Birthdays, Birthdays!

This is a two part post: Part One

It's time for me to begin planning Madelyn's 3rd birthday.  Yes, she is going to be three already!  I can't believe how quickly time has flown. One day I'm holding my precious baby girl, and the next, I'm cuddling up to my precious BIG girl...  Luckily, she still loves hanging out with Mommy and wants to snuggle atleast once a day :)

Our theme this year will be the Barbie 50th anniversary logo.  It's super cute and I can easily accent with pink, white, and black items. I've found a ton of ideas and can't wait to create all the fun things we're going to use! 

For gifts, I've decided that only family and very close friends will be "allowed" to give gifts.  Instead, we are going to have our guests bring something to donate to a local foster home (if they'd like).  Madelyn needs/wants for nothing. 

Little story to prove my point:  Jeremy told Madelyn to clean her toys up one night and she said she was too tired.  So, he said we were going to throw all the toys that were out away if she didn't clean up.  She didn't.  Instead, she HELPED us "throw away" all of her toys.  Some of which were favorites of hers.  We took the trash bag out of the house and put it in the outside closet, but the point is, she could have cared less.  On the upside, she now cleans everytime we ask her to! 

I thought it would be nice for Madelyn to begin seeing that there are people out there who are not as fortunate as us and see how good it feels to give to others.  She'll still get gifts, just not as many, and she'll still get to spend her special day with friends and family! So...it seems like a win win for everyone! What do you think? Am I being a cruel mom? 

Part Two:

In celebration of my best friend's and my 25th birthdays, we are in the process of planning a weekend getaway!!! Just the two of us :) Since she and I don't live in the same state, we haven't had nearly enough "us time".  I'm so excited to go somewhere new!  Seriously, this will only be probably the second time I've gone somewhere without Jeremy and one of very few I've been without Madelyn. Yes, I love them, but I'm absolutely looking forward to our girls weekend!

We don't want something crazy wild like Vegas, and I wouldn't feel safe if just the two of us went to New York by ourselves. We just want something different, maybe some nice spas or wine tastings, not ridiculous pricey but not crappy either, and probably somewhere in the eastern parts of the US.  So, any suggestions on where to go?