I'm Still Alive!

The fact that my last blog post was written before Christmas indicates that I've been either busy or lazy. I'm gonna use both as an excuse if you don't mind. There has been a lot going on, but I'll highlight just the awesome for now.

For starters, I got some of the sweetest Christmas presents ever, and have been spending lots of time enjoying them! My new comforter set (which matches my curtains) finally pulled me out of my college days and into the life of a real adult, as Jared put it. My bread maker is putting in some serious time and trying its hardest to fatten me up! Homemade bread is just SO good! Oh yeah, and I can listen to my ipod in the car once again. Definitely a lifesaver, as I was really, really tired of listening to the same cds over and over. Let's see...the turds also made out incredibly well. I must have missed all the time they spent being good dogs and earning all those presents! They have been sporting new plastic coated collars and shiny new name tags, eating out of ceramic bowls and begging for treats out of their matching ceramic doggy treat jar, and playing with an orange and a blue "squeak-o-saurus." Oh yeah, and they have been spending their nights at home snug as little bugs in their crates, since Kona finally got a new one. She isn't so thrilled about that last one, but I'm pretty pumped to not be fighting the mutts for bed space every night!

As if all of the above wasn't already more than I deserved, I got one more awesome gift...a Buddah Treat for 2 and a one night stay at the New Moon cottage at Ten Thousand Waves! Ten Thousand Waves is a ritzy Japanese Spa just outside of Santa Fe that, I've been told, is one of the 1,000 places to visit before you die (or something like that). Pretty awesome! It was torture having to wait the 3 weeks between Christmas and our appointment!

Allow me to brag a bit now as I share how awesome it was! We checked into our room and then immediately headed up for 3 hours of complete bliss! The package that we enjoyed was called the Buddha Treat and included heat, detoxification, bodywork, and exfoliation.

This was the schedule:

• a regular private bath
• a deluxe herbal wrap
• a private 55-minute therapeutic massage
• a salt glow
  

By the herbal wrap, I was already as relaxed as can be. I got a neck and shoulder massage during the wrap and the best therapeutic massage that I've ever had! When we were done, we somehow stumbled back to the room, got dressed, and drove back into town for take-out Thai food. We ate in front of the fire in our room, New Moon (a beautiful room, which felt way more like home than like a hotel) and, since we were pretty much must from our treatments, we fell asleep right after dinner. We slept in with no dogs to wake us and I hit the women's tub for an hour while Jared was at the gym. Naked bathing with other women is a little awkward, but it was still a relaxing end to our stay! After that, we packed up, hit the gift store for a few good-smelling lotions and potions, and headed home. I have never been spoiled like that before, and I've gotta say that, if I was a trust fund baby, I'd spend every dime relaxing at Ten Thousand Waves and not regret it!