Meet Kinga and Manuela. They are my UK dose of mom-sanity, fun and family (and German speaking!). You’ve likely seen or heard of them on the blog before as their little girls, O and M, respectively, have taken E into their special circle and introduced her to the greatest toddler mind and body exhaustion program she’s found thus far! E and I have been so thankful and lucky that these women took the leap to call us up at the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance and so quickly and kindly welcomed us in to our new neighborhood!
We’ve done playdates and toddler sing-alongs and brunch dates and city excursions and full-family game nights, but this past Saturday, we ventured in to a whole new world…a [Big] Girls’ Day Out in town! ALL DAY. It was Manuela’s birthday in February, and this was our (slightly selfish ;) ) way of celebrating.
Kinga had some wonderful ideas in mind, and our sweet and willing husbands eagerly took reign of the little girls for the day, so I very happily jumped right on board with the plan.
NAILS. We began the day at cucumba in SoHo for some serious foot pampering. A clean and quiet environment, we allowed ourselves to be doted on hand and foot (oh man, my brain is really in a strange state these days! Forgive me). As we chatted and strategized about our day, the salon quickly filled with the low hum of other excited ladies out for a little “me time” and created quite the energetic and celebratory mood!
FOOD. I LOVE being pampered, but the food may have stolen the show on this Girls’ Day Out. Beginning in Chinatown, we took a table in the window at Leong’s Legend – by far my new favorite locale in the area! – and enjoyed an array of dumplings, main dishes and a refreshing, mid-day beer to round out the flavours. To borrow the popular phrase from Peppa Pig, it was “DEEE-licious!” We then turned back in to SoHo for an afternoon coffee and cinnamon roll dessert at the Nordic Bakery.
SHOPPING. Feeling more energetic again after some food and coffee, the real project for the day was set to begin…shopping! We wound through SoHo, up Carnaby Street – stopping at a popular shoe store (they are both so much cooler than I am!!) and an artistic chocolate shop for some fun, – on through Liberty’s – a London department store staple! – up Regent and back to Oxford Street, browsing, buying and dreaming as much as we could along the way.
WINE. We finished out the day at Antidote Winebar near the shopping street. A calm and sophisticated atmosphere, nice glass of wine and relaxed conversation was the perfect way to end the evening!
London is an amazing city with an impressive list of options for anything your heart could desire. Troy and I love exploring and trying new things, but all of the possibilities can often also be overwhelming which made it especially wonderful to navigate the city with these two almost-natives and learn all about their favorite spots and best advice for shopping and eating your way through London!
This is a great day out for the Moms. Congratulations to Troy and other dads for being willing
Yes, we were thankful that they were so willing (or at least let us believe they were)! :) And I think it turned out to be very fun day for both the moms and the dads in the end!