After a morning of shopping, we bid adieu to Paris with a cruise on the Seine, followed by a nighttime visit to admire le Tour Eiffel sparkling in all her glitter.

Wandering the banks of the Seine with warm, runny crepes oozing with nutella (for la fille) or fromage (Omaha bff J and Moi), we chose Bateaux Parisiens for our cruise, because it was right in front of us and ready to depart.

Then at 10pm, as the late Paris dusk settled on us, a final nutella crepe to bid à bientôt to Paris, the City of Light, under the Eiffel Tower lights.

Á la prochaine!

Friday I made a field trip to Chelsea to personally check-out the much hyped Limelight Marketplace: a former Episcopal church turned trendy and exclusive Gothic nightclub, now reincarnated as a bubble-gum bright and squeaky clean mini-mall whose doors are open to everyone. Calling themselves New York’s Festival of Shops, squeaky clean is definitely the image they’re trying to project.

All the PR is paying off: open just  a week, and Limelight was packed with trendy New Yorkers and tourists.

Limelight definitely has the cool factor: the developers kept many of the original architectural details: stained glass windows, swooping stone archways, dark and hidden stairways.

Glitzed and glammed up with chandeliers and glossy marble floors, there are still signs of newness: blue tape holding mirrors in place, workers crawling on the floor measuring and cutting, big smiles and greetings on all employees faces. Note to management: Needs more signage.

The shops are definitely fun and trendy and eclectic and small: I browsed outposts of Havianas (I was a little disappointed in Haviana’s booth: I’d heard they were there, and hoped they’d have the cool Haviana’s Bar like Galeries Lafayette in Paris, but no, same old flip flop display), Hunter Boots, Petrossian Caviar, Le Sportsac. The air was perfumed with scents from Soapology and Caswell Massey and The Avery Perfumes. And if you managed to avoid the many food booths, It’s Sugar will lure you in with their displays of retro candies and giant gummy bears and bins of brightly colored sweets.

Several jewelers represented local artists: Old Hollywood and Tina Tang. Baby gifts were well represented with Silly Souls and BookSmart. And Mignette and her doggie friends would find something to drool over at Sophie and Teddy’s Doggie Delight (they say they’re eco-friendly: no idea what they mean by that!). Zakka is a must-stop: unusual and retro Japanese gifts and artistan pieces including t-shirts and toys.

Even the famous J. Sisters is opening up a waxing salon! Brocade Home had 2 spots: a small booth on the ground floor (with no staff when we were there) and a hard to find larger store upstairs. They were open…but not really, we just took a brochure. They were too busy unpacking to talk. Maybe next time?

But are they buying or browsing? One vendor said the locals are gawking and the tourists are buying. We had one very excited middle-aged guy in grungy jeans and dark shades run up to us and tell us he used to stand outside the club trying to get past the bouncers and rope and gain admittance. Another story told to us in the food court was too yucky to retell: sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll!

There were several food specialty areas already opened, with more promised in the near future: everything from Baci Gelato to Miss Tea to MarieBelle Chocolates (3 shops: 1 on every level!) to Cupcake Stop to WannaHavaCookie (think whoopie pies in every flavor). More deliciousness awaited in the Gourmet Food Court: baguette sandwiches and cheeses and pastries and salads; Cana Winebar and Grimaldi pizza to open soon. Right now there are only take away food places: nowhere to sit and eat (other than the hot chocolate bar at the upper floor of MarieBelles 3 booths)  We were told a courtyard for eating is coming soon, but it’s not there yet. We actually walked over to nearby Chelsea Market afterward to grab a sitdown lunch at 202.

Is it worth a visit? Definitely: it’s a fun and bright shopping experience, and the perfect place to take visitors who are looking for something special to buy. And maybe a few things to buy just for Moi…

the details:

Moi Tip: From what we could see and were told by employees, Limelight is NOT handicap accessible; lots of metal staircases must be transversed to go above the main floor. We were told there is not an elevator.

Forget the t-shirt: I’ve discovered the perfect souvenir gift: small, inexpensive, and comes in all sizes and colors: Socks!

A recent weekend in Vermont yielded these adorable moose themed sockies for my favorite 2 year old niece and nephew. I even bought a pair in xlarge for one of our fave guy friends celebrating his 56th!

My trip to Holland found me wearing these hot pink delft socks

Guests visiting me in NYC love to take home these subway map patterned socks

One of my favorite gift shops is Little Miss Matched, where I can find colorful, mismatched 3-to-a-pair socks for kids of every age: and even little coin purses made out of socks

A perfect baby shower gift is this adorable boxed set of Trumpettes

And of course, what would a Notre Dame fan do without a pair of Go Irish socks

Who Knew? Sock it to me!

Moi attended a black tie at the Waldorf last week (I like to keep mentioning that…it makes me happy!) and one of Moi table companions was an UES Mom who was lamenting the problems of tracking down some cute Little Bit togs by Stella McCartney for GapKids and BabyGap.  As I wasn’t in Little Bit shopping mode at that particular moment (my delectable trio des chocolats was being served) I sort of drifted through her trials, until I realized that the problem was this collection is in short supply!

Just arriving in Gap stores last week perfectly timed for the holiday season, not every store carries the Stella GapKids collection: it’s only in select stores, in limited quantities. How’s that for creating demand:  designer to the stars (Stella McCartney is regularly seen on gal-pals Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Madonna), young mother of 3, environmentalist, celebrity since birth (surely you’ve heard of Paul McCartney hint: Beatles! and wife Linda hint: animal rights activist and vegetarian cookbook author) and lots of PR in all the fashion and celebrity mags!

The collection follows the designer’s aesthetics:

• mini-me, of the moment styling with leggings, military jackets, winter shorts, hi-tops and hoodies
• vegetarian and organic conviction: no leather or fur products
• high-moderate prices starting at $14 for leggings up to $98 for jackets and dresses

On-line or or at a Gap store near you…if you’re lucky! Better hurry, this stuff is too cute and Mommies everywhere will be snatching it up…rumour has it Angelina has already stocked up!

Halloween is Saturday and the streets will be filled with spooky creatures, fairy princesses, super heros, pirates and every kind of sports and action and cartoon character.

pink satin elephant ears

What’s your Little Bit wearing?

Sunday was Trick or Treat on Southport with shop-to-shop trick or treating and face painting, pumpkin decorating, and lots of games and prizes (and a few cocktails were served for the double-wide stroller pushers). Two of my favorite little party animals strutted their Halloween costumes for the crowds and the cameras.

little panda with shiny red shoes

Baby K’s adorable elephant bunting  for newborns from Annie’s Costumes had pink satin ears big enough to carry her off in a Windy City gust, and her big sister niece M had a panda outfit from Baby Ultimate perfectly set off by her ruby red Dorothy shoes.

Be warned: Saturday these two little tricksters will be full of tricks if you don’t have your treats ready!

                                                                                                                                                       …this photo cracked me up, so I had to include it too, don’t you just love them!

party animals - ready to crash

I’m suuuuuurrrrrrrre they want you to have a little more cover up, but Yummy Mummy on Lexington in NYC is showing it can be REALLY convenient to breast feed your Little Bit.

These peek-a-boos make it really easy to breast feed!

New baby girl niece arrived last week…need a tres chic baby gift. Headed to Bloomies childrens’ department, and checked out Tori Spelling’s new baby clothes line, Little Maven. Tres cute! A little expensive, but for a Tori fan like my sister,  a dress from Little Maven was a sure thing…gotta be the cool aunt.

The best thing about buying the dress at Bloomies is that my sister lives in Chicago…and can exchange the dress if necessary. Gotta love Bloomingdales!

baby K's new dress