Tag Archives: spa

Birthdays are Cool

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So, I mentioned in my last blog that I had a birthday coming up.  It was yesterday. Don’t feel bad if you forgot to send me some birthday love.  I felt like a rockstar most of the day.  If I ever consider getting rid of my Facebook account, I’ll remind myself of how good I feel about the site when my big day rolls around.  The love was pouring in all day!

My birthday is always extra cool because I share the day with my older sister.  Yes, we have the same birthday but we’re three years apart.  When we were kids this wasn’t necessarily the coolest thing to share a birthday, but now?  Now, it’s the shit. It helps that she’s one of my favorite people.  And, it’s just fun.  The last couple of years we’ve gone for lunch and then hit the spa.  I love the spa.  Honestly, if I had loads of extra cash, I’m pretty sure I’d spend it being pampered.

Yesterday we both opted for a spa treatment we’d never tried (we’re getting adventurous now that we’re in our mid and late 30’s).  It’s called a Native American Body Balancer.  I thought for sure we’d leave covered in body paint and feathers, but sadly, we did not.  Calm down, it’s a joke.  The treatment is a skin exfoliation/detox that involves a scrub, steam, shower and body butter application.  The scrub?  A little scratchy, but it was fine and the local herb mixture smelled amazing.  The steam?  Holy hot!  Thank God the lady told me how to turn it off, because there is no way in hell I would have lasted in that room for 20 minutes.  I’m pretty sure I turned it off after like seven minutes.  I think I’m still sweating.  My skin is happy today though, and I do feel slightly detoxed, which may or may not be a placebo thing.

I ended the day with a Gmail chat interview (more on that when I know where it’s all going) and a wonderful dinner with my little family.  Rob, Em and I have such a great time together, and I am reminded of that so often.  I feel like a very lucky woman to have such an incredible husband and stepdaughter.  Jack and Kitty never actually wished me a ‘Happy Birthday,’ but I could feel their love.  Damn, life is good.

So Far Not So Good

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I booked a massage today for a few reasons: 1) I got it on Groupon for a steal, 2) I adore massages and 3) I thought it would be a good anti-anxiety activity (see previous blog). Upon entering the parking lot, I was immediately turned off.  It was really dirty and not at all maintained, which seemed odd for a spa that normally charges $80 for a 1-hour massage.  It wasn’t enough of a turn-off to not go in though.  I mean I had paid $35.  So in I walked.  The lobby was a little less than really nice, but it wasn’t terrible.  The receptionist (who also looked a little unkept) greeted me and told me someone would be right out.  And right out he was.  Enter the ex-con dude.

Listen, I know all of this is about to sound super duper judgmental, but hear me out. When getting a massage, it’s important to feel comfortable with the person that is about to touch your naked body for a full hour.  No, you’re not going to be BFF’s right away, but you really want to feel like this person is competent and not a creeper in the least.  Part of that feeling, I’m sorry to say, comes from their appearance.  This guy’s appearance (damn, I wish I could remember his name!) was very ex-con/white trash/creeper like.  He had on a ratty t-shirt, low-riding jean shorts and unlaced tennis shoes unaccompanied by some prison-looking tattoos (I know, there is nothing wrong with tattoos, but it just added to the whole ensemble). Maybe even if he was dressed in a tux, I would have gotten the eebie jeebies.  I do believe in intuition, after all.

I immediately thought about lying there on the table with this dude touching me and I wanted to throw up in my mouth.  I mean I really had a not-so-good feeling.  I proceeded to fill out the form hoping that maybe he was just the guy that handled the paper work.  When he came back though he was like, “So where would you like me to focus?”  And that’s when I knew I had to leave. So after answering questions like, “Do you have any lacerations I need to know about” (lacerations?!), I told a big fat lie and said, “I need to grab something out of my car.”  Only instead of grabbing something out of my car, I got in and drove like hell straight out of the parking lot.

Obviously my anxiety level went up rather than down, but you know what, that’s OK.  I’m feeling really good about my decision right now.  I mean even if Mr. Creeper was legit, there is no way I would have ever been able to relax.  Note to self: Pay the big bucks for the spas and massage therapists you know and trust.  It’s worth every penny.

Oh and so that all of you Utahns can avoid this place, it’s called A New Day Spa and is located on Highland Drive.