Girls trips that feed the soul
So 2017 has been the year of weddings for me. I had a lot of friends get engaged last year and when two of my best girlfriends both got engaged I knew this was going to be quite the year of celebrations. I have seriously loved every minute of celebrating them as brides to be. I have always felt so honored and blessed to be a part of someone's wedding day as guest and it's always a beautiful thing to see someone exchange vows of love forever. However, to be a bridesmaid and stand up there with one (soon to be two) of my girls was pure bliss and such a humbling experience in a way I can't entirely describe. I seriously just felt so special to have been there by Lisa's side for her wedding in July and see her and Elliott officially tie the knot.
BUT this post is not for the weddings... that is for another time and all about the bachelorette's! The three of us had honestly not been on a girl's trip in so long and certainly not ever during our years of friendship. Sad to say I know, but I think that needs to change. We deserve an annual girl's trip moving forward ladies! It's great to just do all the girly things with no boys interjecting, get ready together (honestly one of the better parts of this all), drink all the bubbles, and generally speaking just get to be #basic haha. We celebrated Lisa in Palm Springs and Ellyn in West Hollywood, both trips were incredible!
Let's start with Palm Springs back in June. Ellyn and Sara had planned a fabulous weekend and the house they booked was AMAZING!! The decor was so perfectly curated and full of bright colors, I was obsessed. Ellyn and I claimed the pink room. I did not take many photos of the house to be honest which I learned my lesson for all trips moving forward. Thankfully the other bridesmaids did, so shout out Sara for the photos. Lisa wanted a pineapple/flamingo theme and everything turned out adorable!
That first night there we went to dinner at this swanky little place called Eight4Nine with the most amazing decor. It happened to be restaurant week when we went (score!) so we got a really great deal on a pre fixed dinner menu. I ordered the Mesquite Smoked Carne asada with sweet corn & pico de gallo + a watermelon margarita as my cocktail choice. For dessert we got a pie and their gelato. Everything was delicious! I definitely recommend this as a dinner spot to hit up if you are in Palm Springs. Afterwards we went out to this place called Zelda's which specializes in bachelorette parties LOL. Lets just say it wasn't what we expected it to be exactly for a lot of reasons. It was a great time though! In my personal opinion probably won't go back, but if you're into the magic mike type of thing by all means go haha. It was pure entertainment! We ended the night at this place called Village Pub which had live music half the night. That was really cool because they played a bunch of oldies. When we initially got there the DJ was playing a bunch of latin jams, the inner latina in both Ellyn and I got real excited and we basically had a mini dance moment of salsa-ing it up! It was great haha.
The next morning we went to a private Barre class workout. Definitely had to work off the night before and earn our brunch mimosas! :p Post workout brunch was at this place called Wilma and Freida's cafe. It was another adorably decorated restaurant. For the table we decided to get a churro waffle and blueberry custard french toast to share. Ugh so good. My sweet tooth could not resist! I think I liked this brunch spot more than the place we went on our last day, so if I had to choose one to go to, this place is it. They also had an amazing cold brew that I suggest if you love coffee that you should order for sure. We honestly just spent the rest of the day hanging by the pool and chilling at the house, made a nice taco dinner + Lisa's favorite spicy marg by the tone it up girls that you can find here, and ended the night with The Bridget Jones diary. The most chill day probably for a bach, but considering we all live crazy work lives it was so nice for everyone including the bride to be!
We ended our last day with one last brunch spot before we headed out at this place called Jake's. Also another place to do restaurant week so we got another great deal. They had avocado toast and of course I had to order that! It was delicious. To share we got their coconut cake with amaretto shot. It was boozy tasting for sure, but sooo good! All in all Palm Springs treated us well and Lisa had a great time. It was the first girls trip for us to do and it was so nice to do something just us.
Next was Ellyn's bach in L.A., she really wanted to go here because WeHo is amazing, but also most of her bridal crew (herself included of course) loves Vanderpump Rules & well SUR/Pump are there. So to be totally honest we wanted to meet the cast haha. If you don't watch the show you should! Anyways, Lisa was able to book this charming home in the area which was close to everywhere we were going thankfully, because SoCal traffic is no joke. We did small plates and salad dinner at the house the first night before going out. Ellyn's theme was just glitz, glam, bubbles, and pop, fizz, clink was the thing for her! The decor was perfect.
We went out to a rooftop bar that night called EP&LP which was seriously happening!! Apparently this place didn't take reservations, but somehow everyone but us got a table >.< It all worked out though because we made friends who had the hook up all night in the area. They were all seriously so chill and so kind to basically show our whole bachelorette party around for the night haha. We ended the evening with them getting a table at this placed called the Doheny room. Uhm seriously SO FUN! This placed played great music (terrible transitions) but great music. It was one of those random nights where you make new unexpected friends and are so in the moment enjoying it all. We didn't have the intention to be out as late as we did because we were doing the Hollywood hills hike the next morning, but it was worth the great time! We were living it up so much that we didn't even take a group photo lol. We fail, but the memories will stick with us forever.
The next morning we got up and trekked the hike up to the Hollywood sign. It was SO hot, and we were on the struggle bus for a bit there haha. It was exciting to have made it to the top and at least we got a great workout in. We went to brunch on a rooftop restaurant called Pearls. Another adorable place. Being crazy obsessed with Vanderpump rules as we all are, Lisa pointed out that we were sitting at the table Katie got proposed to by Tom on the show!!! Oh gosh we had a moment of "wow are we really freaking out over this?" but hey we can't help it, we love the show. The whole atmosphere was great and I think had we not been so exhausted from the hike and night before it would have been a more energetic brunch. The food however was very tasty! We ordered a cinnamon toast crunch french toast to share and we inhaled it haha. Definitely order one of those if you ever go to this spot. I got the Pretzel Croissant breakfast sandwich and the bread was perfectly flaky. Ellyn ordered some lobster tail tacos, and everyone else got some variation of their eggs benedict options. Definitely a spot I think is worth checking out for both food and ambiance.
After brunch we headed home and all took a deep nap which at that rate was honestly like going to bed in the middle of the day lol. We were so exhausted BUT we pulled it together and started to get ready early evening for our night out. Therese had set up a surprise photoshoot for Ellyn so that we could get some fun candids and headshots while getting ready. The photos turned out amazing and seriously so cute!
Once we were all ready we headed out to SUR! We were all like giddy little girls on the way there because it was just exciting to be where the cast worked. Generally speaking though we were also just so excited for night two. As soon as we got in we were taken to the bar since our table wasn't ready and Peter was working it!!! We all kept our cool, actually very proud of us lol. If you don't watch the show he's the manager of the restaurant, but also one of the main cast members. Jen who is one of Stassi's best friends in the show was also our waitress. They were both great and she was even more gorgeous in person. Peter made all our cocktails too which was fun! The restaurant had very low lighting so it was tough to get any good photos, but Lisa Vanderpump has quite the eye for creative beauty. I loved the decor, especially when we went to Pump! Both beautiful restaurants. We ordered the crab cakes and goat cheese balls (Stassi's fave) for us to share and honestly I wasn't sure how the food would be considering the show, but it was really tasty! The goat cheese balls definitely lived up to the hype. I ordered the Grilled Skirt steak and for dessert we shared a chocolate cake. Safe to say I will definitely go back to eat here! Definitely check it out if you can get a reservation, but plan ahead since it's a hot spot now because of the show.
After SUR we went to Pump another one of Lisa's restaurants in the show and seriously this place looked like a real life magical forest. So pretty! We only got drinks there and then decided to hit up the Abbey. I don't watch this show but it's another one on Bravo. We basically hit up some big reality TV spots and they certainly did not disappoint! The Abbey was very Hollywood and the music and energy there was fantastic! We had a lot of fun there and sort of wish we just stayed there all night because we went to Bootsy Bellows after, and that was not our cup of tea. We ended up back at the Doheny room from the night before. To end the night the three of us left out ended up randomly asking for directions to a certain street, and the person we asked happened to be Nate from How to Get away with Murder!!! I felt so silly because I was like why the heck does this guy look so familiar?? Then he said he was an actor and we all had our AHA moment lol. He was so nice and we just stood there talking to him for a bit then going home.
The next morning was sadly our last day too so we just cleaned up, packed, and then headed to the Hudson for one last brunch. This spot was also really cute and they had a DJ which was cool for a different vibe. The food there was pretty good, but I ordered avocado toast so I feel like something else may have been better to be honest. The coffee was delicious though! We of course got their nutella french toast to share as well. That was amazing!! We ended the day taking some cool shots at the pink wall and wandering melrose. I didn't want to leave, well none of us did! Sadly all good things comes to an end and we headed to the airport with some great memories from the weekend.
Both trips were the most fun I had in so long with just girlfriends. Since both bridal parties were mostly different faces it was just so nice to connect with new people and share in a special time. All I have to say is if you don't have girl's trips in your lives do it! Make time to do things with just the girls because it really makes a difference in time spent. I love all my friends, but there's nothing quite like my girls and I am just so thankful to have shared this summer doing all the things we did. I can't wait for the big day for Ellyn now! I am sad we don't have anything planned again at the moment, but that'll happen soon. Either way feed your soul with what makes you happy. Cheers to friends that turn into family!
If you head to either of these cities let me know what you checked out or new discoveries! :)
Xo,
Shay
