Palm Springs {Part I}

Merith, Erika, and I became fast friends with Melanie and Michelle at Susannah's bachelorette party a few years back, and ever since then we've been wanting to recreate the magic of that weekend.  We finally were able to find a weekend that worked for all 6 of us, and last Thursday we headed down to the great city of Palm Springs for a girls weekend.  I arrived in LA and roadtripped out to the desert with Melanie to meet up with Michelle, and the 3 of us started the weekend out right with some Mexican food downtown, dinner at the Ace, and chilling at our awesome Airbnb while watching Will & Grace and waiting for the other girls.  We awoke Friday morning to a full house and after breakfast at home, we all headed out to El Paseo for some shopping.  We didn't last long, as it was over 100 degrees outside, so we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner at Birba, a delicious Italian restaurant downtown that I had been dying to try.  The weather was perfect as we sat outside enjoying the setting sun and the light breeze, and our dinner that night was one of my favorite meals of the trip.  After dinner we headed back to the house for some face masks and girl time before getting some much needed rest for our lazy vacation :)

 a beautiful full moon that lit up the sky

 wine + will & grace

 afternoon happy hour by our pool

 melanie & me

 birthday girl erika

 me and merith

 birba

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Happy {late} Birthday Gramps!

Happy 79th Birthday {this past weekend} Gramps!  I know you're not up and doing your most favorite things right now, but I know you're surrounded by lots of friends, family, and a whole lot of love.  I love you so much and can't wait to celebrate a big one with you next year!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Happy Birthday Erika!

Happy Birthday {tomorrow} to this lovely lady who I can always count on for the perfect meme, a hearty laugh, a brutally honest {and often hilarious} opinion, and the sweetest pick me up when I need it the most.  Also, her kiddo is my favorite person in the world :)  I love you E, and can't wait to celebrate you all weekend long!!

And with that, we're heading off on an adventure in the desert!  I'm taking a long weekend, but will be back next week!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Pablo y Pablo

Last week Erika and I went out for my annual birthday dinner - one of my favorite traditions that always keeps the celebrations going into fall {who doesn't want to keep celebrating a birthday, right?!?}.  After one of David's recommendations, we headed to Pablo y Pablo, a newish Mexican restaurant near Gasworks Park from the folks behind Purple & Barrio.  Mexican comfort food sounded exactly like what we were looking for, and we were not disappointed.  I loved my margarita, and Erika's "bartender's choice" mocktail was one of the best I've tasted.  We shared a bunch of dishes, including 3 of their many tacos {we went with the grilled cajun style shrimp, jalapeno-corn & potato croquette, and lamb belly carnitas - all delish!} and the chipotle braised chicken enchiladas in green sauce.  The dinner was excellent {and I'm dying to try their brunch} and the company even better as we chatted about life and got excited for our upcoming vacation.  I can't wait to go back to Pablo y Pablo, and more importantly I can't wait for more Erika time :)

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Zoo Day {Happy Birthday Ryley!}

Happy 3rd Birthday {yesterday} Ryley!  I can't believe this sweetest little guy has been around for 3 years - time flies!  In honor of his bday and us not getting together in awhile, Stef and I took this little man out for donuts and to the zoo last Sunday.  The weather was gorgeous {I joked that we only ever go when it's raining, so this felt weird} and we spent the morning watching all of the animals come out to play in the warm sunshine.  I love how his personality is just shining through the older he gets, and I know he's going to be the best big brother when little sister makes her debut next month!  Happy birthday Ryley - may there be many more zoo trips in our future :)

 flamingos

 hippos

 visiting baby lulu - the newest giraffe

 not happy the grizzlies kept running away from us

 grizzly

 taking a break from the real animals

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Sunset on Summer

Happy Friday!  Since yesterday was basically the last day of summer in Seattle {85 and sunny and today I woke up to rain}, we headed to Golden Gardens for a picnic of gyros and beer and caught this gorgeous sunset at the beach.  It was such a perfect evening, it made me almost wish we could do summer over again.  But Fall, I'm ready for ya! 

Have a great weekend!

xoxo,
stephanie marie

Something Rotten

Saturday afternoon I found myself with an extra ticket to a show, so I invited Kelsey {who loves Broadway} to the 5th to see Something Rotten with me.  We started our day at Purple Cafe for some lunch and a pre-show glass of wine, then headed over to the theater just in time for the curtain.  I had no expectations coming into the show - all I knew was that it had won some Tony's and was supposed to be funny.  From the very beginning to the very end, we were both dying of laughter {along with the rest of the theater} because of the hilarious actors {led by Adam Pascal, the original Roger in Rent!} and musical numbers.  The very basic premise of the show is two brothers during Shakespeare's time try to invent the musical to rival Shakespeare's plays.  If you get a chance to see it, you must - I promise you'll be laughing until you cry and you will love every minute of it.  We sure did!

xoxo,
stephanie marie