Abracadabra--

I seem to connect magic and blogging together a lot. I think it has something to do with the idea or disappearing and reappearing, and well lets face it I do that a lot.

Ill be honest here, and this maybe why I havent blogged for so long, but I had to come home from New York early. There was a family thing that developed and that was that. Everything is okay...except that I had to leave New York early. I had to leave my husband and fly home by myself from our 1st vacation with no kids in 4 years. It was my first time in Manhattan and I wasnt ready to leave darn it.

I was angry and bitter and didn't want the world to know that. I wanted to hold onto the preciousness of the trip as long as I could, and not explain how I had pictures of Wynton Marsalis {trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center} at Lincoln Center but why I was no where to be found in any of the pictures. It all seems silly, but I can be that way sometimes...

After a while I got over it and moved on, but then a few of us got sick, I had preschool at my house here for two weeks, free day at the children's museum, we wanted to get all the kids spring/summer clothes in one weekend because it was consignment sale palooza here and Gap was simultaneously having their 40% off your entire purchase sale up at the outlets, my car died..like officially...like we are saving for a new one died, and we are trying to figure out what and if we want to put the boys in any summer camps because lets face it summer will be here before you know it.

Its been busy, crazy busy.

It hasn't been all bad though by any means--just life. We did go to the ballet. My first time ever:) I still to this day am a little amazed at myself for getting Royal in the seat. While he doesn't hate it its not his favorite. It wasn't a major company, just a local production of Swan Lake, but it sure was beautiful. My biggest enjoyment was that they had a real life orchestra performing with them and for me that was the icing on the cake. I absolutely adore Tchaikovsky! I have big grandioso dream of Margot being a ballerina. It will happen. Mark my words!! {lol}

All in all it was just one of those months were after the kids fell asleep blogging was the last thing to do on my list and cuddling into Royal and watching a movie or catching up on some Justified was so much more appealing. Hopefully now that Ive moved on and spilled my childish guts I can get back into the swing of things.

Here..take a look at this. This is exactly what I mean. Its none stop I swear. Grand Central ain't got nothing on us!!

xO-Etheline

Manhattan: Day 1

When we landed in New York I just about died. I was finally here-- I had made it. I have to admit, however, I was a little disappointed I didnt see any paparazzo waiting for celebs. {lol} Come to think of it we didnt see any celebs. Well, "well known" celebs, but I'll get to that later. Im guessing we would have had we headed to Soho, Tribeca, and Chelsea...maybe next time.

Anyways when we got into the city we started making our way to our place, but stopped for pizza. We went back. We stayed at this great place we found on airbnb over at Colubus Circle. Right at 59th and 8th. Hello Central Park. It was amazing!!!Let me say it again, a m a z i n g. After we settled in we freshened up and scooted down to Carnegie Hall. Thats right Carnegie Hall baby. Royal is a member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce and we noticed in their monthly newsletter that the Royal Swedish Philharmonic Orchestra were going to be in town at the same time. If my memory serves me right that is the absolute definition of kismet.

Let me just start out by saying Carnegie Hall is beautiful. When it opened in 1891 guest of honor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted his Marche Solennelle on Opening Night and his Piano Concerto No. 1 several days later. Andrew Carnegie's architectural gem is known as the most prestigious concert stage in the U.S. and I can vouch for that. I felt like a bonafide sophisticated adult that night. This was my first {ANY} major performing arts attendance and I think we choose very nicely.

Before the concert started I noticed a man in plaid pants and said to Royal, " I know him." He sort of thought I was crazy. I had been in New York for 6 hours...how could I possibly know anyone? Once he looked up he knew where I was going with this. It was Marcus Samuelson, the 2010 Top Chef Master competition on Bravo. He has also competed on Iron Chef in Food network and owns several restaurants in New York and Sweden. This, to Royal and I, is a celebrity. {lol} We are big time foodies and Royal is a fantastic chef. Once he got mistaken for a food critic by the owner of a MIchelin star restaurant once, but thats a different story for another day. We also had the pleasure to hear Ray Chen, a prominent violinist, who was featured at the 2012 Nobel Prize Concert. He was a phenomenal addition to the orchestra who played flawlessly and put on a beautiful show. I had the most amazing time with Royal and it was the best night to kick off our trip.

Its so great posting about our trip. I get to relive my trip all over again with you all.

Coming up next:: Middle of the night trips to Rockefeller Center and train rides to Brooklyn.

xO-Etheline

Great song

I love all kinds of music. I grew up listening to The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, Frankie Valli and lots more. When I entered my teens I took a turn into some pop punk and straight up punk, but never crossed the lined into heavy metal..yuck!

My taste continued to refine and in my early 20s stopped searching for the next album and the next band and instead enjoyed what I liked and didn't let one genre define me. I became more interested in the singer and song writers off the beaten path; Emery, Bayside, and at the time death cab..because they were no where to be found on the radio at the time. When I fell in love with my husband he opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. Honestly you should see my Pandora stations they are all over the place; Jack Lieback for when I want to hear phenomenal film scores, Diana Ross for some good old fashion throwbacks, Early Bing Crosby for even earlier throwbacks, Calvin Harris for dance parties, and I'll stop there because I could do this all night.

My point is music is a big part of my life and the connections I've made to people along the way. My father and I danced to moon river by Andy Williams together since I was a little girl. As I got older I was always in tears at the end of the song because one day I knew that would be the song we danced to at my wedding and things would change forever that day. And they did, but I no longer cry when I hear it. I just think about the happiness I felt that day in that moment.

Lately I've become way more aware of the music in our car and house because its the right thing to do, but more importantly because my boys are getting older and they don't need to hear any kind of innuendos no matter how good the beat. {Justin and Jay-z I'm looking at you} When I heard the song below I was in the car and the first thing I thought was this song is beautiful. The second thought I had was I'll have to go home and look up the lyrics to make sure they are okay. Rihanna's awesome, but sometimes girls got beef with the world and needs to let it out. So I was over the moon when this song got the check off from me. ENJOY!! I love it.

Oh and if you look it up on YouTube..she's in the bath so...yeah. Don't say I didn't warn you. Lol

xO- Etheline

{Bg}

Richie and I got hit with a mega head cold yesterday morning..major yuck. My brain is no where near ready to give our trip the proper excitement it needs.

So until then I wanted to share little random tidbits.

Fact:: I've been dying to go to Bergdorf Goodman for years. I can't really explain why other than to me its like the holy grail of retail shopping.

Fact:: Did you know that the store is split? True the address is 5th/58th, but the women's store is on the west side of 5th and the men's store is out the door across the street on the east side of 5th. It sort of blew my mind!

{via}

Rumor:: They DO NOT check your bank statements upon arrival. Royal and I got a good little laugh out of that one.

We had so much fun browsing though all 7 floors of this place and spent quite a lot of time on two which is entirely shoes--just shoes. Jimmy Choos, Valentino, Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin, Manolos, and much more. Royals favorite shoe on the was this cute little scalloped flat by Chloe. I have seen this style popping up all over for spring and think it so funny that it just so happened to be Royals favorite. What a fashion forward man I have. {lol}

{via}

I was over the moon with having a ton of brands all in one place and so easily at my finger tips as opposed to the multiple browsers open on my iPad. The word "denim bar" took on a whole new meaning, as {Bg} was fully stocked with J Brand, 7 for all mankind, and Paige. Royal asked me once how do you know all these designers? I smiled sheepishly at him and responded the only way I knew how..lI'm a girl.

And I'll tell you this girl had the best time ever. Maybe next time I'll even purchase something. That would make and interesting blog post...lol

xO- Etheline

Why not do it yourself??

I need to start off this post right away by saying I'm going to to be doing a day to day recap of our trip to Manhattan, but first I have exciting news.

{I made a laptop}

Okay not so much, but after being in the apple store..THE apple store...on 5th avenue I was gazing at the Mac book Air and began to realize its not exactly all that and a bag of chips anymore. Honestly I felt it was kind of outdated, which led me to rethinking my laptop purchase. And so after some thinking, browsing, and chatting with my tech savvy loverly I went with option B.

Option B:

-Continue to use iPad
-Pick up smoking awesome wireless apple keyboard
-Grab a stand for ipad

Voila! Homemade laptop. Is it what I want to use for the rest of my life? Negatory. Will it work until Apple gets its butt in gear and revamps the MacBook Air or we grab an iMac-- Yes mam!

Thanks for stopping by friends:)

xO- Etheline

Ps. I've had this keyboard for 3 hours and I totally love it and highly recommend it! In case you are in the market for one--

Checking in::

Hope you all are having a great week. We most certainly are here:)

I always thought the reason they called this the city that never sleeps was because everyone was up all night (so to speak) but the longer I'm here I'm beginning to realize its because there's so much to do you never stop. The term shop till you drop comes to mind, only instead it's see everything you can until you drop! It's the best vacation so far..ever:)

Here are a few snippets so far::

the day before

Royal and I leave for New York in less than 24 hours. The house is clean, the kids are excited for a week with the grandparents, we are packed{ sort of} and I am giddy with anticipation. This week is going to be epic!!!

                                                                                     {via}


Don't be shy-- follow me on Instagram. You know you wanna see some sexy snaps of NYC.

xO- Etheline