Christi weekend (part 1 of 2)
Before I forget, this is an account of my weekend in Sedona (Nov. 7-9). Today is the 20th, but I started writing this on the 9th. Pictures to follow tomorrow.
[11/9/03] I'm writing this above the stratosphere. The plane is scheduled to land in another 20 minutes, so I decided to whip out my laptop to kill time.
Friday
Barbara and I met at the airport for our morning flight into Phoenix. Pratima, a Phoenix local, was to meet us at the airport. We had seen a photo of her, and when we passed a woman who met her description, we made eye contact, but she showed no sign of recognition. Since we were both too cowardly to go back and ask, Barbara had the idea to call Pratima's cell phone to see if the woman reached into her pocket. Sure enough. "Pratima?" Barbara asked. "Where are you?" I could hear her respond from 10 feet away. "Turn around." The three of us had a pleasant (well, as pleasant as a nearly 2-hour drive can be) drive north to the Sedona area after having stopped off at Pratima's apartment (as long as we were there, we had to see her fitness video collection).
The first thing I noticed was how incredibly dry it was. (This from someone whose county burned to a crisp last week.) My eyes and my throat have been scratchy all weekend, and what's worse, since I had Lasik
[Must shut computer off. Will resume later.]
Well, it I did say "later." I just didn't intend it to be two weeks later!
I was saying that since I had Lasik, my eyes are ultra-sensitive to dryness and irritants. I've been dousing my eyes several times a day, and they're still slightly bloodshot weeks later.
The first event of Friday night was the party at Christi's ranch house on a mountain. I drove with Pam and Patti (both of whom I've known offline for 2 years). Between the three of us, surely we could manage to find our way there. The "5-minute drive" turned into 10, then 20. Are we going the wrong way? The sun is on the wrong side. Shit! Back to the hotel. This time, let's go out the right way. 10 minutes . . . 20 . . . where is the turn-off? What do you mean we're headed to Utah?! Let's call Christi from the cell phone. Great idea - if only Christi herself knew how to give directions to her house. We headed back toward the hotel yet again. This time, we found it. The problem was that three different roads all had the same name. After the turn-off, the roads soon turned unpaved and rocky. Please G-d, don't let me throw up in Pam's SUV!
We walked in an hour late, and 25 sets of eyes were on us. As an extreme introvert, I wanted to be beamed out of there on the spot. Christi wanted to know if any of the new arrivals were vegetarians. Several people pointed and loudly announced, "Suzanne is!" So Christi got to repeat her speech on which items were vegetarian while everyone stared at me, the circus freak. I couldn't eat anything for dinner except for the salad and stuffed grape leaves. I need protein! See, I had the foresight to bring with me about a dozen vegan energy bars that are high in protein and fiber so that I wouldn't starve. Toto, I don't think we're in California anymore!
I was feeling so queasy (from social anxiety, no longer from the rocky road) that I could barely eat. Afterwards, I spent most of the evening in the corner petting Christi's chihuahua (picture of Spike). Contrary to popular opinion, I do not hate dogs. They're just nowhere as cool as cats, and I find it disturbing how much they enjoy licking asses, but other than that, I generally like dogs. I've always wanted a couple dachshunds. I even thought of names years ago: Emma and Sophie. Anyhow, I'm a big animal lover, and being around animals puts me right at ease and helps to take my mind off the humans. A couple people came up to me and chat. I found out that Paula L. was also a Linguistics major who got a Masters in Library Science (what I'll be starting on once I return), and her husband is also a computer geek by profession. I really liked Paula. It's hard not to like someone so passionate about books.
Patti (my roommate) and I went to bed early because we knew we had a long day ahead of us Saturday. We found out later that the party animals were up socializing past midnight! :)
Saturday
The alarm went off at 5 a.m., which was 4 a.m. to those of us from California. Genius that I am, I unthinkingly put on makeup in the morning (as I typically do on vacation), not realizing that it would be sweated off within a couple hours. It was a fairly long drive to Sedona from Cottonwood, but we all made it by 6:30 a.m. for the class. Christi taught 45 minutes of step followed by 45 minutes of hi/lo. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with Christi's ultra-complex choreography at that hour, but I surprised myself. Those months of doing a Christi video once a week really paid off. Unfortunately, I was crushed under the weight of coursework throughout all October, and my regular workouts suffered; I lost quite a bit of cardio capacity. I wasn't feeling it so much in the class (even at that extreme altitude, which we were warned would affect us), but I sure felt it later.
After the class, we cleaned up and a few of us went shopping in Sedona before lunch. I managed to spent $0.00. I have a few photos of the quaint little shopping plaza, to which I'll post a link. Lunch itself was at The Heartline Cafe, and all 20-odd of us were there along with Christi. I had the vegan Thai curry vegetables (where's the tofu, people?!) off the 3-item limited menu. Dessert for me was berries. I believe all the others had a big slab of cheesecake with a few berries for garnish. I asked for just berries, and I imagined I'd get just a few, but they sent out a whole bowl of them for me. This was by far the best meal of the weekend.
Following lunch was a 3½-hour hike in red rock country (see pictures). Roughly half the group went on the hike. I swear I don't have penis envy, but after having to find a bush three times, I was grumbling over what a mess it is for females to take a leak in the woods. Speaking of woods, I was surprised that quite a few parts of the trail were surrounded by woods. I expected everything to be read. I got a pretty picture of the green and yellow leaves from my perch on the rock (I had to stop to take a breather, then rejoin the group later).
We were all famished after the hike, so even though we were nasty, dirty, and smelly, we decided to find a restaurant. Mary had heard from a friend who had visited Sedona that a certain Mexican restaurant was good. My opinion? Considering I couldn't consume anything except chips and water, I have no clue. I sat there watching everyone pig out as I starved. My energy bars were in my backpack locked in someone else's car. Not even the beans were vegetarian - bloody hell! What kind of Mexican restaurant doesn't have black beans? And no, refried beans are rarely vegetarian (and sure as hell not kosher) with all the lard. Funny how people don't realize that lard isn't vegetarian just because it isn't meat/muscle. You wouldn't slap a kidney on my plate and try to tell me it's vegetarian. OK, so I'm still a little cranky about that restaurant experience. As much as San Diego doesn't agree with my personality, I love that I can go out to eat anywhere. Anyhow, I had to excuse myself from the table partially because I was nervous from being around so many strangers (Patti, Pam, and Barbara weren't there) and partially because my stomach was growling, which made it difficult to watch everyone wolfing down food. I went outside to call DH from my cellphone for the first time all weekend. As usual, he was up to nothing - reading sci-fi and petting the cat. What else is new? That Nikita is such a Daddy's girl.
Before Christi's Saturday night party (yes, another one), we had to get back to the hotel to clean up. It wasn't a big deal like Saturday night, and a few people had been assigned to buy (junk) food so Christi wouldn't have to cook. The big surprise for me was that the four of us organizers all received $10 Collage gift certificates. What a nice thought, and completely unexpected. Barbara oversaw everything, so she did the most work. She was a real pro. I don't know what we would have done without her. I spent more time playing with the chihuahuas, especially Spike, who couldn't stop licking everything in sight. What else? Oh, Christi came up to speak to me! Her husband kept teasing me for being so quiet all weekend, and they might have noticed I was avoiding large groups. She told me that she absolutely loved my hair and wanted to know what I used to get it to that wavy texture. She was surprised to hear that it's just what my hair does naturally. I get out of the shower, rub gel through my hair to control frizz, and run out the door. I don't even blowdry. I'm extremely low maintenance when it comes to my hair. I can't see spending hours primping in front of a mirror when I can just spent 5 minutes and make better use of the rest of my time. My stylist, Gene, is a genius. Any man who can turn my scraggly, mouse brown hair into cascading, layered waves with two shades of blonde weaving through it deserves a Nobel Prize. I don't care if he costs a fortune. He listens to me, and that's what's important. I told him that I wanted a very low-upkeep style so that I could run out the door without doing anything to it and have it still look good. What was I talking about? (Sorry, I love Gene so much that I can't stop singing his praises.) As for the rest of the evening at Christi's, we sat down to watch video clips - most intended to be humorous. I'm so used to serious, hard-core cardio and strength workouts that I sometimes forgot that there's a bunch of garbage on the market. I wish to G-d I had a clip of the Zsa Zsa Gabor video. She was dressed in what looked like a black nightgown, with long, frilly sleeves that covered her hands. Assisting her were two beefy guys flexing in the background. At one point, Zsa Zsa even did "push-ups" by having the men stand with their backs to her while she set one palm on each back and thrust herself toward them repeatedly. I don't make this up.
Well, it's past 11 a.m., and I'm supposed to be working on a 3-page response paper due at 3:30. No problema, you say. Ha! I haven't even read the play yet. I was too busy working on the damned long-ass Shakespeare paper that was due at 8 a.m. today. I got not even 2 hours of sleep last night, and I forced myself to stay away from all caffeine. By 3 a.m., I was half falling asleep in the middle of sentences.
Part 2 to come tomorrow. . . .
[11/9/03] I'm writing this above the stratosphere. The plane is scheduled to land in another 20 minutes, so I decided to whip out my laptop to kill time.
Friday
Barbara and I met at the airport for our morning flight into Phoenix. Pratima, a Phoenix local, was to meet us at the airport. We had seen a photo of her, and when we passed a woman who met her description, we made eye contact, but she showed no sign of recognition. Since we were both too cowardly to go back and ask, Barbara had the idea to call Pratima's cell phone to see if the woman reached into her pocket. Sure enough. "Pratima?" Barbara asked. "Where are you?" I could hear her respond from 10 feet away. "Turn around." The three of us had a pleasant (well, as pleasant as a nearly 2-hour drive can be) drive north to the Sedona area after having stopped off at Pratima's apartment (as long as we were there, we had to see her fitness video collection).
The first thing I noticed was how incredibly dry it was. (This from someone whose county burned to a crisp last week.) My eyes and my throat have been scratchy all weekend, and what's worse, since I had Lasik
[Must shut computer off. Will resume later.]
Well, it I did say "later." I just didn't intend it to be two weeks later!
I was saying that since I had Lasik, my eyes are ultra-sensitive to dryness and irritants. I've been dousing my eyes several times a day, and they're still slightly bloodshot weeks later.
The first event of Friday night was the party at Christi's ranch house on a mountain. I drove with Pam and Patti (both of whom I've known offline for 2 years). Between the three of us, surely we could manage to find our way there. The "5-minute drive" turned into 10, then 20. Are we going the wrong way? The sun is on the wrong side. Shit! Back to the hotel. This time, let's go out the right way. 10 minutes . . . 20 . . . where is the turn-off? What do you mean we're headed to Utah?! Let's call Christi from the cell phone. Great idea - if only Christi herself knew how to give directions to her house. We headed back toward the hotel yet again. This time, we found it. The problem was that three different roads all had the same name. After the turn-off, the roads soon turned unpaved and rocky. Please G-d, don't let me throw up in Pam's SUV!
We walked in an hour late, and 25 sets of eyes were on us. As an extreme introvert, I wanted to be beamed out of there on the spot. Christi wanted to know if any of the new arrivals were vegetarians. Several people pointed and loudly announced, "Suzanne is!" So Christi got to repeat her speech on which items were vegetarian while everyone stared at me, the circus freak. I couldn't eat anything for dinner except for the salad and stuffed grape leaves. I need protein! See, I had the foresight to bring with me about a dozen vegan energy bars that are high in protein and fiber so that I wouldn't starve. Toto, I don't think we're in California anymore!
I was feeling so queasy (from social anxiety, no longer from the rocky road) that I could barely eat. Afterwards, I spent most of the evening in the corner petting Christi's chihuahua (picture of Spike). Contrary to popular opinion, I do not hate dogs. They're just nowhere as cool as cats, and I find it disturbing how much they enjoy licking asses, but other than that, I generally like dogs. I've always wanted a couple dachshunds. I even thought of names years ago: Emma and Sophie. Anyhow, I'm a big animal lover, and being around animals puts me right at ease and helps to take my mind off the humans. A couple people came up to me and chat. I found out that Paula L. was also a Linguistics major who got a Masters in Library Science (what I'll be starting on once I return), and her husband is also a computer geek by profession. I really liked Paula. It's hard not to like someone so passionate about books.
Patti (my roommate) and I went to bed early because we knew we had a long day ahead of us Saturday. We found out later that the party animals were up socializing past midnight! :)
Saturday
The alarm went off at 5 a.m., which was 4 a.m. to those of us from California. Genius that I am, I unthinkingly put on makeup in the morning (as I typically do on vacation), not realizing that it would be sweated off within a couple hours. It was a fairly long drive to Sedona from Cottonwood, but we all made it by 6:30 a.m. for the class. Christi taught 45 minutes of step followed by 45 minutes of hi/lo. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with Christi's ultra-complex choreography at that hour, but I surprised myself. Those months of doing a Christi video once a week really paid off. Unfortunately, I was crushed under the weight of coursework throughout all October, and my regular workouts suffered; I lost quite a bit of cardio capacity. I wasn't feeling it so much in the class (even at that extreme altitude, which we were warned would affect us), but I sure felt it later.
After the class, we cleaned up and a few of us went shopping in Sedona before lunch. I managed to spent $0.00. I have a few photos of the quaint little shopping plaza, to which I'll post a link. Lunch itself was at The Heartline Cafe, and all 20-odd of us were there along with Christi. I had the vegan Thai curry vegetables (where's the tofu, people?!) off the 3-item limited menu. Dessert for me was berries. I believe all the others had a big slab of cheesecake with a few berries for garnish. I asked for just berries, and I imagined I'd get just a few, but they sent out a whole bowl of them for me. This was by far the best meal of the weekend.
Following lunch was a 3½-hour hike in red rock country (see pictures). Roughly half the group went on the hike. I swear I don't have penis envy, but after having to find a bush three times, I was grumbling over what a mess it is for females to take a leak in the woods. Speaking of woods, I was surprised that quite a few parts of the trail were surrounded by woods. I expected everything to be read. I got a pretty picture of the green and yellow leaves from my perch on the rock (I had to stop to take a breather, then rejoin the group later).
We were all famished after the hike, so even though we were nasty, dirty, and smelly, we decided to find a restaurant. Mary had heard from a friend who had visited Sedona that a certain Mexican restaurant was good. My opinion? Considering I couldn't consume anything except chips and water, I have no clue. I sat there watching everyone pig out as I starved. My energy bars were in my backpack locked in someone else's car. Not even the beans were vegetarian - bloody hell! What kind of Mexican restaurant doesn't have black beans? And no, refried beans are rarely vegetarian (and sure as hell not kosher) with all the lard. Funny how people don't realize that lard isn't vegetarian just because it isn't meat/muscle. You wouldn't slap a kidney on my plate and try to tell me it's vegetarian. OK, so I'm still a little cranky about that restaurant experience. As much as San Diego doesn't agree with my personality, I love that I can go out to eat anywhere. Anyhow, I had to excuse myself from the table partially because I was nervous from being around so many strangers (Patti, Pam, and Barbara weren't there) and partially because my stomach was growling, which made it difficult to watch everyone wolfing down food. I went outside to call DH from my cellphone for the first time all weekend. As usual, he was up to nothing - reading sci-fi and petting the cat. What else is new? That Nikita is such a Daddy's girl.
Before Christi's Saturday night party (yes, another one), we had to get back to the hotel to clean up. It wasn't a big deal like Saturday night, and a few people had been assigned to buy (junk) food so Christi wouldn't have to cook. The big surprise for me was that the four of us organizers all received $10 Collage gift certificates. What a nice thought, and completely unexpected. Barbara oversaw everything, so she did the most work. She was a real pro. I don't know what we would have done without her. I spent more time playing with the chihuahuas, especially Spike, who couldn't stop licking everything in sight. What else? Oh, Christi came up to speak to me! Her husband kept teasing me for being so quiet all weekend, and they might have noticed I was avoiding large groups. She told me that she absolutely loved my hair and wanted to know what I used to get it to that wavy texture. She was surprised to hear that it's just what my hair does naturally. I get out of the shower, rub gel through my hair to control frizz, and run out the door. I don't even blowdry. I'm extremely low maintenance when it comes to my hair. I can't see spending hours primping in front of a mirror when I can just spent 5 minutes and make better use of the rest of my time. My stylist, Gene, is a genius. Any man who can turn my scraggly, mouse brown hair into cascading, layered waves with two shades of blonde weaving through it deserves a Nobel Prize. I don't care if he costs a fortune. He listens to me, and that's what's important. I told him that I wanted a very low-upkeep style so that I could run out the door without doing anything to it and have it still look good. What was I talking about? (Sorry, I love Gene so much that I can't stop singing his praises.) As for the rest of the evening at Christi's, we sat down to watch video clips - most intended to be humorous. I'm so used to serious, hard-core cardio and strength workouts that I sometimes forgot that there's a bunch of garbage on the market. I wish to G-d I had a clip of the Zsa Zsa Gabor video. She was dressed in what looked like a black nightgown, with long, frilly sleeves that covered her hands. Assisting her were two beefy guys flexing in the background. At one point, Zsa Zsa even did "push-ups" by having the men stand with their backs to her while she set one palm on each back and thrust herself toward them repeatedly. I don't make this up.
Well, it's past 11 a.m., and I'm supposed to be working on a 3-page response paper due at 3:30. No problema, you say. Ha! I haven't even read the play yet. I was too busy working on the damned long-ass Shakespeare paper that was due at 8 a.m. today. I got not even 2 hours of sleep last night, and I forced myself to stay away from all caffeine. By 3 a.m., I was half falling asleep in the middle of sentences.
Part 2 to come tomorrow. . . .