One evening in November on my way out to dinner with some friends Mike casually mentioned he had some frequent flyer points expiring in December and that I should grab up some friends and have a weekend away in a nice hotel. The moment he mentioned The Phoenician I was sold on the idea and immediately made plans with the girls at dinner that night.
It would be ideal: no babysitters needed, no flights to arrange, no husbands taking vacation days to make it happen, no cost, and no kids.
I can think of at least a dozen more people I would have loved to invite, but the beds in the 2 rooms were planned that night plus an extra person already tossed onto a cot (sorry Mary!). If I could do it over again I would have hosted one of the nights there with a Passion Party and invited everyone we knew! Next time. For sure.
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This will probably be boring to everyone else except those of us that were there, but lest I forget......
We rolled up in Alicia's husband's truck full of giggles and excitement for our adventures while our suitcases slid around in the back of the truck. It was funny to us we had SUITCASES for a weekend get-a-way in town.
We thought it was so funny for such a swanky hotel the only 'gift' our room got with Mike's travel status was a bowl of chips and salsa (who was the brains behind THAT random decision?) and a bowl of assorted nuts. We were sure to drink the complimentary Skinny Water in wine glasses. Just because.
They had a house made of gingerbread that was as tall as me in the lobby. I wanted to eat it, but didn't want to give Mike's point status a bad rep. I behaved. But had we been there on somene else's status I might have carried part of the house off into our room to enjoy with our chips and salsa.
We ate at at Culinary Dropout. Kind of a bust food-wise, but cool atmosphere. Until the band showed up. The setting and customers did not come close to matching the mood/ sound/ look of the band at ALL. I asked for The Go-Gos' song Vacation, but all he knew was Cindy Lauper. Yeah, that makes sense. So I had to stand while he told the whole place I requested it. I freaking hate Cindy Lauper.
We went to a comedy club that night just by stumbling upon it. Some great comedians, some not as great. It was a little bit less awesome when they told our table there was a 3 drink minimum per person that night. And none of us were thirsty nor were we planning on spending one million dollars that evening on soda.
We got back to the hotel late and headed down to the town of pools/ spas located on the resort. It was a romantic setting I would love to take Mike to sometime. No one else was there (ahem, winter and all). It took us a good 20 minute walk past all their pools to find their giant collection of connected spas. No one skinny dipped. I will save that trick for Mike.
{Angel with all our shopping bags}
The next day eating and shoppping. It was heavenly, and I am not even a shopper. I am learning how to be one. This makes my husband oh-so-thrilled. A lot of jeans were tried on. I learned I have some patient friends.
{Angel, Mary, Alicia, me, Dawn}
And then we got dolled up and got ready to go dancing. Something must have happened in my brain and I guess it translated to 'Liz is going to dress like she is going to study at the library'. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was not congruent at all with Scottsdale dance-club attire. I was lucky they let me in the door. My favorite was the 'bling' Angel tossed around my neck in an effort to help me (bless her heart) looked more like a peace sign which made it all worse as we were looking for a place to park the truck. At least my delayed realization I was poorly dressed for the occasion gave us some good laughs early in the night! Me and my freaking SWEATER shirt and grandma purse from Aldo 6 years ago. awesome. It makes me chuckle every time I look at this picture.
{dance floor! wootwoot!}
This poor dude rode us on his bike all the way back to the truck very early in the morning! He was smiling the whole time, so happy.
{ALL of us being pulled on a seat behind the bike!}
We stayed up late and talked both nights, I got my Christmas cards stuffed, labeled, and stamped with some great company. It was a relaxing, fun, wonderful weekend I don't want to forget. Espcially my introduction Sprinkles: I gained an addiction.
Alicia- you so get the Best Team Spirit award. You were cracking me up and never stopped with the energy and happy. I loved it.
Dawn- you were the one who got us to each place we needed to be. You were our brains behind the entire operation.
Angel- you were totally getting us in the door no matter what with your charm and beauty even if I was wearing a sweater.
Mary- We are try-on-jeans-together sisters for life. Let's shop for jeans more often together!
xo ladies! And thank you Mike for the idea and the points!
