Somewhere between college and now, my best friends have sprinkled themselves across the country. We all got older, each moved to a different state, and don't get to see each other nearly enough for my liking. We get to see each other about once a year if that, but when it does happen it's amazing. We revert to our 20 year old selves, or in some cases our 15 year old selves. Things pick right back up where we left off and it feeds my soul in the best way possible. Last weekend I headed to Arizona to see my friend Teresa, a friend from college who from the moment we had the same class together we became inseparable. A girl's weekend in Arizona was totally necessary for both of us.
We hiked gorgeous routes Saturday and Sunday, got pedicures, laid by the pool, ate Italian food and cooked some serious meals for her to freeze.
It was a quick trip and neither of us were ready for it to end, but I'll take what I can get! I'm already ready to go back and it's only been two days.
We started out Friday by shopping (of course) and then ended the day with chips and guacamole, a margarita for me, water with lemon for her, and then grabbed yogurt on the way home, because I'll use any excuse to get yogurt. Excuses like my friend is pregnant and she NEEDS me to eat yogurt with her.
The next morning we woke up early to hit the trails for our first hike at Pinnacle Peak. The temperatures are about 110 degrees during the day, so we knew we wanted to get there before eight. The hike had amazing views, and was the perfect way to start off the day. After making our way back down the trail, we grabbed some breakfast and coffee and then headed to get pedicures for a little relaxation.
And we stayed in relaxation mode by heading to the pool and floating all afternoon. I mean what else do you do when it's 110 outside? We floated and caught up on life for the rest of the day in the middle of the pool. That night, we headed to the cutest little Italian restaurant called Giuseppe's where an Italian man and his two sons own the place and are there every night. You bring your own wine, get your fill of pasta and people are just happy to be there.
We started with a smoked provolone Italian salad, bread with garlic butter, and I of course opted for spaghetti with a meatball, because y'all know I can't resist that meal especially if it's made with homemade pasta! It was divine! We left bellies full and smiles on our faces.
Sunday morning our last day, we woke up and went to hike on another trail to work off our pasta intake from the night before. After the hike, we headed to the grocery store to get our ingredients for our day of cooking that we had ahead of us. I made fifty meatballs with homemade marinara sauce, pulled pork, white chicken chili, homemade granola, smoothies for breakfast, my caprese mac n' cheese (which will be on the blog Friday), and I cooked flank steak stuffed potatoes for dinner that night. I wanted to fill her freezer with easy meals that could be prepared for her and her husband in about fifteen minutes after she gets home from work. All pregnant women need a little help after a long day at work, right?
After hiking, we cooked...all day. And I am going to apologize for not getting pictures of everything we cooked, but there was so much to do that snapping pics didn't happen. But you an see by the counter (and that's only half of the counter) that we had a lot to prepare!
The trip came to an end with a five a.m. flight the next morning, which was way too early and I was back in Louisiana by noon on Monday.
Good girlfriends are hard to find, and even if they are spread across the United States, sometimes you just need a girl's weekend even if you both have to travel. It's worth every penny.
