ka-li-for-nee-ya

The weekend is here and I'm thrilled. It's been a cray cray month. Downton Abbey broke my heart, Smash started back up, the Oscars are tomorrow night, and Grey's Anatomy has given me approx. 57 anxiety attacks. And that's just TV. In real life, work has been busy, I spent a fabulous weekend in California with some buddies from DC, oh and I decided it was time to move on from my job. More on that later.. because this post is about a wonderful valley in SoCal known as Coachella. A place where sunshine and warm weather is the most common winter pick-me-up, the grass is green and the golf courses and polo fields are beautiful.

We spent the weekend in Palm Springs, one of the towns in a chain of towns down Highway 111 in Coachella Valley. One of the best things about being there is the weather. It is literally listed as an attraction on many websites about the area. Something about how the 9,000-foot mountains surrounding the Coachella Valley blocks all the smog from LA. I don't know, whatever, all that matters is that it is simply incredible. 

The best part was that I got to spend time with these girls. It made me so grateful for wonderful friends and lots of laughs. 

We got to celebrate Emily's birthday while we were there, so we went to a steakhouse called Sullivan's. The food and wine is always good (if a little bit on the expensive side), so it's become a favorite of my parents when they're out there. It was an interesting dinner. We chatted with our waitress about the few fun bars in the area. The English sommelier and Alycyn discussed their wine interests. Another waitress used a flashlight to search under our table for "something" that was left behind, all the while complimenting our shoes and pedicures, then they took our picture and presented this gem to the birthday girl. 

Thanks, Sullivan's, for a weird but delicious dinner.

The rest of the weekend consisted of my first time in a casino, LOTS of wine, an Italian restaurant filled with singing waiters, an appreciation for very kind polo players, and ended with a clear understanding of why I love my friends so much.

I can't wait to hang with the crew in a few weeks at Maple Fest, our annual trip to experience all the maple products that Southwest Virginia has to offer. I'm pumped. But before I get ahead of myself, here are a few of my favorite photos from last weekend.

Morning swim

We tried to find Taco Mark everywhere...he was elusive.

Come with us next time??

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!