When my daughter was born, I had just relocated to the desert because my parents spend their winters here. I didn’t know anyone my age, and knew from all the moving around I had done in the past, that I needed to find my tribe. I found a flyer for a local chapter of Mom’s Club and got in touch right away. I felt welcomed and went to a bunch of meetups/playdates, but found that there weren’t many kids my daughter’s age. When I took over organizing the meetups for her age group, we often ended up alone at the playground. One day I was supposed to meet a prospective member at a playground around the corner from my house. When we got there we found a rowdy group of kids and moms having their monthly birthday celebration. They introduced themselves, and handed our daughters cupcakes and balloons. We both arrived at the same conclusion, this was the group we needed to be in!
Fast-forward nearly 5 years and I’m no longer an active member of a mom’s club, but I have made some lifelong friends through the groups. We still make an effort to get our kids together for playdates, and just as importantly, we get together every once in a while for Group Therapy Mom’s Night Out.
The desert is really the land of the happy hour, which is perfect for a single mom like me who lives on a tight budget and needs to be home to tuck my daughter in at night. Most places run happy hour between 3 or 4pm to 6 or 6:30pm. Don’t get me wrong, I am a night owl, the kind of owl who likes to stay up late drinking tea and watching Netflix!
There are so many great places to have an appetizer and a drink on El Paseo. Most recently, I met friends at Mitch’s in Palm Desert, and sampled their fantastic Jalapeño Poppers – $8 Fresh Jalapeño Stuffed with Crab, Spicy Tuna, and Cream Cheese Lightly Tempura, Drizzled With Kabayaki Sauce and Spicy Aioli and a Crunchy Shrimp Roll – $9 Shrimp Tempura, Snow Crab, Avocado, Cucumber, rolled and topped with Crunchy Tempura Flakes. They have a big selection of wine and sake, as well as signature cocktails, and great happy hour prices, but I just had an icy cold bottle of Stella – it’s springtime in the desert and we’re already approaching triple digits here! I’m looking forward to returning to try something from their dinner menu, it all sounds delicious.
[tweetthis]Win a $150 Gift Certificate + a bottle of #wine from @mitchsonelpaseo #PalmDesert #desertliving[/tweetthis]
A few local bloggers and I have teamed up with Mitch’s on El Paseo to give away a $150 Gift Certificate and a terrific bottle of wine. Scroll down to enter!
Mitch’s On El Paseo | Tabler Party of Two | Bianca Rae Foundation | Buehler’s Day Off | Krystle Kelly | Coach Debbie Runs | Listing to Port
Mitch’s Giveaway