We’re flying out to Palm Springs in a few weeks to hang with our close buds at their summer rental, and we couldn’t be more excited.

Palm Springs is completely rad. Utterly, completely and elegantly rad.

Mid-century modern architecture, stellar vintage stores, canopied bars and lounges, palm trees preening in the desert waste… It’s very glam in a blassé kind of way.

To ready my suitcase, I rounded up some fashion inspo…

Metallic shoes, retro print dresses, tiny rompers, bold and patterned things that cling or flow from the bod… This is how Palm Springs looks and feels.

Tomato + garlic + oregano + mozzarella + olive oil + bread.

I dream about this snack every minute of my life. It’s a versatile lil’ app that’s belly-filling any time of day.

I’ve found that bruschetta comes out better when you bake the bread rounds for a couple of minutes first. Make sure each slice has a drizzle of olive oil to give the rounds nice color and flavor.

Then you heap the topping on (I sautée tomato and garlic before layering on the bread) and sprinkle on cheese and parsley.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and presto!

A fast, delicious snack.

Trios of anything are ultra exciting.

Whether it’s a flight of salsa or wine or beer or hors d’oeuvres, it just feels generous. And it’s suspenseful: With so many options, it promises that each savory taste could be different from the last, depending on which item you choose to savor first and the order in which you do it.

Example: This trio of Mediterranean dips blew my mind when it was served to my beau and me at a restaurant in Bermuda.

The greatest part about this appetizer was that it was free! No, really! It was served as a humdrum, ordinary complimentary bread basket with spread.

But there’s nothing humdrum about this dish!

It’s a simple threesome of hummus, olive oil with zest of lemon, and roasted garlic served with bread.

To make, just buy (or whip up, if you’re a kitchen all-star) good-quality hummus.

Then, pour olive oil into a dish and zest one lemon over the top.

To roast garlic, read this. (It’s easy: Just bake a de-skinned, oiled-up head of garlic for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.)

Serve with delicious bread!

I saw other diners in the restaurant spread on one or two dips at a time, but we found that spreading all three on at once was outta this world.

It’s life-changing!

Be sure to enjoy with cool white wine in a sunset-kissed backyard, if you have one. (A balcony, front porch or anywhere with a dining set works fine too!)

I’m crazy for punch. It gives you a chance to sneak unexpected stuff into a cocktail. Like milk!

Plus, punch is so versatile, so easy to make.

And milk is just… mmm… milky and creamy.

I stole the recipe for this cup o’ love from a super precious Victorian restaurant in South Austin.

I changed the quantities a bit to scale it down for one person… and to spike it up!

You’ll need bourbon, light rum, brandy, vanilla ice cream and whole milk. Yep, that’s it!

Southern Milk Punch for 1-2
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon light rum
1 tablespoon brandy
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 cup whole milk

Take out your blender and zmmm-zmmm the liquor and ice cream. Then pour milk into mixture and whisk.

Pour into a mason jar (or two small glasses) and dash a little nutmeg on top, if you want a garnish.

Now, prepare for light, silky bliss!

(If you’d like, add another tablespoon of bourbon for more kick. If you’re looking for a pleasant punch, the recommended amount will suffice.)

It’s a lovely punch to serve in the spring.

You could even hand one to your mama for Mother’s Day! Milk is endeared by most moms, especially aging ones.

If you’d love to make this for a small crowd, here’s the restaurant’s bigger-batch recipe.

You know those greeting cards you have stacked somewhere in the bowels of your office? Well, why not chop them up and breathe new, homemade life into them?!

You’ll have to find an old card that uses pretty paper – and that doesn’t say anything you’d want to save! It’ll help if you pick a card (or rather, a side of the card) that doesn’t have a ton of dark handwriting on the inside. (If there’s quite a bit, you can glue another layer of paper to the paper’s back, say, with another greeting card or even grocery-bag paper, if you like that rustic look.)

I used this old card and quickly hand-wrote a Mother’s Day invitation.

I added a ribbon loop at the top so I can hang it on my mom’s front door. (The loop design is only appropriate if your mama’s house is in driving distance.)

You can use any type of ribbon, of course. Twine also would be cute.

Can you imagine getting a hand-delivered invitation? I SO want to be on the receiving end of this one day!

Whether a nice, knocking gentleman hands it to me, or if the card is waiting, swinging, on my front door when I come home from running errands. Either way, it’s dreamy.

I think my mom will heart this invitation.

She left California and moved all the way to Austin to be near my hizzy and me. She definitely deserves a hand-delivered invitation and nice dinner out!

Derby Day is such an enchanting holiday; one of my faves.

(Alright, it’s not a national holiday, but it should be!)

The Kentucky Derby – held every year in the grand, small city of Louisville – is a day of fantasy. Flowing, over-the-top hats, romantic dresses, shiny cocktails, and fast horses – lots of horses – flaunting their speed around a pretty little racetrack. It’s Southern decadence at its finest.

Sadly, Louisville is a 16-hour drive from Austin. If it was just a few hours closer, you can bet your julep I’d be galloping to the real deal, Churchill Downs, to imbibe an authentic Derby race.

Instead, I’ll be floatin’ on over to a Houston racetrack to watch live races, nibble on Derby pies and, hopefully, win a hat contest.

So tonight, to prime for the event, I’m mixing up mint juleps and broiling a Kentucky Hot Brown, which is a magnificent, saucy stack of egg-battered bread, turkey, tomato, cheese, and gravy topped with bacon. (I use Bobby Flay’s recipe. Full disclosure: I cooked up chicken instead of turkey, because turkey and I aren’t chummy these days. I find him boring.)

My test-run of the legendary Kentucky Hot Brown

My first brush with this indulgent dish was at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe in Louisville, or Loo-a-vul, as the drawly locals call it. It was a gargantuan sandwich. It’s devastating to admit that I couldn’t even finish it.

Here’s the best part about the Brown, aside from ladles of gravy, obviously: That thick slice of tomato!

Mmmm, the hot, juicy tomato folded into gooey cheese and crunchy bacon… sublimeness.

Oh, and don’t forget to wet your palate all weekend long with a cool, bourbon-y mint julep.

Here’s hoping that the horses run injury-free tomorrow, and that your weekend is fantastic and leisurely…