Palm Springs (!!!) Part One: The Saguaro

Check one more place off of my dream destination list: Palm Springs.

Once known as the playground of movie stars, then later for being a place where old people went to Never Be Cold Again, the desert oasis has now become a cliché travel destination for hipsters and/or bloggers (such as myself, I suppose).

After a long day of work, we hopped in the car and headed out. Dropped off the pupster with my parents and were pleasantly surprised at how close PS is to my parents home in Temecula (just a couple of hours). We arrived somewhere around 7:00 and the evening was still young! We checked in to our hotel: The Saguaro.

The Saguaro is best known for it’s BRIGHT colors! The rainbow of spectrum filled me with endless energy. I definitely feed off of bright and vibrant colors and just being in our hot pink and tangerine room made me happy and bouncy. Don’t fear, dudes: not every room is as filled with hot pink as this one was.

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

In the desert, the summer is the slow season, so the hotel was pretty empty. Therefore, we got upgraded not only to a 1st floor room, but to a walk-out! That is, we could step out the sliding glass door from our room right to the lawn and pool area. Swanky! We were close enough to the pool for it to be super convenient, but directly outside our door was a bocce court, which was much quieter.

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The mountains rising behind the roof of the hotel seemed unreal. Like a hollywood backdrop, or like I could reach out and touch them. During the day, they were stark and imposing, and as dusk fell, they faded away, as if they weren’t there at all.

Included with the room was use of their cute baby blue bikes! If it had been a different time of year, I would have rode that bike all over Palm Springs. However, we took the bikes .8 miles to breakfast and it was already TOO HOT for that kind of activity. We rode back after our meal and never touched them again! Perhaps if I come back in the springtime….

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

Here are a few gratuitous shots of the lobby. If I hadn’t already been smitten with the hotel the moment I clicked “book,” well the lobby would have sealed the deal. A ping pong table right inside the front door? How fun!

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs

When planning this trip I really wanted to stay at The Ace Hotel, because that’s where all the “cool kids” seem to hang out, if you take a straw poll among famous bloggers. The Ace’s decor and vibe are totally different. Due to budget, we went with this hotel as our #2 choice. Well, we did spend a little bit of time over at The Ace snooping around. We had breakfast and wandered a bit (I’ll share photos Wednesday). Of course I would love a chance to stay at The Ace in the future, especially to make a well informed comparison. However, now that all is said and done, I am TOTALLY happy we stayed at the Saguaro! The grounds and amenities were so, so, so nice and the staff was really awesome. The bright rainbow of colors was totally my jam and the upbeat vibe was so great to be surrounded with during our little mid-week getaway. I would be very happy to return to The Saguaro again any time!

Need a recommendation for where to stay? Check out my Your Turn section.

See You Friday!

Palm Springs Scarf

 

Surprise! I guess I didn’t get enough of the 100°+ heat last week— I am in Palm Springs for a couple of days! Although it is still a dream of mine to stay at the Ace Hotel, it was out of budget for this trip and we are staying at the equally cool Saguaro. I got a great deal online! Thanks William Shatner!

Follow me on twitter and instagram for more Palm Springs goodness, but you know I’ll be back to share more on Friday and Monday too.  Xoxo; Muah!

 

Cute scarf from here

Favorite Things: June 2013

Weekends are when I log most of my hours at work and it leaves little time for blogging, so I’m just popping in with a quick fun little post today. It’s Monday, right? Who wants to read anything too long anyway? Here’s a few things I’m super into at the moment.

june favorites

Store Front: The disappearing face of New York — Doug and I have been reading this book together and it’s both sad and beautiful. “Reading together” is a relative term with us… he reads while I’m at work and I read while he’s in bed (I stay up way later than he does). But! We have a good time discussing the interesting stories of storefronts who have been forced to close due to New York City real estate prices, or those who are still making do. It really is heartbreaking the way “old New York” disappears one shopfront at a time and will soon be made up of chains, deluxe boutiques, and shady tourist shops selling bootleg soccer jerseys and Empire State building keychains.

Cronuts — These are one of my favorite things in the way that Zac Efron was one of my favorite things a few years ago: Mostly I’m obsessed/intrigued with the hype around them. I was never obsessed with Zac Efron, just with the fanaticism surrounding him, and I think I feel the same way about Cronuts. Of course… if I ever got the chance to taste one maybe I would actually become obsessed with the pastry. Does that make sense? (For the adventurous types, you can try making your own croissant-donuts at home using this recipe— thanks Libby!)

Dark Horse Coffee — Is it lame to include one of your own instagrams on your “favorite things” post? I don’t know what the Emily Post of blogging has to say about something like this. If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right because this coffee is the. best. We were out of all forms of coffee last week (the bank account was all dried up until payday) and I definitely noticed an effect on my demeanor and my interactions with others. Whoops!

What makes your “June favorites” shortlist? Share in the comments, I want to hear!