I had every intention of publishing this post at the beginning of the week, but it's now Thursday and I feel like I've needed all week just to recover from the past weekend.
As you may recall, I celebrated my 30th trip around the sun on April 26. Since it was a big milestone year for me, I wanted to DO ALL THE THINGS. It might have also had something to do with the fact that this was the first birthday in four years where I wasn't pregnant or breastfeeding. So yeah, it was kind of a big deal.
What I wanted more than anything for my 30th birthday was a girls' weekend away. So when it happened that one of my college besties was going to be celebrating her bachelorette party the following weekend, I decided it was divine timing and promptly booked myself a plane ticket.
On my actual birthday, I dropped the boys off at daycare, went to work in the morning and then left at lunch. It was a beautiful day so I considered going for a run, but before I knew it, I was a couple glasses of sweet red wine in and spent the afternoon day-drinking in the sunshine of my back porch and talking to friends and family on the phone. It sounds kind of lame, but honestly, it was exactly what I wanted to be doing at that moment and I had the best time.
The following day was Friday and I went out for a birthday lunch with my officemates, followed by a quick run. That night, my birthday mate, Kirsten and I, invited friends to a local establishment. They make their own hard cider with local apples and have such a fun, cozy ambiance. Although I was familiar with the place, it was my first time actually drinking there with friends and it was a lot of fun.
On Saturday, I managed to squeeze in my first-ever NINE MILE run. That evening, Chuck and I finally got our long-awaited date night. We hit up Thai 9 in Dayton because I'd been wanting to try it out for ages. We loved the food and our server was great, but we felt rushed out at the end of our meal which bugged me.
The following Friday, Chuck took off from work so that he could drive me to the airport. I flew into Philly where the bride-to-be picked me up and we got to spend over an hour together just catching up on life before we arrived at her family's beach house in Ocean City, NJ for bachelorette shenanigans.
We spent Friday night drinking cocktails and playing silly bachelorette games. When we woke up the next morning, I wanted to make everyone breakfast. I borrowed Laura's car to run out to the local grocery store and then made everyone my family's favorite breakfast casserole. My Farmers' Market has locally raised pork and it's become our weekly ritual to make this dish with yummy, local pork sausage- it's SO good!
After breakfast, we headed out to do one of those little painting parties. It was another thing on my bucket list that I was happy to cross off! I don't know that I would do one again, because as it turns out, my inner perfectionist gets incredibly frustrated by my lack of artistic ability! There just so happened to be a craft fair in Ocean City that weekend, so after painting, we walked through the streets checking out all the crafty goods. I got myself a fish taco and a salted caramel donut, so I was a happy, happy girl.
After the craft fair, we headed back to Laura's beach house. Some girls opted to take a nap, but since I hadn't yet seen the ocean, I went for a long beach walk with two of the other party girls. It was admittedly a little chilly, but I was just so happy to be on the water again, that I was still walking on Cloud 9.
When we returned from our beach walk, we started getting ready for dinner. The restaurant was decent, but I think the live music was our favorite part. The singer was killing it and I had a very strong margarita, so although the bride-to-be was reluctant to dance at first, I decided I would create my own dance floor and have a good time. (Little known fact about me: if there is really good live music, I almost feel like it's insulting to not dance. If I'm sober, there's a 90% chance I'll be dancing. If I'm drinking, there is a 100% chance I'll be on the dance floor). I knew I could wear her down, so eventually her and a few other girls joined me and we had so much fun shaking our groove thangs.
After dinner, we returned home for a night of more adult beverages and hilarity. I drank more and stayed up later than I have in years and truthfully- I had a blast! It was just really fun to let loose with some fellow Moms and talk all things marriage, sex, and babies.
Despite being one of the last girls to go to sleep, I was the first one awake on Sunday morning. I made myself a cup of coffee and sat on the front porch for a few hours with the book I was reading and the chilly ocean breeze wrapping around me. It was absolute perfection. Laura came out eventually and the two of us had some more one-on-one time together. We've been friends since freshman year (12 years?!) and whenever we get together it feels like absolutely no time has passed and we're still just talking about our hopes and dreams on our lofted dorm room beds.
On Sunday afternoon, most of the girls slowly trickled out until there were five of us left. We packed up our cars, then headed into town to do some shopping at the cute little boutique shops before Laura eventually drove me back to the airport. Chuck picked me up around 10:00 PM when I landed back in Cincinnati and I was more than ready to be back in my own bed with my little family snoozing softly nearby.
I am so thankful that I got to reign in my 30th year with a week's worth of fun and celebration with some wonderful people by my side. If my birthday was any indication of how my 30's will be, I am so ready for this new decade.
As you may recall, I celebrated my 30th trip around the sun on April 26. Since it was a big milestone year for me, I wanted to DO ALL THE THINGS. It might have also had something to do with the fact that this was the first birthday in four years where I wasn't pregnant or breastfeeding. So yeah, it was kind of a big deal.
What I wanted more than anything for my 30th birthday was a girls' weekend away. So when it happened that one of my college besties was going to be celebrating her bachelorette party the following weekend, I decided it was divine timing and promptly booked myself a plane ticket.
On my actual birthday, I dropped the boys off at daycare, went to work in the morning and then left at lunch. It was a beautiful day so I considered going for a run, but before I knew it, I was a couple glasses of sweet red wine in and spent the afternoon day-drinking in the sunshine of my back porch and talking to friends and family on the phone. It sounds kind of lame, but honestly, it was exactly what I wanted to be doing at that moment and I had the best time.
The following day was Friday and I went out for a birthday lunch with my officemates, followed by a quick run. That night, my birthday mate, Kirsten and I, invited friends to a local establishment. They make their own hard cider with local apples and have such a fun, cozy ambiance. Although I was familiar with the place, it was my first time actually drinking there with friends and it was a lot of fun.
On Saturday, I managed to squeeze in my first-ever NINE MILE run. That evening, Chuck and I finally got our long-awaited date night. We hit up Thai 9 in Dayton because I'd been wanting to try it out for ages. We loved the food and our server was great, but we felt rushed out at the end of our meal which bugged me.
The following Friday, Chuck took off from work so that he could drive me to the airport. I flew into Philly where the bride-to-be picked me up and we got to spend over an hour together just catching up on life before we arrived at her family's beach house in Ocean City, NJ for bachelorette shenanigans.
We spent Friday night drinking cocktails and playing silly bachelorette games. When we woke up the next morning, I wanted to make everyone breakfast. I borrowed Laura's car to run out to the local grocery store and then made everyone my family's favorite breakfast casserole. My Farmers' Market has locally raised pork and it's become our weekly ritual to make this dish with yummy, local pork sausage- it's SO good!
After breakfast, we headed out to do one of those little painting parties. It was another thing on my bucket list that I was happy to cross off! I don't know that I would do one again, because as it turns out, my inner perfectionist gets incredibly frustrated by my lack of artistic ability! There just so happened to be a craft fair in Ocean City that weekend, so after painting, we walked through the streets checking out all the crafty goods. I got myself a fish taco and a salted caramel donut, so I was a happy, happy girl.
After the craft fair, we headed back to Laura's beach house. Some girls opted to take a nap, but since I hadn't yet seen the ocean, I went for a long beach walk with two of the other party girls. It was admittedly a little chilly, but I was just so happy to be on the water again, that I was still walking on Cloud 9.
When we returned from our beach walk, we started getting ready for dinner. The restaurant was decent, but I think the live music was our favorite part. The singer was killing it and I had a very strong margarita, so although the bride-to-be was reluctant to dance at first, I decided I would create my own dance floor and have a good time. (Little known fact about me: if there is really good live music, I almost feel like it's insulting to not dance. If I'm sober, there's a 90% chance I'll be dancing. If I'm drinking, there is a 100% chance I'll be on the dance floor). I knew I could wear her down, so eventually her and a few other girls joined me and we had so much fun shaking our groove thangs.
After dinner, we returned home for a night of more adult beverages and hilarity. I drank more and stayed up later than I have in years and truthfully- I had a blast! It was just really fun to let loose with some fellow Moms and talk all things marriage, sex, and babies.
Despite being one of the last girls to go to sleep, I was the first one awake on Sunday morning. I made myself a cup of coffee and sat on the front porch for a few hours with the book I was reading and the chilly ocean breeze wrapping around me. It was absolute perfection. Laura came out eventually and the two of us had some more one-on-one time together. We've been friends since freshman year (12 years?!) and whenever we get together it feels like absolutely no time has passed and we're still just talking about our hopes and dreams on our lofted dorm room beds.
On Sunday afternoon, most of the girls slowly trickled out until there were five of us left. We packed up our cars, then headed into town to do some shopping at the cute little boutique shops before Laura eventually drove me back to the airport. Chuck picked me up around 10:00 PM when I landed back in Cincinnati and I was more than ready to be back in my own bed with my little family snoozing softly nearby.
I am so thankful that I got to reign in my 30th year with a week's worth of fun and celebration with some wonderful people by my side. If my birthday was any indication of how my 30's will be, I am so ready for this new decade.
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