Tuesday Funday!

It’s not very often that I have a great Tuesday.  But I did, friends!

This morning started with the first meeting at 8:30, allowing me to sleep in JUST a bit.  I made it into the meeting after grabbing coffee and some oatmeal at the cafeteria.  My computer wasn’t booting up properly (and Outlook had crashed at least 6 times yesterday), so I couldn’t start up the meeting properly, but the Exec. Director who dialed into the meeting couldn’t get her WebEx to work anyway.  So it all worked out well!  That meeting finished 30 minutes early, with a good outcome.  My next meeting was scheduled for 2 hours, but ended an hour early.  Woot!  The best!

I’m working on a bunch of presentations (all for other people, oddly enough), so I had lots to do today!  There were slides to make, data to analyze, and discussions to have to make sure that I was capturing everything just right.  Almost done!  2 are due tomorrow for legal review, then a big presentation on Thursday.  It’s a big week, and I love being busy!

But then it was 5 PM, and time for my 75 minute “Vie Signature Pedicure” from Vie the Spa in Camarillo.  This was something that I purchased through a local group coupon site, Conejo Deals.  The day it was offered, I contacted the owner of Conejo Deals for something else, and she highly recommended the pedicure – but I’d already bought it.  I jump at fancy pedicures (my feet are terribly calloused – thanks to my mom’s genes – so I need a pedicure at least every 3 weeks to look “decent”, I don’t particularly care for them because I’m also super ticklish).  This was $35 for a $65 pedicure and $10 hand treatment.  Score!

Friends, it was amazing.  I arrived 10 minutes late, and apologized to the therapist, Sylvia.  She didn’t seem fazed at all, which was good.  I expected that she’d take the 10 minutes off my total time, since I was the last appointment for the day, but she didn’t!  Full 75 minutes here, baby!

The spa was really nice, and not at all what I expected.  I was thinking that this would be in the little spa room off of a hair salon or something.  Nope – this was a full-on day spa in a little office park.  It didn’t look like much from the outside, but there were signs to get me where I needed to go, and once inside, super relaxation space!  Bamboo (?) floors, nice color on the walls, and soothing music.  YAY!

Sylvia took me into a relaxation room where she gave me some water with lemon, then set about filling up my soaking bowl.  I helped myself to a bit more water & saw that they had some granola bars set out too…  I hadn’t had time for my afternoon snack – yoink!  Mmmm, dark chocolate & oats!  She brought back the soaking bowl (think of your largest mixing bowl, filled with water & essential oils).  My feet soaked for a bit, then we moved into the pedicure room…

If only they served these at the spa! To Wit!

She started with a hand treatment – a scrub (sugar & berries), then she painted on some pineapple & papaya lotion, then I dipped my hands in paraffin wax.  She covered them with baggies & towels.  And then I sat in THE CHAIR.

The Chair was amazing.  It’s an “anti-gravity” chair, meaning that you get to lean back the whole way.  She covered me with a blanket, then started working on my feet.  Friends, it was awesome.  That’s all I can say.  I felt scrub, I felt more painting of lotion, but I didn’t get that sickly feeling that I get when I get a cheapie pedicure, and they’re trying to use a drill to get my callouses off.  Seriously – this was a spa treatment, not torture!

I felt myself do that weird falling thing when I’m falling asleep and jolt myself awake a few times, and I’m pretty sure I woke myself up with my snoring.  It was FANTASTIC.  I really must do this again!

After I finished, I met my hubby and 3 of our friends at a local gastropub, the Ladyface Ale Companie.  The guys had all finished eating, but I was hungers!  I ordered a house made wit beer, my favorite here, but couldn’t decide on dinner.  I really wanted their mac & cheese (it’s topped with vinegar & salt potato chips all crushed up — swoon!), but I couldn’t justify it.  Finally settled on a beet & goat cheese salad and the fried green tomatoes.

They were both – eh.

The fried green tomatoes themselves were really good, but as one of my buddies pointed out, really fried.  I think they’d be better with a lighter cornmeal breading, and pan-fried.  These were battered & deep-fried.  Not what I was expecting.  They were served with a salad with a bunch of bacon, onions, and heavy dressing.  I should really remember to ask for dressing on the side, but I didn’t even know this came with salad!

Which is why I ordered my own salad.  Of course, I was envisioning a bunch of sliced beets topped with chunks of goat cheese.  I got a spinach salad with a few baby beets mixed in, some croutons (why are those there?), and 2 pieces of goat cheese.  While it was tasty (although again, lots of dressing), it wasn’t what I had envisioned.

Check out all those onions! Yikes! And where's my goat cheese?

Maybe I should have gotten the mac & cheese!

After dinner, one of my buddies & I were still hungry for something sweet.  There’s a little chocolate shop in the same center, called Tifa.  Some friends who moved away recently gave me their completed frequent-buyer card, so I figured I’d finish the perfect day with some ice cream!  House made gelato, drinking chocolate, coffee bar, and chocolate.  What’s not to love about this place?  I ordered a Lemon Cookie scoop.  I’ve been really loving the Lemon ice cream with Ginger snaps from Trader Joe’s – this took it up a notch, although I would have loved a bit of the gingery bite to this!

Love it when they give you a little shovel for your gelato. Like you're shoveling it all in. Get in my belly!

Mike ordered a Walnut scoop and a double espresso.  Apparently, they were out of normal espresso cups, so check out what his espresso came in!  I wouldn’t normally snap a pic of someone else’s food (except if we’re sharing) but this was really funny!

Biggest.Espresso.Ever!

It’s just after 9, and the hubby’s calling me up for bedtime!  G’nite!