I Heart Palm Springs

 

 

 

It just has this vibe that invites me to sit and chill for a while. And people watch. And squeal over houses and colorful doors (will share in another post).

 



Day 4 of the Epic Road Trip of 2013 was spent in Palm Springs.  Actually, it was more like a few hours.  We arrived at 8pm, just in time for the downtown street fair. Then off to check into the hotel and get some sleep. We checked out at 11am on Friday, went to Elmer's for the ginormous German lemon crepe, looked at houses for 30 min (will be shared in that other post mentioned above), then left town at 12:30pm, to start the drive home to Phoenix.

 

I had trouble finding a place to stay in Palm Springs. Most hotels were booked (at least within a few minutes of the downtown area). I expected the hotel (The Vagabond Inn) to be our least favorite of the four we stayed in. Let's just say I was surprised. My happy experience was due mainly to the fact that we had a room in the very best location (at the back of the hotel nestled against the mountain). And we had grass and a private table and shade (rather than a parking lot).

 

Now, not to trick anyone, this was not a luxury hotel. The room was older and could use an update. But it was clean and the bed was comfortable and did I mention the outdoor space?

 

Other things about the Vagabond Inn that stole my heart: the room keys. Real metal keys. I just about passed out from all the swooning I did over those keys. Then I saw the mechanism for "maid requested" and "do not disturb". So cool.

 

I will be staying here again. They served breakfast by the pool, but we skipped to enjoy Elmer's.

 

Just remember to ask for room 141 if you decide to spend a night or two here....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palm Springs Blurb Book

Happy Monday everyone!

I wanted to share my first Blurb book. I decided to do something a little different than my usual scrapbook mini album for the Palm Springs trip. I had stumbled across Blurb a few times in other blog posts, and decided it was time to create my own book.


Front cover:

Back Cover:

I wanted to start small for my first try. I went with the small square (7x7inches), 20 page, softcover book. I did upgrade the paper though. So my final cost was $12.50 plus shipping. Not bad for your own book. The hardest part was waiting for it to arrive at my house. And I love it!


Inside pages:

It did take me some time to figure out the layout for each page. If you like to keep things simple, blurb will create the book for you. But of course, I have to obsess and tweak each page a million times! Yes, some days it is hard to be me.

I chose not to add words to the book, but that is definitely an option. I wanted to add my own handwriting to some of the pages to make it feel more like "me".

Bottom line is that I adore this book. It makes me smile every time I see it. I will definitely make another one, but bigger next time!

Anyone else out there used this company ? Did you totally love it too?

Movie Colony Hotel

Hi everyone. I hope you're not getting bored with the Palm Springs photos

Today I wanted to share some details of the Movie Colony Hotel.  I like to call it the swanky hotel.

I do love that mid-century architecture (thanks Mad Men!)

Click on the above link to read some history.

Our room. Not too big, but very cozy. Lots of white, including a painted white concrete floor. I wanted to steal the giant brown throw pillows. Alec would have loved us to steal the giant Marilyn Monroe artwork. Chelsey would have loved us to steal the zebra rug (not shown). And Mark wanted to steal the comfy couch in the corner (not shown). But in the end, we did not bring home souvenirs.

We had a private patio, which would have been used if it wasn't so incredibly hot outside!

Close up of the patio landscaping. I loved the rows of plants. The organized rows just made me happy.

View of the pool. Again, it was too hot to really enjoy lounging in the pool.

Happy hour for the guests. You could help yourself to wine or the citrus drink in the pitcher. Not sure what it was, but it was yummy!

Cool clock at the self-service bar. A light breakfast was also served at the bar, but we did not have a chance to try that.

This cool yellow chair sitting outside our room. The yellow made me happy!

Bikes you could borrow to ride around the historic neighborhood or take to downtown Palm Springs.

View outside our room. We stayed on the lower level, but if you stayed on the upper level you had a private balcony. There were also 2 story townhouses to stay in. Probably my preference if I go back another time.

Another view of the pool. Those bar stools in the lower left corner are part of the bar area.

View of the same corridor, looking from the pool to the bar. Loved all the cool furniture and art work scattered around the property!

View from our room, looking through the shutters, to the pool.

Overall, it was a very cool hotel. No kids allowed, so it was eerily quiet all the time. Not exactly what we are used to. We would definitely recommend a stay there.

Have you been anywhere lately that was super cool? I love to hear travel stories!

If no, then maybe it is time to sit down and plan a trip. And if you go off season, there are great deals to be found. But you may have to put up with some extreme weather!

Palm Springs Recap

Here are a few photos from our Palm Springs getaway. It's really hard for me to narrow down which photos to post. And I change my mind from day to day (I've been thinking about this post for a few days now).

My view from the bed (after I jumped into the fluffy white cloud and made some happy noises.) The bed had these enormous throw pillows that I'm sure I need to get for our bed!

My artistic self portrait.

Mark enjoying a drink in the heat before heading out for Greek food.

 The Day of Love. Waiting for the tram to take us to Disneyland.

Riding the horse drawn carriage down Main Street.

Cars Land opened the week before our visit. We only went on 1 of the 3 new rides (long, long lines). This ride had a 2 1/2 wait, but if you went as a single rider, it was only a 45 min wait. That's why Mark is sitting by a stranger. I was in the next car, with a stranger. That's OK. Remember, we have been together for  20 years. We'll sit together another time. The ride was super fun. 

When we got to the park we made reservations for dinner at the Blue Bayou. Hey, it was a special day, and no kids, so we thought a $45 meal of steak and lobster sounded like a nice treat. But after a few hours we decided we really didn't want such a big meal. It would just make us tired and sluggish. So we cancelled the reservations. Later, we heard that you could purchase reserved seats for Fantasmic and get drinks and desert included. We were told it was expensive, but the best seats to enjoy the show. So Mark bought us tickets. $60 per person. It was ridiculously expensive. But it was great having a chair to sit in and the snack box was yummy. Cheeses, crackers, grapes, cheesecake, key lime pie, cookies. But it was awkward to juggle the tray and a drink in your chair. We probably won't do this again, but it was a nice treat. And the view was perfect!

I have more photos of the swanky hotel to share later (didn't want this post to be too long),

And if you want to travel to Disneyland with us sometime, just let me know. We're always up for a little Mouse lovin. (Mark says no more visits in 2012, but that's only 6 months until another visit could happen :)

Photo Walk

When we were in Palm Springs, we drove around and checked out the cool houses. I was in LOVE. I may have even said "we should move here". Not a big surprise, since I say that every time we travel somewhere. But seriously, how can you not love a neighborhood who embraces brightly colored doors? I can't resist.

Oh my, yellow and orange doors! One house even painted their garage door orange also!

And did you see that light fixture in front of the yellow door? I want it. But not for my Casa Grande house. Don't be silly. It would be for my Palm Springs house. Or maybe LA.

This last house had all these cool statues built out of stuff (whatever the artist could find), then painted all these bright, beautiful colors. It was very cool!

So do you ever think about decorating your imaginary house? Oh come on. Not even your beach house? My imaginary beach house (cottage/bungalow) is my favorite house to decorate!

And I'm wanting to paint my front door a turquoise color. Will have to see if I can get the husband to agree!

Day of Love

We're in sunny Palm Springs enjoying some one on one time for the big Day of Love.

Yep. Today is 20 years since we said our "i do's".

And we still want to spend time alone together. I guess we must be doing something right!

image from pinterest via pinmarklet