I'm still Laura!

This weekend, for the FIRST time since Olivia was born, I went out.  Yes, you read that right... in the past 16 months I have NOT gone out without Olivia with a friend at all.   So, Saturday night, my husband graciously kicked me out the door told me to go out and have fun!   Perfect timing too because it is my friend Jenn's birthday on Tuesday (Happy Birthday Jenn!!!) ...and we needed to celebrate! At 4:30, I kissed my hubby and Olivia good bye and picked up my friend.   We started the night at Casserta's Pizza on Federal Hill... YUMM!Had dessert #1 at Pastiche - chocolate layer cake for me and lemon cake for Jenn.  Headed to the TATTOO PARLOR for my 2nd and Jenn's 1st ink!  Got pulled over by a pretty cute state trooper... (no worries friends, I only forgot to turn my headlights on, I simply got a "keep your lights on, Go PATS! from the Statey... no interesting jail stories here!) ...and had a 2nd dessert at Newport Creamery!  ....it was a MUCH needed night out.  I seriously enjoyed every second of it.   I kept feeling this sense of "wow, I'm still me" all night long.  99.9999999% of the time, I'm Olivia's Mom and Joe's Wife... it was a nice refreshing feeling to realize that I'm still Laura! ...back to the tattoo, I got Olivia's name on my foot and I love it!  I made up for the time I missed with Olivia on Sunday and we had a Mommy/Daughter lunch date at Panera!  ...and this Monday morning, I feel refreshed!