Butter Lane Cupcakes

a while ago my sister and i bought cupcake classes from butter lane cupcakes. a few weeks ago i was up in nyc visiting her and we decided to cash in. the class itself was super elementary but it ended up being fun anyway. the cupcakes were super sweet but that of course didn't stop us from indulging.

 

butter lane is located in east village. i love that part of town. i had never been there before but after walking around a while i was pretty much in love. it's so quirky and posh. do those two words even go together? i loved it though, i thought it was great, and this shop fit in perfect. a little hole in the wall with amazing old new york store front doors and large planking wood floors. very charming. 

 

you could make vanilla, chocolate or banana cupcakes. we went for the banana. the banana cupcakes were actually amazing, the icing was just a bit too sweet for my liking. and the fact that there were bananas in it made me feel a little bit better about eating them.

 

they taught us how to ice cupcakes, which was actually really helpful for me because i am the worst at that. believe it or not i even got a prize for "best iced cupcakes', which tells you a lot about all the other people's icing jobs (although i thought my sister should have won over me). 

the class wasn't exactly what i thought it would be but i walked away knowing how to better ice a cupcake and with 24 of them! yum. mark, leon and grayson appriciated it.

to the zoo!

grayson took his second trip to the zoo. he was still pretty small on his first trip and he actually slept most of of. this time though he was awake and fully alert of everything going on around him. 

he is super lucky that his aunt is a zookeeper at the cape may zoo (an excellent- and free -zoo if you are ever in the area). she took us back to see the giraffes. 

pretty awesome right!?

they are really friendly, but they were even more so when we brought out the treats. grayson was pretty unsure about the whole thing. when they first came over he looked at it and refused to look at it again. maybe he thought if he ignored them they would go away. 

he even got slimed in the head. the giraffe came over and licked his hair. eventually though he sort of warmed up to them. when the treats ran out and they walked away all the sudden he wanted them to come back. the second round of treats went better. he was feeling more comfortable about the encounter. 

the unk and gradmom & gpa were there for the fun too. it's a darn good day when you get to pet the animals in the zoo. 

in with the giraffes live the ostriches. they are a bit less friendly. looking through the fence at them is fine, but they will bite. of course grayson didn't find them in the least bit threatening. they were behind the fence so they didn't make him nervous. 

but back to the giraffes. 

check out that tongue! 

this was the first stop on our trip. it probably should have been the last though because grayson felt he was entitled to get in with all the animals after that. he threw a fit that he couldn't get into the flamingo pen. 

he absolutley loved looking at all the animals. we weren't sure if he would enjoy it or not but he definitely did. i was really impressed with how he was able to spot the animals in the exhibits. i didn't think he would know to look for them. 

it was a fun day and fortunately we spend lots of time down the shore in the summer so i am sure we will  make lots of trips to see the animals. especially since they have awesome playgrounds there too. thanks again to grayson's aunt kim for taking us back to see the giraffes! it was the best. 

to market we go

one of the best things about the warmer weather is being able to browse around the outside markets.

this past weekend we were up in new york city, saturday was beautiful and we walked around the union square market. i picked up some nice fresh herb plants to add to my garden, some amazing wine and a few cute mini cacti to add to my terrarium.

i would say thats a successful trip!

airplanes

I brought my camera to chicago but was really lazy and did not take a single picture. I did however snap a bunch from my cellphone on the plane. 


We left early Saturday morning. Fortunatly we flew southwest so we were able to check our ridiculously packed bags, plus grayson's carseat. I used the moby to carry him around the airport, he is simply way too heavy to carry in the carseat now. 

* snowy chicago

Even though we did not beep security pulled us aside, put us in a glass box and patted BOTH of us down, because a mother and infant are so scary looking that they warrant such a search. His diaper bag was full of baby food and bottles filled with water. They went through and tested each one which took some time but was no big deal. 


Security on the way home though was horrible. They made me take off the moby and pull grayson out so we could both again be put in a glass box and patted down. I explained that i would need someone to hold him while i took it off and put it back on- apparently they are not allowed to hold children. Yet they insisted that i had to take off the moby, i kept explaining that i would need help. It was such an issue and ridiculously obnoxious. Finally someone held grayson while i unwrapped, then rewrapped the moby. They proceeded to tell me they could get fired for holding him -well then don't make me take the moby off! It really annoyed me. I understand being safe but common! 


Grayson was so good while we waiting for the plane to board. He played with his toys on my lap. I did think it was crap that we were almost the last ones to board the plane. They seat all the priority people first (which apparently was 90% of the plane), then families with small children, then the rest of the plane. We were lucky enough to get the first row though which is nice because it has so much more leg room. 

*it was really awesome seeing the ice over lake michigan. 

I was told i should give him a bottle on takeoff and landing to help with any pressure problems. He didn't seem at all bothered by the plane at all. I was hoping he would sleep but he just kind of hung out, played with his toys and looked out the window. 


He did however fall asleep just before we landed, both trips. I loved having the moby with me because even though he was not strapped into a seat he was strapped to me so i knew he was secure if we hit any bumps. 

*We did have a little incident where we needed an outfit change. Poop up the back! Yuck. 

Fortunately there was no one in the seat next to us.

Security was nuts and slightly out of hand but overall traveling with a baby was not so bad (especially for someone who needed a sedative to just step on the plane- i don't fly well). I was able to bring everything we needed in my diaper bag with no problems and even with the fight being two hours grayson kept himself entertained and was good. 


Chicago was fun! Grayson is a jet-setter now! Sorry i didn't take more pictures while we were there. 

Oh PS. do you think you could click the link below for us? We would love that- thanks!

leavin on a jetplane

we will be quiet the next few days. grayson and i leave for chicago in the morning. we are super excited. i'm a little nervous about traveling alone with an infant though. i am sure it will be fine (and if not i have some relaxers to make it fine- did i mention i have a fear of flying!?)


we will take lots of pictures and be back next week. 


happy weekend!

off the grid

we have a really great group of friends. we are however the only ones with children currently. 

the last couple years we've packed up a ton of very unhealthy food, booze, games and snow-gear and headed to the lodge. it's a timeshare our friend kelly's family bought into. total manland. its up on a mountain in the appellations surrounded by nothing but woods! i am not an outdoor person, but it is one heck of a good time! removed from all civilization (and cell service!) among the woodspeople. 

when the topic of the trip came up in the fall i really debated if we were going to be able to go. grayson would be six months and it would be almost five days away from him. i had spent the night away more then once but it never was more then 24 hours. i wasn't sure if i could do it. 

after lots of back and forth we decided that grayson would be fine. he was a little older and slept better during the night. he would he in excellent hands while we were gone. the only thing holding us back was me and we did really want to go so i sucked it up (and i am really glad i did because it was a blast). 

We ate a lot. Took awesome drives through the trails of the mountain. Pretty much just sat on our butts. It was fantastic. 

I slept like a rock the first two nights. Better then i had slept in a very very long time. I did miss grayson but being up there felt like me again. The me that gets to just have fun and worry about nothing more then should i bother to get dressed today or not. Grayson was always in the back of my mind but being up at the lodge was the first time since he was born that i was truly relaxed. I had not just a few hours but three and half days (we left early, five days was just too long for me) to have fun and forget for a minute that i am someone's mom. And honestly, who wouldn't have fun with this crew...

It was just what i needed. 

big apple

We spent two days in New York back in december ( a little late i know ). We weren't sure how we would do getting around with an infant. It wasn't so bad though. The first day we went into the city we brought grayson's stroller. There is no way this would have worked had we not had my brother with us. Getting around on the subways was not always easy. Most of the time we had to carry the stroller up and down the stairs. A slight hassle but not a huge deal (well for me anyway, i wasn't the one carrying it up and down-ha).  Apparently we were the only ones in NYC who didn't know about the plastic cover to keep the wind out. Parent fail. He had about a thousand blankets to keep him warm though. 

Grayson loved the subway. He looked from person to person flirting with them eventually though the rocking just put him to sleep.

the second day it was just the two of us and i brought the moby wrap. best decision ever! it kept him so warm and it was super easy to carry him around. 

waiting in line to see santa. a bit distracted by something...

a penguin on a sled is way more interesting then a camera. 

He loved santaland- he flirted with all the elves while we waited to see santa. 

To top the whole trip off we had lunch with my sister who works downtown. I enjoyed the most delicious cupcake ever. 

I only took a couple bites because i wanted to save it. Apparently Pancake thought i brought it home for her though because she got to it before i could. I was slightly devastated.

To recap. I was really late with this post. City with an infant was great as long as you have something other then a stroller to carry them in. The subway is amazing to a 5 month old, so are all the lights. I would recommend the trip.