Day 213: Transparent Heart

Day Five: England 2011/2012

As mentioned in my Christmas post, Krista bought us a day at the spa. December 27th was that day.

Since most of you reading this know me, you know that I am absolutely a girly-girl. I'm not ashamed of this. I am alright with the fact that camping, while marginally fun, is not my go-to vacation. I like clean. I like down time. I like dresses and makeup, shoes and hair. I like pretty things. So, a spa day as a Christmas present was really the best gift possible.

The strange piece in all of this is that I haven't actually ever been to a spa before. 26 years without a facial. I'm serious. That's a big deal for a girl like me.

We entered this spa, called Sanctuary. You check in and they give you a little electronic locker wristband and they give you a giant robe. They also give you your schedule for the day. We each had a massage, a facial, a sleep retreat and lunch. The rest of the time is free time.

After changing into our swimsuits and wrapping up in our robes, we headed out to explore. As we walked down a staircase, there was a pool with a swing. Apparently it's quite iconic as it's been photographed numerous times for magazines, etc. This was a lounging pool mainly. Ladies just paddled around and enjoyed the warm water. There were so many big comfy chairs to sit on, including enormous bean-bag style chairs.

When you head further downstairs you enter another pool and hot-tub area, with wet and dry saunas as well. Krista and I both swam for a little bit, went in the dry sauna for a little bit and then just chilled out in chairs and read magazines for a while before our sleep retreat.

For the sleep retreat, we went into a room with individual beds with blankets, pillows and headphones. You put on the headphones and this lady is talking to you with gentle wave type noises in the background. As she started talking about going into a 'meditative' state, I was immediately skeptical. I was thinking to myself, "Oh blah, blah, what a load of garbage I will never sleep with this lady talking in my ears." She was talking about walking out to a yard with a hammock in it, then she said to walk over to the hammock and climb in.

I kid you not, I was OUT. Like, completely dead-to-the-world asleep. When it was time to wake up, even the lady speaking again didn't wake me. Krista had to touch my arm before I even moved. So, I was wrong. The sleep retreat was incredible.

After this we got to lounge for a little longer, in the huge and comfortable purple chairs upstairs. They had throws everywhere so you could just cuddle up in the lounge-style couches with a blanket and read.

We had lunch. You were given your choice of appetizers, main course and dessert. So much to choose from. I can't remember exactly what my appetizer or dessert was. My main course was a butternut squash ravioli and, oh my goodness, it was some of the best ravioli I've ever had.

After lunch I did a little bit more lounging and then went in a hot tub, prior to my massage. The massage was relaxing and I had upgraded it to an hour instead of 30 minutes. It was a really good choice.

After the massage I headed to the wet sauna. I thought I could sweat some junk out of my face before my facial. Oh god was I ever right and wrong at the same time. As soon as you go into the wet sauna, you are instantly sweaty. Like, think the most sweaty you've ever been and multiply it by ten. And then you just sit there. In the heat. With sweat dripping into your eyes. I lasted five minutes. Defeated, I showered off and headed up to my facial.

The girly-girl that had never had a facial before is a reformed version of herself. It was HEAVENLY. My face felt clean for days. I just wish I could have someone give me personal facials every day.

All in all, it was an incredible Christmas present. A day well spent for sure.

Then we went for dinner and drank two bottles of wine between the two of us and shared appies galore. It was perfect.

xo