It's May and I'm finally back in my natural habitat: wrapped up in my blanket, on the couch, snacking on chocolate, and watching Jersey Shore Family Vacation. This feels great. The last month flew by in a blur because I was traveling every single weekend. I met up with my best friends in the desert, made a quick stop in Chicago and Cleveland, and spent a weekend taking pictures of beautiful food in Seattle. It was wonderful and exhausting. As much as I truly enjoyed the experiences of this past month and the lovely faces I was fortunate to see, I'm really looking forward to staying put in San Francisco for a few weeks. I missed Reuben, cooking in my kitchen, making my own matcha lattes, and sleeping in my own bed! I'll be staying put in San Francisco for about 3 more weeks until Reuben and I fly across the country for a little East Coast vacation.

We will be celebrating the marriage of one of my best friends, Jeff, in NYC!!! I love weddings so much! This wedding is going to be extra special too, because I'm in the wedding party with my other best friend, Katie! Gosh, its going to be a great time : ) This brings me back to our little trip to desert. I'm trying incredibly hard to not type dessert throughout this whole blog post btw. For Jeff's bachelor party we all met up for a weekend in Palm Springs/Joshua Tree! The weekend we were there was also the first weekend of Coachella. Hi, Cardi B! Hi, Beyonce! I was a little nervous that Coachella would throw a wrench in our weekend, but it actually really work out for us! Other than the time we were trying to get dinner and Jonny Depp was there with a million other people so we couldn't get in. But otherwise, Coachella caused Palm Springs to be pretty chill. I would go as far as to say that the best time to go to Palm Springs in during Coachella! Less crowded and everyone really likes you when you say you're not in town for Coachella!

We technically stayed in Joshua Tree, in a crazy house with an airstream and a pink fur cladded pool. I thought it was hilarious. The pool was real cold. We were able to last in the pool for a few hours on our pineapple and pretzel floaties until we had to make the journey into Palm Springs to take a dip in the Ace Hotel pool. There were pina colades so it was fine! When we weren't in the pool we were climbing the giant rocks in our backyard, climbing more rocks in Joshua Tree, avoiding a cactus induced injury (my shoe was not lucky), and people watching the colorful and mysterious characters of Palm Springs. What would you imagine a man who looks like Tarzan, in a white linen shirt (unbuttoned obviously), linen pants, UGG boots, and surrounded by other fashionably but oddly dressed men would do for a living? Do you think he enjoys watching the Jersey Shore? I had many questions...

One morning I made us a whole breakfast spread sponsored by Walmart. Just kidding. I wish! I feel like I always have these romanticized dreams of preparing a lovely breakfast in a cute Airbnb, but when you actually try to do that you realize that the knives are dull AF, the dishes are a little weird and mostly made out of plastic, and the pantry is full of questionable things. There was no bread knife!!! I felt like I was on Chopped or Cut Throat Kitchen. Despite the kitchen challenges, I was still able to pull off some pretty decent platter of french toast, bacon, and berries! Not bad if I say so myself!

I'll be spending the next few weekends working on some new recipes for you guys! And a post about the photography workshop I went to in Seattle! So stay tuned!

some of the things we did and saw in Joshua Tree + Palms Springs

our Airbnb with the fur
joshua tree national park
cholla cactus garden
ace hotel & swim club
workshop kitchen + bar
bootleggers tiki

tried to go to pappy + harriet's but Jonny Depp was there...