Week 129: La Clochette & Scottsdale (Part 1)

Week 129: June 15th-June 21st, 2025

Every year since 2021, my friends and I have gone on a Girls' Trip. If you remember all the way back in Week 23, we went to Cabo. The next year, we journeyed to Tulum in Week 76. This year, we decided to try Scottsdale, Arizona. We kept it domestic for various reasons, but the main one was due to a desire for dry, desert heat. We've already been to Palm Springs a bunch, so the next option was Scottsdale. Also, due to the current unstable political climate here in the U.S., we did not want to risk international travel and somehow not be able to come back home. Not that we totally love it here in the USA at the moment, but as a group of primarily non-white girls, I thought it was best not to risk it.

In a cruel twist of fate, our friend Sam was visiting San Diego the same weekend we were all going to be out of town. He was in town for his sister's bachelorette weekend, so he was probably going to be very busy, but I was able to squeeze a dinner and a coffee run into his booked schedule.

For our morning coffee run, Sam and I ventured over Friars Road to the mini city and apartment paradise of Civita to meet Daniela and her boyfriend. We walked from Daniela's apartment over to La Clochette, a small coffee shop on Civita Row.

Other than getting one of the worst (and definitely avoidable) lip sunburns of my 20's, grabbing coffee at La Clochette was a great way to catch up with friends and enjoy the area I live in. I got an iced dirty chai and made a mental note to come back to try their pastries. We sat in the sun with our coffees and chatted (and got sunburnt) until my reminder alarm went off and we hugged Sam goodbye. Daniela and I headed to my place for an emergency manicure fix before our flight. Daniela suffered a severely disappointing manicure from a new salon the day before, and I offered to help. I was glad to have the tools like a UV lamp and gel polish so I could rescue a friend in need.

A quick e-file removal of the bumpy mess done by the "professionals," some ol' reliable OPI Bubble Bath, and a pink chrome finish later, and we were on our way to the airport. I didn't get a photo of Daniela's fixed nails, but here are the ones I did for myself.

I'm splitting the Scottsdale trip into both Week 129 and Week 130, since there is a lot to cover. As any sensible group of girls would, our planning for this trip began with a shared Google Slide deck back in February 2025. Up until this trip began, we've all been adding to it with ideas, scheduling, theme nights, travel details and packing lists.

Our AirBnb was called La Villa Rose and was about a 5 min drive to downtown Scottsdale. It was all things pink and a perfect foundation for our poolside party. It was very obviously a house meant for bachelorette parties and girls' trips, so we felt right at home.

The girls and I are quite extra, so we all game prepared with various girls' trip merch. I made matching pink pajama shorts with everyone's initials on the right thigh, and we also had mini, Stanley-style, custom shot glasses, custom named eye masks, custom bedazzled Pilates socks, and four disposable cameras to split between the 8 of us.

Thursday night's theme was Tequila Sunrise/Sunset, as you can see with our mix of oranges and pinks and ombre fabric. There are only seven of us in this photo from the first night because Bella sadly had to come late on Friday due to work.

Our Tequila Sunset/Sunrise fits!

For Thursday, we booked a hibachi chef with Rockstar Hibachi for a nice dinner at the AirBnb our first night. They were great. Our chef was a young guy named Kim from Kazakhstan who kept us entertained with trivia, fire tricks and good food. We had a ton of leftovers that lasted us through the trip as well, which is always a plus.

Friday's theme was Coyote Ugly - a Y2K-era of grunge cowboy and western-inspired style. We had a full day of brunch at Hash Kitchen, custom hat-making at Rancher Hat Bar, delicious BBQ dinner at Bootlegger, and a night out at saloons and bars like The Rusty Spur, Bottled Blonde, Mother Tucker's, and Pattie's.

Bonus: I wanted to give a shoutout to my (OLDer) sister, as it was her birthday this week. We got to enjoy a salted caramel cake from Yiko Yiko before I left for Scottsdale. This is the Yiko Yiko Yelp Page if you want to check it out.

Yiko Yiko's cakes are light and fluffy and delicious!

I'll continue my yapping in Week 130. See you next week.