 Now this staycation was BY FAR the one I was most excited for!! Sedona is just one of mother nature's most beautiful gifts to us! You want to know the best part? It is really only an hour and a half drive away. After I visit, I always ask myself why I don't visit more often. It is just so unique and relaxing......it must be all those vortexes that make you feel so earthy haha. I decided my mom and I needed a little relaxing getaway together, so we went to visit The Kimpton Amara last Wednesday. When we got there it was storming pretty bad! We had planned on going on a hike, but that kind of put a damper on those plans! I had a massaged scheduled at the spa- which was SO needed. I have like the worst back ever and after Colleen and I's road trip to Canada I was like in tears from how much my back was hurting! I love love massages, but never get them. The spa there is a REAL spa experience. You get robes, and sandals, and a steam room, snacks, etc. They even have all the necessities for after your massage - brushes, hair tools, hair sprays, shampoos, lotions, basically everything! I was relaxed way before I even got to my massage. Mine was an hour long, and felt wonderful. When I got back to the room, my mom was ready to roll and go out and explore Sedona. My two favorite parts about staying at The Kimpton Amara was that you get both experiences of Sedona- the nature, as well as the city experience. Behind the hotel is the prettiest creek that you can go on an easy, but beautiful nature walk, and right up the hill is the downtown area. We ate dinner along the creek, and then went up to the downtown to walk around all the shops. I LOVE looking at all the Native American jewelry. The turquoise designs are as pretty as it gets! My mom always makes sure to get her vinegar and oils at one of the shops there, they all have unique flavors and are made locally. After walking around the shops, we (I mean I) got a cookie and ice cream for dessert and then went back to the hotel to hang out in the hot tub! If my mom and I drank we totally would have went to the lobby for their complimentary wine hour, but neither of us do! The hotel is also really dog friendly and had the cutest sign with treats welcoming all the dogs staying. They also had a free yoga class you could sign up at, and you could rent bikes! Anything you can think of that you need for a perfect night's stay, they thought of first. The lobby is decorated SO cute and the views of the pool were unreal - you can see in the slideshow below. Like an infinity pool with the views of the red mountains behind you? It doesn't get much prettier! Also, I might have went a little overboard with all my different outfit pictures. Whoops! I was only there for a day and a half! But I couldn't help it, the views were perfect and made for perfect content to post haha. Especially at the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. If you follow me on social media, then you know I have an obsession with spanish style decor - give me ALL the pretty tiles. So I was in heaven at Tlaquepaque! Every corner is picture worthy! It is also only about a 5 minute drive from the hotel. So yes, sorry about the overboard of Sedona pics haha. My mom and I were going to go on a hike before we left back to Phoenix, but her contacts gave her a headache, so we just headed out after we finished exploring! Honestly, I don't know if I could give higher reviews to a hotel. I loved the location, the views, the accessibility, how friendly everyone was, the decor, coziness, the spa, pretty much everything! They even offered free shuttles to the shops, but that's for the lazies haha, we enjoyed our little 5 minute exercise walking up the hill. If you ever plan a staycation in Sedona, then I highly recommend staying at The Kimpton Amara! As you can tell from all my photos, I loved it and definitely plan on staying again sometime! Now who's coming with me on my next trip to Sedona!? P.S. Order the waffles for breakfast. Yummmmm. 
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 Sometimes you just need a girls weekend with your sisters! We wanted to have a relaxing, fun day, and then dance all night. For those of you who don't know, I have one brother - he lives in Hawaii and is one year older than me, and I have two older sisters, Mary Kate - she is 3 1/2 years older, and Colleen is 2 years older. And we are CLOSE. All my sibs are my best friends in the whole world, so every time I want to go on an adventure or try new restaurants, or explore around AZ, then it is more than likely it is with one of them! But all us girls had two free days, so we decided to do a staycation in downtown Phoenix. I love Copper Blues, and all the restaurants at Cityscape, so when the Kimpton Palomar reached out to do a staycation, it was perfect! The Kimpton Palomar is located right in Cityscape and is walking distance from all the fun places downtown - the Suns and D-Backs games, great restaurants, Valley Bar, and even The Duce is only like a three minute uber away. Don't ask me how, but somehow we also ended up in Scottsdale to dance and that was only a 15 minute uber! So basically what I am trying to say, is that if you are looking for a hotel with a central location, then look no farther! haha. When we got there, everyone who helped us was sooo kind! We went up to our room and almost immediately headed out to the pool. They have a fun rooftop pool, with a dj, a bar and even cabanas! We ordered food from the rooftop dining Lustre, hung out under the cabana for a bit and enjoyed the views of downtown Phoenix all around us. After that we headed back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. The rooms are super spacious, especially the bathrooms. I also loved how they left you a yoga mat and umbrella in the closet, it's the little things that matter haha. We walked over to copper blues for dinner, listened to some really good live music and ate dinner. (Sidenote: Copper Blues was where I found the band Notes from Neptune to play at my What Matters Fashion Show.) Colleen and I were still a little full from the snacks we ordered at the pool, so we just split the club sandwich. It was HUGE aaaand really good. I would probably split that with her even if I was starving! Then we decided to go out to Old Town Scottsdale to dance, and let me just say that AZ summers are not the best time to dance, it's so hot haha and being surrounded by tons of people doesn't help, but it was still lots of fun! The next morning we got up early to make it to church in time, but as we were waiting for our car from Valet, they came up and let me know that someone had just backed into my car in the parking garage. Bummer. But it's just a possession, and everything can be fixed! The valet guys were awesome, and so was the manager! They handled it perfectly. Since we couldn't make it to church in time, they were really sweet and gave us vouchers to go eat breakfast at The Breakfast Club. You know when a restaurant isn't very big, but it is PACKED? That's when you know you found a good spot. That was the case at The Breakfast Club. I'm a big breakfast girl, like I love breakfast. By far my favorite meal of the day! There was tons of healthy options as well. Aside from my car, it was a perfect weekend with my sisters! We enjoyed staying at the Hotel Palomar, dancing the night away, and working on our tans at the pool. *If you want to book a stay there you can use the code "INFLUENCER" to receive 25% off the best flexible rate and receive complimentary valet parking Highlights:
  This post is sponsored by Tempe Tourism. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!* One of my favorites things about blogging has been being able to experience more of Arizona. I know I have included it in my about me page, but for those of you who don't know, I was born and raised in Surprise, Arizona. Do you know what is in Surprise? A spring training facility and a lot of golf courses - not much else. There are no fun, cute restaurants, (although we did just get an In-N-Out burger!) But places to hang out if you don't have kids or are retired? NOPE, forget it. So, I am super used to driving 30-45 minutes away to do anything and everything. Now Tempe on the other hand? My older sister, Colleen, and I spent the weekend at AC Hotel by Marriott Phoenix Tempe/ Downtown, and were able to do so many (close) activities! We were even able to walk pretty much everywhere. AC Hotel is right off of Rio Salado and Mill Ave. It is right on Tempe Town Lake, and a 5 minute drive to both Tempe Marketplace and the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix Zoo, and Papago Park, etc. The hotel itself is super cute. I actually did a little video tour of our room that I'll post the link to! If it would have had a kitchen, I would have asked what their monthly rate was haha. it would have been like a perfect little apartment! I teamed up with Tempe Tourism, and they recommended so many activities + restaurants to try out! BUT we had this scheduled two days after we got home from our two week long road trip up to canada. So i'm going to be honest when I say that after check-in, I took a wonderful THREE hour nap haha. And yes, the bed was actually surprisingly comfortable, and not just for a hotel, like it was actually comparable to my bed at home! I was super refreshed when I woke up, and Colleen and I decided to catch a Matinee movie at the old vintage movie theater on Mill Ave, and then we followed that with a sunset paddleboard ride on Tempe Town Lake- which by the way, you can also rent a kayak, pedal boat, pontoon boat, segway, bikes, surrey bikes, etc at the Tempe Boat Rentals. and they are all affordable. We are old and boring now, but back in the day you would have totally caught me going out dancing at the bars on a Friday night. Everyone looks like babies to me now, even though it feels like yesterday when I was newly 21 and going out dancing all the time! Instead, we bought some colorful nail polish at Urban Outfitters, got some pitas at Pita Pit, and then finished our night off with some Baked Bear ice cream. P.S. Colleen constantly asks if I have anything going on in Tempe so she can go with just to get Baked Bear. As for day two, we lucked out because there is a Mountainside Fitness right next to AC hotels! So we slept in, got some avocado toast down in the lobby, then walked next door to do the hardest workout ever! For those of you who don't know, Colleen plays professional basketball over in Australia, so when she is home she trains for her season and makes me do her workouts with her....ughhhh. I do have to say, they are HARD but the best. After that, we headed over to One Stop Nutrition to get protein shakes, then back to the hotel and went to check out the pool. We had initially wanted to just stay a little bit in the pool so we could go paddle boarding again, buttttt that didn't work out, We stayed in the pool for HOURS talking to this sweet family. It is a rooftop pool, with pretty views of the mountains, Mill Ave, and the ASU football stadium. I think one of my favorite things about the AC Hotel is that it wasn't oversized, so it wasn't crowded. For a good while, we were the only ones up there. After basically becoming prunes, we went and showered and got ready to go eat at Postinos Annex. If you are a wine drinker, I highly recommend it. I personally don't drink, but I enjoyed my food! We started with some bruschetta appetizers, and then Colleen and I ordered different things and then split them and half. I don't even like soup but I HIGHLY recommend the green chile soup! Again, we definitely did not go out, but went back to the hotel and watched Tremors haha. I am proud of myself because I woke up EARLY on Sunday morning to attend a hot yoga class at ONE TRIBE Yoga & Wellness! I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my entire life. Let me just add that I am the least flexible person in the world, so the entire class was a struggle for me, Everyone around me was doing handstands and all kinds of crazy flexible, strong things. I think the instructor felt bad for me because I was a little lost and he came over and was helping guide me haha. I will say that I felt incredibly welcomed, not just by Jason and his sweet wife, but also by all of the other people in our class. This is a little cliche, but their name is ONE TRIBE Yoga & Wellness and they really do make you feel like that! After that we grabbed some lunch at Tempe Marketplace, went back to the hotel and shower, said goodbye to our awesome room, and then headed to church and back to boring Surprise! I could only squeeze so much into two and a half days, but there are SO many things to check out in Tempe. They have plenty of museums, an aquarium, tons of restaurants, concerts, shows, different workout classes, hikes, shopping, nightlife etc. If you need more guidance beyond this post head over to Tempe Tourism! They have plenty of recommendations for places to stay and eat, and all the different activities!  |
