Ooops I did it again. Last week I went binge-shopping, and it wasn’t pretty. I went to a NYC shop that has very cheap clothing and bought a truckload of clothes for just $80. Love me a good bargain. But I’m not going to lie to myself, as much as I love the things that I got, I know that comes next season I won’t be able to wear any of it again. The colors will fade, the seams will rip, the fabric will shrink….you name it. Disposable clothing, we call that? Not great for the environment, and probably not great for my wallet in the long run. And that’s without even mentioning the tragedy in Bangladesh where all cheap clothes are made.

Part of me feel that when I buy disposable clothes, because I feel like I should be investing in clothes that will last forever, like all of the beautiful clothes that my new friend Beth sells in her vintage shop Salvage Life. When I find great vintage pieces like the ones Beth has in her shop, I always try to imagine who wore them, what they life and story was like. This part of mystery makes these pieces even more magical. Through her shop, Beth promotes sustainable living through the gorgeous vintage pieces that she carefully curates, repair and clean as needed so you can purchase them in a “like new” condition. It is all about well-made clothing that will last through time. Knowing that the story will continue even after your are through with these pieces, knowing that they will make someone else very happy – there is such beauty in that, isn’t there?

Shop: Elephant parade necklace | Floral bolero | Wildflower skirt | Retro clutch | Fruit slice bag | Dot skirt.

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Happy Thursday, friends! Today for the ladies I am loving this adorable blue hand dipped-dyed robe over at RedEnveloppe (I own it and love it! It’s so soft and feel SO pretty in it). And for the little ones, how adorable is this Ombre Jumpsuit by Wolfechild at Darling Clementine?!

PS: Tomorrow I’ll have super exciting news to share with you guys!! Can you guess what?

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Let them eat cupcakes! I made these rosewater and vanilla cupcakes for Madeline’s birthday last week, and I am totally obsessed with them. A few of you asked me to share the recipe, so there you go. I love the subtel scent and taste of the rosewater combined with that of the vanilla – and this frosting is so fluffy an delicious I could just eat it by the spoonful…maybe I did just that These cupcakes are perfect for a Spring celebration! Happy Wednesday, friends!

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EASY VANILLA CUPCAKES (makes 24)

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF and prepare 24 regular muffin cups with cupcake liners.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl with a whisk until blended. Whisk milk, water, oil, vanilla and eggs in 4-cup liquid measuring cup or medium bowl.
3. Make a well in the flour mixture. Gradually pour milk mixture into flour mixture; whisk until blended (some small lumps may remain).
4. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool cupcakes in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.
6. Forst when cupcakes have completely cooled off.

1. In mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine icing sugar and butter on low, for about 2 minutes.
2. Add vanilla, and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes.
3. Add whipping cream and salt, and mix on medium-high for 2 minutes.
4. Add rosewater and pink gel colour, and whip until blended.

**PS: I used A LOT of frosting on mine and ran out for the last two cupcakes, so you might want to consider making the frosting recipe x1.5 if you like to use a LOT of frosting too…plus, you might end up with a bit of leftover for uhmmmmm, over purposes?

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I am absolutely in love with the fun patterns and colors you can choose from. If I had a little boy I’d probably pair a gray and red cardigan onesie with a fun gray polka dots bow tie. So adorable! So, what do you say, ready to win? Also, I have even more great news – Haddon Co. is offering a 10% discount to all of you TLS readers – isn’t it you lucky day! To enjoy this discount, use code LUCKYDAY when ordering.

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HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY: This giveaway is sponsored by Haddon Co. and open to people worldwide. See details in Rafflecopter widget below on how to easily enter this giveaway.  Also, don’t forget to enter our other giveaway here!

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 Happy Monday, friends – today I’ve got a little something fun for all you color lovers out there! It’s been a while since my last {live here, eat that}, and I just couldn’t pass on this house. The owners of this apartment came up with perfect mix between bright colors and soothing colors, so that despite all that colors fest you don’t really feel overwhelmed by it all. I also love the contrast between very simple lines (like that gorgeous mint kitchen or the pretty teal couch) and the more complex details of the amazing tiles they included throughout their home. I am usually not a big fan of tiles – but how simply gorgeous and unique are these? What about you guys, would you dare that much color in your home?

And we’ll keep the color fest going in the kitchen with this delicious summer gaspacho recipe from La Tartine Gourmande. Gaspacho is one of my favorite soups – something about it makes me so happy. It is as fresh and happy as this gorgeous home!

PS: Have you entered the shoe giveaway with Trinity Place yet? If you love colors then you’ll love the shoes!

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Last week my wee girl turned two – long gone my baby Maddie! She’s turning into such a beautiful, funny, smart little girl…what, biased at all, me? She’s my little girl, of course she’s perfect, duh Can’t help it, I am a proud mama.

We  had a mini-celebration on Wednesday, the day of her birthday, and then had a little party at home with a few friends the following Sunday. We are starting to have our little routine down now for birthdays. New family traditions are slowly falling into place and it feels so good. The girls now know that I always decorate the house the evening right before their birthdays – they look forward to it. Oh the squeals of joy when they woke up last Wednesday and saw the balloons up in the air & the polka dots on the walls

Madeline had been talking about guitars for months, so finally I broke down and found this adorable one – oh you should have seen her face when she unwrapped it. She didn’t let go of it ALL day. She even napped with it, made my heart melt. My sweet little girl is a bit of a rocker, turns out

The day of her birthday I made vanilla cupcakes with rosewater frosting – or should I say that I made rosewater frosting with vanilla cupcakes, because quite frankly the frosting is all we ever need in cupcakes, right?! And for the party I made a cake with a similar combination, vanilla and rosewater, and it also had a mixture of peaches and cream in the middle. Yes, I am slightly obsessed with anything with rosewater.

For the big cake I used the cake topper I made a couple weeks ago (see tutorial here), I used a simple bloom for the cupcakes, and I also made this sweet little flower crown that that little Scandinavian girl could wear in her hair. In this house it is simply not allowed to have a birthday without wearing a crown or a hat or something pretty in your hair. And you don’t want to test a French person, you know what we did to our kings when they pissed us off

 In Manhattan you’ll find that a lot of families go all out for their kids birthday parties – as in, ALL OUT. They’ll organize an event a the kid’s museum or rent an entire playroom with a crew to entertain the kids. While these are always fun, they also cost a fortune. Personally, I think that simply having people at our home, decorated for the occasion, with a homemade cake and loads of friends is just the best way to celebrate my girls’ birthdays. The party was chill and fun – food, cake, balloons and a little bit of music for the kids. I know that the stuff I make might make this party look fancy and all, but really it’s a bunch of balloons, hot glue and time, is all.

As far as party favors go, I put together these little DIY bug glitter jars that each child could make at home with their parents. I included some silly, colorful bugs, a little bag of large glitter, a little tube of glycerin and some strong glue to seal the lid. In France we don’t really do party favors, and I personally think that most often the favors we get finish up as junk in the home….so I thought at least, with something like this, the kids will get to craft with their parents – even if they end up throwing the jar away, the experience will always be there.

And of course, just like last year, we asked our guests, as well as friends and family that couldn’t make it to the party to tell us what they wish for our little girl’s future and their predictions for what she might become. There is a million dollar prize for the person who guesses right I love this tradition and I think my girls will cherish these posters when they are big enough to understand.

Happy Friday, friends – have a great weekend!

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Toys toys toys. And more toys? Madeline’s birthday has just come and gone – and with that the recurring question that we get every time from friends and relatives “What does Madeline need?“, “What present should I get her?“. She got spoiled of course, but as parents we are left thinking: what do our little girls REALLY need? What do we want them to get out of their toys? Here are a few rules to live by we learned along the way:

1. Focus on quality over quantity. Despite what we think as parents, kids really don’t need that many toys. Living in New York City kind of puts an emphasis on that part as we don’t have much space for toys  -or anything else for that matter!. And believe me, that’s for the better. We’ve become very selective about what we buy. We want toys that will last a long time, toys that my girls will want to play with over and over again, and that can also stand being played with this much. Because, let’s face it, these poor little toys will be banged about and stepped on. A lot. And I don’t want to pay $40 for a piece of plastic that will stop working two weeks later knowing that it will end up in landfills for years. I am a big fan of wooden toys, they last longer and have so much more charm, but  of course there are exceptions if the toy is made of plastic and has great educational value- for example, our girls get so much from playing with their Legos.

2. It’s not about academics. We don’t get hung up on toys that focus on teaching your kids colors, shapes, numbers etc, because we know that kids outgrow these toys in a blip. Better you use every day experiences to teach your child about number and colors – my girls love to count eggs when we cook or name the color of the flowers you see during your walks. Instead, have great toys like a play kitchen or a puppet theater to help fill the pages of your child’s imagination. So much more should go into a child’s learning than these limited academic concepts.Toys shouldn’t be about pushing a button to get an answer – I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a lot of “playing” to me. Academia will take over our kid’s lives soon enough, so for now how about teaching them much more important skills like being imaginative and playing with others?

3. Find toys that will grow with the child. We want toys that will last with our girls as they grow and as their play and language grows.  The other advantage is that our girls also grow closer as sisters when they can play with the same toys each in their own way. They build common memories around the same toys. Every day my little girls dress up and the stories that come along with that get more and more complex as they get older.

4. Keep the clutter at bay.   You decrease clutter, you increase a child’s attention and capacity for deep play. A bit like us when we Spring clean our closet and get rid of all the clothes that were hiding all the “gems”. Or when we clean up all the paperwork on our desk . Two things you can do to decrease clutter with your kid’s toys:

1) Cut down on things! Walk around the room with a big trash bag, and cut it out in half. Just keep the child’s favorites. You can then choose to put the toys out in a “toy library” if you have a closet for them, or donate them to kids in need. If your child is big enough, feel free to get them involved and let them pick what they want to get rid of. You might be surprised that they will be ready to throw away more than you would have on your own.

2) Hide toys in the room so that your child only sees a few toys at a time – a few weeks ago, I made these toy boxes for the girls to put toys away, and the girls are already playing so much better. Their room feels calmer, they don’t get distracted all the time and when they do think about checking the toy boxes, it is like they are opening a treasure chest!

5. Avoid toys that “do it all” for the child. Toys should really be open-ended as much as possible, and the child needs to decide how it should be played with – not the manufacturer or the parent. Toys should challenge our kids, help grow their brain, develop their muscles, and help them learn to play together. I don’t want my girls to be “entertained” by a bunch of noises and lights and things flashing at them. I want them to be in control, to learn how to use their imagination, to create something out of nothing, rather than to rely on the toy’s capabilities and functions to limit their play. Madeline got the most adorable little guitar for her birthday, and it’s been so great to watch her create her own music, sing her favorite songs to us. Music is not a passive thing for her anymore and she loves being in control. 

What about you? What is your philosophy for toys around your home? Do you ever feel like your kids have too many toys? What are their favorite things to play with?

With that, here are some of my favorite forever toys at Little Citizens Boutique – one of my favorite shops because it is filled with toys that are made with love, sustainable and that aim at inspiring children’s imagination and preparing them for the adventures of their life.

Images: 1. Pull along penguin family by Djeco. |2. Garden teepee by Moulin Roty. |3. Magnetic BBQ grill by Janod.|4. Farm play world by Janod. |5. Kaleidoscope by Moulin Roty. |6. Building slates by Janod. |7. Babyccino machine by Djeco. |8. Mademoiselle Colette doll by Moulin Roty.

This post is sponsored by Little Citizens Boutique. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thanks for supporting these sponsors that allow me to create new and special content for This Little Street.

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PS: More ways to pimp your IKEA furniture.

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Do you love you some shoes?  Do you love you some fun? If it’s a yes, you are going to go head over heels for this giveaway!

Today I am partnering with the oh-so-awesome folks at Trinity Place Department Store to give you guys a chance to win a pair of shoes of your choice from their shoe department – which features awesome European labels Le Bunny Bleu & Michael Antonio. I am not sure if it is a blessing or a curse that Trinity Place opened their flagship store right around the corner from where I live, because I can’t go in their shop without walking out with a bag..or two. If you live in NYC, you definitely want to make the trip downtown to come check out Trinity Place!

In any case, you’re in for a real treat today – you can win any pair of shoes you want from their shop! I mean, check out these super fun neon sole oxfords by Le Bunny Bleu and these sexy  Michael Antonio heels. Read on for more details on the giveaway…

To be honest with you -hubby, cover your hears please- I already own three(!) pairs of Le Bunny Bleu shoes, including the pair I am wearing in this shoot. The minute I put them on I knew they weren’t ever going back in their box. They are simply amazing, fun and super comfy. So tell me….who wants in on this fun fun fun giveaway?!!

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HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  This giveaway is sponsored by Trinity Place and open to people worldwide. I am recording all giveaway entries with Rafflecopter – please see details in the Rafflecopter widget below to easily enter this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photo credit: All photos by Audrey Smit for This Little Street.

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What about you guys, did you do anything fun this weekend? Or did you just chill at home?

Images: 1. DIY stump tables from Fräulein Klein |2. Helen Dardik poster. |3. Pretty pastel miniature forest by 2of2. |4. Origami birds mobile. |5. I am obsessed with jumpsuits right now. How pretty is this one at Anthropologie?

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