Palm Springs Getaway at the Avalon Hotel

Before I dive into this post, I have to say how psyched I am about the new blog header up there! ☝️ My partner in business, family, life, and everything, Andrew designed our new Spunky logo (so cutie-patootie). After struggling with where to position the new logo on the blog for at least a week, we took a new photo of me on our patio yesterday, and it was the perfect early evening lighting. The lemon tree is popping as the sun sets behind it, and there are lemons (from the tree!) in the water and on the table with my succulents. I love how fresh the whole design looks. ????

And speaking of my love, it’s our 15-year wedding anniversary. I actually counted wrong and thought it was our 14th, until my mother-in-law, Patti corrected me. Ha! Patti came to visit from New York, and Andrew and I had a getaway in close-by Palm Springs. We stopped at the outlets just before you get to Palm Springs and found Le Crueset. I didn’t buy any more, but it was fun to look at all the pretty displays, like a rainbow of cast iron goodness.

A little further down the road in Palm Springs, we ate lunch at Kings Highway at the Ace Hotel, as recommended by my good friend, Beth of TastyYummies.com.

It should probably be noted here that Palm Springs is mid-centuruy modern heaven. I’d love to go for Modernism Week next year.

It may not be obvious from this photo, but it was a LOT of food. So much so that I was worried I wouldn’t be hungry for our dinner reservations. (Silly mama.) The hashbrowns, avocado, and bacon were very good, but the softly scrambled rose-shaped eggs and perfectly red tomatoes really rocked my world.

The highlight of our anniversary getaway was our stay at Avalon Hotel & Bungalows in Palm Springs. It was so charming. We stayed in bungalow 106, which is such a cool floor plan. Imagine a square room with a cathedral cieling. In each corner of the square imagine a compartment. In one corner is the foyer compartment, opposite the shower compartment, and on the other side are the bathroom, and vanity compartments. The compartments create nooks, like the one you see above, which cuddles the sharp-looking black and white pull-out sofa. Only the bathroom compartment has a door, which keeps the feeling open and spacious. The bed fits perfectly into the nook across from the sofa. To the right of the bed is a mantle with white accessories, a mini fridge and a variety of awesome snacks (the chili lime cashews roasted in coconut oil… I mean come on. what better snack could you ask for?! they were SO good.) To the left of the bed, between the glass mosaic shower and the vanity is another big window and the flatscreen tv.

I really loved this room. I’m going to request it if we go back.

Steps from the bungalow door is a patio table and chairs for two. Are they cute or what?! Perfectly trimmed hedges create walls along many of the pathways and add to the tucked-in cozy feeling of The Avalon.

Sippin drinks poolside 😀 Probably talking about business and the kids. #GrownUpProblems #CantStop

So here’s the problem: My husband keeps getting better and better looking. All the while not aging. We’re both approaching 40 (okay, in 2 years anyway), and he was mistaken for 27 last week. He gets carded. I mean, come on. It’s crazy. This is the outdoor portion of Chi Chi by the way. It’s super comfy. The Palm Springs restaurants, oh my gosh!

Dinner at Chi Chi (the restaurant at The Avalon in Palm Springs) rocked. There was only ONE item on the dinner menu that wasn’t gluten-free. (Always double check, though, if you’re celiac like me. Menus change.) We had chips and guacamole to start. The chips were thick and greasy and divine. The guac was also delish.

For dinner I ordered the chicken, floured with rice flour, and fried in coconut oil. It needed salt (which was on the table, so no problem), but otherwise it was really good. I loved it. It came with a watercress salad and fresh mango. I personally love watercress, so I was a happy camper.

I was tempted to eat breakfast at Chi Chi also. They have things like gluten-free pancakes and paleo granola, but we wanted to walk around town, and we had some restaurant suggestions from friends. So we walked to Cheeky’s for breakfast. We got there not long after they opened and there were a few people waiting ahead of us. When we left the wait must have been half an hour, and it wasn’t even a weekend. I would suggest going early like we did, unless you don’t mind waiting.

The hash at Cheeky’s was mostly meat and veg, which was great, especially since we were also sharing a gluten-free waffle and (unlike my husband) I don’t need carbs on carbs on carbs. There were a just a few potatoes in the hash, and it was topped with poached eggs. We had the gluten-free waffle with more poached eggs and hollandaise, and the Bacon Flight, which is one of each kind of bacon. The rosemary and sugar bacon and the jalapeno bacon were my favorites.

I couldn’t leave without admiring some of the mid-century modern houses with their fabulously xeriscaped dessert-style yards. We googled Elvis’s house and wandered around that neighborhood. It did NOT disappoint. I’ve always been such a fan of this style. I actually left Tyler School of Art for a semester and went to U of A to study architecture and landscape architecture (which was not available at Tyler when I was a student). But I was REALLY sick (I didn’t know I was celiac yet), and ended up going back to Tyler, closer to home.

Can’t wait to go back to Palm Springs.

♥, Kelly