Balmy and Palmy

All packed up the night before and ready to go to Palm Springs, CA with Mat, when Gretchen hits us with a possible infection. How do kids sense these things? Sick kids are a given I guess when you are planning a little getaway with your husband. Why?

Gretchen and I had a little party from about 1AM til 5AM. There was nothing open as far as health care goes to get it taken care of, so I decided to paint her nails instead. I figured it makes everyone feel better. The lack of sleep presented a horrible stew for my preventative plane sickness plan. When one of the four gets slightly out of whack, sleep, hunger, stress or heavy, smelly, airplane turbulence, it creates a BIG problem. Luckily, I held on strong with a baggy of my salty foods that seem to take it away (see car sickness is like pregnancy to Chicago).

We landed in the warmth of the sun, had a nice hotel, nice food to eat, nice bike riding especially on Fairway Drive and nice company. Most of all, uninterrupted reading on the plane! Mat and I barely talked to each other.

We met up with these guys for fine dining at a lovely Mediterranean restaurant (Kabobz). Jody, Mindi, Dannielle (Mat's elder sister although she looks way younger) and his Mom. They are all very funny. If you are in your most depressing state, just call these comedians and they make all your stresses go away. Ka-poof!



The waiter was so friendly that he brought out his own canister of saffron to smell, since some at the table had never smelled it. He said the little tin can cost $1,000 dollars. Believe it, it's the most expensive spice in the world. Thank you kind Mediterranean Man.


Went to the date farm--actual date farming from palm dates, and this sign had us in love again. I recommend the date shake and the brunette dates.



And we went to an open air market. I found this bag, would anyone like to make it for me for Christmas? I thought it was original and I know someone out there can make it. Right?



Back at it, with Thanksgiving knocking at my front door and Christmas knocking at my back door, it's time to shift into full speed mode, but we'll always have Palm Springs, CA.

Special thanks to Kelli and Jared for taking care of my kiddos. They just love them and I am lucky to have them. As for Gretchen, turns out-no infection, I guess she just wanted to spend some extra time with me before I left on my trip.