PARENTING TIPS
Teenagers -- let them vent!
When my girls were small, their problems seemed smaller. A cuddle and a kiss solved most problems. But as they grow bigger, so does the complexity of their problems. I cannot just rush in like Batman anymore and make everything okay. One new development I have noticed as my kids getting older is the need ...
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THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Teens - Navigating the rocky waters of social media
Teens and social media is a 'hot potato' topic (as we say in French). The fact is: as much as I love the idea of a totally unplugged childhood, we will not be able to avoid social media forever. We ourselves use social media, and for good reason -- it is a simple way to ...
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PLAY
Noah's Arc at the Skirball Cultural Center
Noah's Arc at the Skirball Cultural Center is located in the Santa Monica Mountains, close to the Getty Center. It's an interactive "playground" themed after the story of Noah's Arc, where children become part of the experience by bringing the story to life themselves! Children can climb, operate and pretend play on the large vessel ...
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SHOPUP
A recap of our 2nd annual summer ShopUp in London
London - I love this city. It is pulsing with creativity and energy around every corner, and there is always something happening! This past weekend, the event that drew us all to London was our 2nd annual spring/summer ShopUp, and it was such a beautiful event! Honestly, it was so fun and so inspiring. We ...
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SHOP
Merci Milo - A magical toy store in Highland Park
Merci Milo is a treasure trove and a true gem of a toy store tucked away on a side street next to bustling Figueroa Avenue in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Once a horse carriage stable, this converted space is now one of the most magical toy stores around. With the door just slightly slanted and ...
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SHOP
Quinnie B - A Tiny (but very memorable!) Toy Shop
This wonderful (and colorful) tiny toy shop is brim full with the greatest selection of toys, party decor, outdoor toys, games and arts and crafts ideas! The bright blue storefront is such a pop of color in the neighborhood its hard to miss and basically impossible to walk on by with a toddler without stopping ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites: Best Storage Items for the Family
Storage, storage, storage! Whether you live in a small apartment in the city or a big house in the country (or anything in between!), having enough storage feels like the never-ending conundrum... especially when you have kids! You need places to store their shoes, their toys, hair accessories, nicknacks, books, etc. etc. etc. And there's ...
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FASHION
Alice à Paris -- French fashion for kids and tweens up to age 12
Oh sunshine, how welcome you are after this cold, cold European winter! It is glorious to be able to shed shoes and sweaters and to lap up every sun ray possible! The exciting thing is that for the first full year we have been able to take advantage of our little courtyard. We have planted ...
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WEEKEND GETAWAYS
Weekend Getaway: Rome with kids!
Isabel Lamb moved to Rome three years ago with her husband Christopher and their children, Joseph, 8, and Martha, 5. The family relocated from London for Christopher’s job as a journalist reporting on the Vatican and Rome. Isabel now runs The Little Grand Tour in London and Rome, a company introducing children to art with fun ...
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WEEKEND GETAWAYS
Weekend Getaway: Ibiza!
Oh Ibiza! If you've grown up in Europe you know the reputation of Ibiza: the best party island to dance from dusk 'til dawn. I'm sure many of us have had good times there in our pre-kids days. Discovering the island with kids sounds intriguing to say the least and there is no one with ...
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FOR MUMS
Luna & Stella -- beautiful, timeless jewelry
At last September's ShopUp in New York, Esther and I were having a great time meeting and mingling with so many interesting people. But I have to say I was missing my girls back home a lot. It was just after the summer holidays and we had such a good time together travelling around France, ...
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THURSDAY THOUGHTS
After school activities: when is it too much?
After school activities can be great for keeping your kids active and entertained beyond the school day. They can encourage your children to hone skills they might not necessarily have the chance to practice in school, and it can be a wonderful opportunity for kids to make new friends outside of their classroom. However, having ...
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BOOKS
What we are reading right now
As we are nearing the shortest days of the year and, as a result, spending more time indoors, I thought it might be fun to share with you what we are reading right now in our little home! Coco, who is 11, is on multiple books (as per usual). She is devouring the Generation K ...
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TOP TEN BOOK LISTS
Oliver Jeffers shares his Top Ten Favourite Children's Books
Who doesn't love Oliver Jeffers? Without a doubt, many of his own books would appear on other authors' top ten book lists. They would certainly make the cut on my list! His super charming children's books are big-time favourites in our house. 'How to Catch a Star' and 'Lost and Found' will forever remind me of ...
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SEE
Copenhagen's Harbour Buses – Seeing the city from the water
When you're in Copenhagen, there's water, water, everywhere, and it follows that in this city, the connection to it is magnetic. Great efforts have been made to make the harbour clean enough to swim in, and there are bright orange ladders emerging from it everywhere, so that you can dive in where you like and ...
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PLAY
Skydebanehaven – A 70-year-old secret playground for Copenhagen's children
If Vesterbrogade feels busier than most other parts of the city, that's because it is – and it's not just a feeling, it's a fact: this is the most densely populated area in the (albeit small) country of Denmark. Its streets edge the main train station, Københavens Hovedbanegård (Copenhagen's Central Station); it's where its red ...
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EAT
Leckerbaer Pastry Shop – A special sweet stop near Copenhagen's lakes
If a dream of a pastry shop dances around your head – the kind in which sugar and spice and everything nice is baked and shaped, whipped and whirled by hand into perfect sweet somethings – then on a quiet street running parallel to Copenhagen’s lakes, the dream is real. Leckerbaer, surely the world's most ...
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PLAY
Weekend Play – The 'Green Playground' at Øster Farimagsgades Skole
It's a fact little-known to Copenhagen's visitors that at weekends, the playgrounds of the city's public schools and børnehaver (pre-schools) are open for anyone to romp in. If the suns out (or if it's not, which in this Nordic city is a high possibility!) and the gates are open, they're yours for the taking. This ...
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SHOP
Mini Me – Copenhagen's coolest kicks for kids
If Copenhagen has a particular destination ‘high street’ – not so much high street stores as delis, flower shops, bakeries and independent bookstores all beautifully wrapped in a local neighbourhood vibe – then Gammel Kongevej in Frederiksberg is it. This could, to Copenhageners, seem a little strange – because Frederiksberg is actually a municipality all ...
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THE SHOPUP
A recap of our recent NYC ShopUp!
We might sound like a broken record but the New York ShopUp was again so, so good. We had such a great group of shops and so many wonderful people visiting us -- we are honestly so honoured to be part of such a great community. First off, we want to thank our amazing shop ...
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TOYS & GAMES
Add a slackline to your outdoor adventures!
We had an awesome holiday this summer -- simple, refreshing and surrounded by good friends. It has been a hectic year, so it was especially wonderful for the whole family to be able to sleep for hours and never get out of our pyjamas. Our batteries have been recharged! We tried out new recipes, sat ...
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EAT
Family friendly brunch at Polpo Brasserie
Polpo Brasserie is a little outside Paris but it is one of those places definitely worth going the few extra miles. It is such a beautiful and cosy green oases on the Seine river! Exactly what you need to relax and enjoy a slower pace on a week-end morning around brunch for example! My husband ...
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EAT
VHH Foods -- an all-day eatery in Brooklyn
We returned to Brooklyn on Sunday after a week and a half away and faced sights familiar, I'm sure, to many families upon return from travel: an empty refrigerator, a mountain of luggage needing unpacking, and tired-looking faces all around. In the name of making sure everyone turned in for the night with full bellies ...
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