Arizona Girls Trip ♥

Monday

Fact: Danielle is just a wee bit crazy in ♥ with her am java/tea…

So in preparation for my upcoming “work-cation” in AZ I appropriately texted my lil sis…

Me: “important question: do you have a teapot?”

Sis: “nnnooo”

Me: “a kettle?”

Sis: “I have a coffeemaker; all you need for tea is hot water”

Me: “but it doesn’t get hot enough L” (I did forewarn you… “crazy in ♥” remember)

Me: “no worries, I’ll live”

Me: “but by the way, I think your baby will need one”

Sis: “boil it on the stove dork… DIY! ... lol

Me: “hahahaha, good one sis J”

Tuesday

aloha Phx ♥ ♥ ♥

so excited to soak every ounce of precious time with my BFFs…

and for a week of all things girl…

case and point: within the hour of snatching my bags off the plane, sis and I have plopped ourselves poolside,

a pair of chilly ice-teas in hand…

enjoying the glaringly hot sun;

seeing as summer has just begun, it feels simply delightful to soak up those warm, bronzey rays…

while the serene sound of water lightly pattering into the pool plays second fiddle to the noise of our unceasing chatter;

you know how it is with your favorite girlies: never a pause in our ramblings…

& the funness (yes, it’s a rule that I’m allowed to make up words here) of having a shopping buddy; one that actually likes shopping (no offense Matt)…

someone to help you sort through the best lil trinkets…

and fluffy pillows…

and vintagey sea-inspired things…

and ruffley curtains…

and objects made of shells…

♥ ♥ ♥ funness J

Wednesday

today the trifecta of the three musketeers is complete,

MOM’s flip-flops officially landed in AZ!!!

adding sparkles and glitter to our journey of all things girl…

with things like fancy Oregano’s salads… and chick-flicks…

& endless couch units around the CANDY dish (where you get unlimited scoops)…

even our heavy eyelids couldn’t persuade us to bed before 1AM…

I must have told mom THREE times that she “just HAD to let me go to bed…”

have some tides changed or what? lol!

Thursday

an exciting, momentous, beautiful day!!!

we drove to the doctor in eager anticipation…

each placing our bets…

boy???... girl???

squinting our eyes at the blue and white images flashing over a black screen…

listening intently to the beautiful sound of a strong heartbeat…

final guesses everyone…

the moment is here…

on the left corner of the screen white letters pop up one at a time…

G-I-R-L…

followed by lots of oohing and ahhing…

and congratulations...

and BIG smiles…

and a gallon of PINK paint…

4 hours and 2 coats later our newly painted pink slate is ready for tomorrows frills…

and ruffles…

and wallpaper…

Friday

yes, I did say wallpaper…

but first we filled our morning with yummy java…

and anthropology browsing…

and turquoise trinkets…

and billowy curtains…

and flowery linen…

and wallpaper hunting…

which drove us in search of more coffee…

which gave us enough courage to actually wallpaper…

our “team” effort and self-defined roles consisted of:

sis as the “submerger;”

me as the “edger/cutter;”

& mom as the “hanger, smusher, applicator, bubble-getter, & smoother…”

making her our shining MVP…

and the reason that purdy pink damask wallpaper succeeded in bringing another punchy pop of girl to our new favorite place for all things girl…

Saturday

Can I tell you about my mom?

My godly, terrific, wonderful, beautiful, fun, sweet, loving, creative, brilliant mother?

Ok…we would be here forever…

So allow me to give you one quick snapshot of the incredible faith and passionate prayer life of my mom—one insight into the many beautiful faucets of her incredible character…

In high school I was a mess; desperately lost and miserable in my sin. My heart was as brittle and hard as ice… I will spare you more of the ugly details, but I will never forget one morning where a mother’s love chipped away, even if for just a moment, cracked and melted the walls around my steely heart…

Now for a lil background in one long run-on sentence: I was 15 and had no license, but decided to steal my parents car in the middle of the night to go somewhere I shouldn’t have; then was driving home and found myself pulled over because I forgot to turn my headlights on… cops called my parents… parents came and got me…I figured I was already in so much trouble that I should fess up to the multitude of other heinous things I’d been up too… we were up all night… and because my parents didn’t trust me enough to sleep in my own bed I was forced to crash on their floor…

I remember after getting a couple hours of sleep my dad told me to get up because there was something he wanted to show me; down the stairs we went, through the kitchen and he pointed through the sliding glass doors to the patio…

There my mom sat; facing the rising sun, her arms hugged tightly around her knees, tear streaming from her cheeks… it was abundantly clear that she was pouring out her heart to the Savior.

My dad just looked at me and said: “Danielle, I want you to know she is praying for you.”

Why this interlude in the documentation of my recent Arizona trip?

Because my mom and I became best friends!!!!

The next year I was involved in a life-threatening car accident; injured and immobile for so long that just walking down the street was an immense amount of work for me. As part of my rehab, mom and I would go for short walks each day; starting with one street, then two, then three… we worked up till eventually I could walk the entire neighborhood.

And it stuck… even after I had recovered. We got up every morning in the pitch black at 4:45am—school or no school, rain, snow, or shine—to walk our hour-long route together. Walks-with-mom being one of my favorite childhood memories… and I don’t recall many silent moments; I chatted her ear off about everything. She became my closest confidant and best friend.

And she still is today J

Why the second detour?

Because whenever we’re together we pick right back up where we left off… (ok, not at 4:45am) starting our day off together, pounding the pavement side-by-side, chatting about everything under the sun. On one of those recent walks in AZ I recalled this story; her faith, her life of prayer…

And she told me something I never knew before—she told me that it was that morning, after that heart-breaking night, that God revealed his incredible, unfathomable, unchanging love to her in a unique way that she can still hardly put into words…

♥ you mom! Thankful for your prayers on my behalf; thankful for a faithful God who answers prayers J

Sunday

capitalizing on our beautiful week together…

and in celebration of all things girl…

in anticipation of a precious baby girl on her way…

and the excitement of becoming a new mom…

and in honor of our AMAZING mother…

we’ve headed out for an early happy mother’s day celebration…

a beautiful day…

for lunch on the patio…

for relaxing, hot-stone pedicures…

for perfectly polished nails…

for being TOGETHER!!!

for returning again to that pretty pink baby room…

contemplating curtains…

and crystal chandeliers…

added creamy white shelves…

arranging flowers…

creating the perfect baby mobile…

making over tables…

sprinkling accents here and there…

smiling at the progress…

thankful for this sweet indulgence of celebrating together…

Monday

after good-byeing with mom…

with time to kill before I, too, was to be off…

while waiting for shops to open their doors,

we decided it in our best interest to visit the sensei of coffee drinks;

(drumroll) the Coffee Bean!

finding our little corner of the sunshiney patio,

just the sister & I…

reminding each other:

to keep the most important, the most important…

to keep the main thing, the main thing…

summarized in two words (though, for us, it was stated in many):

LOVE Christ!!!

then those shops opened up,

& I filled my carry-on to overflowing,

sure that there was no way security was going to let me through with my new floor lamp…

but it was a $10 steal and I had just the place for it back in Cali…

despite the fact that I had already filled up and checked the extra two bags I borrowed from sister…

so yes, I looked crazy…

and security did laugh…

as did my husband when I texted him “baby, would you mind parking the car at the airport when you pick me up… I think I may need some help with my extra baggage”

J