If you follow me on Insta stories, you know that I clocked out of my mama duties (like, tires squealing at pre-school drop off) last Friday morning and hit the highway for a girl’s weekend with my long distance best friend, Megan.
Megan and I live across the country from each over and have never planned a trip to see each other that wasn’t work related – and on top of that, we always have one, some or all of our babies with us when we get together. While we love our babies something fierce, we needed a weekend to play – drink wine, wear white, carry little purses and never once worry about which car could hold all of the car seats. To top it off, we were celebrating Megan turning 30 and the fact that this was her first ever girl’s trip. Ever.
So, no pressure for me when it came to planning our getaway, right?
I wanted our time together to be easy and as unscheduled as possible so I picked a city that I know and love: Charlotte. Meg was able to hop a direct flight from Houston and was in Charlotte by 11am on Friday morning. Charlotte is about an hour and a half drive for me so we had my vehicle on hand and I was able to show off some of my fave Queen City neighborhoods on our way into town.
After we cried in the airport arrivals area (seriously, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other that we’ve each given birth to a baby – the oldest of which is nine months old!) we made a beeline for salads and french fries at Cafe Monte. I knew Meg would need coffee and carbs to get her through the long travel day and Cafe Monte is one of my favorite stops for a girl’s lunch. It doesn’t hurt that it’s right across the street from South Park Mall…which serves as the perfect way to kill time until hotel check in.
We played in the fitting rooms, ordered more coffee and wandered around, catching up.
trying on the Mommy Blogger dress to see if it really is as flattering as they say….
After our retail therapy pit stop we made our way downtown to the Omni. I love staying at the Omni because of the perfect Uptown location but was super excited to see that they are currently renovating. We were lucky enough to stay in a renovated room and it was so, so gorgeous. We left the curtains open the entire trip and I loved falling asleep in the skyline. Coffee and cinnamon rolls arrived each morning and we slept like we did pre-babies. It was Heaven.
Friday night we snagged a charcuterie board at City Smoke, a sleek Southern fare restaurant across the street from the Omni and then made our way to the Dilworth neighborhood for dinner at Foxcroft Wine Co.
We Ubered all weekend and almost all of our destinations were within walking distance to our hotel, but I really wanted to try Foxcroft Wine Co and I’m so glad that we did. We adored the outdoor seating and thankfully, it was cool enough that we could sit outside in our Basic fall sweaters. I had the beef sliders and they were unreal – I highly recommend them! After a few glasses of wine, a bowl of truffle fries and dinner, we made our way back to the hotel to hop into PJ’s, face masks and pass out to the sound of football by 9pm.
Saturday was reserved for the spa and we used every second of our time to the fullest. The spa at the Ritz Carlton is one of the best I’ve ever visited – every single detail was thought of and the service was unreal. If you have a chance to visit, plan to spend as much time there as they’ll allow!
We lounged by the pool, napped in the meditation room, had cocktails in the spa, sat as long as we could in the salt room and took showers in what felt like caves. We each got a facial and each loved the service – I may or may not have almost fallen asleep in the facial room. I blame the champagne.
We only rolled ourselves out of the spa because we had a dinner date that we were really excited about. Our sweet friends Elise and Lindsey met us at 5Church for dinner and drinks and it was the perfect example of blogging friends becoming real life friends. We had reservations at 7:15 and didn’t move until someone looked at the time and realized it was 11:30pm! We could have blabbed for hours and I am so grateful that the girls made room for us in their weekend schedules (missed you Hope!). 5Church has a funky, feminine vibe and is a great option for a girl’s night or a celebration – there were quite a few big groups celebrating around us so the vibe was so much fun. If you’re there as long as we were, the music will change to more of a club vibe, which will make a mama feel both old and cool, considering she is still awake when the music starts bumping.
Sunday was special for Megan because she got to catch up with one of her best friends who lives in the area at Amalie’s Uptown for brunch – and it was special for me because I got to sleep in!
I slept until she came home, which is the longest stretch of sleep I’ve been able to snag since Georgia was born in June. Meg’s flight was slated for 1pm and dropping her off was the absolute worst. The only thing that made her leaving better was knowing we scheduled a work trip for me to visit Houston over the holidays! That’s right Houston girls, clear your calendars, I’m coming for you!
I cannot recommend this Charlotte girl’s weekend itinerary enough! Flights are easy and can be inexpensive, Uptown is clean and safe, everything is walkable if you want it to be, and every meal we ate was perfection. Let me know if you have any questions about any of the places we visited or other options I considered, I’m happy to answer!
What a fun weekend!! Best friend time is good for the soul 😉
Charlotte is one of my all-time favorite cities!! Soo much good shopping and eating!