GIRLS DAY OUT

We had a long standing girls day planned, my cousin and I, with her daughter Saire who just turned 6. She and Lula were the only girls amid 5 boy second cousins last time they visited and it all got a bit "Lord of the Flies" so we vowed to do a girlie day.

Last time they visited a model scout from a children's clothing company spotted Saire at the Brooklyn Flea and asked if she could come to her NYC office, which was the starting point of our day.  It's no wonder that this happened since Saire is uncommonly, exceptionally beautiful:

Hello gorgeous!

Frankly, she wasn't terribly impressed with the whole casting experience. Her favorite part was that she got her own badge at the security desk.  She was far more excited to go ice skating.  Unfortunately it started to rain and the thought of being on slippery ice in sub-zero temps on skates had no appeal whatsoever to Jamie and I so we took Saire to FAO Schwarz, which is one of the largest toy stores in the world.  I think we were all a bit overwhelmed at the scale and selection.  Among the more disturbing items were a $1500 Swarovski crystal encrusted Etch-A-Sketch and this:

Barbie Foosball anyone?

The highlight of the store was definitely the giant piano keys, which was nearly as good as skating.  Saire perfected her knee slides:

Action shot!

 Next we lunched at the Plaza.  We skipped the stuffier Tea service a la Eloise and opted for an amazing 3 course lunch at the Food Hall for restaurant week.  The food was incredible - even Saire reckoned that her mac and cheese was the best she'd ever had. There was a woman painstakingly making butternut squash tortellini near us and she even let Saire make one of her own and take it home.  What a treat!

After we walked by Bergdorf Goodman where they were setting up stunning window displays of exquisitely crafted paper dragons for Chinese New Year and then introduced Saire to the row of jewelry stores along Fifth Avenue that sell jewelry that costs as much as a house.  She was totally into it.

Getting close to Harry Winston

 We continued our stroll through decadence with a chocolate dipped strawberry from Godiva:

Finally we made our way through Rockefeller Center and ended with a bang - cupcakes to take home to the boys from Magnolia Bakery.

It turned out that our absence was greatly missed and Roan had spent the whole day with Kia asking for Saire.  She spent the rest of the evening schooling him in the ways of the iPad and locking him in the bedroom with the lights off, which she thought was hilarious and he begged to differ.

I know that Lu was with us the whole day and loved every minute of it. The only way to counter the sadness is to see other people being happy, especially those that loved her so much.