“Friends are the family we choose for ourselves”

In January, I was fortunate enough to spend the 3 day weekend with 4 of my best friends. I've known these lovely ladies for over 20 years and even though we are now in California, Illinois, Michigan and Texas, we always pick up right where we left off whenever we get together. We've decided to start planning an annual Girls Weekend each year to continue to stay close!

We rented a 3 bedroom condo in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the first of our Girls' Weekend. It was the perfect gathering place for all of us. Here we are using our camera timers to get some great shots before exploring the town our first day.

At the plaza in downtown Santa Fe

Lunch time at Blue Corn Cafe, this great Mexican Microbrewery in the Plaza. We polished off some tasty drinks and Queso & Chips! Yummy! Next off to the Spa for some relaxation.

Don't we look relaxed?! And check out that view. We were 9,000 feet high at the Ten Thousand Waves Spa, where we enjoyed the outdoor hot tubs and sauna. It was so peaceful and beautiful, we were probably a little too loud and energetic than most guests but we tried to behave. Next trip, a day at the spa with massages & more pampering is in order.

Ready for a night out, we decided to get all dressed up and check out the local piano bar!

Tara really took one for the team at the piano bar getting singled out to play back up so when she was given the opportunity to call up a friend to help, I tried to add my musical 2 cents and have some fun. Later Becky got up there and put us all to shame with her solo in "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles!

Too much fun!

Day 2 took us to The Ore House for lunch, yummy tortilla soup! Visiting San Miguel Mission, the site of the oldest church ~ unfortunately it was closed when we arrived after our manicure/pedicure session.

This was the most interesting manicure/pedicure experience that any of us have ever had. The place was kind of shady but one of the only places open on Sunday. We probably could have done a better job on our nails if we had bought polish and done it ourselves. But it kept us laughing all night long about the whole thing!

Needing some fresh air and exercise for all the junk food we were eating all weekend; Tara, Sara and I headed around the neighborhood for a brisk walk. The weather ended up being too warm for skiing or snow shoe activities that we originally had planned.

We even came across a labyrinth at a local church which was very fitting, it's a path to take and reflect on all your blessings and things you are grateful for and we all were definitely thankful for this weekend and can't wait to do it again next year!