Yelping Our Way Through NYC

A couple of years ago, when life began taking some of my closest girlfriends and I in different directions, we made a pact (based on this inspiring article out of Real Simple magazine) and committed to a "best friend trip" once a year.  We decided that regardless of where each of us were in life, how many kids we had or didn't have, how demanding our jobs were or weren't, how much money we had or lacked, or how much time we felt like we could or could not spare, we promised each other that we would commit to an annual trip with just the girls.  We knew that a commitment of this sort would guarantee a few things:  1. we'd get to see each other at least once a year 2. we would have time to genuinely catch up on each other’s lives and continue the deep friendship we started in college  3. it gave us a free pass for one indulgent, completely self-centered splurge a year... something that we weren't allowed to feel guilty about, but could look forward to all year long.  And so, with that, we vacationed last week in NYC.

I left Samuel for the first time overnight to go on this little trip and you would have thought I was leaving for three months.  He was in the care of my mom and Dylan... both totally competent and able to take great care of him, but for some reason I felt compelled to leave a schedule that was four pages long… even though he isn't really a schedule kid.  I made extra food to last him far past how long I would be gone, bought new bottles for him, washed all his clothes and left a map of Manhattan that noted exactly where we would be staying… because in the chance that an emergency would’ve occurred, having a map of Manhattan would have been oh so helpful.  

I suppose it’s fair to say that I was a little apprehensive to leave, but a long time ago a very wise woman told me that the best mothers were ones that took time for themselves.  So, with that in mind, and with the kind encouragement from my husband, I jetted off to meet Sam and Keturah in NY.  We decided to plan very little for this trip because we’d all been to the City many times before.  We literally met each other at the airport and said, “what’s next?”, which allowed us to spend five days yelping our way through the City without an agenda.    And yes, we literally yelped our way through… deciding our next stop (food, shopping, shows…whatever) based on yelp.  Consequently, we ended up spending most of our time and money eating and drinking, but we were completely ok with that.  We found some fantastic little gems that we never would've discovered without winging it.  And if that wasn't good enough, we saw the Tony award winning show, Billy Elliott, which did not disappoint and made me fall that much more in love with the theater.  For those of you who know me well, you know I’m passionate about a few things in life, some of which happen to include: best friends, NYC, the theater and food.  So basically, this trip was a little dose of heaven on earth for me.  Sam survived, I’m a more energetic mama and life is good!

And for those of you wondering, I highly suggest a “yelp” trip.  There’s nothing quite like it.  But even more so, I suggest taking a friend trip.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive or far way.  You can do something really simple.  The key is that you just do it… and then you can call me if you’re disappointed:)