Girlfriend Getaways
Girlfriend Getaways
Time for a post-party season holiday
Posted Jan. 1, 2017
You’ve put away all the presents, finished the leftovers, and taken down the tree. The holiday season was festive and fun, and now it’s finished. So what exactly to do next? Starting the year with a wellness-focused getaway with girlfriends could be just what Santa ordered. Whether it’s a weekend away or just a few hours’ escape, here’s a list of exciting experiences to help you regenerate and recharge. It’s time to put you on the top of that list of New Year’s resolutions.
New Year, New Story
A “Day of Namaste” is an opportunity to become the person you really want to be. Well-known yoga teacher Stacy McCarthy leads this one-day retreat, and will help you master the “Big 3” — how you move, how you eat, and how you think. Held at the Bay Club Carmel Valley on Saturday, January 21, from 8:30am to 4pm, the day includes a Beaming Superfood Lifestyle Cleanse with coaching on how to eat to thrive. McCarthy will guide the group in yoga and meditation to create optimal energy and vitality. Her husband, Tom McCarthy, a mental performance coach who has worked with Olympic gold medalists, will deliver an inspirational keynote speech. Tom’s “The Most Powerful Story Ever Told” will reveal his three keys to upgrading your internal story to unlock new insights, opportunities, and actions that will propel you to success. 858.922.7809, yoganamastacy.com
Get Cooking
We all resolve to eat better in the New Year. But it’s much more fun when you can do it while cooking with friends. Samantha “Sam” Binkley of Healthy on You is a cook, gardener, and certified health coach with her own line of gourmet spices and a popular series of cooking classes. Binkley has organized special Healthy Girlfriends’ Getaways at 3pm on Sunday, January 22 and January 29 in Rancho Santa Fe. The hands-on cook-and-eat classes include a four-course menu with wine pairings by Halter Ranch Vineyards of Paso Robles, which has been certified for its sustainable practices. Learn to prepare organic, gluten-free, gourmet meals followed by a festive sit-down dinner with toasts to a New Year of healthy living.
The cooking menu includes watercress and parsley soup with a low-cal, fresh coconut milk base; lemon cod stuffed with crab, spinach, and artichoke; and steamed winter vegetables — pumpkin, tri-color carrots, Brussels sprouts, and potatoes in a rosemary vegetable broth. To top it off, make panna cotta with fresh coconut milk instead of traditional calorie-rich heavy cream for a delicious dessert. 760.213.9360, healthyonyou.com
Better Balance
For groups of up to four girlfriends, the luxury Resort at Pelican Hill is offering a “Spa Suite Day of Wellness,” a retreat designed to help restore balance, find harmony, and start anew in the New Year. The day begins with an invigorating fitness boot camp followed by a light breakfast in the private Spa Suite. Afterward, relax while releasing toxins during an 80-minute Coastal Renewal Treatment that includes a scrub, wrap, and massage with the spa’s signature hydrating body butter. Then, enjoy the Acqua Colonnade, with its Roman-style deep soaking tub, saunas, and steam rooms, before savoring a fresh organic lunch that satisfies your soul and stomach.
Learn how to bring balance into your life during the “Happiness and Harmony Workshop,” designed to enlighten and empower. Then, treat yourself to Natura’s Diamond Experience, the spa’s most decadent facial, which combines a cocktail of energy-producing ingredients with three massages to give your skin a glowing lift.
The day concludes with a 30-minute meditation to relax your mind as well as your body. Toast your renewed commitment to wellness in the New Year with a glass of Prosecco. Can’t bear to leave? Book a bungalow or villa, take a dip in the Coliseum pool, and dine at Andrea’s Ristorante or the Pelican Grill. 855.467.6800, pelicanhill.com
Opening Up
Rancho La Puerta, Spanish for “Ranch of the Door,” beckons you to “open your door” to a healthier, more balanced life. The 3,000-acre retreat in Baja California offers plenty of space fulfilling its vision: “To relax. To renew, reflect and redirect one’s longer-living life. To explore the possibilities of changing course in one’s life.” Known around the world as a top destination spa, “The Ranch” is just over our border with Mexico, in Tecate.
What’s new at this 75-year-old resort? Villas Cielo — “Heavenly Villas” — are private sanctuaries for you and your girlfriends, designed for wellness and relaxation. “They embody our philosophy of nourishing the mind, body, and spirit,” says Chief Executive Roberto Arjona, “and they fulfill our guests’ requests for casitas with more privacy and personalization.” The indoor-outdoor villas, designed with artisan décor, Mexican art, and custom furniture, have master suites, living rooms, lush gardens and private patios with outdoor showers, warm salt water plunge pools, day beds, even meditation cushions for a cozy inward journey. The eco-friendly spaces offer a personal concierge, al fresco dining, spa treatments en suite or on the terrace, private fitness assessments, and customized workouts.
Guests can utilize all the resort’s activities and amenities including spa treatments at three health and beauty centers, hikes, gourmet vegetarian meals, and cooking classes at The Ranch’s renowned La Cocina Que Canta (“The Kitchen that Sings”). 800.443.7565, rancholapuerta.com
Fit and Fierce
Resolved to finally lose the ten (or more) pounds that have crept on over the years? You don’t want to travel too far from home and like to work out with your friends? PFC Fitness Camp at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa is right here in our own backyard. Whittle your waistline and elevate wellness at this premier spa fitness program designed to improve your health through a combination of behavioral science, nutrition, and exercise “to leave you looking great and feeling even better.”
Identify the root of your challenges and discover solutions through behavioral health coaching. Develop realistic eating habits, learn the science behind proper nutrition, and safely navigate grocery aisles and restaurant menus with the help of a nutritionist. Train with top coaches and experience dozens of indoor and outdoor fitness activities tailored to your physical abilities. Relax and rejuvenate with a daily spa treatment at the top-rated Omni La Costa Spa, with unlimited spa access throughout your stay. PFC Spa FIT offers one- to 12-week programs followed by accountability coaching once you return home.
In addition, PFC Spa FIT has just launched Chopra FIT with La Costa’s Chopra Center for Wellbeing. The weeklong wellness program, held throughout the year, combines the healing practices of meditation and yoga from integrative medicine pioneer, Dr. Deepak Chopra, with PFC’s behavioral science, nutrition, and fitness. Chopra kicks off the New Year with “Weekend Within,” a three-day, all inclusive weekend retreat, January 19-21, including a guided introduction to meditation, Ayurveda and the seven spiritual laws of yoga. Program organizers says guests “will leave deeply connected to their authentic selves and ready to create their best lives.” The first Chopra FIT sessions in 2017 are January 23-28 and January 30 through February 4. 760.494.1639, 888.488.8936, chopra.com/live-events/weekend-within/january-2017, premierfitnesscamp.com
Stacy McCarthy: Photo by Danielle Schaffer/citygirlsgonemom.com All other photography: Courtesy Photography
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