For The Journey Not just the destination…

Earlier this week, I went to the spa for the first time with a gift certificate Thomas gave me last Christmas. I think he had planned for me to use it right before our wedding, but I really didn’t have a free half-day until this past week. It was my first time at the spa, and my first time for a facial and a silky hands and feet treatment. It was all very relaxing.

After checking in, they had me change into a robe and slippers. Before locking away my iPhone, I took a quick snapshot. The place was very peaceful with new age music and fountains everywhere, and beautifully decorated. I had a facial first and it was very refreshing. The girl analyzed my skin (clogged pores), discussed my skin care practices (soap in the shower), and gave me some recommendations (cleansing with real facial products, moisturizing, and sun block). My face was steam-cleaned and she picked at my pores. When she was done, I was led to a room with snacks to relax.

Next, I met with the massage therapist who gave me a back, neck, leg, arm, face, and head massage. It was a little more forceful than I’m used to, but it felt good. Afterwards, I went back to the room with snacks to wait. My last part was the silky hands and feet treatment where they dipped my hands and feet in parafin wax. Again, this was very relaxing, but I also enjoyed talking with the girl who did this part. She was the same age as me, but she had just moved to the US from Germany and Poland.

Overall, it was a great experience – I felt very pampered. Now I just need to get Thomas to schedule the rest of his Christmas gift certificate to hanggliding lessons.

Happy Thanksgiving! It has been a wonderful year and I have many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful to be married to a wonderful man. And for a new job. And for my loving family. And a beautiful view out my window. And new blog friends. And much, much more…

We’re having Thanksgiving Dinner at my Sister-in-Law’s house this year. And to get there, we have a long car ride. And to keep myself occupied, I’m going to work on some bird ornaments, using the tutorial in Sunshine’s Creations.

The contest is to guess how many ornaments I will complete during my ride. I’ve never made these before, and I’m new to embroidery, but these look pretty quick and easy to make. So, go on and guess, and I’ll mail the winner one of the ornaments (be sure to count that one in your guess). If more than one commenter guesses the right number, I’ll randomly pick out of the correct guessers.

Edit:  Just to make this fair,  my Sister-in-law lives in a suburb of Raleigh, NC, and we have to drive there and back.  But there are a lot of other factors too for this — does my husband make me drive at all, do I fall asleep as a passenger, does my dog insist on being held, do I forget an item to make the ornaments, do I make the first one and decide this is too hard. :)  I don’t have a certain amount planned, so even I don’t know how many I’ll make.  I’ll announce a winner on Sunday or Monday.  Happy guessing!

Sick of posts about dining room colors yet? I hope not, since I’ve got one more right here.

When I was at Joann Fabrics this week, I picked out some swatches in their interior decorating section that might make good curtains or seat cushions. I’ve been having a hard time finding just the right red – everything seems either too orangy or too crimsony. I found some good middle grounds though – don’t know how well they’ll show up over the Internet.

Now I just need to figure out if any of these would work, and if they would be too challenging to sew.

I finally decided to order some Moo Cards after seeing them on A to Z. (Thanks for posting the coupon code.) I figured I could use them as very casual business cards. The next time I dig around in my purse for a receipt to write my phone number on, I’ll just pull out a Moo Card instead. They’ve got my name, website, and email address already printed on the back.

I picked out 50 of my favorite nature photos and got multiples printed – here’s one set. The picture doesn’t show it, but the quality is pretty good.

I had fun mixing them up and seeing which photos stood out. It’s like the collage of Thomas and My First Year next to our front door. :) I love telling stories about the photos in the college, and taking these photos was similar. I kept thinking about where these different shots were taken. Recognize any of these from previous blog entries?