Mother's Day
Art Openings, New Restaurants
& Gift Guide
2026
Welcome to the Mother's Day Gift Guide! One of my favorites! I love choosing fun gifts for you to enjoy! Happy May! I love May....it's my birthday, some of my closest friends' birthdays. I love a Taurean. I also added some new restaurants & exciting new art shows. I'm hoping to get out and about this weekend. Enjoy the below.... Please note that at the bottom of the email, you MAY NEED to click 'view entire message" as sometimes the list gets cut off. I don't want you to miss anything. Also, please note that if you want to access any old CITYNOTES from the past seven years, please click here. CITYNOTES. Have a beautiful May. Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy! Be Kind! Be safe!
Gifts for the Jewelry Obsessed
Small Mobile Earring
Ten Thousand Things
237 West 13th Street
Small Mobile Earrings
hand-cut stone earring on 18k gold casting
Molten Diamond Tahitian Pearl Earrings
Ten Thousand Things
237 West 13th Street
Diamond & Pearl Earrings
hand-carved gold molten castings with set diamonds and a Tahitian pearl
Apatite Serafa Snake Earrings
Marie-Hélène de Taillac
20 East 69th Street- Suite #3B
Snake Earrings
Marie-Hélène de Taillac's latest creation, the Serafa Snake earrings, are feminine yet with an ancient touch. Composed of hand-crafted 22 karat gold, using traditional Indian weaving techniques.
Green Quartz Milady Earrings
Marie-Hélène de Taillac
20 East 69th Street- Suite #3B
Green Quartz Earrings
I love these drop earrings. They come in many different colors. I own a smaller drop of 3 stones that I love, which Robert bought me a few years ago.
Dangling and elegant, in subtle green quartz, Milady Earrings
Gifts for the Gardener
Row 7 Organic Green Mix
Gardenheir
Row 7 Salad Set
A special set of five packaged in a Row 7 gift bag, this assortment ensures you have delicious leafy greens through the season.
Dino Lettuce
Spinach Lettuce
Teagan Lettuce
Winter Bloomsdale Spinach
Delfino Cilantro
Kitazawa Melon Seed Collection Set
Gardenheir
Melon Seed Set
A curated selection of sweet, juicy, and easy-to-grow melons perfect for home gardens, small spaces, and summer snacking. These hybrid varieties deliver tender, flavorful fruits that are ideal for fresh eating, salads, or chilled desserts.
Korean Melon
Japanese Melon
Icebox Watermelon
Heirloom Tomato Candle
Gardenheir
Heirloom Tomato Candles
I love everything this company makes! They were a go-to gift for the Christmas holidays. The first time i was introduced to them my good friend Nanda and my nephew Sawyer gave us a picnic basket with ALL of the veggies and fruits inside! Handcrafted from beeswax harvested at Swarmbustin’ Honey in Chester County, the Heirloom Tomato Candle is molded from a real heirloom tomato picked at Kneehigh Farm in Pottstown, PA. Each candle carries the natural, gentle scent of beeswax.
Fleurs D'Hiver Herbal Tea Lollipops
Gardenheir
Herbal Tea Lollipops
Beautiful handmade herbal tea lollipops, made of honey, caramel, and flowers. When submerged in hot water, the honey melts, and the flowers release their aromas, creating a botanical infusion.
Rose & Verbena: The rose delicately unfurls its fragrant petals and mixes with the freshness of lemon verbena.
Cornflower & Lemon Balm: The delicate lemony notes of Lemon balm will relax you before falling asleep.
Marigold: Sunny, floral, and beneficial, its sweet bitterness is balanced by the honey.
Elderflower & Mint: The floral and sweet notes of elderflowers meet the freshness of mint.
Jasmin: A calming and soothing floral infusion.
I think these are so great!
Gifts for Beauty & Wellness
Nonfiction Hand Cream
Gardenheir
Non-Fiction Hand Cream
Nonfiction's hand cream is rich in shea butter and vitamins that instantly absorb into skin, leaving a velvety smooth texture and caring for your dry hands with revitalizing elements.
SANTAL: Sandalwood, Vetiver, Fig, Cardamom, Ginger, Bergamot
GAIAC: Wild Rose, Guaiac, Oriental, Vanilla, Amber
FOREST: Hinoki, Frankincense, Turkish Rose, Yuzu, Nutmeg
Wonder Valley Hinoki Bar
Gardenheir
Hinoki Soap
Let this bar of soap transport you to a serene hinoki forest in rural Japan, with the feeling of soaking in the hot waters of an onsen. The Hinoki Bar is made with the cleanest ingredients for a pure cleansing experience to start each day anew. Formulated with our extra virgin olive oil as well as coconut and avocado oils, this bar of soap works into a luxurious, rich lather and effortlessly removes impurities while adding moisture back into the skin. Encased in a waxed paper wrapper with artwork by Logan Maxwell Hagege, tucked inside a gilded paper box with a small poem inscribed by the venerable writer and bath enthusiast, Leonard Koren.
Susanne Kaufmann Nourishing Lip Balm
Susanne Kaufman
Lip Balm
A nourishing lip balm formulated to protect, condition, and restore dry or chapped lips.
Nonfiction Hand Wash
Gardenheir
Hand Wash
Your hands are easily exhausted from pollution and drying out, and thus, need careful protection. Rich in plant-derived surfactant and calming ingredients, Nonfiction's hand wash soothes hands with its formula made of squalene, avocado, sweet almond, and sunflower seed.
SANTAL: Sandalwood, Vetiver, Fig, Cardamom, Ginger, Bergamot
GAIAC: Wild Rose, Guaiac, Oriental, Vanilla, Amber
FOR REST: Hinoki, Frankincense, Turkish Rose, Yuzu, Nutmeg
New Restaurants
Deans
213 ,6th Ave.
Deans
Dean’s is inspired by the British pub and from the owners of King..one of my favorite restaurants, and definitely Charlie's!
Dean's will bring that age-old convivial spirit to Soho. The cooking draws from the coastlines and traditions of British heritage cooking: simple, seasonal, and rooted in place.
Pubs have been part of British life for over a thousand years, evolving from early alehouses into the public houses we know today. At their core, they are places of gathering—informal, convivial, and open to all: a place to stop in or stay awhile.
To cultivate Dean’s regulars, they’ll have a never-ending drinking game. People can enter to see if they can drink 500 pints over the course of many visits, which they will track on a visible leaderboard. Those who win will get their own engraved pewter tankard that they can drink out of.
Or'resh
450 Broadway
Or'esh
Named for light and fire, Or’esh is centered on ingredient-driven, live-fire cooking over coal. Inspired by the Levant, the menu celebrates pristine seafood, flame-kissed meats, and seasonal vegetables sourced from the Union Square Greenmarket. The owners are behind the Corner Store, the Eighty Six, and The Catch Hospitality Group.
Saverne
531 West 34th Street
Saverne
Chef Gabriel Kreuther built his reputation in Michelin-starred kitchens. Gabriel has just opened Saverne, bringing a refined, modern expression of his heritage to a new dining experience. French cuisine reimagined through the lens of live-fire cooking.
La Tazzo D'oro
220 Park Avenue South
La Tazzo D'oro
La Tazza D'Oro, an iconic café originally established in Prato, Italy, in 1984, stands as a timeless testament to quality and tradition. This beloved establishment has long been a gathering place for those seeking authentic Italian flavors and a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
Gifts for the
DESIGN ENTHUSIAST
Japanese Indigo Shibori Kit
Gardenheir
Shibori Set
The Japanese Indigo Shibori Kit was designed for those who want to explore the world of shibori and indigo dye. This kit comes complete with 10g of Yamato Indigo Dye, enough to create a small vat, and all the necessary tools. With easy-to-follow instructions, you can produce beautiful shibori patterns on any white fabric.
Kyoto Gondola Soft Pastels 36 Piece Collection
Gardenheir
Pastel Set
From Japan’s oldest maker of soft pastels. These are carefully handmade in small batches by a fourth-generation family workshop that adjusts pigment and drying time according to the season. The result is pure, saturated color with remarkable depth and softness.
Mahjong Board Game
Gardenheir
Mahjong
Another Mahjong Board Game by Printworks is designed for the American version of Mahjong. Is everyone I know obsessed? I certainly am! However, it is hard to find a block of time to devote to this!
Japanese Botanical Paperweights
Gardenheir
Paperweights
Preserved botanicals, suspended in clear acrylic resin, reveal the sculptural forms of the natural world in striking detail. These unique cubes can be used as paperweights or kept as objects of curiosity. Thoughtfully made in Japan, each piece captures a fleeting moment in lasting form.
New Art Shows
LEE UFAN
DIA BEACON
3 Beekman Street
Beacon, New York 12508
OPENING MAY 8th
Lee Ufan
Lee Ufan is a founding member of Mono-ha (School of Things), a loosely defined group of artists who worked in a shared sculptural idiom in Japan roughly between 1969 and ’74. In work from that time, rather than asserting or denying authorship over an object, Lee distributed forms across what he called a “system” of material and physical relations that inherently incorporate the viewer. Paintings and sculptures were produced over three decades of his practice.
MARCEL DUCHAMP
GAGOSIAN
980 Madison Avenue
April 25–June 27, 2026
Marcel Duchamp
Gagosian has opened a significant presentation of key works by Marcel Duchamp to inaugurate the gallery’s new ground-floor space in the historic building at 980 Madison Avenue ( right next to Kappo Masa- one of my favorites!) The exhibition, opened on April 25, 2026, brings a selection of works—including all of the artist’s most iconic readymades—back to the location where these editions made their American debut in a 1965 exhibition at Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery. It also coincides with Duchamp’s first retrospective in the United States since 1973, which is on view at the MOMA until August 22.
“It all started with Duchamp, I couldn’t imagine a better artist or a more critical body of work to be the first exhibited in our new gallery at 980 Madison, a building he showed in just over sixty years ago.”
—Larry Gagosian
FRIDA AND DIEGO: The Last Dream
MOMA
11 West 53 Street
Through September 12th
Frida and Diego
Frida and Diego: The Last Dream celebrates Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two of Mexico’s most beloved icons of 20th-century art—in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. Organized in conjunction with the Met’s new product.
