Girls' Staycation Weekend

---

"Friendships must be built on a solid foundation of alcohol, sarcasm, inappropriateness, and shenanigans."

Talk about a weekend!  Astoria at Central Park West hosted us for an amazing girls' staycation weekend and it was JUST what I needed to get out of my post-Europe funk. For those of you that caught the shenanigans on Snapchat/ Instagram stories , you know it was a canned wine fueled weekend filled with tons of pool time and great laughs (more on the wine later). 

If you happen to be pursuing a successful staycation weekend - one where you are saying "remember when?" months after - then read on for my must-haves: 

1. the perfect location

Something that feels like home but isn't. Sounds silly but one of the only ways to detach and relax is to be away from the every day. To me, the perfect staycation is less than 2 hours away from home and located somewhere I've never really explored. When Astoria at Central Park West reached out, it was a no brainer. Their luxury apartments have ALL. THE. THINGS: valet, gorgeously furnished rooms, state of the art kitchen, concierge, pool + jacuzzi, bbqs, plus they're located in the heart of Irvine which is close to South Coast Plaza,The Camp, and tons of other awesome places.

2. good food + all the wines

It's no secret that eating and drinking brings people together but what's even more fun is cooking together! That's one of the reasons Astoria at Central Park West was a perfect spot because the apt. had all the amenities for making meals together. On Saturday we did a big Whole Foods run and cooked/bbq'd for dinner; it was blast, especially when I dropped all the prepped vegetables on the floor 5 seconds before they were supposed to go on the grill. You can count on me to be your winning sous chef!

I also love the idea of bringing new bevies that may spark up some fun conversation or tastings. Enter Seven Daughter's Canned Pinot Noir. Leave it to Natalie to be a Debbie Downer upon seeing my new beverage of choice until.... yeah... this pic says it all. It's really delicious and we decided it's the perfect option for week night's at home when you just want just one glass of wine and hate opening a brand new bottle. Pretty sure that's all of us!

We also tried the new Spa Girl Cocktails ready to serve cocktails which are perfect with some tonic and ice by the pool! Super refreshing and pretty much ready to go at a moment's notice. YAS!

3. a movie worth crying (or laughing) over

Nothing brings a group together like extreme emotions. We went for Me Before You and I pretty much cried like a two-year old throwing a tantrum. It was ugly but oh-so beautiful at the same time.

4. great company

Well what's a staycation without friends? Lately, I'm all about bringing together friends from different parts of my life to hang out. Yes, it's partially because I'm insanely busy and want to hit a few birds with one stone but mostly it's because new friends make for great fun and awesome conversation/connections.

5: a pool (or some body of water)

There must be some sort of study done about group activities that involve water because I just know that they're 10x more fun. Even if it's a hot tub on a ski trip... you know what I mean? 

Until the next Staycation! PS: see some of my other below!

---

Wanderlust Baby