Friday, April 20, 2018

Friday Favorites #55. {Phoenix Recap}

Happy Friday, y'all!!

This has been a crazy week for us.  We got back from Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon, Craig's parents left on Wednesday morning and I tried to start back in on that fun game of catch up we all play after days away from home.  Laundry, baseball games, homework, field trips, groceries, work...

Fun times.

Today, I'm sharing all about our fun trip for my Friday Favorites with Erika, Narci, and Andrea!  Because it was definitely a favorite!  And this mama needed a break!

Awhile back, Craig was invited to participate in a celebrity golf tournament that his friend and fellow former NFL-er is involved with.  He said it was definitely one I might want to come to as well because it was at a beautiful resort in Phoenix and there were several wives/girlfriends that were planning to come.


The charity raises money for the Prostate On-Site Project and every year they have a golf tournament where they invite tons of former NFL, NBA and MLB players to come play golf with their guests and donate memorabilia to their auction items.

Craig was invited as a former NFL player plus he LOVES golf.  As in, would play all day every day if he could.  He's pretty good too which doesn't hurt.

Craig's parents came in last Thursday to take care of the boys while we were gone.  Craig and Mason share a birthday (April 21st) and Matthew is May 19th so while they were here, we celebrated a little with some bundt cakes and cookies.


My birthday boys!  (Matthew prefers chocolate chip cookies to a bundt cake.)

The next morning, we sent the kids off to school and boarded our plane.

I was so happy to have almost 2 hours of uninterrupted reading time!  I started reading the new Emily Giffin book, All We Ever Wanted on my Kindle and seriously...I LOVE this Kindle!! I really thought I would hate it, that it wouldn't really feel like reading a book but it's amazing!  Read more about my thoughts and why I got this version of the Kindle HERE.


This book comes out June 26th and it is so good!!  I am almost finished and will tell you all about it in my April book review.  Do yourself a favor and go ahead and add it your cart for pre-order. It's only getting better and better so I feel confident already recommending it.  And Emily Giffin never disappoints.

We arrived in Phoenix to beautiful skies and a cool breeze.


We were staying at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and it was beautiful!  And way classier than we are, for the record.



We tried to pretend we belonged though.  ;)


We were quickly outclassed by this poodle we saw at check-in.


Look at that perfect posture.  And those crossed legs.

Oh.  And we found out his name is as cool as he is.  Mick Jagger.  The dog's name was Mick Jagger.

That dog was cool and he knew it.

We found out our room wouldn't be ready for a couple of hours so we explored the resort and then stopped for a fruity frozen drink to relax with out by one of the pools.




If this had been checkers, it would have been ON.  But yeah.  No idea how to play chess.



FUN FACT:  This pool (the Catalina pool below) was Marilyn Monroe's favorite!






Friday was the coolest day they'd had all week and we were even the slightest bit chilly in the shade.  So it was actually perfect weather for having to sit around waiting for your room to be ready while you were in jeans and a t-shirt.


And speaking of t-shirts...I'm loving this Amazon find!  

#takethetrip #eatthecake

Find it here.  I ordered a medium and am glad I did.  It ran a little small but the medium was perfect.  It's so soft and it also comes in other colors!




Only $14.99!  Not bad at all.  And it shipped quickly.

They told us our room would be ready by 4pm and at EXACTLY 4pm we got a text that our room was ready.  


Our room was big and the bed was comfy.  We also had a little patio that led out to the pool.  


And I should have gotten a better picture of my awesome new bag that I grabbed on Zulilly the other day! You can see it sitting on the bed.

 I used it on the plane and as a pool bag the whole time.  These bags are awesome and come in so many different prints.  They have outside pockets, are roomy, zip up and are easy to wipe down or hose off.  They aren't available on Zulilly right now but I did find them HERE.  They don't have my exact print but have so many others!

For dinner, we met up with Craig's friend, Ralph and his wife, Marcy.  We tried to snap a few selfies before the sun set so they are pretty blurry.  I had to lighten them up a bit.  I'm terrible at selfies, y'all.


I wore my favorite new top of the season.


We ate at Frank and Albert's at the resort and I tried to explain to Ralph what a blog was (he was really interested which I thought was funny because he's this big burly former football player) and he tried to convince Craig to order his salmon raw.

I will say this.  ALL of the food on this resort was fancy.  Too fancy at times.  But maybe it was good for me. 

Craig ordered the salmon.


And I got the scallops and risotto.  Oh it was soooo good!  My favorite meal of the trip.


We got a good night's sleep and slept in the next morning. I laid in bed watching Sister Act and just enjoyed having nowhere to be and no responsibilities. 


We finally made our way out to the pool and settled in next to our friends with more fruity drinks, my book and sunscreen.  And a lady at the pool, who clearly had had one too many fruity drinks herself, kept telling me how much she loved my Bad Hair Day hat. After our first quick chat, she promptly forgot who I was and asked me about it again like we hadn't just had a full on convo about it 10 minutes before.  Her husband took her drink away and they left the pool shortly after that. ;)   
 

Later that afternoon, the shade hit us and we headed in to shower and change for dinner with more of our group who had shown up that day.


This time we ate at Wright's at the Biltmore.  It was the most sophisticated menu offerings I'd ever seen.  


Honestly, all I wanted was a burger or some tacos.  #notanoption

I only snapped one picture during the dinner and it wasn't great.


And on the way to the lobby, we passed by a wall of presidents who have all stayed here during their presidency!  Every president since Herbert Hoover.  There was a whole long wall full of them.  


After dinner, we hung around the firepits for awhile until we were exhausted.  Even a two hour time difference can whoop ya.

The next day, Craig hit the golf course while I met Marcy and Ralph plus more of their friends who arrived that day by the main pool.


Another fruity drink for the win!


We ordered lunch by the pool.  I had the caesar wrap which came with a pinto bean pico and queso...??  I told you everything was too fancy.


That evening was our first official event for the golf tournament.  The auction and speakers were out under the tents on the golf course.

I was looking through the program at all players and saw Craig's little write-up.  I had to do a double-take.


Yeah.  That's not his picture.  Yes, he was #16 when he played for Green Bay but this is actually a picture of someone else.  Who? I have no idea.  But it made us all laugh.  


They had a fundraiser going with a cornhole game.  (Because prostates...cornhole...they thought it was funny...hahaha).  For $10 you got 3 throws.  Each time someone made it, they backed it up a foot.  Craig threw three and then gave me the bean bags.  And I MADE IT from 40ish ft!  

I snapped a pic of Marcy giving it a try but no one got me sinking my shot!  Boo.


I held on to the lead until the next day when they started it back up again during the golf tournament.  But for a while there I was starting to worry how I was going to get that refrigerator (the prize) onto the plane.  ;)



After the event, everyone headed out to the firepits again to sit around and listen to all the players tell stories.  We laughed until our cheeks ached.  If anyone knows who Billy Joe Tolliver is (lives in Shreveport, QB for the Saints many years ago), he kept us in hysterics all night long. (Above in the white shirt.) Think Larry the Cable Guy times five.



And Marcy was the birthday girl so late that night, she was surprised with a little cake!


Love that picture even though it's so dark.


The next day, the guys played in the tournament and the girls laid out.  We made our way back over to the tents that night for dinner and awards and then said our goodbyes to everyone.

Goose Gossage was one of the former MLB players there (a Hall of Fame pitcher) and he was my absolute favorite.  Cussed like a sailor but the nicest guy ever.  I loved talking to him and he's the only one I wanted a picture with before we left. 



And I was checking out Ralph's Super Bowl ring and it was the blingiest one I've ever seen in real life.  So I had to take a picture.  (And I also realized my mama should have told me to put sunscreen on the back of my hands growing up...yikes.)


We flew out the next day and I was so happy to get back to my babies!  We picked up some souvenirs for them in the Phoenix airport and this was one of them.  It was a sucker with a scorpion in it!!  I couldn't figure out if it was real or not so we decided to crack it open to see.


We decided that it was real.  #sogross  #whowouldeatthat


But poor Mason.  He started crying when he saw there was a scorpion in his sucker!  He wanted that sucker so bad but wasn't about to eat it with a bug in it!!  It was such a tease!

I grabbed this little dish to hold some of my jewelry.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I couldn't pass up the colors!!


Overall, we had a GREAT trip.  We did a whole lot of nothing for the most part and it was exactly what we needed.

Today I'm back to work and tomorrow we will celebrate the 2 April 21st birthday boys!  Matthew and Mason are only 3 weeks apart so we always celebrate their birthday with a joint party in late May.  Tomorrow will just be a little something on Craig and Mason's actual day.  I can't believe my BABY is going to be 8!!  Where has the time gone?  #makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitSTOP

Have a great weekend, everyone!!


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15 comments

  1. What a FUN trip!!! The resort looks amazing! Glad you had a little time away! It's always good for the soul!

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  2. What a FUN trip!!! So glad you guys got a weekend full or relaxation!

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  3. Yes, yes, YES to the Kindle!! It's such a life changer, right?!

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  4. Arizona makes for a fun trip! I had to laugh because we stayed at a swanky resort in Scottsdale last October and we felt "outclassed" too but enjoyed the hell out of it! haha Enjoy celebrating with your boys!

    Shelly | The Queen in Between

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    1. We stayed at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale a couple of years ago! Was it that one? We liked it a lot better than the Biltmore! Super swanky for sure but a little trendier!

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  5. It looks so warm and beautiful in all of those photos! I'm craving some sunshine lately! Happy Friday! :)

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  6. Wow what a beautiful vacation spot!!! I would love a weekend getaway there! And oh my! That poodle is too much!!!! Have a great weekend!
    - Shannon @slayitagainshan.com

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  7. I love this post. I am so jealous of your night around the fire pit listening to sports stories...my dream.
    I was laughing at Mick Jagger's owner...Mick was so fancy and his owner had on a typical man outfit when they don't have a woman to tell them what to wear. haha
    Craig's wrong picture-too funny.
    Thanks for keeping it real-I really enjoy reading your blog.

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  8. We rented a house in Scottsdale last month for a get away with another couple and I said I would never do that again! I am jealous of all the swanky resort goodness! We are heading to Las Vegas next month for a few days away and staying at The Palazzo and I plan to lay by the pool, drink cocktails and read my kindle! That is the perfect get away for this empty nester!

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  9. Looks like the perfect getaway! I'm SO jealous! A book by the pool is MY KINDA DAY! Happy Friday! Simply Tish

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  10. This resort is stunning--your trip sounds awesome! And I'm with you on the Kindle! I thought I was going to hate it too, but I actually really enjoy it. Who knew?

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  11. Your trip looks like it was so much fun!!!! I love Emily Giffin but hadn't seen this new book; need to get my hands on it! Happy Friday!

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  12. Looks like a wonderful getaway! That poodle named Mick Jagger made me LOL! I love a good game of cornhole, and I would have really enjoyed hearing about how you won and brought home a refrigerator. A cornhole from 40 ft away is a great shot!

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  13. Anonymous5:36 AM

    What a fun trip, friend!!!!

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