As retribution for making him go to Ensenada-- Grant decided as punishment to take me to a place that I loathe Palm Springs. For those that do not know, we use to live there when we first moved to California. It was a brief pit stop before we moved to San Diego, but a memorable one. So our weekend revolved around getting there, but first, we had to get through our Friday commitments.
Friday started with Grant and I having separate holiday parties. Grant’s was held at the DoubleTree in Mission Valley and mine was held at the SDSU bowling alley. I can’t speak for Grant, but mine was not that memorable besides an embarrassing attempt at comedy I submitted for the annual video. Neither party was the party we were looking forward too— that was Diana’s birthday party.
Upon entering Diana’s party we were welcomed with a nice glass of rosé. We said our hellos to everyone we knew and began noshing on all the yummy appetizers going around. Somehow we migrated to the tequila station where Grant and Lara began pounding a few tequila shots back like it was Kool-Aide. This liquid courage was all they needed when the karaoke station was announced as being opened. As evidenced by the videos, Grant and I both seem to have been sufficiently encouraged to belt our heart out. The party was wonderful and after pigging out on tacos and dessert, we were off to the next party.
This liquid courage was all they needed when the karaoke station was announced as being opened. As evidenced by the videos, Grant and I both seem to have been sufficiently encouraged to belt our heart out. The party was wonderful and after pigging out on tacos and dessert, we were off to the next party.
Our friend Kelsey was having a Christmas/Haunakahh/Whatever party to celebrate the season. The most important thing to me was that we made it in time to score the last potato latke. I get those once a year and did not want to miss it. “Fun” Grant was out in full effect and it didn’t take long to realize we needed to just make an appearance and then leave.
The next morning we got up and started the pilgrimage to Pammmm Springs (Thanks Mark for making sure this city will always be called that). Our first stop was in Temecula to eat with Holly. It would be an unusual occurrence to go more than 7 days without going to California Pizza Kitchen so we corrected that by eating there for lunch. After eating way too many desserts, which only Holly has an excuse to eat, we continued our journey to the city in the desert that LA forgot.
After what seemed like forever (1.5 hours) we arrived and checked in to our hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Palm Springs, which didn’t have a great view, but did have a great pool and was right next to a casino. After piddling around the room for a while we met up with our friends Louis, Casey, and Nick. In creating this blog I realized I have no evidence of this meet up except a picture of Nick and Casey with the proprietor of the restaurant. Nick had some extended relationship with her so we ended up getting free drinks so there was a reason we put up with him.
I love beef stroganoff for some reason and this place had it! So I was happy!
Our friend Kelsey was having a Christmas/Haunakahh/Whatever party to celebrate the season. The most important thing to me was that we made it in time to score the last potato latke. I get those once a year and did not want to miss it. “Fun” Grant was out in full effect and it didn’t take long to realize we needed to just make an appearance and then leave.
We unsuccessfully convinced Casey and Nick to come to the Baloney show that Grant used as the justification for coming to Palm Springs. Baloney is an all-male comedy troop from San Francisco that tries to push the envelope using sex. I have now seen it at least twice and I can honestly say there are acts that are funny and others that bomb. Louis was a great sport and came with us (i.e. saved me from being alone) and even got to participate in the show. He will have that “smell” saved in his memory for a long time I am sure. After the show, we went to the casino where we all quickly lost our money and I turned in. Grant and Louis went out for drinks and came in later that evening.
The next morning was my mom’s birthday and I wished her a happy birthday in the bathroom, while Grant slept. He came in and I went into the bedroom. When he was finished I attempted to go back into the bathroom and decided that I would just bid my mom adieu instead of dealing with that aftermath. Yikes. We both slowly got up and met Louis at the pool for a quick dip before we headed back to home—San Diego.
While I refuse to say to Grant that I Love Palm Springs…I will say that my utter disdain and hatred for this city is dwindling. So that’s an improvement!