I love Denver. I do. But I’m seriously considering relocating to the Palm Springs desert after attending Meet Make Do with BING. It’s just one of those places where you can’t help but smile after stepping off the plane. The airport is outdoors and it’s all just so magical. I need to stop dreaming about it before the Denver snow kills me.

I’ve already said how fortunate I felt to get to attend such a glorious getaway put on by my gals Brittni, Chelsea, & Kelly, and the fine folks at BING. This was a much needed vacation for me. I’ve felt like I’ve been living in a baby-cave (a glorious one that I am so happy to live in!) for months and just needed to get out and recharge my creative juices. You know what I’m sayin’?

The whole point of this retreat was to pool the talents of a few creative women and just see where it takes us. We spent a few days in the beautiful bubble that is Palm Springs and just relaxed and created. The best part? The creating was just for us. No deadlines. Just fun. Pure bliss.

Let’s first talk about the house we stayed at the first night I arrived. Oh gee wiz. This was right out of a dream, I tell you. Gorgeous ranch-style home with bright walls and yellow front doors. Open kitchen with sky lights. Crazy awesome pool. Life-size chess board in the backyard. Palm trees everywhere. And, of course, the 7′ beach ball and the ginormous swan, Odette. What’s that? You say you want to customize your own 7′ beach ball? Head on over to Studio DIY for the how-to!

This amazing prop shelf was every blogger’s dream. Fabrics. Balloons. Tapes. Paint. Tissue paper. Honeycombs. Giftwrap. Twine. They may as well have pinned dollar bills to the wall. I was so in love with everything and it was all at my fingertips to be created into whatever I wanted. Check out one of the projects I worked on while there – A Life-size putting green!

I mean. Honestly.

The backyard was so colorful and fun. Instant inspiration occurred every time I walked out the backdoor. 

Still salivating over the egg-free batter and cookie dough provided by Edoughble. They ship all over the place so you better be ordering. Where was this stuff when I was prego?! Why didn’t you guys tell me about it?!?!

While we were there, we got the chance to play around with the BING surface tablets! I’m not fancy. I never get to play with stuff like this. I can’t tell you how handy it was to be able to search for anything and everything under the sun. I wasn’t exactly sure how croquet balls looked when searching for inspiration for my putting green project so this was super helpful! My fave feature is the PIN from search feature.

You can pin images right from the search so you have the source right at your fingertips! Saves lots of time. And brain cells. I wanted to do some exploring so I made sure to find cute places to visit including this lemonade stand at the Parker Hotel! My, oh my.

As with all blogger parties, retreats, and conferences, the gifts are always dreamy and just way too pretty to actually unwrap. My fave stylist, Jenn, whipped up this little shot so you could see some of the gorgeous goods provided by the sponsors (all sponsors & vendors listed at the bottom of this post!). I had no idea that foil tape existed. I thought it was like a unicorn. You know, a magical myth. I was wrong. It’s real. And now I’m in trouble. 

I arrived on the second day because I was having a tough time figuring out how to leave Vita-girl for four whole days. (Shameless plug: I had to keep rearranging travel dates to get Vita-roo to my mom and back, so we used the BING Travel app relentlessly.) I couldn’t make it the whole trip, so I was only in Palm Springs for a quick 48. And on the second night, we had a festive little dinner with MINTED at the Ace Hotel. A DIY Taco Bar? hell yes. The table was laid out so perfectly and, unfortunately, I didn’t get any good shots until it was too late and the sun had gone down. But you can see all the lovely details over on Brittni’s blog! And don’t we all just love that Minted print?

That second night, we hit a little snag with our sweet little house and ended up moving to the Saguaro Hotel. I did NOT complain. Say it with me. Saguaro. Colorful and fun doesn’t even beGIN to describe this place. Hot pink pool towels. Can’t say enough. 

This was a quick getaway. It was. I was exhausted by the time I returned home, but it was soooooo worth it. Each lady brought something different to the table, and it was so great to see how everyone worked and handled the life of a full-time blogger. Hint: It’s not all confetti and cakes and other pretty things. It gets super stressful and it was so nice to hear that these gals have felt everything I have.

One of the best parts of intimate gatherings like this one, is the late-night chat and coke sessions. (Diet Coke, peeps. Get your mind out of the gutter! wink wink)  I’m convinced we all need to live in a big ol’ house together where we just eat meet and make all the live-long day. I love each one of these women. In a platonic, non-stalker way?

The biggest virtual hug to all of our sponsors & vendors: