fabulousness

last week, i got to spend a whole day with a handful of my very best girlfriends - lilcee, kelley, and dailygluttony, plus lilcee's friend kaiser.  we were excited to head down to the gorgeous terranea resort for another installment of pamper me fabulous.  i can't believe it's already been a whole year since the last one.   i had somehow managed to win a pair of free tickets - after i'd already taken advantage of a killer deal via groupon - so i was looking forward to meeting up with my mom for a bit, too.

sexy hair was one of the big sponsors of the event.

as per our usual, we'd arrived nice and early.  i knew the place would fill up like mad in no time.

snagged the event photog for a "good" picture.

because we could, we hopped into the photo booth and hammed it up.

and even though i'd been looking forward to downing one or twelve of these, i held off due to the early hour.  heh.

as we wandered around, we found ourselves overlooking the area set up for the fitness classes we'd dressed for.  and if you look at the bottom of the schedule, you might catch a glimpse of someone familiar in a very zen-like yoga pose.

the obligatory group pic.  i really need to stop slouching in pictures.  i don't even know why i do that.  makes me look all dumpy and stuff.  ugh.

inside the bazaar, kelley found fresh coffee courtesy of the local whole foods.

the kaiser permanente booth was offering a pretty good discount on designer sunglasses.

i really wanted a pair that came in that fabulous blue box, but i restrained myself.  and when i turned around, i ran into someone very near and dear to my heart.

since we had different agendas for the day, we parted ways after a quick chat and a hug.  the girls and i continued to wander around the shopping area and found a pretty good deal on hair products.

i thought of my friend weezermonkey when we passed this booth.  i've gotta remember to email her the info for this company, since she'd been asking around for something like it.

when we headed back outside, i finally gave in to the craving for that strawberry qream drink.

as i sipped happily on my cocktail - which had a splash of godiva chocolate liqueur in it, making it into a liquefied chocolate covered strawberry with a kick - i spotted my mom at the cooking demonstration.

when it was time for our first fitness session - a yoga class - we spread out our tiny workout towels that we'd pilfered from an unmanned booth.

but as luck would have it, the hotel finally came through and brought out full-sized towels to keep us from getting itchy on the grass.  kelley, who's allergic, was grateful.

we'd hit the jackpot that day with a gorgeous afternoon overlooking the ocean.

hunger finally kicked in and we headed back up to grab some lunch.  just like last time, i opted for the super delicious gyro with grilled shrimp.

we stuck our heads into the sexy hair demonstration, but it was super packed and we weren't interested enough to stick it out.

our second (and last) fitness session was the les mills "bodycombat," a combination of martial arts that totally kicked my ass.  and kelley was really excited to find that the instructors present were among the creme de la creme of beach body coaches.  these folks were super kick ass, and we had a great (albeit exhausting) time in the class despite the pissed-off look on my face.

afterwards, we managed to get this:

so since we were all spent after having our asses handed to us down on the lawn, we trudged back up to grab our goody bags.  lilcee'd been told that this one was the best yet, and a quick glimpse inside was quite promising.

i may have groaned aloud when i realized that we'd have to drag our asses up these damn stairs to get back to the car.

although we didn't score on a free manicure (and no free haircut for me either) this time around, it was still super fun.  our friend winnie had snuck away from other obligations for a couple of hours to join us, and it was just a really fabulous day out with the girls.  i love hanging out with my friends.