June 2011 - The Culture Mom

30Jun

A Chat with Andie MacDowell: Mom, Actress, Culturalist and Advocist

When I was asked to take part in a conversation with Andie MacDowell this week, I was thrilled. She is an actress I have grown up with and adore. To come face to face with one of your life long heroes is pretty amazing. I was told I'd be on a phone call with a few other bloggers and would be allowed to ask a few questions, so I asked about her film career, balancing motherhood and her career, on being an advocate and bringing culture into her children's lives. Do you have one famous person that you've been told you look like your entire life? For Read More

28Jun

FREE NYC: The Sony Wonder Technology Lab’s Newest Exhibit, Music Mixer

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Have you been to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in New York City with your kids? If not, you should. It's one of the city's best activities for kids and it's FREE. I've been taking my kids there since they were wee small, and it's an experience that we'll never get tired of. It's a four-story interactive technology and entertainment experience in the Sony Building on 56th and Madison that is truly out of this world. So, when I was invited there today for the opening of Music Mixer, its latest interactive exhibit featuring 14-time Read More

28Jun

Travel Guides for Tweens

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If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I have a rather larger than life interest in travel, particularly traveling with my kids. We took our daughter overseas for the first time when she was just half a year old and have been encouraging both of our kids to pursue and love travel as much as we both do. When we travel, my kids keep travel journals and are totally on top of where they want to go and what they want to do. I've often wondered, what if they had a travel guide of their own? After all, they can read now. They can take notes. Read More

26Jun

NYC Find: Brooklyn for Kids with Adventurous Taste Buds

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Yesterday we were introduced to Smorgesburg, a bonanza of gourmet food by the water in Williamsburg. It truly is a smorgesboard of the most delicious foods, and it's right next to a park so the kids can run around after getting a dose of the market. Run by the people at the Brooklyn Flea, another one of my favorite Brooklyn haunts, there are over 100 vendors of every kind, offering samples of their offerings from Mexican cemita sandwiches to Shanghai-style banana-ricotta spring rolls to heirloom bean seeds to small-batch ketchup, mustard, and Read More

25Jun

A Week in Review: The Normal Heart and Cirque Du Soleil’s Zarkana

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What a crazy week. School ended (yea and boo!). Gay marriage is now legal in NY (yea!). Lice broke out in my daughter's class (boo!). San Franciso is deciding whether or not to ban circumcision (boo!). U.S. Jews are no longer allowed to fly to Saudi Arabia on Delta Airlines (boo!). People at my synagogue are in frenzy because the educational director is having a baby on her own, with no husband (are these people living in the stone age? Big boo!) And I have six days to prepare for our trip to Europe and so much to do. But in spite of it all, I Read More

23Jun

Review & Giveaway: “Monte Carlo” with Selena Gomez (Out July 1st)

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Monte Carlo, a new film starting Selena Gomez, is hitting theaters nation-wide on July 1st. I saw it last week at a special press preview with my daughter in tow. You can read more about that here. When Grace (played by Selena Gomez), a new college graduate, and her best friend (played by Katie Cassidy) and step-sister (played by Leighton Meester) get to Paris, they check into their not very nice hotel and set off on an organized tour around Paris. They hit the Louvre, Notre Dame and, of course, the Eiffel Tower, where their Read More

22Jun

On Meeting Selena Gomez and Seeing “Monte Carlo” (Out July 1st)

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We're headed to France in a few weeks and my 8YO daughter has been very non-chalant about the upcoming trip. Sometimes I wonder if taking my kids around the world since they were a few months out has impacted their love of travel. In the weeks before we leave, they both complain about leaving their friends and everyday lives behind. As soon as we arrive in our destination, they tend to be as happy to experience new sights and sounds as much as we do. When I received the invite to screen a preview of the film Monte Carlo (out July 1st) and a Read More

21Jun

FREE NYC: South Street Seaport Celebrates Children’s Day

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Children’s Day returns to South Street Seaport on Saturday, June 25 from 12:00-5:00 pm for its 10th Anniversary. This multi-faceted event draws over 30,000 parents and children from across the Tri-State area to the Stage at Pier 17 and features a host of musical and theater performances, walk-around characters, hands-on art projects and story time events to entertain kids of all ages. This year’s event will be hosted by Elmo and Gordon from “Sesame Street” and will also feature interactive performances by the School of Rock NYC House Band, which is made Read More