This year being a somewhat special birthday (hello, new decade and all that jazz), J graciously agreed to send me to NYC for a few days. A few of my girlfriends were able to join me and we all spent some serious girl time together, away from kids and husbands, and it was a unique whirlwind way to celebrate turning thirty.

Before I left for NY, though, I was able to celebrate my birthday quietly with my husband and kids, which was special in its own kind of way. The day was a typical day; there was still laundry to do, preschool drop offs and pick ups, nap times & therapies to stick to … I guess this is what birthdays look like as you get older. Definitely less opportunity to be narcissistic 🙂 I did get spoiled with some lovely flowers and candy deliveries from both my husband and in-laws. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my mom’s birthday is very close to mine so my side of the family celebrated both our birthdays together earlier in the month already. My mom said she couldn’t believe she had a thirty-year old baby … LOL, I guess we never stop being babies to our mothers, huh? 🙂

Anyway, back to my actual birthday day. Like I mentioned, the day itself wasn’t anything that fantastic but J did come home from work with these lit up cupcakes, singing Happy Birthday, which I thought was so sweet. When we were first married, I remember one year my entire birthday passed without any candle-blowing or cake to eat (although he did treat me to dinner and get me a gift) and I was so SO upset, I cried. He apparently never forgot that year and has been very good about remembering to bring something, even if it’s something small, every year for me to blow out a candle on ;P What a keeper, huh? Haha.

That night, we hired a babysitter to come and watch the house while the kids were asleep so J & I could steal away for a rare date night dinner. Unfortunately, she was a new babysitter so it was our first time using her and I didn’t confirm with her before the day and she forgot to come!! I was a total sad girl for a good half hour. The babysitter wasn’t answering her phone or texts and we had to cancel our dinner reservation and I ended up just changing into my pajamas and giving up. J said it was one of the saddest things he’d seen, a birthday girl all dolled up and slowly undressing and putting on pajamas LOL!! He’s so dramatic. Anyway, she ended up calling me later and saying OH MY GAH so SORRY, and I asked if she’d still be able to come right then and she said she could! So I got re-dressed and we went out for a late dinner … it wasn’t how we originally planned but it was a memory made.

Okay, now onto NEW YORK!! We only had a few days to spend in the city because us moms being gone meant our husbands had to take time off work to pick up the slack/watch the kiddos. We tried to pack in as much as possible but of course there was no way we could eat/see/do everything that we had on our wishlist. But here are some of the highlights of our trip! —

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Grand Central Terminal

Broadway (Aladdin; front center orchestra seats!)

Riding the subway & hailing a cab 

Ladurée

Times Square (INSANITY)

Highline Park

FOOD (unpictured: Halal Guys, Shake Shack)

I didn’t get pictures of us in Central Park but we did get to stroll around there for a little bit. We did so much walking (SO MUCH WALKING) that by the end of the last day I thought my feet were going to fall off. I wish we’d had time to get a foot rub or something but I settled for elevating my feet on the hotel bed before sleeping.

And then before we knew it, we were all back home! Lessons learned for next time: no layover flights and maybe stay for an extra day so that we can savor the trip a bit more. All in all, though, it was totally memorable and an awesome way to bow out of my 20s!