Girls' Vacation | Ritz Carlton | Palm Beach, Florida

I wish Michelle still lived a half mile down the road from me.

Oh, but there are so many reasons why this distance has come to pass. My burning desire to create a better life for myself, meeting my now husband and being firmly planted in an area of the world we've both come to call home, the fact that even if we did move, we would most likely land in Italy. This reality has left me feeling grateful for the life I have built out west but sorry for the dearest and best friend I left behind fourteen years ago and the knowledge that our time together, if we're lucky, we'll be spent on vacations - if and when we can both manage it and our schedules align. This is why we carefully plotted the ideal "girls only" get away to celebrate our birthdays. One where she could take a break from being an incredible mom of two adorable boys, a mouth watering chef to her kids and the world's second perfect husband (just after Alessandro, of course), and I could take a much needed break since launching my photography and non-profit endeavors two years ago.

You may wonder how does a childhood friendship sustain the distance of 3,000 miles and years upon years of missing out on some very important milestones like weddings, births, new jobs. I don't know if I have the answer. All I know is I'm lucky to have her. Maybe some snippets from our trip will help solve that riddle….

No, I'm not 80 years old, but I like to act like a senior citizen by always carrying my own green tea bags with me.

Oh, look at that! No, it's not a packet of Sanka, just the new modern version of instant coffee, VIA, that Michelle, too, carries around in her purse. Who are we and why are we so strange?

Michelle was shocked at how much I eat - I tried to worn her. Only three hours after eating these pancakes and hash browns, I was ready for a full blown lunch! To use her words exactly, "My God, I can't keep up with you!" Well, I may eat alot, but she couldn't get enough of the fruit infused water the hotel offered throughout the grounds. And you know what that means. She was in the lieu every ten minutes. I wish I was exaggerating, but it's completely true.

The Ritz Carlton Palm Beach is super opulent. We oohed and awed each time we came down to the lobby, and I probably stopped and stared at the jewelry case at the gift shop every single time we passed it - which was at least five times a day. True story.

When celebrating a milestone birthday, a Tiffany purchase is fitting, don't you think? Michelle, a pair of earings. Me, a pair of stacking rings. : )

A stroll on the beach - just like old times. On one of our walks we collected seashells to bring home and keep in a glass jar - a little something to remember our trip.

Laughing at Michelle while she takes my picture - she became a pro in two seconds! 

I suggested we take some sexy boudoir shots to surprise her husband, Adam. This was as close as we got. "Hush… don't speak!"

Some may call me a stalker, I just say I'm beguiled by beauty (when you read this, imagine a voice over by one of the housewives of New York City and me posing in front of  the city skyline on the big screen TV… cuz that's what we did every time a particularity of our personalities came out - such as "you may say I'm high maintenance, I say I'm a woman who knows what I want" with a strut and a push of the hip - vuala!). Anywho. These parents of the bride or groom of a wedding taking place at the hotel just looked so regal. I couldn't resist. Course, they mistook me for the photographer they hired and that was ironic, now wasn't it?!

The views and the details. Gorgeous. I hope we come back soon!