To say I love Montelucia is a complete understatement. If you’ve been reading NTTC for a while, you may remember my 3rd weight loss reward trip was at Montelucia, and I’ve often referred to it as my home away from home. I just love this place!
After a busy half week of work, I was SO ready to jet set to the desert for a little R&R with my friend Donna at our favorite place.
Rather than catch my typical early flight for vacation, I actually opted for an 11:30am which was perfect. On a day of relaxation, who really wants to rush and set an early alarm? Not this girl…
I arrived in Phoenix at about 1:15pm and was at the resort by 2:15pm. Donna had arrived a little earlier, had gone on a run, and was awaiting my arrival.
Did I mention that it was her birthday? Well, it was! I actually notified our driver and the resort of this… so there were quite a few special treats waiting for the birthday girl when she arrived. Also, in our birthday tradition, I treated Donna to what we like to call “A Parade of Cards.” If you’ve never had the pleasure… it’s an AWESOME tradition and something she introduced me too. I’ve actually shared this with a few friends and HIGHLY recommend it.
Greeting cards are FUNNY these days… and often times, it’s hard to just buy one. And, sometimes you find a funny birthday card in June for a friend with a December birthday. You buy it, stash it, and keep it for the parade.
Now, what I typically do is start sending the cards about 10 days before her birthday so that she gets a different card for a few days before her actual birthday. So fun! Now, because I was going to see Donna, I thought I’d just bring a stack to be opened at various times throughout the day. Equally fun!
She opened the first of many cards at Montelucia while we were sitting outside at their new Centro Lounge, which is completely fabulous. And, the cards continued throughout the day until the pile was exhausted.
We sat outside and enjoyed several Vitamin C cocktails, which is a resort favorite. It’s a combination of vodka, cranberry, peach schnapps, and other citrus juices. So delish!
I’ve got to learn how to make these at home! They’re my absolute favorite, and amazingly refreshing when you’re sitting on a patio or poolside…
After visiting for a while, it was time to explore the property a little bit. They had it all decorated for Christmas, which was just GORGEOUS!
We really didn’t have too much time to wander though. We had made appointments at the Joya Salon for blowouts before dinner. Blowouts, if you haven’t heard of them, are just a fancy word for saying that we got our hair professionally styled.
We started visiting the Blowout Bar at Joya Salon a few trips back and have really grown to enjoy them! The ultimate indulgence… it’s so fun not having to do your hair for dinner!
To get things started they wash your hair and then they blow it beautifully dry using a round brush.
And, although we definitely didn’t need it by this time… they also served us champagne while we got our hair done. Cheers!
It creates amazing volume and fabulous curls… I wish I had the patience to do this at home!
I also found this ridiculous picture of myself. I’m not even sure when it was taken… it shows how fabulously shiny your hair gets when you get a blowout (and it kind of cracked me up a little bit!)
After we wrapped things up at the salon, we quickly changed into our evening wear, and were whisked away to Old Town Scottsdale for dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant… Marcellino Ristorante.
We were excited to find that there was an Art Walk going on in Old Town. Not only did they have beautiful jewelry vendors, but they also had some super cool yoga vendors where we each bought a t-shirt.
Dinner was out of this world, and the perfect end to the perfect start to vacation!
So much more to tell on this trip…
[…] weekend at Montelucia, we had an amazing time lounging on property, relaxing in the spa, and enjoying our favorite […]