How An All-Girls Staycation Weekend Reminded Me To Be Present in the Moment

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Every day is a reminder to accept myself as I am. ~ Molly Tarlov

This year, my 47th birthday fell on a Saturday. That had to be a sign, right? The last few birthdays I spent feeling sad that my dad and brother were not here in the physical sense to celebrate with me. And I also made plans that I never followed through with.

I always want to be THAT person who hangs out with friends on my birthday or walks in on a surprise birthday party that friends organized for me. But it never happened. I learned over the years that I had to be accountable for that because I wasn't always present or put myself out there to build those relationships with others.

This year, when I mentioned that to my blogger sister Nanthale of N.E.C. Style, she came up with this wonderful idea to have a girls only staycation and do it during my birthday weekend. 

I was down but nervous. It would be a group of six of us and while I had hung out with four of the other five girls in the group, I have never been one to hang out with a large group of women before and this was for two days!

But we did it and I have to say, I am very surprised at myself. This weekend was life-changing for me.

Nanthale, Brooke, Me, Marlena, Jonquel & Fabiola

Marlena from Big City, Curvy Girl, Thin Wallet gifted me with the most amazing crown to wear during my birthday weekend.
Day #1 kicked off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we did the #MuseumHack Badass Bitches Tour. Museum Hack offers what they call "renegade museum adventures in NYC, DC, SF, LA, and Chicago". 

The tour was super dope and our guide Sara was the best. We learned that only 6% of the art in the museum was created by women (I know, damn!) and we also learned more about fun things like vaginas and how bootys were considered magical.




Seriously, I loved this tour because it was a feminist's dream. It was inspiring, empowering and very eye-opening. There are so many women like Audrey Munson (America's first Supermodel), who changed history and are still not given major recognition.


It was a great way to see the Met from a different point of view. We also had a blast from mirrored ceilings in the elevators to taking fun pictures and laughing a lot.



Us posting with Sara, our awesome tour guide (lower left)

We also met Lilith, Adam's first wife before Eve, who became a demon who steals babies in the darkness. Yeah, it was creepy. Sara said that the statue is moved periodically along the wall so it never stays in one place.






I highly recommend doing this tour if you're interested in learning more about the history of women in art and female artists. 



Best part of the tour was when Sara asked Brooke what her name was for the name tag and she said "Cardi" as in Cardi B. LOL! 




Plus, Sara also works at The Meatball Shop location on 76th St and 2nd Avenue and she told us to stop by with our name tags and we'd get a free ice sandwich, which we did. Fresh baked cookies and in-house made ice cream... yes, please!


We ended the day with dinner and a movie at iPic Theaters in downtown Manhattan at Fulton Market. We thought it was fitting to see Girls Trip. I had never been to a theater that had pod seating and was a bit scared I wouldn't fit but I did and it was super comfortable!






I decided to go full-on cute and comfy for my birthday, wearing this amazing Chelsea Studio Smocked Knit Dress from Woman Within via fullbeauty.com. I ended up wearing my Adidas sneakers after the museum tour because my feet were killing me but it was so worth it.

Special thanks to fullbeauty for the pretty birthday dress and to the Met for the tour as well as the ice cream sandwich at The Meatball Shop. I had such an amazing time and it showed me that I can be present in a group of women and be myself. That's the most magical gift I received on my birthday.

Stay tuned for Day #2 of this All-Girls Staycation Weekend to come on the blog on Saturday!

Want to hear more about this magical day? Click on the links below to read about it on Nanthale's, Marlena's and Brooke's blogs:






You can shop my dress here at fullbeauty.com.

Year 47 is looking to be amazing so far!

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