ME time?! What the hell is that?!

I've written before about the importance of getting away with your spouse for a few days. It's fabulous and I could write more, but this post is about getting away from your spouse for a few days.

I've been on a few work trips since becoming a mom, but any time we go away for "leisure" time it's always been either as a family or just the two of us. I'd gotten over the guilt of leaving the kids, but hanging out with Mr. Awesome is one of my favourite things to do so I couldn't wrap my head around going away without him.

Until a couple of months ago. My friends and I got ourselves tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance live tour in Tacoma. Like any self-respecting 35 year old, I was secretly giddy with excitement. (The "secretly" part is how I claim to still be self-respecting. Guess that pipe dream is over.) Tacoma is about a 3.5 hour drive south from Vancouver and takes us right past the Premium Outlets in Tulalip, several Targets and a number of Costcos. Shopping AND SYTYCD?! It was almost too much.

We were on the hunt for a reasonably-priced hotel room, and at first search we were faced with the typical chain options that would have been (fairly) clean and pretty standard. I then came across Hotel Murano. Part of the Provenance Hotels boutique hotel group, it is like something out of Sex in the City. They offer special rates for their Twitter followers, so we landed two great rooms for $99 per room! For anywhere really, let alone little old Tacoma, this place is pretty swanky (nothing against Tacoma, of course).

Almost as soon as we'd arrived, each room received a bottle of Voss water and an Asian pear. A lovely gesture that made me feel even more special on my family-free getaway. I could get used to housekeeping and luxury treats delivered to my door!

The hotel was everything we hoped it would be, with one somewhat notable exception. The restaurant, BITE, had some pretty serious service issues that night, both in the kitchen (timing and understaffing) and on the service floor (completely avoiding the guests when the food took almost an hour). The restaurant itself was lovely and when the food eventually arrived it was very good, but the whole experience was marred by the service and the fact that we had to devour our meals in minutes to get to the show on time.

Other than that, the hotel was great. The beds were DIVINE, exactly what I needed to enjoy a solo sleep. Although that still didn't stop me from waking up before 6:00am. I have the little man to thank for conditioning me for a 5:30am wake-up. I now wake-up even if he doesn't, which is usually a good thing as I have to get ready for work. But on a morning I had no responsibilities, it was a big pain in the ass. And be forewarned - downtown Tacoma only has ONE Starbucks that opens at 6:30am on a Sunday.

Backing up a bit - the show was everything we hoped it would be, in all its cheesy splendour, only made better by the numerous beverages consumed during the evening. I would argue that certain elements of the show were made way better by the drinks, namely the awful line delivery of some of the cast. These people should really stick to dancing, and thank goodness for the most part they do. The dancing was amazing.

Drinks were consumed, shopping was done, relaxation was...um...experienced. It was only one night but it was a great little getaway. And while I could certainly get used to housekeeping and room service, I was very happy to get back to my little family.

I will, however, be doing another getaway in the near future. It's good for the soul to take some time that's just for you. I'm lucky Mr. Awesome thinks so too or we might have a problem. As long as I don't go for too long he seems to be okay with the idea. I think he sees it as a challenge to manage the household on his own. And amazingly, dishes and laundry do actually get done. The three of them may never change out of their pajamas, but the chores get done.

It's all about priorities.