westcoastprairiegirl

Ahhhh….what a weekend.  Here’s a photo blog of Armando’s birthday weekend that we spent in the Okanagan at the Sparkling Hills Resort:

Always the challenge of getting Armando to “unplug”; not even an amazing view could pull him away from being on his phone when we first arrived:

Okay, so maybe the Infinity Pool and a coffee made him forget about technology for a moment:

The Sparkling Hill Resort has 3.5 million Swarovski crystals incorporated into the architecture of the resort, including this crystal light in our room:

It was truly a relaxing, de-stressing weekend spent in bath robes as we enjoyed the multitude of saunas and steam rooms that were complimentary during our stay.  We also enjoyed this indoor pool that played music underwater and has starry lights in the ceiling:

It was such a beautiful, sunny weekend that we couldn’t help but take advantage of the many hiking trails at the resort to help with the guilt of all the eating we were doing:

And to help balance all the wine we were drinking, we took some time to grab a tea and fruit water as we relaxed in the Tea Room:

I was on a roll with challenging myself this weekend and completed a trifecta with a little culinary challenge.  During dinner, Armando was excited to see Veal Tenderloin Tartar on the menu…AKA raw ground beef topped off with a raw quail yoke (insert gagging sound  here).   I guess I was feeling especially adventurous after conquering my fear of the Trans-Canada and hanging out in -110 degree celsius in a bathing suit so far this weekend that I thought, “Hell, why not?”  So, I took the smallest of the small pieces, took a few deep breaths, contorted my face in a predetermined look of disgust as I put the fork in my mouth as my other hand was already making its way to my water glass to drown the taste.  But my hand stopped, my face went neutral and my eyes displayed a look of confusion.  Armando asked me what I thought.  I didn’t want to answer.  I must not have taken a big enough piece to give me the confirmation that it was going to taste disgusting.  So I took a slightly larger fork-full.  Nope, I needed a larger piece, one more bite.  Argh!  What was wrong here?  This was not supposed to taste good.  But it did.  But mind won out over flavour because red meat, especially ground beef, should be cooked in my mind. Armando ate the rest.  But I tried it!

What a weekend!  Nothing better for the mind, body and spirit than a weekend away with the one you love!  Happy Birthday, Armando!!

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