A Girl's Weekend

This past weekend by best friend from high school, Ashlee came down for the long weekend to do nothing but 1. hang out, 2. shop, 3. gossip/chat, 4. shop, 5. enjoy the heat wave we've been having, 6. shop, 7. drink wine and coffee, and of course, 8. shop. :) We spent 6 1/2 hours alone on Saturday at a mall in Riverside and we literally shopped until we dropped. Had a latte and a burrito in between it all to keep us going, but definitely left with some good deals and some cute clothes. This picture is when she flew into LAX on Friday night- we took her to Urth Cafe in Santa Monica for a bite to eat.

Taking a break to rest our feet at the mall.

This place, Olive Ave. is a cute coffee shop/market Jared and I go to every Saturday and this weekend Ashlee got to join us. The weather this day was gorgeous- probably got up to the low 80's.

I didn't totally ditch Jared this weekend...I have to say he was a great taxi driver and kept us girls laughing. He also made great Yerba Mate tea and coffee every morning! Here we are out in Palm Springs when we went to visit Uncle Wayne and Aunt B.

The girls out by the pool...Aunt B was such a great host. When we arrived she had fresh squeezed, homemade lemonade for us to drink by the pool. Then she had made us homemade lemon meringue pie for dessert. Their yard has a lemon tree that had ripe lemons just falling off the tree. Ashlee shoved a bag of them into her carry on to take back to Spokane.

By the way...before we got to Palm Springs we had shopped for almost two hours, so by the time we arrived, we were ready to just relax in the sun.

Here's a picture of us we took just having fun with the camera. We were trying to get the lemons in the background...it kind of worked. :)

It was so fun to have Ashlee come spend a weekend with me. We had SO much fun and I feel so refreshed and uplifted by our time together. There is nothing in the world like girlfriends and to be able to spend 3 full days in a row with one is even better. We're kindred spirits that's for sure and I am so thankful for our friendship!

Couple more Christmas pictures...

Me and Nina at the Mission Inn Hotel in Riverside, CA...it's like the Davenport in Spokane, only it's Spanish-style and has a much richer history. It's a beautiful hotel and at Christmas they decorate it with over 2 billion lights!

This is on the roof of the hotel.

In the lobby...

Everyone came out to Loma Linda for a day and met me at work for lunch and a tour of the campus. We had a classic Loma Linda University vegetarian lunch (Avacado sandwiches...they are my FAVORITE...I have one every Friday now as my end-of-the-week treat) :) and then gave them the full university tour.

The sisters by Aunt B and Uncle Wayne's pool in Palm Springs.

New Year's Eve with the Beals in Laguna Beach

We spent New Year's Eve with Jeff and Natalie Beal, who came down from Spokane to spend a long weekend in Laguna Beach. It was such a chill day- we had breakfast in Laguna Beach and then walked around Balboa Peninsula by Newport Beach before heading back to Laguna for dinner. The highlight was getting to see dolphins out in the ocean as well as meeting the cutest little seal in Balboa that we named Sammy.

Had to take a picture of the Adams by the Adams street sign.

We were all intrigued by this bird- it was so unique looking. I couldn't believe I got this close without it flying away!

Christmas 2008-Palm Springs, CA

It was another awesome Christmas in Palm Springs with Uncle Wayne and Aunt B. Mom and Dad made it down from the 5 feet of snow up in Spokane to spend almost two weeks in the sunny, warm weather we have down here. We all had such a great time playing Scrabble and Yahtzee, drinking homemade hot buttered rum, going to see Marley and Me (great movie...go see it), taking morning walks, hot tubing at night and laughing/chatting in between all of it. Christmas is such a wonderful time to remember the blessing of family while celebrating the birth of our Savior. We had to say goodbye tonight to everyone, but we will cherish the time we had with everyone.

One of my favorite things about So. Cal...the palm trees are just so beautiful!

The original 5. :)

The girls and Aunt B.