no boys allowed
Thursday, March 29th, 2007for the first time in my adult life, i went to a girl’s night out party that did not involve meeting boys, checking out boys or thinking about boys.
last friday, i went to melissa’s girl’s night out theme birthday party. she turned 8.
tita emily was generous enough (and moneyed enough) to do this for melissa - which keeps me wondering what was i doing when i turned 8, but oh well. we had dinner at american girl place and we went around in a stretch limo.
the day before the party, i saw her at her cousin’s exhibit at chelsea. she asked me if i was free for friday night and told me about melissa’s party - i said id meet up with her at american girl place since it is one block away from work.
there were two plans. the dinner at american girl place with their dolls, and the limo ride. she was worried if the girls were gonna get bored, and we kind of wanted to have more activities happening for the party. i suggested that we drive around times square and we’ll just play it by ear on d-day.
as soon as dinner was over - with me and tita emily postponing our departure so the girls run out of shopping time at the american girl store, the girls wanted to walk around the city. we ended up schlepping 5 screaming 8 year old girls a half a block away to the rockefeller center skating rink. as we were walking, one of the girls called her mother on her cellphone and excitedly said "mom, were walking around the city."
when we got to the rockefeller plaza, they were oohing and aaahing at the skaters. soon enough they found this mini pool and immediately demanded pennies to make a wish. it was so cute to see them all thinking about marriage, frills and stare in amazement at a horse drawn carriage passing by. (20 years from today, im pretty sure nobody would want to be married yet. hhahaha)
eventually we got back in the limo - drove around times square (we didnt want them to go out and get entangled with the tourists) so we ended up going to south street seaport to see the ships - which to my disappointment didnt amaze them (girls will be girls, i suppose).
we went up the mall to use the loo and found the balcony that has a view of the brooklyn bridge, the manhattan bridge and the williamsburg bridge - and true to their girlieness, they all went to the railing and stared. its beautiful really, especially with the weather cooperating.
there is this image of 5 little girls on a balcony staring at the three connecting bridges of manhattan and brooklyn dotted with itty bitty lights that would always remain in my memory - i forgot my camera!
after a bit of staring and running and chasing each other around we piled back into the stretch and crossed our bridges and tunnels back into our kingdom of queens.
its funny how i was expecting the girls to be bored - i guess its the city girl in me who expects a hoarde of new experiences. tita emily and i were worried that they might get bored but the truth is, they were very greatly entertained with each other’s company that it didnt really matter what else they were doing. its true that going to american girl place is a dream come true to every grammar schoolgirl in consumer america, but far more unbelievable to me is the fact that just walking around the city and being in it was enough for them. just like when i was a kid and living in quezon city. going to makati or intramuros was a big deal for me. hah.
sarah kept calling her mother to say "were walking around the city" and "were driving around the city." as soon as i got home, i called my mom and told her about my first stretch limo ride - haha. i guess there’s always a little girl in us.
(belated) happy birthday, melissa!
tita emily, thanks for the invite - this cute party is just making me excited to be "junior’s" godparent.
