box containing a spectacular Anaïs & I party dress (in silver to complement Anaïs' gold version). Both girls changed into their dresses, and all of Q's jealousy was forgotten ;)

 One member of the group, however, was still feeling left out...Lucas (wearing an A&I tee with my balloon elephant design) was dying to join the party, and apparently feeling very left-out...

Being comforted by mommy. Sometimes, it's hard being the youngest.

I am wild about this shot of Q at her beloved contemp art museum in LoDo. The girl just slays me.

The one and only chilly day of our New York trip. Pretty exceptional for early March!

 I can't believe that it has taken me this long to get to my photos from the ever-beautiful Playtime children's fashion tradeshow.

 It was as beautiful as ever.

 Q and I met up with Anne, who is working on opening up her own boutique on the UES.

 Q took this picture of Anne and I which, while slightly blurry, is still one of my favorite shots.

 Q exploring the photo-curtains that divided the tradeshow floor from the dining area.

 Snacks with daddy.

 More exquisite displays on the floor.

Goodbye, Playtime! And off to explore SoHo.

 On our way to find brunch on the LES.

 Alphabet city.

 And Sushi in Little Italy.

 The night got a bit silly.

My dear friend Carol, who works on HBO's amazing Boardwalk Empire (we can't wait for the next season!)

 How very excellent to find oneself on the lower east side, between NoLiTa and Chinatown.

 Really, it gives us all the warm-and-fuzzies.

 Day two in NY, stopping for coffee before making our way uptown for Q's biannual trip to FAO Schwarz...always a priority stop for us.

In Q's mind, The Plaza Hotel (aka Eloise's house) vies for importance with the "Big Piano" upstairs at FAO Schwarz.

 And me? I heart Evolution. The SoHo store is one of my favorites, and I was thrilled to find an Evolution booth at the toy store this time!

 After FAO, we hunted through the ever-changing and continuously-renovated bowels of the Plaza in search of Eloise's tea room.

 Found.

 It is very pink in there. Because of the lighting, it's difficult to express in photos quite how pink it really is. Many, many shades of pink.

 After tea with Skipperdee and Weenie, she jumped rope in Eloise's room, and then played piano on the mirrored stage (??) before finally feeling sated, and agreeing to leave with a minimum of merchandise in tow (namely, a life-sized plush Skipperdee, true to her all-encompassing love of all things turtle).

Horses in the subway on the way home.

 Full moon over the lower East side...magical!

 View from our window latenight.

Q pulls her tough faces in the lobby. She had her game on in NYC. Bigtime.