Groupon Relaxation Staycation: Voucher 2

I have redeemed voucher numero two at The Happy Foot Spa. What a... happy experience.

I started my lovely vacation day with lunch with McPal. We hit this truly amazing crepe joint in Yorkville. It had smoked salmon. Anything with smoked salmon is delightful.

The second part of today was a trip to the AGO to see the Picasso exhibit. This was also sort of a Groupon, as the Dude and I bought a dual membership last year for $60. We've seen two special exhibits a piece, thus justifying the cost.

It was kinda wild. These weren't his famous works, but his own personal collection. Some of them were incredibly vivid. Others were sort of... meh. Rather than a view of the works that sold or made an impact, these were like his journal, this was his idea of his own progress and journey. I read that he was a genius and he knew it. I wonder what it would be like to be a genius. I think plenty of people think they are and live with that belief, but to actually be one coupled with that kind of confidence would be crazy.

I spent about an hour in there. I'm not one for lingering in art galleries. I view, I read, I do a little sitting, and then I hit the road. Some people like to hang about and, I suppose, try to get their money's worth. But as much as I enjoy viewing fine art, I get antsy. When I'm done, I'm done. And being alone, I could leave at my leisure.

En route to Happy Foot, I spontaneously decided to make an appointment to donate blood. Hell, why not! I'm on vacation! Heh. I've always wanted to, but I never seem to be able to make the time. So that's tomorrow, and afterwards I'll enjoy a guilt-free cupcake to get my blood sugar up. Hee! And before my workout. I hope that exercising a few hours after donating blood isn't a stupid thing to do.

And finally, the foot reflexology. Goodness me. Now that was relaxing. Foot soak, shoulder massage, and total foot and leg attention. I could easily see myself going back. I felt like jelly, nearly feel asleep in the chair. I love spas. I heart indulging myself. The woman at the blood clinic asked me if I was 17 so I could donate. I had the joy of telling her I was turning 30 this year. I sometimes fancy I've held off the clock on aging with all the skincare and soothing things I've done over the years. I got my first facial when I was 20.

But really, I think I just have a baby face. Hopefully some day there won't be a reckoning. Like when I have kids, maybe then suddenly and terribly I'll look my age and more.

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday. Vacation always flies by. This year, frankly, is tumbling past me. But that is a subject for another post.

Two

My spa day was exactly what I needed. My nails are pretty, my pores are unclogged and my muscles are relaxed. I also have faith that the giant zit that recently appeared on my upper back will disperse itself before the wedding.

I kind of don't believe any of this is actually happening. Sometimes I feel cloudy in my life. Like I'm watching myself have experiences. I'm always somehow more in the moment when I'm remembering the moment instead of having it.

My spa day was four and a half hours. I've been looking forward to it for weeks and now in a flash it's over and I'm writing about it. I've been planning this wedding for a year. It's going to be a memory in less than 72 hours.

I never gave much thought to how I'd feel having this hoopla surround me. I just knew I'd want the memory, the photo album to show my kids, the chance to have my loved ones all together and an opportunity to wear an impractical but beautiful dress. It's a life experience I can relive in my mind afterwards, where it will stay vivid and joyful.

I think that's pretty much what this is about. The marriage could have been performed privately to the same end for little money and no time. Despite my anxieties over all that concentrated attention, I want the images and sounds to be recorded inside my head, to be able to relive the moments as many times as I want for the rest of my life.

Maybe this line of thinking will make the stress hives that have appeared on my lower back go away.

And now I'm off to a lovely evening with Lyn and another dear friend, to make even more memories.

The Giving Spa

One thing about going to the spa four four hours is that the next day you're ready to go back again. If I could somehow spend my entire life getting massaged, I don't think I'd consider it a life wasted. I came home with the nicest hands and feet I've ever had and very soft skin.

And now back to real life. I have dance class tonight. I'd been trying to build up callouses on the soles of my feet to help with my dancing. Soft feet means pain during certain moves. Considering I had a paraffin treatment on my feet (and hands), I'm back at square one. But I don't care. My feet feel like I was born last week. My hands, which were peeling from what I suspect was from washing too many dishes, are no longer flaking away and are more supple and pretty. So pretty in fact, I can't be expected to use them to wash any more dishes for the next couple days. The spa is the gift that keeps on giving.

Reading Rainbow

Tomorrow I'm a lady of leisure. Spa day. I've been looking forward to this for a month. I got a gift certificate for a day at the spa for Valentine's Day and the earliest I could book a Sunday was tomorrow. I'm going to be rubbed, scrubbed and polished. Bliss.

The Dude and I went out on a "date" last night for Indian food and Shutter Island. The movie was pretty damn nifty. Not scary, but psychologically thrilling and the plot and character development was really good.

Between dinner and the movie, we went to Chapter's to browse children's books for a 3-year-old whose birthday is tomorrow. This little girl has a crush on the Dude and wanted to invite him to her birthday party. How can you say no to that? Well, you can't, and we discussed what sort of present to get her.

We settled on a book or two, because you can't go wrong with books for any child ever. I really believe this. Kids can have too many toys or clothes (though some don't have enough, but this child happily doesn't have that problem), but no kid on Earth can ever suffer from having too many books. There just is no such thing.

We perused the kids section of the bookstore and lingered over our childhood favourites. And unaccountably while reading The Giving Tree and The Velveteen Rabbit my eyes welled with tears. Mostly from happy memories of being read to, but also because of the genuine quality of feeling behind the stories.

And I felt the old tug from my uterus aching to have children to read to. And I took stock of all the books I'd read as a kid and had happy thoughts that someday when I become pregnant, my first trip will not be to the doctor, but to a children's bookstore.

I plan on giving my cousin's daughter Goodnight Moon for her first birthday, which is coming up Easter weekend. You just can't go wrong with books. The Dude settled on a collection of Little Mr and Little Miss books. Another classic selection.

Books I will read to my children:
Goodnight Moon
The Giving Tree
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Little Prince
The Bearnstein Bears
The Little Mr and Little Miss books
Where The Wild Things Are
Beatrix Potter
The Little House books
Curious George
Madeline
Robert Munch

Choo Choo Choose you

Today be Valentine's Day. Once when I was 16 I was heard to say, "I hate Valentine's Day because no one ever loves me!" I was being facetious with a large grain of angsty teenage truth, but I said it in front of my best friend, who has remembered and repeated the quote to me ever since. When my mom heard it that year she was offended. "I always make you feel loved!" Ah, moms. But she did always give my brother and me Valentines.

This year the Dude and I are staying in to enjoy our sparklingly clean apartment. Man, it looks good. They missed some spots, but they were far more thorough than he and I have ever managed. On our agenda for the day is to watch some movies from the list. We only have 10 left. The Time Traveler's Wife will be on there. Also we're going to have my favourite soup ever, which is a concoction the Dude made up and has been perfecting over time. I call it Thai soup for lack of creativity. It's full of veggies, garlic, satay, coconut milk, chicken, chilli peppers... Oh God, it's good.

And the Dude gave me my present last night. Why last night? Because he can't keep a secret.

Now, I'm pretty good at stringing him along, misdirecting him and holding my tongue about what I get him for gifts, unless it requires prior planning and then whatever. Like the bag I got him for Christmas. I told him a lie about how I checked out the bags he had admired and they were several hundred dollars and I couldn't afford it. Or on his birthday I told him not to buy himself anything, and that if he tried to guess what his present was, then that wouldn't be it anymore if he was right, and I'd get him something else.

He tried to string me along a little. But he slipped. He said, "The lady said it doesn't expire." A-ha.

Me: It's a certificate of some kind.
Dude: Uh... oh... Damn it!
Me: Now, what sort of certificate could it be?
Dude: (Grumbling)
Me: It's a spa certificate isn't it?
Dude: Fuck!
Me: Gimme!
Dude: Damn it! Fuck!
Me: ^_^

I'm so utterly jazzed. I've always, always wanted a spa day and this certificate is for "the works". Exfoliating scrub, massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, and lunch. Oh boy! There are certain indulgences that make me melt, and spa stuff is pretty much at the top of the list.

I'm happy.