A Wicked-awesome birthday

You don't turn 29 everyday. And, in all truthfullness, I didn't actually turn 29 this year. (If you look hard, you can see two little toothpicks aflame...we kind of forgot to buy more candles since Justin's birthday.) But Justin did a great job making this a memorable birthday. He surprised me with a trip to New York to see Wicked!

We started our trip out with a nice workout...running from Metro Center past Union Station to the Greyhound station so that we wouldn't miss our bus. For those of you unfamiliar with D.C. that is approximately FAR (see map). And let's just say that one of us hasn't exercised in a year and one of us was carrying a suitcase. I'll let you decide which was which.

Fortunately, we made it just in time to get on the bus. (And can I say that taking the bus is really the best way to get to NY these days.)

Anyway, when we got to NY, we checked into our hotel and then strolled around Central Park. On our way back, there were suddenly tons of police everywhere and barracades around the street. We were very confused until we looked over and saw a huge tree...and Rockefeller center. It turns out we were there the night they lit the tree. If we hadn't already had tickets we would have had a front row spot for the big event. As it was, we had to push our way through the crowds to get back to our hotel.

We then enjoyed a nice dinner at Carmines. I would highly recommend it. We ordered an appetizer of fried zucchini. Too bad we didn't have an extra 14 people with us to help us finish it...

Let's just say that at Carmines, the portions are large...But it was fun to get all dressed up and go out.

After dinner, we headed over to the show. We had great seats--sixth row, almost center. It is a fantastic show. (And yes, Justin liked it too. For some reason, people keep asking if he liked it. I guess they don't know how cultured he is.)

Justin gets full points for giving me a great birthday! (And Michael and Julie score some big points as well for tending Colton for us.) It was a great way to start a thirty-one-derful year!