Watch What Happens | My Top 5 Vacation Memories

 

Each day for the past 5 days, my best friend, Sarah, and I have reveled in the adventures awaiting us around every corner! This past weekend held so many incredible memories and pinnacle conversations. I wish I could tell it all in one post, but they are each so precious and unique that they will be getting their own upcoming posts. However, I did want to ride the coattails of the excitement and share with you my TOP 5 memories from my Best Friend Birthday + Half-Birthday Trip!

 

 

Oh, I suppose a little bit of a back story might help. You see, ever since we met (12 years ago), my best friend, Sarah and I have made it a point to spend a quality time trip together. In the past it has meant sharing family holidays and summer vacations together. In recent years, we’ve made it our tradition to meet up every 4th of July weekend to celebrate her Birthday (July 3rd) and my Half-Birthday (November 3rd). Through these vacations, we’ve been able to explore our favorite sites in our favorite cities, have quality heart-to-hearts, and just share some all-around pretty incredible memories together! So this past weekend, I’ve been in Baltimore, MD, spending some much-needed and anticipated quality time with my Bestest Ever Friend on the entire planet, and her family (who have also adopted me into their family)!

It was really tough trying to narrow all the memories down to a Top 5, but I did it and I would love to share those with you!

 

#1 The Newsies Experience

 

This past weekend, her parents REALLY TREATED us like Queens of New York and gave us a gigantic gift—an overnight stay in Times Square (New York City) and front row tickets to see Newsies on Broadway! I got to sit front and center orchestra at NEWSIES and during intermission, the conductor turned around and spent 15 mins. chatting with me & Sarah! He was so excited that we were cheering and singing along to each number and we loved that he did the same thing as he was conducting. Mark (Hummel) was truly down-to-earth and was one of the kindest souls I’ve come across! Unfortunately (and there’s a big story here that I’ll share on another post), not EVERYONE shared our love for cheering and hollering, because we got reprimanded by one of the ushers (mainly for taking photos during the show) and the guy next to us. He was a REAL ‘Mr. Pulitzer!’ But THEN after the standing ovation, Mark, the conductor turned around to the audience and shouted, “This one’s for Amanda!” and led the band in the exit music!! It was a truly EPIC night! ♥ What’s even better is that after the show, the cast members we met and some of the fellow fans in the autograph line called us out and said, “Are you the girls from the front row?!? We LOVED that you two were singing and clapping and cheering along! It was awesome!!” ♥ Getting reprimanded was SO worth it because not only was I still able to (quietly) enjoy the second half of the show, but my face was BEAMING afterward!

 

Please note the silhouette of the conductor’s head . . . that’s how close we were!

#2 Walking Across The Brooklyn Bridge

 

Two years ago, my best friend and I were in New York City and we really wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. However, her husband began to whine and throw a temper tantrum that kept us from making the trek across. Having just divorced her husband, we knew that this trip to New York NEEDED to include a walk across the bridge. It symbolized freedom and victory from a poisonous relationship with a terrible man (and the damage he left in the wake) and the hope for the future awaiting us—both as friends and individuals. It was sweltering hot as we walked across, but we held our heads high and our hearts full of sweet victory when we got to the other end! We even celebrated with some peanut butter goodness at Peanut Butter and Co.!

 

#3 My Beautiful Birthday Knits!!!!

Sarah LOVES to knit! And not only does she love to knit, she apparently loves me enough to handcraft me an entire arsenal of coffee mug sleeves!! (If you could grasp the deep love I have for all things coffee related, you might catch a glimpse of how big a deal these are.) I cannot even begin to express just how IN LOVE I am with these sleeves!! They each have a unique design and chunky buttons to fasten them, and they’re made from gorgeous jewel-toned yarns!!!! The thing that’s even more special is that the buttons that she used are family heirlooms from her grandmother. I not only have gorgeous new knitted gear, but interwoven into them is part of the family that I love so much! Sarah also knitted me some exquisite scarves (which I’m TOTALLY a scarf girl) in my favorite colors! She really out-did herself and I am entirely over-blessed to reap the benefits of her handiwork! Happy Half-Birthday to meeeeee!!

#4 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been trying to eat one “FISH MEAL” a month. When I booked my flight to Baltimore to spend time with Sarah, I KNEW that I needed to eat my monthly fish meal with her! We decided to venture out to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant down at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore to accomplish this goal. It was my first real foray into shrimp and Sarah had to teach me how to peel the shrimp and how to pull off the tail and all those other messy details. We split a Pear Berry Chicken Salad and a 2/3 lbs. order of shrimp in garlic sauce. The verdict?? I actually REALLY enjoy shrimp! I’d definitely eat it again. Although, I might opt for dipping it in the low-sodium Old Bay seasoning. The regular one we used was just way too salty for my liking. Overall, the salad, the shrimp, and the entire experience was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

#5 Family Sing-A-Long Time

I am a firm believer that every household should be filled with the beauty of music. Whether that means playing your iPod while cooking, singing along while cleaning, playing guitar when friends come over, or what have you—let the good music times roll! It was such a treat to have Ms. Shelley lead us all in a bunch of Disney Classics and Show-tunes . . . and even a rousing round of DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS . . . as we all sang along to her beautiful piano playing! I only hope to one day carry that tradition into my own family!  

As I said before, the memories from this past weekend’s adventures are FAR TOO NUMEROUS to detail here, but these are the tops! Spending this past weekend with my East Coast family was just what I needed at this time in my life and I wish I could relive it over and over and over again! I’m already looking forward to next year!

As a side note, I would highly encourage you to save up and plan a fun trip like this with your best friend. Whether they are in your home town and you two just go on an out-of town excursion for the weekend or if they’re far away and you fly to see each other—DO IT! It enhances your life and the memories are priceless!

If I could sum up our friendship in one picture . . .

Seize The Day

It’s  like Santa crapped unicorns all over my life!!!

 

That’s exactly what I said to one of my housemates this morning as she was making her breakfast. I had no idea just how much of a rollercoaster ride my day was going to be when I woke up early this morning to bake my Strawberry Shortcake Muffins. By the way, these are totally NOMTASTIC!

 

I spent most of the morning frustrated because I woke up SUPER early—and I’m SO not a morning person—to make these and realized midway through blending the batter (MEGA apologies to my housemates for the 5am blender alarm) that I was short on a couple of ingredients. So I ran down the street in my pajamas through the pouring rain to get supplies at the grocery store. When I got back to blending, the double batch blend wasn’t mixing quite right and in my mad attempt to help it along, the mixing spatula I was using disconnected from the handle and fell deep into the blended mix. So I had to reach my hand in the batter to grab it, thus coating my hand in that oatmeal texturized batter. The texture just grossed me out for some odd reason and I had to wash my hands immediately, while trying not to get my bandaged finger on the other hand wet in my mad rush to get this goo off of me. Time was running out before I needed to leave to catch the bus to work, and then as I put them in, I realized I forgot to add the strawberry slices on top! So I quickly cut up the extra slices, placed them on top and then put them in to bake. Right about then, I got a VERY IMPORTANT phone call!

 

 

It was my best friend, Sarah, calling to talk about my upcoming trip out to Baltimore for our annual 4th of July Birthday Getaway. Every year, we make it a point to get together around the 4th of July weekend to celebrate her Birthday, which is on July 3rd, and my 1/2 Birthday. Last year, she flew out to Seattle. The year before, I had flown out to Baltimore. This year, I’m heading back out to Baltimore! I love when I get to go to Baltimore because Sarah and I get to take a day trip out to one of my most beloved destinations—NEW YORK CITY! I seriously heart New York. If I wasn’t so sure I’d go broke and be living on the streets in 2 weeks, I’d live there! As a bonafide city girl, NYC is heaven on Earth! Sarah had called me last night in a panic concerning a great big Birthday surprise. Her parents, who have adopted me as their own—and who I absolutely respect and adore with every inch of my heart—decided they would get us a joint Birthday (and well, pretty much *every* celebratory day in between) present:

 

Train tickets to get to and fro for our annual NYC day trip,

Tickets for Sarah & I to see NEWSIES on Broadway,

and

an overnight hotel stay for us at a hotel in Times Square!

 

 

Now, lemme just tell ya—just going to Baltimore to spend time with my best friend is a huge blessing! Getting to spend a day and evening in NYC with my best friend is a super rad cherry on top. But getting to sit next to my best friend on the whole planet as we toe-tap and sing along to our favorite musical (No, seriously, we watch it EVERY time we travel to see each other and can quote it and sing all the numbers and we just fangirl about it like no other!) on Broadway is AMAZEBALLS!

 

 

 

 

The only setback was that they had accidentally booked all the tickets for the day that I was scheduled to fly in, which meant I would need to call the airline and find some way to schedule my flight the day before. I was nervous about how this would affect my work schedule and other events I’d already committed to on that day, but I knew that no matter what, I HAD to get to Baltimore the day before! There is NO WAY I’m gonna pass up this opportunity! It was late when they called, so my plan was to call the airline on my ride-in to work. But thankfully, Sarah called me as I had just put the muffins in the oven and started on the dishes to say that her mom actually called the theater and hotel and train station and were able to change the ticket dates on all of that, so I didn’t have to change ANY of my plans! The rush of relief was huge, but still minuscule compared to the next thing she shared with me. Not only were we able to get the tickets to the show switched over, but our new seats on the next day are FRONT ROW Orchestra seats!!!

 

See the red arrows??? That’s gonna be US!!!!

 

After five minutes of flipping out with excitement and nearly crapping my pants, I finally finished up the dishes and said goodbye to Sarah so that I could pull the muffins out of the oven and put my shoes on before running to my bus stop. As I was on the bus, I was crying tears of joy because not only do I get to make my once-a-year trip to see my best friend, but we get to share a VERY special moment together to celebrate our lives and our friendship!

 

My text convo with her went something like this as I rode in to work:

Me: I’m on the bus, big grinnin’ like a mofo! Ohhhhhhh can it be July already?!?!?  😀 😀 😀 😀 ❤

Sarah: BAAAHAHAHHAHAHA! YESS!!!!!!! omgomgomgomgomg!! =^D

Me: My heart is seriously beating outta my chest! 😀 

Sarah: Sorry, I just fainted!!!!!!!

Me: Fairy tales DO come true! Praise the Lord!! And the best part is I get to chill with you on Cloud 9!! 😀

Sarah: They DO!! I’m so excited to see your face! That’s the best gift anyone could give me! Newsies is just a bonus! We are going to be neck-deep in shenanigans!

I couldn’t have said it better myself! In exactly 4 weeks, I will be on a plane headed out to see one of my favorite families and embrace all sorts of new adventures! I still have NO idea what I ever did to deserve such an incredible best friend and extended family, but I spent this morning completely humbled and honored and emotional at the incredible leaps and bounds that happened to make this upcoming trip possible. I owe SO MANY thanks to Sarah and her parents for this completely amazeballs gift!!  So, Jerry, Shelley, and Sarah, if you’re reading this, give yourself 100 hugs, 50 smooches, 25 good games, and 15 manly man burps—I’m sending LOTS of love your way until I see you in 4 weeks!!!! 😀 

Now, we only have one minor problem! We haven’t decided exactly which local hot spots we wanna check out in the city. SO here’s where YOU come in!

What local hot spots should we check out when we’re in NYC?

Leave a comment and let us know!