Sarah Ashley: Trip To Albuquerque

Greetings everyone!

I’m currently flying back home from Albuquerque and had an amazing girls weekend with my best friend. While I was there, we went shopping at Uptown ABQ, had a delectable lunch at the Macaroni Grill and met up with some sweet friends at a local New Mexican restaurant. I’m sad to be leaving, but feel blessed knowing I had a great time.

Plane racing in Dallas

The trip began on Saturday at the crack of dawn. Plans did not start off well. I was 30 minutes out from leaving home for the airport and got an email from the airline saying that my flight had been cancelled. I was not happy as you can imagine. I was planning to meet my brother and his family for lunch and that was starting to look less promising. I booked this specific flight a month ago so I could arrive at ABQ by lunchtime.

Plan B: I went on the airline’s website to find an alternative flight to ABQ for around the same time frame. I found one that looked promising only to find out that the airline changed my departure city from Jacksonville to Denver. I don’t live in Denver, and found this to be crazy. Knowing I only had only 20 minutes to leave for the airport, I went into panic mode. How was I suppose to get to ABQ if they didn’t even have me scheduled to fly out of the right city?

Plan C: I called the airline after that mess and they scheduled me to fly out of JAX on a different airline completely. I had to notify my best friend, because she was looking for me to come in from Houston, and now I was coming from Atlanta instead. Not to mention that I was going to be an hour and a half later than originally planned. Everything was smooth sailing once I changed airlines.

Family love

I was able to arrive in ABQ at a reasonable time to meet my brother and family for lunch. My best friend picked me up from the airport and I was super excited to see her. It’s been six months since I’ve seen her.

I had a wonderful time visiting with my brother and family at Jason’s Deli. I was able to get some great pictures with my niece and nephews. My nephew is eight months old and was two months last time I saw him. They grow up so fast!

After lunch, My BF and I said our goodbyes to my brother and his family and headed to ABQ Uptown for some shopping. The sky was dark grey and it looked like it was about to rain, so we browsed in a couple of shops and then headed across the street to the indoor mall. I didn’t end up buying anything but enjoyed the company of my BF and the exercise of walking around the mall. We drove home that evening and had dinner and happy hour at the house. We also went for a short evening walk, complete with a rocky mountain view. It was stunning!

ABQ Uptown

The next day I treated my BF to a birthday lunch at Macaroni Grill. It was divine. I had the Blackened Parmesan Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta and my BF had the Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta with Pine nuts. We don’t have a Macaroni Grill in JAX, so I try and eat there every opportunity I can get.

After lunch, my BF and I went to the artsy part of ABQ known as Nob Hill. We hit up the Buffalo Exchange and had casual tea at The Boba Tea Company. It was my first time trying Boba Tea and thought the boba tea was okay. I’m not use to having fruit balls in my drink, so I think I will skip the boba balls in my drink next time.

We left Nob Hill and headed back to ABQ Uptown to visit the shops we missed the day before. We hit up Anthropologie and Lucky Brand, and I found a gorgeous embroiled sleeveless navy top from Lucky Brand. I couldn’t resist and it was 30 percent off. Still somewhat expensive, but my BF offered to pitch in because she knew how much I loved it. How sweet! It was a super early birthday gift to me. Thanks BF!

Embroidered Shell Lucky Brand Top. On Sale!

We went to the ABQ Uptown Super Target right after to grab some things. If you know me, you know I love Target. This Target is super fancy with its mountainous views and is two stories. (The bottom story was the parking garage.) I’ve seen a similar one in Atlanta, but not with a spectacular view like this.

Lilly Pulitzer Alert: As you know, Lilly Pulitzer is sold out at every Target except for the ABQ Uptown Target. I was able to find all sorts of Lilly things. I did not buy any of it since my Lucky Brand Top was the splurge of the day.

The next day we met our friends at a local New Mexican restaurant and had a great time. I enjoyed seeing the other ladies. We spent the afternoon chatting and then headed over to the BF’s house and spent time with her family.