Hawkins Girls in NYC

My mom, Kelly and I went to New York City for a fun girls weekend together. And what fun did we have!! Kelly's got a big birthday coming up in June so this was a celebration as well as some much needed time away for us all.

My mom landed us an incredible 3 room suite at the Waldorf Astoria! I hadn't ever stayed there before and after the 5 star treatment we received, I doubt any of us will want to stay anywhere else. It was incredible! INCREDIBLE.

On Thursday night, we went to the Brunello Vineyard wine tasting event/dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant. It was an experience. I think we had 7 courses all pared with delicious red wines from Italy.

Friday, we woke up late, ate breakfast, got dressed and headed out into the drizzly, cold May day to Ground Zero. Both Kelly and Mom had been there since 9/11 but I hadn't. It was sobering, to say the least. And the weather was fitting.

We spent the rest of Friday shopping and then went into Greenwich Village for dinner. Kelly's favorite restaurant in the City is Sushi Samba in the Village so that's where our reservations were. It was so yummy! After dinner, we walked around the village and had a few more drinks then headed back Uptown to the Waldorf.

Saturday was just as awesome. We ate breakfast, shopped, stood in line in Times Square waiting for matinee Broadway tickets. It was totally worth the wait: we saw the Tony Award Winner for Best Show in 2010 "Memphis." SO AWESOME!!!! WOW. I'd never been brought to tears before at a show but "Memphis" had me bawling - Kelly too. It was powerful and I highly recommend it should you find yourself in NYC anytime soon.

Following the show, we shopped some more, stopped by Rockefeller Center, and had a glass of wine. Then we got dressed and headed to dinner at Brasserie - delicious, yet again. For the most part it was just mom and me because Kelly had to meet up with some friends in the Village after dinner. But that was okay - we ate and went back to the hotel! Old ladies, we are... :)

It was such a memorable and fun weekend. I will treasure the memories and pictures always. Each year we try to do a girls trip (usually a ski trip) and this year's weekend did NOT disappoint!

Breckenridge 2010

We had SUCH an incredible time in Breckenridge, Colorado for our annual girls' ski trip. We hadn't been able to get to the slopes these past couple of years because I had Noah and we were so close to moving from Hawaii. But this year, we were ready to get back out West.

I didn't do a ton of skiing because the conditions were so cold and snowy the first 2 days. Plus, there were so many people on the slopes because of the long weekend. To me, there is nothing more scary than being passed on the slopes by inexperienced, high speeding skiers that have no technique. That is a recipe for disaster and when pregnant, I wasn't willing to chance it till the mountain cleared out a bit. By Tuesday and Wednesday, the crowd had thinned and I felt comfortable to ski with the gals.

We have been to Breckenridge several times and decided that it will remain our default ski location from now on. We love the town and the people and have our "favorite" spots picked out for post skiing fun so we decided to head back there as often as possible after this past trip. Enjoy the pictures!