Pimpin' it Sinatra-style in the desert

With our office shutdown for the week, I headed south for the break to hang with my peeps in LA. Wilma and Andrew were up from LA in the Bay Area for the holidays and they were sweet enough to drive with me back to SoCal. But we had to make a little detour first, in Palm Springs.

Our dear friend, Kev Stern (aka Stella) was turning 50 and his partner threw him a surprise party. So we figured it would be great to swing by Palm Springs on our way to LA. So glad we did. We ended up staying at the Riviera Resort. It has recently gone through a 2-year renovation and just reopened in October. It's GORGINA. The decor is retro-fabulous. Take a look at the lobby! Wilma and I checked in but our room wasn't ready so they gave us a complimentary martini in the lobby while we waited. We were home ;-) We got dressed up and headed out for a nice steak dinner before joining the big surprise. After messing up a big Rib-Eye and another martini, we headed over to Stella's.

The plan was for us all to gather out in front of his house. Stella and others were inside the house having dinner. His sisters brought him to the back of the house to distract him. We all then piled into the house so when he came back down the hallway - there we all were! SURPRISE! He certainly was.

After a few hours at the party, Wilma and I started to fade. We'd driven all day, and started to peter out. So we headed back to the Riviera. On our way towards the room, we ran into a friend from SF so we stopped and chatted for a while. Then, as we walked towards our room, we passed the hotel bar. We decided to pop in just to see the decor. And as we waltz in, we ran into our good friends, Jason and Michael. Such a small world. They were having a drink with other friends they happen to run into while window-shopping earlier that day. So we sat and had a martini with them. Notice a pattern?


After sleeping in one of THE most comfortable beds ever crafted by man, we took off to meet more dear friends, Todd and Tracy, who were in town dog-sitting for a friend on vacation. but before we left the room, we decided to have some fun. The bathroom has this totally glamorous bathtub, so I decided to pretend to be Joan Crawford and be luxurious.