Casa Caracol

Johnny and I just got back from a week in Mexico.  We went with a couple of our dearest friends, and it was a blast!  We found this gorgeous place on Airbnb and it was the most precious place I've ever stayed.  It's called Casa Caracol (The Seashell House) and it's on the most relaxing island, Isla Mujeres.  Seriously, everyone is so laid back and happy.  I will definitely be taking the girls on vacation there in the future.  I have some photos to share, so I thought I'd start with our bedroom.

 
There are two bedrooms total in the house, so a couple's trip was perfect!  The Larsons are pretty much our vacation soulmates, so we spent most nights just sitting in the adorable living room, chatting and laughing.

The island was so beautiful, I hope when I go back I will get the chance to take proper photos of the beauty there.  This vacation was more about being in the moment and enjoying each other.

 
We love you, Isla Mujeres and Casa Caracol!  Until next time!

Palm Springs Pt. 2

Our second full day in Palm Springs was one of my favorite days of my whole life.  Johnny and I had made plans to wake up early and smash our to-do list, but instead we accidentally slept in and opted for breakfast in bed.  I know there are mixed reviews out there about breakfast in bed, but to me it's one of the best things EVER.  After a super relaxed, lovely morning, we headed out to the Cabazon Dinosaurs.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that the dinos were the ONLY thing I cared about doing on this trip.  I've spent most of my life dreaming of visiting this place (thanks, Pee-Wee... I'll love you forever) and it finally happened.


This is my face of UTTER DELIGHT.  I cannot tell you how many times I jumped and squealed and clapped like a small child.  Eep!


Oh, man... this guy CRACKS ME UP.  I like to imagine him as the singer of an 80's hair metal band.  I bet he can seriously wail!


It was crazy how windy Cabazon was.  It was basically raining wind.  Sideways.  Here's a life lesson, fellow dress lovers: always wear shorts underneath.  They saved my trip.  Otherwise I would have been fussing with my clothes the whole time instead of taking it all in.  And that would have been a shame.


Once I basically bought out the gift shop (I'm a souvenir person all the way), we headed back to the Ace for drinks and friend time.  


I had to post both of these photos.  It's strange how we didn't know anyone but Jess when we arrived and by the time the trip was over we had all of these new wonderful friends.  It was a good bunch.

 
I feel like this post is just a series of tangents, but... tangent time: before we flew out of Kansas City, we stopped by Donna's Dress Shop because, well, I don't get to visit that place enough.  Up to that point, I had been shopping for a vintage playsuit for MONTHS with no luck.  As I was getting ready to check out, this little number was hanging near the counter.  I ALMOST didn't try it on because I really don't like trying things on.  I'm so glad I did.  It was love at first fit and it was perfect for hanging pool side.  I felt like I was living in a dreamy movie.

This night was our fancy dinner night, so after a bit we headed back to the room to freshen up and make it to our reservation at Birba on time (thanks for the rec, Elsie!).  I found my dress one night while shopping on eBay, so there isn't a great story behind it.  BUT!  When Jess last visited MO, we found this amazing orange dress that fit her like a GLOVE at one of my favorite vintage shops.  She was on a budget at that time, so I snuck back in and bought it as an early birthday gift.  We call it the "Palm Springs dress" for obvious reasons.  You'll see why in a second.  


Ahhhhh... I love this picture so much.  Johnny and I have a million selfies together from this trip that are silly and only for us, but I'm glad to have captured him in a few photos to share.  This walk down Palm Springs lane wouldn't have felt the same without his face in it.


See?  Lovely little orangesicle dream.  It's perfect on her!

After dinner, the plan was to go get little dinosaur tattoos with our crew.  Johnny and I ended up kinda being jerks and ditching the group, but it was for a good reason.  Or a selfish reason.  Whatever.  I just wanted to spend my last night in paradise hanging with him instead of sitting around at a tattoo parlor.

We ended up having drinks at the Saguaro, dipping our feet in the hot tub in our fancy clothes back at the Ace, playing a couple of rounds of intense ping pong (I won-- oh yeah!), and just letting all the beauty around us seep in.  It was a magical night... and I'm not using that term loosely.  It was MAGICAL.


The rest of the story is all super long travel days and reuniting with my darling girls... the things you would expect.  I'm definitely thankful we got to go on such a fun/sweet/wonderful mini vacation.  I have so many more special photos from this trip that can't fit into a blog post, so I fully intend to make a Palm Springs photo album.  It would honestly be a shame to forget a single second.  xo.

Palm Springs Pt. 1

Johnny and I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Palm Springs last week with some of our friends.  It was kinda one of those moments where someone invites you and you think, "yeah, that would be nice..." but don't really consider it past that.  The more you think about it, you realize, "hey, this could actually work with our schedule".  So we went.  And it was great.

We arrived at the Ace Hotel a little later than expected the first night because we were driving in from LAX.  Hitting LA traffic as soon as you exit your plane and nail down your rental car is a little bit... well... there are a lot of words I could use, so let's just call it undesirable.  We ended up making it in around 9pm and it just happened to be karaoke night at the bar.  YES!  We dumped our things in our room as quickly as possible and met up with Jess and her boyfriend to sing all the cheesy songs we could thing of.  The night ended with roasting s'mores, night swimming, and then hard-core crashing in our comfy bed from such an eventful travel day.


The first "real" day in Palm Springs was breathtaking (the above photos are definitely backing up that statement).  Please keep in mind that in our home state of MO there are no mountains.  We have a hilly terrain, but golly... seeing those mountains first thing in the morning... well, no words.  Okay, so maybe there were a few words--  "WHAT?!"  "Is this real life?"  "Okay, this is just insane."-- and my personal favorite-- "HUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHA."  (That was overwhelmed laughter if you couldn't tell.)  Most of our day was spent grabbing food at Native Foods, exploring, and sitting by the pool.


We ended the evening at dinner, getting to know all of Jess' friends who flew in that day.  After dinner we took serious advantage of the photobooth, watched a pretty cool band at the lounge, and of course, hit up some night swimming... which was mainly night hot-tubbing because it was a little brisk.  All-in-all, day one was PREEEEEETTY amazing.  xo.