Rock Shic

#895 Papaya Playa Project — Magical Tulum ✨

All this chatter about beaches and decadence have me nostalgic for Tulum!!! We were there back in early November for a wedding (seems like a life time ago now).  How is that possible? The wedding took place at beautiful and truly unique Papaya Playa Project and we had an absolutely amazing time.  Munchkin did too!!! As is clearly evidenced by these photos.  

To know Tulum is to become utterly and completely immersed in its magic, and this little sleepy hamlet really does draw you in like no other.  I would say of all the places in Mexico — Tulum is by far and away my favorite!!!

#894 Brunching at the Delano in Miami🌹🌻☀️

 

Hello hello! 

 

We are on an airplane yet again, where Mamma does her best thinking and writing.  This time, we’re heading off to sunny Florida yet again.  

 

A trip to Florida isn’t complete without an excursion to Miami (or one could argue straight to Miami) — this is why during our last trip in March, we did a day trip to Miami (which is just an hour and half away from sunny Naples!) to see some friends, catch some rays, and get a change in scenery.  We also had a lovely brunch at the Delano just my mini-me and I. It was at their restaurant Leynia which was yum yum yum and does a FAB Sunday brunch.  Don’t believe me? See for yourself!!! Little man was a big fan of the oysters and sushi, and I personally loved the outdoor grill they installed 🔥🔥🔥 

 

One word that sums it just about all up is... #decadent — which is oh so fitting for Miami isn’t it? 😎 

 

 

#893 Juggling it all — mixing the negative with the positive

Happy Tuesday!!! 

 

I can hardly believe that it’s almost the end of March, where has the time gone you ask? Seriously! I started this year thinking that we had bundles of time to spare (even time to recap last January and February!! Seems like a lifetime ago...), and now fast forward to the end of 1Q19 and I feel like I barely have time to breathe, let alone write! 

 

Part of this is obviously due to the good old “Life with Littles.”  If you follow me on Instagram you can likely get a more up-to-date glimpse of what we’ve been up to.  Though in full disclosure, Mamma has been a bit sick recently with food poisoning, so I couldn’t even post very much, even on Instagram! Sigh. 

 

On top of that, hubs has been away so I’ve had to juggle and be single parent, which is NO JOKE.  It’s an entirely different feeling when you realize that the buck stops entirely with just YOU.  Truly no picnic I tell ya.

 

That said, munchkin and I did have some enjoyable highlights over the weekend, which included going to see an African performance with Congolese music at Symphony Space (see last post on Gustafer Yellowgold), followed by brunch with friends we haven’t seen in ages, then an excursion to the Museum of Natural History (including the "Unseen Ocean" exhibit and planetarium show!) followed by a trip to the New York Historical Society next door (see last museum post here) and all that they had to offer.   

 

Needless to say.... it’s all a juggling act (and I promise I have an end game to this somewhere!).  We ended the weekend with a trip to see “Wonder Park” at the Lowes Kips Bay.  It was a lovely little film... if not slightly dark, but looking back, I couldn’t help but wonder how much juggling all of this took! This is particularly salient to me given that lately I’ve had to juggle life as a “single mum” effectively since hubs is out of town.  Not only do we juggle our own careers, our household and our social calendars... but we also must juggle our children, our finances, our time — and everything that comes in btw! In some areas, we’re lucky that we get an extra added boost with credit help such as the likes of Yes Catalogues — your guide to Bad Credit and No Credit Check Catalogues, with all the resources it has to offer... and in other areas — well, we really only have ourselves to rely upon don’t we! 

Such is life and these are the hurdles that we must all face.  Right now, I’m feeling rather positive about all of the challenges I am facing — could it be the end of March reflection #mood?

I'm not so sure what the ultimate answer is... but I’ll take the positive over negative any day!! 

#892 Noreetuh – an excursion for Uni lovers

 

Today is the last day of February and I can hardly believe it!  There’s certainly been a lot of living packed in the past month – and to think, February is a short month too!!

So where to begin? On Tuesday I caught up with an old friend (you might remember her from one of my previous look books here!!).  It’s been a long time coming as we’ve all been so busy with our respective lives… that said – she threw out so many fabulous dining suggestions (made me realize how terribly behind I am on my dining game).  We ended up going with Noreetuh – a quaint little restaurant in the East Village that specializes in “Hawaiian flavored fusion.”  This gorgeous eatery is apparently spearheaded by a trio of Per Se veterans who really know their wines!! 

It was an indulgent night for the books – as we had uni by the buckets (in theory, we could have applied our love for uni across three different dishes but we stopped ourselves at just two). 

What did you have you ask?  Well… for starters we shared the “tray of Maine sea urchin” with an assortment of salts and King’s Hawaiian bread (the price tag was hefty but come on – YOLO!!).  We then tried the “bone marrow bread pudding” (which is like no other you’ve ever had!!). Again – Maine sea urchin plus black truffles!!! Yum yum yum… and the presentation is simply exquisite.  This dovetailed into the “mentaiko spaghetti” which is made with smoked cod, aonori, chili (AND UNI!!!).  We refrained from more uni in this case because you know… #restraint.  Though we did treat ourselves to a bit more rose.  This was all topped off with the bruleed Hawaiian pineapple, made with ‘alaea salt and lime zest which was both gorgeous and deliciously refreshing.  Also – can I just say that my lychee bombsheel cocktail that we started off with was to die-for! 

As always, the highlight of the evening was clearly the company, we had so much fun catching up we were shocked to see that more than THREE hours had gone by!!! Eeks.  What can I say, you can’t beat delicious company AND uni… it’s simply not possible.  

#891 Paper airplanes ✈️ in celebration of Black History Month

Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow

 

New York Historical Society – 170 Central Park West (77th street), NYC

 

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend (for those who had President’s day off... sadly hubs was not so lucky). 

 

We’ve been busy exploring and gallivanting about town, as per usual — and we made not one but two trips to the New York Historical Society.  This is a great spot for kids if you haven’t been!! For starters, we made these paper airplanes in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — celebrating #blackhistorymonth.  🌟 Some of the quotes are quite intense but nevertheless it’s never too early for these little kiddos to learn!!! 

 

You can join the New York Historical Museum for more family programs, talks, and exhibits including “Black citizenship in the age of Jim Crow” {now through March 3} — the latter examines the role African Americans played in the advocacy of their rights during the 50 years following the Civil War! 

 

 

 

#890 Lunar New Year concert at the New York Philharmonic 🧧🎻

New York Philharmonic

 

New York Philharmonic Lunar New Year Concert

 

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center – 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023

Well hello hello!!! Happy Friday! We are looking forward to a nice long (and hopefully sunny) weekend in Florida.  Having said that, Mamma is sharing some of her favorite moments with my munchkin at the New York Philharmonic Lunar New Year Concert this Wednesday at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center (what a great mid-week great!!!!).   There was Mozart, Stravinsky, and the world premier of Tan Dun’s “Fire Ritual — A Musical Ritual for Victims of War.”  It was all quite surreal really, and I must say that I was so impressed with the fabulous conductor Kahchun Wong — so talented!! 

Also of equal talent:

1) Bomsori Kim — violin 🎻 

2) So Young Park — Soprano (her rendition of  “Queen of the Night” from Mozart’s Magic Flute was absolutely divine!!!”) 

Oh, and did I mention that we topped it all off with dim sum from Shun Lee? (Conveniently located just across the road!!! Love). 💗🥟 #prosperitydumplings 

 

Related: 

Bye bye to the old -- Hello to the new -- Happy Chinese New Year!

Reflections continued -- February 2018 -- Foundations for a Great Year

#889 Gustafer Yellowgold at Symphony Space 🎻☀️ – Creative fun for the whole family

Gustafer Yellowgold

 

Symphony Space – 2537 Broadway, NYC

 

Hello hello hello!

My goodness it’s been quite a week since we last checked in, and this mamma’s been doing a lot more gallivanting than writing, but what else is new.

First off – hello February!  Can it be February already? I still remember it being January 1^st somehow and me thinking that I had heaps of time to recap and reflect on best moments and lessons learned from 2018.  Sigh... and yet here we are.  Time stops for no one.

Today we had quite a treat!  We zoomed up to the Upper West Side to Symphony Space to catch a wonderful production of Gustafer Yellowgold at Symphony Space, then feasted on Peruvian chicken at nearby Pio Pio (was only a block away but somehow with all these kiddos in tow plus the cold weather it felt like hiking Everest), then rushed back downtown for munchkin’s piano lesson, then hosted our big man’s very first sleepover at the apartment!! Whew! (Technically he’s had “sleepovers” before when we go away on weekends but this is the first time where our guest of honor’s mummy and daddy are actually away so… #legit).

Suffice to say, we had a great old time, and the highlight was most definitely the Gustafer Yellowgold show.  How incredibly original and creative!  It’s written and illustrated by the two-time Grammy nominee Morgan Taylor (who headlines the entire performance), and features our protagonist Gustafer.  He hails from the sun, which is fueled, somehow, entirely by raisins (makes me think of a reference to “A Raisin in the Sun”)… and has a best friend named “Slim” the purple Eel.  The one hour production essentially peels away at Gustafer’s many layers and portrays him in a multi-dimensional way that appeals to both children and adults alike!  For instance, one of the numbers feature Gustafer in the midst of an existentialist identity crisis whereby he didn’t want to assume the family business of trading raisins… while another episode featured Gustafer with his lady love whose name is “Ellen Lemon” (who seems to both understand and support Gustafer on all of his endeavors).  The plot even thickens when we are introduced to Gustafer’s overachiever brother Ben, who somehow invents a “Sun Pod” fueled by raisins and… well, the rest is history.  In a way, the narrative encourages each of us to be true to our authentic selves and not be shy of embracing our idiosyncrasies and loves.  For instance, Gustaf is all about his buddy Slim who helps him “warm up” in wintry Minnesota (yes, somehow when Gustafer is beamed down to Earth he finds himself in Minnesota?).  Another chapter introduces us to the robotic “Cakenstein” that Gustafer created out of sweets – and it was definitely one of the morning’s crowd-pleaser and highlights for me.

You can follow Gustafer here and all of the fantastic productions for little ones at Symphony Space.  As I sat listening to these numbers, I thought to myself how lucky we are to be surrounded by such rich and diverse imagination! Then I look at the little one’s expressions and they are absolutely glued to the stage.  To see that look of wonder in their eyes… there is absolutely nothing like it.  Kudos to the team behind this delightful performance!  We’ll definitely be back again.

 

#888 Camping with Dad! Just me and my dad ⛺️🌳🔥

Tonight we read a cute book about quality time with dad… via camping and making fires, fishing, and telling ghost stories.  It was, to be fair – incredibly sweet and then munchkin insisted on re-creating a drawing of him and dad (though I dare say it’s odd that they’re both the same size).  

One of our favorite things to do is to pretend like we’re going camping!  We would make big tents with pillows and also “roast marshmallows” (be it real or fake). 

In that regard this book is perfectly lovely for little kids to follow along… and given that munchkin is five, it is right up his alley! Plus, let’s face it, Mr. Mercer Mayer – author and illustrator – father and grandfather, is a legend who has forever left an indelible imprint in our literary world, for both adults and children.

Up next… I’d love to read “Just Going to the Dentist” with the little man.  What better way to ease his nerves and quench his curiosity about the dentist than with a fine children’s book?

 

#887 The Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center 🍎🎪🤸🏽‍♂️

 

Big Apple Circus

 

Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park – 137 West 62^nd Street, NYC

 

The wintry weather here in NYC didn’t stop us from gallivanting out and about the city this long weekend!  We had loads of fun and enrichment, first off with the Circus this Saturday!  

I’ve always heard about the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center (now in its 41st season!!), but have never ventured to experience it myself until now (it always seemed like something befitting for families and my kids were never seemed quite old enough... or yet to be born, ha!).  However, now that my oldest is five, it seemed like the perfect opportunity and venue for him to experience the circus!

First off – I was happy to report that there were no clowns (which I find rather creepy).  Moreover, there didn’t seem to be any overt cruel treatment of animals, which is a big thing in my book.  No elephants, lions, and the like (hubs told me that apparently it’s illegal to have elephants in Manhattan? I looked it up and it’s true!).

There were some gorgeous horses and cute puppies, but the real highlights for us were the performances by humans.  Indeed, it reminded me of Cirque du Soleil performances, plus what was back then called the “Absinthe” production that hubs and I saw at South Street Seaport (many, many moons ago, before children).  The circus show is aptly hosted by Ringmaster Stephanie Monseu and features quite an impressive roster of artists performing various astonishing feats.

So in summary, I must admit that I rather enjoyed it!!! It is a "One-Ring," two act show (with a twenty minute intermission) in between.  Sure it can be (to pardon the pun) “quite a circus” at times when you’re there (thought the production itself is located right inside Lincoln Center, and I am always happy to be there as I find the grounds and architecture absolutely stunning).  Hubs was lamenting that it wasn’t a great place for him to be with his arm injury, but dem the breaks.  There are tons of other kids around, and I love that they had a VIP lounge with entertainment for children beforehand, plus an opt-in opportunity to do pony rides, in addition to some delightful pre-show entertainment right by the snack box!

Of course, if you ask munchkin, he’ll probably tell you that some of his favorite moments entailed: (1) eating cotton candy; (2) playing with his shiny new spinning toy; and (3) possibly something to do with dudes doing quadruple flips on Trapeze (which admittedly was insanely awesome!).

I believe this week might be the LAST week to catch the Big Apple Circus in NYC (tickets here) #bigapplecircus – as they’re headed next to our nation’s capital in DC in February through March.  So please catch them at Lincoln Center (btw now and Sunday, January 27, 2019), if you can!!

 

Related: 

A Neverland Puppet Show

The Hamptons Film Festival

The Lion King at Minskoff Theatre, Broadway

#886 Enduring Love and the Test of Time

Everyone’s been talking about the #tenyearchallenge… and I wanted to share the above, as I stumbled upon these frames while tidying up tonight.

The top one was taken in 2007, at a friend’s farewell at Stanton Social.  The funny thing is, back then the lower east side seemed so foreign to me, as we lived all the way on the upper east side.  To think!  For the past eight years we’ve staked our claim down in the LES.

The bottom was taken in November of last year, at a friend’s wedding in Tulum.  My first reaction is that we both look weathered, older.. but a voice inevitably pops up and says “we were so young!”

Indeed we were, and we didn’t even realize it at the time.  2007 was the year we had finally settled in Manhattan, I had just started my new job and we were engaged.  It was a rather tumultuous year to be honest, it wasn’t my favorite one… we had fought a lot and nearly broke off our engagement.  I chalk some of that to the pressures of me starting a new job, us buying our first place together, and just plain old pre-wedding jitters.  There could have been other issues too, lord knows – life can be so complex at times.

Fast forward some eleven, almost twelve years later (it is 2019 now after all), and here we are… with two kids in tow, a family of four.  We’ve upgraded from a one bedroom on the upper east side to a three bedroom on the lower east side, and we’ve stopped wondering about wedding expenses and start worrying about private school tuition.  We’ve weathered so many storms together, shed many tears and laughter, and most importantly, there is this implicit understanding and love that I believe serves as the very rock and foundation for our union and commitment.

It’s funny, sometimes I wonder what the formula to a perfect marriage is.  I don’t think it exists really.  We’ve devoted, of course – to our family, each other, our children, our careers and livelihood – but the ultimate glue is our trust in each other.  I trust that the man I married and the one I go to sleep with every night is going to have my best interest at heart and always be there on the other line when I need him the most, I trust that he will be the best husband and father and human that he could be, and I have faith and confidence in him succeeding in this fundamental way.  Everything else is just window dressing if you ask me.

But is this tacit trust and understanding enough to withstand the longevity test?  Well – only time will tell!  So far so good… and we are literally ten years into our marriage if you can believe that (I can hardly believe it myself -- I still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday).

One thing I do miss, however, is the art of writing. We chat, we e-mail, but it’s never romantic or thoughtful anymore… not the way it used to be when you can literally compile a man’s letters to his wife (and vice versa) and publish a book of beautiful sonnets and verses that will withhold the test of time.  It just doesn’t happen anymore.  Perhaps that is something we could start doing for each other, just writing a note every once in a while, something tangible that we can both hold and cherish, that can withstand the test of time. 

 

 

Related Features:

 

On weddings

"Couples Only" moments -- Reminiscing on our trip to South Africa