The New York International Gift Fair: The Cool Car Stuff Edition

I had a great day at the New York International Gift Fair, and while I pretty much was just scouring the place for duck photo-ops, I somehow managed to also see a lot of amazing products and to meet a lot of incredible people, many who were the company founders.

I'll be back to share all of these finds with you - from eco-friendly art kits to baby blankets that help orphaned kids, but today I'm getting started by sharing some of the fantastic car toys, which of course I want to get all of for my car-obsessed toddler.

I love this European Car Case from kidSTYLE:

I can just see Ziggy filling the case with his toy cars and pulling it around the house happy as can be.

Manny & Simon had gorgeous Made in the USA heirloom wooden cars:

And I love the idea of getting Ziggy the matching tee so he can coordinate with his car:

Tomorrow I'll be back with some more great things I saw at the show, or at least a collection of duck-themed gift photos.

You can see my picks for 10 Great Finds from the New York International Gift Fair at BaristaKids.com.

What I'm Thinking About on Sunday Night: My First World Problems, Colossal Art and Dim Sum

What a couple of long weeks I've just had (admittedly in a first-world-problems sorta way).

It all began with my husband forgetting to leave out the water bottles on water delivery day.

Then, I dropped my computer and was forced to spend eleven days offline while it was repaired.

And as if all that was not already enough trauma to have to endure, my daughter Kay dropped a heavy piece of marble on her hand resulting in a nasty injury, but luckily no broken bones.

And yet, despite my smallness in complaining about all these things, I also got inspired by some big ideas on Colossal. I absolutely love this art installation made by kids and stickers.

I am so planning to do this at my house with my kids and a package of 300 circle labels.

Colossal also featured this amazing Toy Car Rainbow:

Which I am also so making with my son later this week, or at the latest the week after that.

We spent the better part of Saturday on Pinterest adding images to the board Car Stuff for My Kid. At age two, I might have created the youngest Pinterest addict. I'm not proud.

Magpie enjoying dim sum

I'm also trying to maximize eating my way through the Chinese New Year. If you'd like to do the same, here are six fantastic dim sum places in New Jersey, a review of Pacificana in Brooklyn, and five more to try in various cities. And of course, there's always Manhattan's Chinatown, where among the many great choices I maintain my loyalty to the Golden Unicorn. 

Actually, it's year 4709 - but whose counting?

And last, I leave you with a public service announcement: tomorrow is Blue Monday so don't feel bad if you're, uh, feeling bad.

Next week, I can tell you now, is going to be all about the Valentines. The Big V may still be three-and-a-half weeks away, but my kids are already working themselves into a frenzy of candy anticipation. Sweet.

Glad I Saw It: My Other Car is an Art Car

This art car was done entirely with Sharpies. Seriously.

Seen at the corner of Chatsworth and Palmer, Larchmont, NY, Nov. 12, 2008.

And yes, I'm glad I saw it.

Thirty Dollars

My son (he's two) thinks a credit card is thirty dollars. Exactly thirty dollars.

Ziggy will go rifling through my wallet grabbing cards and squealing "thirty dollars!" every time he gets one in his little toddler clutches.

Would you like to know the fascinating story about why Ziggy thinks a credit card (or a Gap gift card or a Costco Membership card) is thirty dollars?

Because in addition to liking credit-cards-he-thinks-are-thirty-dollars the kid likes cars. So we go once or twice a week on a mother-son outing to get gas for our car.

And every time we get gas, the same things happen: we pull into the station, I open the car window, the attendant comes over, I hand him a credit card and say just two words: "Thirty dollars."

For those of you who chat with me on Twitter, you know that my darling son recently put all of mommy's cards (except for her driver's license and gym card) through the wall vent in our dining room, which cannot be removed.

When he was done he said happily, "Need more thirty dollars!"

I'm linking-up to Finding the Funny. If you don't know it, check it out at Kelley's Break Room and My Life and Kids!

Just when you thought you'd seen it all, I bring you... Menorah-Topped Cars

As regular readers know, this Hanukkah I've chronicled the best and the worst in holiday menorahs, and just about everything in-between.

But I couldn't let Hanukkah 5771 pass without one more commentary on menorahs, and that's the Car Menorah.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's this:

That's right, a menorah you put on top of your car.  The one above is from Hawaii, and the first-ever Menorah Car parade there in 2007.

Now, if you were keeping up with the concept of a Car Menorah, but I lost you with the whole parade idea, let me show you what that looks like. That's right, in cities and towns all over the world there are Car Menorah parades like this one in Philadelphia:

You can view an entire gallery of car menorah parades around the world at yes, you guessed it, CarMenorah.com. You can also buy your own car menorah there, too for just $225 plus tax and shipping.

I can't decide if Menorahs on Cars are in the awful or awesome category, but as everyone I have ever had the pleasure of meeting who is affiliated with Chabad has been so very kind to me, let's just say Menorahs on Cars are.... unique.

What do you think? Do you like to see menorahs on cars?  And while we're on the subject, what about all the vehicles dressed up as reindeer?

This one I found on SillyPenguins.com.

And last, as I was looking around for all the menorah-topped cars, I found a photo of this beautiful ice menorah from Chabad of Midtown Manhattan.  I bet it looks even better with the candles lit.

Driving, Driving, Driving - A Tale of My Mommy-mobile and Me

All actual stuff I removed from my car.

My latest post at the Jersey Moms Blog is all about my beloved Mom Ride. It started out the paradigm of a Clean Machine and now.... well, let's just say it's a Mommy-mobile and leave it at that.  You can read more here.

What about you? Do you drive a hot mess or a clean dream?  And do you let your kids eat in the car?

How do I explain to my kids life is not a Wii game?



Image Source

My kids like to play the Wii. I do not. So their Wii-life (lived with their dad) happily does not intersect with the real life I live with them.

Until recent events have brought the Wii-life and the real life together all too much.

Yesterday, my husband reported that on the drive back from Hebrew School Kay (age 4) insisted when they were going along a nice straightaway of road, "Do a wheelie! Do a wheelie!"

And then a few minutes later, as they drove by another car, "Shoot a turtle shell!"

"That's funny," I replied. "I bet since Magpie's older (age 6) and realizes those things can't really happen in real life, thought that was really silly."

And my husband, chuckling, says, "Yeah, Magpie totally thought it was ridiculous because it was obviously a situation where I should use the oil slick, or maybe the magic bullet, but definitely not turtle shells."

But wait, there's more.

Another great license plate spotted on one of my many endless mommy drives

Ah yes, hours driving the kids around. It has its rewards. Like this awesome license plate:

On the road

One of the many delightful aspects of spending a large part of my day driving my kids back and forth to school, as well as all over the tri-state area, is that sometimes I get to see a really funny license plate like this one. If you can't read it, it says:

D F N S M R T Z.

And if you don't know what it means, you need to check out the very amusing Phineas and Ferb.

Sometimes it isn't just a funny license plate, but a whole funny car. Like the locally popular graffiti car created by a neighborhood artist with just Sharpie markers.

Nature Camp

This summer Magpie is going to Nature Camp. Kay is going back-n-forth in our SUV taking Magpie to and from Nature Camp. The irony is not lost on me that every kid without exception is dropped-off at Nature Camp in a SUV. No hybrids, not even a regular car.

The first day of camp Magpie took forever picking out her outfit, I couldn't really figure out what her angle was, but then she finally told me: "I want to blend-in with the trees. I'll see more animals."

Today Magpie's nature education progressed to her pretending to be a grandma spider. And mine - I got to see a Black-Crowned-Night-Heron dive into the water and swallow a fish whole in one giant gulp. It was truly amazing.