mini vacay

I just spent a long weekend with my dear friend hailey. we met up for girl's weekend in phoenix. her last hurrah before her second baby comes. thanks to derek for watching vivien while we lunched and shopped and ate our way through one of our favorite cities.

our first stop, aunt chilada's. our all time favorite mexican restaurant. it was a little too chilly to sit outside on their fabulous patio but we made do inside with our flour tortilla chips, spicy salsa, and chingalingas. it was so good, we had to go back later in the weekend for another meal. heaven.

isn't the backdrop to the photo classy?

we stayed at a fabulous condo owned by a friend of hailey's. it was in scottsdale, near kierland commons. while it wasn't in an area well known by us, it was close to most of the major freeways. plus the condo was awesome! it had double masters which meant we had our own rooms and bathrooms. a big thank you to patti for her generosity!

we started our first full day out right, getting beautiful. we stopped in for a mani/pedi before starting our marathon shopping.

meet my new friend kosy.

then we hit hailey's favorite store. the proprietor used to have a booth at an antique mall frequented often by us (more on that later). since we've both moved away from phoenix, she moved out of the mall and opened her own store. the shabby look is so up hailey's alley...she was successful in finding some pieces for vivien's room.

not too shabby

inside shot

we spent the afternoon at the movies seeing bride wars (totally enjoyed it!) and four christmases (pretty funny in parts) and ended up at another favorite restaurant, my big fat greek restaurant. we dined on flaming cheese, spicy hummus and the best gyro pitas I've ever tasted. we were talked into dessert and it didn't disappoint. warm greek donuts topped with vanilla bean ice cream and honey.

the tzatziki sauce at this place is to die for. I've never found it as good anywhere else.

saturday was dedicated to the mother ship...

merchant square antique marketplace.

the best antique mall with the best prices and the best wares. don't get me wrong, I don't love all the booths there but I can find at least something I like in 85% of them! my prize purchase was a gift for my sister's birthday. sshhh, I can't tell you.

hailey and her box of treasures

I was needing to take a rest at this point. aren't these things fabulous?

quick trip by tokyo house to share our favorite orange chicken bowl and crab puffs after another movie showing,
this time bedtime stories (WAY cuter than I thought).

sunday morning was spent with my cousin justin eating a delicous breakfast at mimi's cafe and then I met up with my friend saundra and her husband for an afternoon of prosecco, pasta and prattle. this is where hailey and I split ways. she went with her friend karen and then took off for home. saundra and jeff were nice enough to do airport drop-off duty.

saundra and I worked together at NAI horizon while I lived in phoenix.

and just as quickly as it began, it was over. our time was wonderful and I am missing my friend already. thank you, hailey. for a wonderful weekend, for being a good friend, and for sharing my love of food, movies and shopping!

best buds.

love you.