Have you ever been steamrolling through your days, weeks, even months, only to feel like you’ve hit a wall? Like you wish you could check out of your responsibilities even for just one day? I think we can all relate to that feeling. But it can often be nearly impossible to squeeze a break into life’s daily grind.
But this being #TheYearOfErin (reminder on what the heck I’m talking about here), I was determined to carve out a little recharge time this summer – even if only for 24 hours. Thankfully, my friends at American Express Platinum challenged me to craft a dream experience relying on all of their amazing Platinum Card benefits and the idea for the ultimate Lady-Boss Day Off was born.
The mission? To treat some really amazing lady-boss friends who inspire me daily with their creativity, generous spirit, and all around bad-assness (it’s a word, I swear) to a well-deserved escape – in the middle of a work week! Playing hookie is the ultimate luxury after all. Thankfully, being based in San Francisco makes an escape relatively easy as we have a veritable playground right in the city’s backyard. It’s called Napa.
This very special day off needed to include three things – major pampering, seriously good eats and something truly unique. Thankfully, the American Express Platinum Card makes travel easy. The American Express Platinum Concierge – the amazing service you enjoy as a Card Member where you can call and have almost any travel planning need taken care of – came to my rescue. With the help of the concierge I was able to put together a pitch perfect 24 hours in Napa. Our stay included wine tasting, a night at a beautiful wine country hotel, dinner at a leading Napa restaurant and…a hot air balloon ride! Don’t worry, we took a lot of snaps of it all for you.
one of my favorite places to enjoy amazing wine in a picture perfect setting – Frog’s Leap Winery
We kicked our escape off right – with a private wine tasting in the stunning gardens of Frogs Leap Winery. An organic, dry farmed winery, Frog’s Leap takes an old world approach to wine making with stellar results. And lounging in lush gardens, crisp rosé in hand is really the perfect way to begin to unwind.
After enjoying the fruits of Frogs Leap’s labor, it was time to check the second to-do off our agenda: Pool time! We were lucky enough to stay at the ultimate Napa escape – the Meadowood Resort (I’ve shared my obsession with the property before here). There’s certainly no better way to feel like a princess for a day then to stay there. The Meadowood also happens to be part of American Express Platinum FINE HOTELS & RESORTS which, when booked through American Express Platinum, offers Card Members perks like complimentary room upgrades or a spa credit! Hello massage, come to mama.
Meadowood has less than 100 rooms, really more like private cabins tucked into the hills
The newly renovated Meadowood Spa is a must visit. The gorgeous design is equaled by the knowledgable staff and fantastic treatments. I treated myself to an oxygen facial. I swear my skin glowed for days
To cap off a lovely day, we put on our fancy shoes and headed to dinner, Solbar at the Solage Resort. Seated at the chef’s table – which the American Express concierge also arranged – we enjoyed a stellar menu. It was one of those top 10 dinners you’ll remember for quite some time!
hamachi crudo that was almost too pretty to eat
a stunning salad of peaches, arugula, grilled walla walla sweet onion and burrata
But the ladies still had to get their rest because we had to get up at the crack of dawn – well before it actually. It was the first time I’d seen 4:30am since my kiddo started sleeping through the night, but it was well worth it because we took a hot air balloon ride! It was as magical as I always thought it would be.
photos thanks to my fellow lady bosses who you should all follow on instagram @caitlinflemming @honestlywtf @margaretelizabeth @aubriepick @shopsweetthings @nataliebdesigns @emthegem
We really couldn’t have packed more into one day. I didn’t even mention all the great conversation, laughter and trading of entrepreneurial war stories that went on. And while I loved the amazing wine, the cushy hotel bed and the luxury spa treatment, what I really enjoyed most was the company. I’ve come to cherish the women I’ve met through this crazy world of blogging more than most of them would ever realize. These fellow women makers, doers, dreamers and all around ass-kickers are such a continual inspiration.
Because some days it can be hard to feel like you’re good enough to make it. You begin to question your own ideas, abilities or compare yourself to the success of others. But when you surround yourself with other female entrepreneurs whose drive is as strong as their desire to uplift, collaborate and help those around them, it’s a wonderful reminder that we are, in fact, all in this together. Everyone succeeds when we lift one another up. It’s what made me fall in love with the unique challenge of carving out your place in the world and it’s what has kept me here for so long.
I cannot thank Caitlin, Erica, Aubrie, Natalie, Jeanne, Meg, Emily & Kristin enough for reminding me the true value of building connections that go far beyond business and for going on a crazy adventure with me.
Here’s to making the Lady-Boss Day Off an annual celebration! Be sure to take a peek at #ladybossdayoff on Instagram for the amazing pics from the most epic of 24 hours.