Blech

I'm sick.
Head cold.
...so far.
All I want to be is home in bed.
And I've had to schedule and reschedule auditions around a zillion people's busy schedules for the last three days.
And it keeps changing.
And changing.
And CHANGING.
And then I have to start all over again.
And the size of my head keeps growing.
And growing.
And growing.
(or so it feels like)
And I went to my doctor yesterday because I had some questions about H1N1 and the vaccine.
I had some legit concerns.
And after about 10 minutes she told me she didn't have time to talk to me about the flu anymore because she had patients and was very busy.
Um.
What?!
After I waited to see her for 40 minutes.
And clearly have all the time in the world to sit in her office and wait on her.
So then I cried.
'cause that's just what I do.
Especially when I'm frustrated.
And she felt bad.
But was still completely unhelpful.
And told me to drink lots of fluids and cover my mouth with my scarf on the subway.
Um.
Seriously??
That's your answer?
Clearly I could have been a doctor.
Since you don't actually have to know anything.


So in conclusion,
I'm tired.
And sick.
And sick and tired.
And I just want to be at home in bed.
But I'm not.
I'm in rescheduling hell.

AGAIN.

Happy Halloween

Remember how my building LOVES to decorate for a holiday? Valentines Day, Christmas and everything in between. Halloween is certainly no exception. Some of the decorations are fall-ish and lovely and harmless.



Some....less so.


The full picture...


The whole effect is not only overwhelming, but at night, that black Agent of Death over the door does actually freak me right out. I hate it. And FYI, that red Skeleton-in-a-Snow-Globe on the right has plastic bats flying around inside his bubble, as opposed to snow. But never let it be said that our building does not know how to get in the holiday spirit.

Sedona

We spent one day in Sedona while we were in AZ. It's pretty amazing and very picture worthy.



We started with a margarita and a little lunch outdoors looking at the view


And then we wandered through the little town. Saw a little motion picture hall of fame who tried to sell us a helicopter ride. Which was somehow linked to a free stay in a hotel in hopes we would buy a time share. A lot of people tried to give us a free hotel stay in hopes we'd be interested in buying a time share. They were really pushy. But we resisted.

We stopped into this fudge shop.


Y-U-M


Some people had clearly gone dirt biking. I was a lil' jealous.


We also saw shops where things were for sale (t-shirts, bags etc) that had been dyed with the red dirt in the region. I'm sure zillions of tourists buy this every year. It was fairly clever and made me smile.


Saw this sign in town...which was exactly what we were trying to do


Also popped into a cowboy store. Lots of boots and hats, which were cool. If we'd had more time, I would have liked to have searched for a pair of boots for myself.


I am a cowgirl.


We both attempt the western look. I kinda like it.


After lunch and wandering in town, we did some sightseeing via car. Gorgeous stuff.



We stopped near the beginning of a hiking trail and the light was gorgeous, as it was getting near sunset.





We'd been advised by one of the time share pushers that the best way to see the sunset was up Airport Road. Apparently he'd told every other tourist in town too, cause there was quite a crowd. I particularly liked this guy, who was wrangling the parking situation. I feel that he is the real deal.


Chatting up the ladies


We finally found the best views of the sunset by winding through some of the neighborhoods. Off the beaten path always serves us best I find. I feel there may be more Sedona in store for us on our next trip to AZ. We will be back for sure.

The Smiths Come to Visit

It just so happened that while we were in Phoenix, one of my college roommates, Christy, was passing through Phoenix with her husband and son on their way from TX to California for an extended vacation. So She and Brian and Kallen swung by and hung with us at the pool for a couple of hours. It was awesome to see them.

Kallen got his hands on the lemon from our iced tea and went to town on it.


He's pretty stinkin' cute


Some kids were playing in the fountain


Kallen


Kallen upside down


Kallen plays with Mom




Me & Christy


Then they hit the road for California. Bye Smiths! Have a great trip!

The Biltmore

Arizona is beautiful. I'd never been. And we were there at the perfect time. The first couple days were pretty hot, but by day three it was only high in the 90s during the day and with a dry heat, that was about perfect.

And the place we stayed, the Biltmore, has a great history as a desert resort for old Hollywood back in the day. Marilyn Monroe used to hang out by this pool in front of our villa where we spent most of our time.


The Biltmore's main front yard


And fountains



This is where we stayed, right by the Marilyn Monroe pool (which is actually called the Catalina Pool). The whole bottom floor of this condo was ours.


We had lunch right here, at the main pool on our first day. There are multiple pools, by the way...


There was a Hydro-Fit class every morning at 10am at our pool. I took it one day.


One of the regulars in the class brought her dog


They have an almost lifesized chess/checkerboard on the grass. Of course by the time I got over to take a picture of it, the chess pieces had been put away.


Our favorite hottub


I thought this was the coolest. I never did a tropical Spring Break getaway, or at least not one where I would have been drinking, so I'd never seen a swim up bar before. I had a pina colada right here and watched a three year old boy swim about in a life vest and just generally be adorable.


These birds were everwhere


Often in groups


And even more often, finishing off someone's leftovers


Deck chairs near the front lawn


Classic palm tree


We spent a ton of time by the pool. I read three books in the week I was there. We made usually two meals a day and went out/ordered in the third. We had a couples massage one night. Geoff was having some chronic neck pain so we had "therapy" for him twice a day, which consisted of us going in the hottub and me rubbing his neck. It worked better than the massage. There is a huge twisty slide for the kids, which Geoff convinced me to go on in the middle of the week and then I wanted to go every day. Made me giggle like how I do on roller coasters. By the time I got over there to take its picture on our last day, they had turned off the waterfall that comes out from the top (which you go under as you exit the slide).


We had good conversations and reconnected. We tried to de-stress. We made mojitos almost daily. We had great Southwestern food. All in all, this was a great home base. I'm so grateful we were able to go there. And for the amazing weather. We didn't take a ton of pictures all week. Which was kind of nice. But there were two occasions that required me to pull out the camera.... those pics coming soon.

Our pool at night - just gorgeous all the time.