Sharing Your Pregnancy News

When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I decided to let our families know on Thanksgiving Day. We gave our parents wrapped presents with “I love my Grandma” and “I love my Grandpa” bibs and let them figure it out. It took about half a second since they’ve been asking when we were going to give them grandchildren. (The pressure!)

The next time we were pregnant, we wanted to be more creative. My dad’s birthday was coming up and my mom had planned for the entire family to have brunch aboard one of the San Francisco’s tour trains. So instead of yelling our announcement over the railroad tracks, my husband and I decided to be more sly. I made a special t-shirt for our daughter to wear that said, “I’m going to be a BIG sister!” and see how long it would take for the family to read it. The perfect opportunity presented itself when the train photographer came by and asked the family if we wanted a picture. So while the grandparents and grandchildren were getting situated, I asked Miranda to take her sweater off. Sadly, no one took notice. Then the photographer said, “Oh, what a cute shirt!” Finally, my mom noticed. Everyone was screaming and yelling, and asking if it was true. It was hilarious!

Since creativity runs in the family, my brother and sister-in-law gave us their special announcement by telling us they were going to be in a Dr. Pepper commercial. So as the family gathered around the giant plasma screen over Easter to watch their TV debut, this is what we saw. We were all confused because we didn’t see any Dr. Pepper in the video. The last image took a second or two to sink in. And once it did, the video became an unforgettable announcement, mixed with tears of joy and peals of laughter. Classic!

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Say Hello to Vegas, Baby!

le•top's booth in Las Vegas. L-R: Paul, Sarah Kaufman (San Francisco sales rep), Renee Navarre (Los Angeles sales rep) and me!

One of the venues we use for presenting our collections to the store buyers is at trade shows, and one of the first shows of the fall season happens in Las Vegas. We set up our booths – for le•top and for rabbitmoon – and registered buyers from retail stores come to see what we have created for the new season. We present all the samples to them, and they write up orders to be shipped starting in June – just in time for the new fall and winter seasons.

Of course, one of the ‘perks’ of working hard in Las Vegas by day is that, by night, we are able to have dinner at some really great restaurants once the show closes down for the day. We visited some great ones this time around – one, an old favorite from previous visits and one, a new “find!”

We went to dinner the first night of the show at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino: Nob Hill Tavern. The executive ‘celebrity’ chef there is Michael Mina – a star here in the San Francisco Bay Area and a James Beard award winner. The food is divine – we tried (and shared) great short ribs of beef, wonderful sea bass, and I can’t even tell you how great the Truffle Mac and Cheese can be! Plus, we did a great cheese fondue as a shared appetizer for all. On a previous visit we’d tried their ‘Seafood Tower’ appetizer – but had trouble finishing our dinner, since it was a very generous portion. The great thing about Nob Hill Tavern, for me, is that it somehow evokes a nice, calm atmosphere – a relaxing change from the frenzy of Las Vegas.

The second night (what? you thought I was going to write about clothes? Food and martinis, baby! Food and martinis!!)), we tried a new restaurant at Caesars Palace – Rao’s. Karen (our CEO – “Chief Everything Officer”, National Sales Manager, and mother of the “grandsons of my heart – Nicholas and Dylan) was chatting with a guy on the airplane on the way to Las Vegas, and he recommended the restaurant – and even arranged a reservation for us! (I guess it is difficult to secure a reservation – and almost IMPOSSIBLE at their original New York location. This is a very ‘authentic’ kind of New York vibe – complete with the big, scary-looking Italian guy yelling at a busboy as we came in! The décor is casual and takes you on a trip to Sicily – complete with the gaudy Christmas wreaths and lights, in place all year long. The service was great. Extending the feeling of a family style Italian experience, the waitress pulled up a chair and ‘discussed’ what would be good for us to order. The portions are huge. On her recommendation we did family style – appetizers, pastas and entrées. Great food – and we were absolutely stuffed! By the way, they make a great martini!

The Las Vegas KidShow was a great success – the buyers loved the new fall collections – and we enjoyed some great food along the way. The next show was in the Big Apple – question is, will I write about our fabulous clothes or the food (and martinis)!?

Editor’s Note: Sorry for the delay in publishing Chris’ post (Vegas was a couple weeks ago)…I kept getting hungry and had to go eat something every time I tried to edit it…

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A San Francisco Event (Tonight): Kid Lit Drink Night!

Sorry I keep finding out about this stuff on the late-ish side! I hope there’s still time to make plans for attending this tonight, for those of you who are interested!

What: You’re invited to the third quasiperiodic Bay Area Kid Lit Drink Night!

Who’s invited: Everyone interested in children’s literature.
Publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, authors, illustrators, etc.
All our favorite people.

Do: Tell all your friends. The more, the merrier.

Don’t: Come to pitch projects to agents or editors or show sample art to designers, etc.
This is a chance to *socialize* with others in the children’s book field.

When: Tuesday, February 17th / 6:00pm

Where: John Colins 90 Natoma St, SF. Cocktails are available at the bar, and people
are welcome to bring snacks, books, and gossip for sharing.

L’chaim, sante, cheers, etc.,
Melissa Manlove
Chronicle Children’s Group

Editor’s Note: If you have baby/kid related events in your community that you’d like to share with us on le•top blog, please let us know!

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Bpffftt!!!! Pillow Fight Lovefest

Bpfffftt! Bpfffft! 4th Annual Pillow Fight in San Francisco

Last night, Sweetie and I decided to take in the fun spectacle of a massive, public (flash mob), hilarious Pillow Fight in San Francisco!! There are many such pillow fights all over the world, but in true San Francisco fashion, we hold ours on Valentine’s Day. Laughter, good will and child-like abandon prevails!

Snowing in San Francisco...well, okay, they're feathers, but it still looked like snow!

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