Santa Fe

Ahh girls trips.

So good and so hilarious. There is something about being with your chosen family that makes you feel so good and can smooth over the some of the hangry, irritating moments.

Not that there were a lot of those, thankfully.

Just, you know, a few. 😉

So grateful for my besties.

I’m sitting on the balcony on the last day amusing myself. The sun came out and it is SO dang bright and I’m starting to cook in the bathrobe that I found in the closet.

To be clear, the rest of this post was made weeks later – haha.

Life.

The back and forth in the weeks before girls trip. “Why did we only book two days?” “Let’s stay another night” “I don’t want to stay another night”, and on and on and on.

The good thing about us is that – for the most part – we are pretty easy-going.

Mimosas – so easily downed after I said no drinking in the morning. But I was with my bestie. We slept at her brothers and the plane ride was so nice with just her.

And nope, I had MORE champagne after we actually arrived! We needed snacks after we arrived at the spa, we were hangry.

Nicole and Angie came together from Florida and rented the car. Ang and I were SO early that we actually had time to take the shuttle to them before they even got in the car. We jumped in the car, got the music going and headed over to Ojo Caliente!

It was what I was expecting but it wasn’t as awesome as I hoped. Maybe it would have been different if we were staying there, or had more time to wander. With a group it’s always sort of going with the flow.

I don’t know if I would go back to this spa specifically. I feel like I’m too obsessed with the Hürlimannbad in Zurich and nothing can compare now.

But it was lovely. A little cold but lovely.

I would go back and list out all the different waters in the pools but I’m bored. Soda water… lime water? That’s wrong.

Either way, we tested them all out and got out 5 or 10 minutes later. The water itself was deliciously warm even if was cold outside. There was a mud bath but it wasn’t like the one at Glen Ivy, which I prefer. But it was cool. Literally, it was not hot enough to sit on a slab with mud on me.

I gave up and went in the jacuzzi first. They joined me and then we decided to go. We wanted to go check into our cute VRBO.

We chased the sunset and didn’t get home so we had to take photos from the car.

Literally taking photos. So meta. Ang had a good time laughing at us.

Our VRBO was SO CUTE! I picked GOOD! Super Santa Fe vibes. Ang found live music so we got dressed (I was already dressed!) and went to La Reina bar in the El Rey court. Of a Feather (girls band – or two girls?) was playing and they were delightful. There was a food truck with tacos and french fries and I had french fries. They were delicious.

We had some random conversations with musicians outside while we ate and drank. Then wandered in to listen to the band a bit more.

Had a photo shoot.

The video compilation I did at the end is fun on this night. Our Uber driver home was quite odd but we are still alive so all good.

The next morning I went for a jog/walk at sunrise and checked out the Cross of the Martyrs which was right next to our house. It was good for me to get out.

The decision was made for breakfast by Ang, who heard magical things about blue corn tortillas at Tia Sophias. The vibe was so fun! Great little dive restaurant that was PACKED

We then proceeded to explore.

He was a cutie.

We went to Georgia O’Keefe’s museum. This was one of my favorite photos. So beautiful.

Nicole told us later in the day she got kicked out. I think for getting on her phone? hahaha. I love that she tells us much later. We were wondering why she was outside. She was having drama at home.

We then walked through the square, window shopped, visited some churches.

Prayed.

Kind of.

They were laughing at me because I went to sit down in the one bench that had light on it. Which… I sat down exactly for that reason! It was giving me little halo lights and it felt peaceful. So they all slowly joined me and then we started joking… So impressive Ang was able to make this photo look like she had her hands together. We were all cracking up.

Actually I DID sort of pray, I wanted to light a candle for Sammie.

I felt peaceful there too.

This was like the… 3rd church we went to. Ang was on a mission to see all of them.

My running joke that day was that I needed $20k to come back. Except my price tag kept going up. There was the $900 cashmere burnt orange sweater that I wanted. The $6,000 lapis ring. Then I saw a gorgeous $12,000 piece of art.

I think I went up to $70k. haha

I would totally take this jack rabbit. Bless the amazing lady who directed 10 photos and told us exactly how to stand and where to look.

The art district was hilarious. This old man followed Ang and N around his shop and tried to sing opera at them.

I can’t resist a bed of flowers. Not what I imagined but still made me laugh.

Got all dressy for dinner and went back to the Cross of Martyrs for sunset!

It was not the sunset from the day before but a little tweaking of colors on the iPhone and we were able to make it look good.

Love my bestie girls.

We decided to walk down the cross because dinner was technically about a mile away.

As we were walking, we saw a restaurant that Nicole wanted to check out – Joe’s Tequila Bar!

Loved the outdoor vibe. The lights, the ambiance, the company.

After a quick drink, we headed over to the Pink Adobe – Nicole’s pick. SUCH a nice place! We had so much fun.

Drunk Kristi always makes me laugh. She’s so much cuddlier and nicer than normal Kristi.

I guess I liked the horses?

We went back home and proceeded to talk, laugh, and cry in the living room. We started to write down words that no longer served us. I think I wrote down at least 3 pages from all of us?

Excuses. Procrastination. Emotional Pain. Expected outcomes. CHERISHED outcomes. Codependent outcomes! Emotional vampires. Bad habits. OLD habits.

We burned what no longer served us. Twice.

Literally maybe four or five times, the fire kept going out.

We all pulled tarot cards. I pulled Alchemy and it came out in reverse. I’m rushing the process and lost sight of my spiritual goal. Or something.

Anyway.

I think I took a Tylenol PM and snuggled in for the night.

Because the next morning we were going hiking!

We should have combined Caliente with Bandelier National Park but no matter, we enjoyed the drive.

That’s a lie. Ang and I have silently (to each other?) vowed to make the rental car next time so we had driving rights and Nicole did not.

This park was so enjoyable! The cliffs, the limestone (? maybe?) I dunno.

I was lightly complaining that we had to walk on an actual PATH but when we went back, we were on dirt so that made me happy. It’s not a hike if it’s on a path!

These were soooo cool.

I envision this blown up VERY big where you can actually see us but it still makes me happy looking at it small.

Hi!

I had my tripod and I was ready! I love this photo so much!

Nicole was SOOOO over my taking photos. She actually snapped and was like, no more.

Ang and I smirked. Just a bit.

The end of the hike had an AMAZING gourmet Indian restaurant. The dude was amazing. We actually didn’t get food but everything coming out of the kitchen looked so good and other people were raving about it. We want to go back just for this restaurant. It was called Sirphey! The outdoor area was perfect.

We did have drinks which was also fun. The gift shop was fun and we all got Christmas ornaments.

So as we were almost back to home; Nicole said “I want to go to Meow Wolf and spend 45m and I can drop anyone off who doesn’t want to go.”

Which sparked… something. But either way I volunteered to go immediately because I knew she had been wanting to go and then everyone joined in. Except we were silently (not so silently? hahah) wishing she would have planned better because we would have brought clothes, took a different way home… Ahh, we are control freaks.

But I got to take more silly pictures of me tucked away in weird chairs!

What a hoot.

We amused ourselves in all the things. I really wanted to follow the directions and go exactly where we were supposed to go and I got made fun of but whatever.

Would you like a tea party?

I do not know what this is but I had fun riding it…

Anyway. So many fun photos.

We went home and got in our comfy/pretty outfits and ran over to Martyrs again! Ahh, it wasn’t the first night sunset but it was the 2nd best. So gorgeous.

Another bestie sunset in the books.

This was another of Nicole’s picks. Radish and Rye. The wine was lovely. Our server was amusing and sweet. The music soundtrack was amazing. Ang was… intimately acquainted with their music, LOL. I did write them down – Teskey Brothers. I still haven’t listened to them. I need to.

Another chapter in our lives story.

“I love having Champagne and truffle fries with you”

My video montage memories…

From Ang “Somewhere in between… face masks, burning what no longer serves us, 1000 sky photos, and belly laughs that seemed to never stop. Santa Fe, you gave us art, history, flavor, and soul. Until next time.

From Angie, “Love these girls and I wouldn’t be where I am today without their encouragement & friendship. We laugh, cry, plan, deliberate, & lift each other up. We grow together & see the beauty in our change. And we burn what no longer serves in the fire. Twice.”

I could tell more stories but the Margarita Trail will have to be for another day.

So grateful to live life with them.