Fakesgiving

Marla and the family prepped their house to host the first ever Fakesgiving.  

It didn't feel like Fakesgiving, as multiple people commented on, it felt like the real deal.

Fakesgiving was a result of Marla and I loving Thanksgiving and cooking Thanksgiving food, but me having a due date so close to Thanksgiving.

Eric and I enjoyed driving to Temecula with no traffic... a definite plus to Fakesgiving.

The girls even decorated gingerbread houses, with perfectly good Halloween candy.  Nerds, snickers, Sunkist fruit gems... everyone found favorite candy to stare at in disbelieve that it was sacrificed... 

Everyone loves Katniss!

Elle helped A LOT this year.

Eric's family was more than happy to celebrate the holiday with us.

Mmmmmalbec.

Thanksgiving, fakesgiving, schmakesgiving... it will always be my favorite holiday.

There is nothing better than Thanksgiving food and spending time with loved ones.

Here are some other things that we are all grateful for.

The party lasted ten hours!

Everyone was having too much fun to leave.

Palm Springs Birthday

The day is starting off well!

Happy official birthday, Eric!

We started at our favorite diner, Elmers.

Then we headed to the pool for lounging.

In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have eaten that entire German pancake...

The pool was the perfect temperature.

Before heading home we walked around downtown.

We have never even noticed Ruddy's General Store before, so we decided to spend the $1 entree fee and check it out.

Ruddy's is not a store but a museum.  

James Ruddy donated his collected of general store items to the city of Palm Springs in the 80s.

Almost every box and bottle has never been opened.

The man was quite the collector.  It took him over 35 years to acquire over 6,000 items.

Elvis and the Frank Sinatra have stars in downtown, and happened to patrons at our hotel, Caliente Tropics.

We couldn't leave without getting another ice scream at Kreem!

Eric had a scoop of blood clot (raspberry and strawberry) and Witch's Brew (vanilla ice cream with everything in it).

It was just a good as yesterday!

I managed to obtain the last scoop of apple cinnamon pie...

Now we know how it feels...

All of Eric's birthdays since we have been together have involved taking a trip somewhere.  

This is the closest to home we have ever been, but a MINI vacation is better than NO vacation!

On our way home we met up with Eric's family for delicious Chinese food.  

Birthday weekends are way better than birthdays.

Pioneertown, Joshua Tree and Palm Springs

For Eric's birthday weekend we headed to the desert, starting in Pioneertown.

Pioneertown is just a few miles west of Joshua Tree.  It has been there since 1946, when a bunch of Hollywood investors like Roy Rogers built a movie set that was "worth visiting".  

Over 50 movies and shows were filmed here in the 40s and 50s.

The shops in Pioneertown are really neat; they have a saddlery, pottery, art... all made in house.

They also have a super yummy restaurant, Pappy and Harriets, which is reservation-only many evenings, especially when they have live music.  

The next stop is Joshua Tree National Park.

There is something so unique about Joshua Trees, maybe because they only grow in the Mohave Desert... that is pretty specific.

Joshua Tree National Park is gorgeous. 

In Palm Springs we found a new favorite business, Kreem.  

All of their ice cream is made fresh, and their flavors are always changing. 

It is amazing.

I scream for Kreem.

Traveling around Halloween is always fun.

For Eric's pre-birthday dinner we went to Flemmings, and Eric was instructed (by yours truly) to order the tomahawk steak.  He has been talking about tomahawk steaks for over a year now, maybe two.  What better time to indulge than a birthday?

He says he cannot remember eating a better steak than this one.

♫Happy birthday to you!♫

❤️

We love Palm Springs.  

It is an insta-vacation.